Author LN-FN swapped on download of metadata

[Reverend_Jim]

Before I import books into calibre I ensure that the file name follows the pattern

Lastname, Firstname - series - title.ext

where the series portion is optional. I have set calibre to recognize this so books get imported and sorted correctly. For one thing, this removes all ambiguity for last names with more than one word. Authors are sorted as LN, FN. However, if I download metadata, the author name in the Authors treeview in the left panel, as well as the Author name in the details view (centre panel) is rearranged as FN LN, although the Author Sort remains as LN, FN. Unfortunately, the physical (on disk) book is relocated to a new folder based on FN LN.

Is there a way to tell calibre to not change LN, FN to FN LN?

[theducks]

Downloaded metadata has nothing to do with source file name

It is one or the other. Preferences: adding books

Preference: Tweaks has adjustments for sort order

Lastly
Internal (Library) folder names don't matter as you should not be messing under the skirts (read the stickies at the forum top). Calibre will deliver your selection.
Is everything 'Self Service' at your church? Same with Calibre.

[Reverend_Jim]

If downloading metadata has nothing to do with the file name then why does calibre change thge file structure of the library when I download metadata? For example


D:\Calibre Library>dir "Allen, Tim" /s
Volume in drive D is D-Data
Volume Serial Number is 08C9-FCDF

Directory of D:\Calibre Library\Allen, Tim

2015-06-05 13:32 <DIR> .
2015-06-05 13:32 <DIR> ..
2015-06-08 18:36 <DIR> Don't Stand too Close to a Naked Ma (745)
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\Calibre Library\Allen, Tim\Don't Stand too Close to a Naked Ma (745)

2015-06-08 18:36 <DIR> .
2015-06-08 18:36 <DIR> ..
2015-06-08 18:36 191,979 Don't Stand too Close to a Nake - Allen, Tim.epub
2015-06-10 10:14 3,769 metadata.opf
2 File(s) 195,748 bytes

Total Files Listed:
2 File(s) 195,748 bytes
5 Dir(s) 288,401,039,360 bytes free

D:\Calibre Library>::downloaded metadta
D:\Calibre Library>dir "Allen, Tim" /s
Volume in drive D is D-Data
Volume Serial Number is 08C9-FCDF

Directory of D:\Calibre Library\Allen, Tim

2015-06-05 13:32 <DIR> .
2015-06-05 13:32 <DIR> ..
2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> Don't Stand too Close to a Naked Ma (745)
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\Calibre Library\Allen, Tim\Don't Stand too Close to a Naked Ma (745)

2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> .
2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> ..
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
0 File(s) 0 bytes
5 Dir(s) 288,400,994,304 bytes free

D:\Calibre Library>dir "Tim Allen" /s
Volume in drive D is D-Data
Volume Serial Number is 08C9-FCDF

Directory of D:\Calibre Library\Tim Allen

2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> .
2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> ..
2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Ma (745)
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\Calibre Library\Tim Allen\Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Ma (745)

2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> .
2015-06-11 10:37 <DIR> ..
2015-06-11 10:37 40,137 cover.jpg
2015-06-08 18:36 191,979 Don't Stand Too Close to a Nake - Tim Allen.epub
2015-06-11 10:37 4,707 metadata.opf
3 File(s) 236,823 bytes

Total Files Listed:
3 File(s) 236,823 bytes
5 Dir(s) 288,400,994,304 bytes free

You can see that before downloading, the book was in a sub-folder of "Allen, Tim" and after it has been moved to a sub-folder of "Tim Allen", leaving the original folder there but with no book. This is not only NOT what I want, but is also cluttering up the library with useless folders.

[theducks]

Calibre is not for you

[eschwartz]

Ordinarily calibre handles all filenames itself using author/title/calibre-id. This shouldn't be a problem as you should send using calibre. Unless e.g. you sync to Dropbox and want to downlod via the DB web interface -- so I quite understand where you are coming from.

As theducks said, set the tweak to ensure default author == LN, FN.

To prevent metadata download from overriding your custom author values, select the option to Configure metadata downloads, and uncheck author from the list of metadata columns to update.


theducks -- a bit harsh I think.

[eschwartz]

I do not know why calibre is leaving empty folders behind when renaming books on disk. I am pretty sure it should clean those up... although Windows sometimes performs file locks that mess with that, I believe.

[Reverend_Jim]

eschwartz - your suggestion was just what I needed. Thanks. A simple fix for a simple problem.

theducks - I am not "messing under the skirts". I set the calibre options to take the book info from the filenames because I didn't want too have to rename all of my files before importing them. All I wanted was a way to prevent the metadata from screwing up the structure that calibre uses by default (an action that should not happen merely by changing the metadata). I found your response of "Calibre is not for you" not at all helpful.

[eschwartz]

To be fair, theducks was probably remembering a variety of individuals that have become extremely upset with calibre over the years -- they wanted to be able to define the folder structure, or have calibre only reference books already existing somewhere on the HDD, etc...
They tended to be incredibly rude in the process.

It brings back bad memories, and even though that "request" isn't what you meant, it superficially resembled it in a way.
Even now, the better part of a year (at least) since the last incident, some people still get touchy every time someone implies they might mess around under the skirts -- even when that implication turns out to be incorrect.

It was bad times.

On behalf of theducks, I apologize for the confusion.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by Reverend_Jim

All I wanted was a way to prevent the metadata from screwing up the structure that calibre uses by default (an action that should not happen merely by changing the metadata).

Downloading metadata WILL change the folder structure if it results in the author or title fields being changed. It sounds as if you do not consider these fields to be metadata but as far as Calibre is concerned they are.

As was mentioned if you do not want this to happen then you have to configure Calibre so that these two fields are not to be updated when downloading metadata.

[Reverend_Jim]

eschwartz - fair enough. I do programming support on another site so I certainly understand where he is coming from.

itimpi - all things considered, a reasonable behaviour.

[Quadrivium]

Use Quality Check plugin Fix to change author FN LN ,-> LN, FH.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Quadrivium

Use Quality Check plugin Fix to change author FN LN ,-> LN, FH.

Welcome to Mobileread. I hope you continue to assist the users in this forum with your calibre user experience.

Moderator Notice
But in the future do not respond to ancient threads. The original poster hasn't been on Mobileread in almost 3 years and he was already supplied with an answer that solved his problem.