Automatically list authors by last name first

[montalex]

It's a bit compulsive of me, but each time I add a book to Calibre I edit metadata so that all books show author last name first. That way the Calibre book folder keeps authors in alphabetical order. I know this is a bit absurd, as I can simply search in Calibre or in the folder directly to find a book or author. But now I have a folder with 4,000 books in it neatly arranged thus.

Is there any way to get Calibre to automatically list authors by last name first? I search Calibre info and could not find a way.

I could simply let go of obsessive-compulsive ways, and just add books as they are, of course, especially as I have figured out how to automatically convert new books to my preferred format. I could just leave it at that, couldn't I??

[theducks]

Originally Posted by montalex

It's a bit compulsive of me, but each time I add a book to Calibre I edit metadata so that all books show author last name first. That way the Calibre book folder keeps authors in alphabetical order. I know this is a bit absurd, as I can simply search in Calibre or in the folder directly to find a book or author. But now I have a folder with 4,000 books in it neatly arranged thus.

Is there any way to get Calibre to automatically list authors by last name first? I search Calibre info and could not find a way.

I could simply let go of obsessive-compulsive ways, and just add books as they are, of course, especially as I have figured out how to automatically convert new books to my preferred format. I could just leave it at that, couldn't I??

The setting in Calibre only steers the input direction because it assumes the input is consistent. Preferences Adding Books Swap only flips whatever it was sent. (There are also Tweaks that affect how names and titles are processed. I will leave it to you to read the tweak descriptions)

Quality check Plugin has 2 sections I use
Check Metadata <multiple tests: commas,initials,sort>

Fix (Swaps) Fn Ln, Author Initials (applies to all SELECTED items)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by montalex

I could simply let go of obsessive-compulsive ways, and just add books as they are, of course, especially as I have figured out how to automatically convert new books to my preferred format. I could just leave it at that, couldn't I??

What you need to do is to stop concerning yourself with the names of the folders and files in the library; they are arbitrary. They could just as well be values like Author 123 and Book 56789.

If you sort the book list by the Authors column calibre will use the author_sort value which defaults to LN, FN. If you want a visible column that shows the author-sort values then add a custom column built from other columns that uses the template {author_sort}.

BR

[montalex]

Originally Posted by theducks

The setting in Calibre only steers the input direction because it assumes the input is consistent. Preferences Adding Books Swap only flips whatever it was sent. (There are also Tweaks that affect how names and titles are processed. I will leave it to you to read the tweak descriptions)

Quality check Plugin has 2 sections I use
Check Metadata <multiple tests: commas,initials,sort>

Fix (Swaps) Fn Ln, Author Initials (applies to all SELECTED items)

I found the setting in Quality Check! That's perfect for me. At least easier that editing metadata. Maybe it's a bit OCD, but I like to see my book folder with last names first. Thanks!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by montalex

I found the setting in Quality Check! That's perfect for me. At least easier that editing metadata. Maybe it's a bit OCD, but I like to see my book folder with last names first. Thanks!

As BR said. Stop looking beneath the kirts. How many places in the real world allow the customer to roam the stockroom? The clerk brings out your order.
Calibre is the same way. Send to device or Save to disk. Those both allow you to configure filenames.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by theducks

As BR said. Stop looking beneath the kirts. How many places in the real world allow the customer to roam the stockroom? The clerk brings out your order.
Calibre is the same way. Send to device or Save to disk. Those both allow you to configure filenames.

Was that skirts or kilts?

At least he wasn't asking how to get rid of the numbers in brackets at the end of the book directory names.

[montalex]

As I stated, Quality Control has given me a quick way to assure the authors are listed LN/FN in my Calibre folder. I think there are over 5,000 books in there now, all listed LN/FN. Sure, I could give that up, but it would mean that a book by Ian McEwan would not appear next to a book by McEwan, Ian. Whatever. Quality Control makes author sort quickly without editing metadata.