Creating a catalogue

[Quoth]

I know the Author Sort should be based on the regular name

Jack Smith -> Smith Jack

How should two names be entered? Books I import tend have
Jack Smith & Ben Jones
It doesn' t like that, it prefers:
Jack Smith, Ben Jones

However Clicking on generate Author Sort gives
Ben Jones, Jack Smith

Why anyway does the Catalogue generator care?
I've about 2600 books in the library and so far after editing meta data a few times I'm still only at G

Is there a way to get a list of titles that don't match Author and Author Sort?
Or better still a way to simply ignore the mismatch?

Also is adding a column to Description the best way to add my custom Collections name column?

calibre, version 4.2.0
ERROR: Author sort mismatch: <p>Inconsistent author sort values for author<br/>'Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm':</p><p><center><b>Grimm, Jacob & Grimm, Wilhelm</b> != <b>Grimm, Jacob</b></center></p><p>Unable to build MOBI catalog.<br/>Select all books by 'Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm', apply correct Author Sort value in Edit Metadata dialog, then rebuild the catalog.
<p>
Catalog generation terminated.

I think it doesn't like "&" in the Author field. Perhaps multiple Authors have , or ; ?

P.S. How do I make it exclude PDFs, or only have PDFs, other than (de)selecting these in advance by sorting by Format?

[DaltonST]

You might start over at the beginning.

Author Sorts have Tweaks in Preferences > Tweaks. Update that with what you wish to use.

Author Sorts are found not only for Authors themselves, but for Books, since Books may have multiple authors. Two different things.

First, update each Author's Sort using the Tag Browser context menu to find "Manage Authors", and recalculate all of them.

Afterwards, use Bulk Metadata Edit to update every Book's Author Sort.

Test your results, and iterate as needed.

To include or exclude specific formats, such as PDF, simply double-click appropriately under "Formats" in the expanded Tag Browser.


DaltonST

[theducks]

ampersand most assuredly does belong in Authors field of the MDE.
That is the parceing symbol

each name ends up as an entry in the Authors table (part of the DB)

Jack Smith & Ben Jones -> Smith, Jack & Jones, Ben
If it is not working, then there may be hidden characters messing things up.

[Quoth]

Thanks
I normally have the Tag Browser hidden, so I didn't know about managing Author names
I also searched by , in Authors to find all the ones using Author sort and using , when it should be &
Lots do use & and are fine with Author Sort generated.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Thanks
I normally have the Tag Browser hidden, so I didn't know about managing Author names
I also searched by , in Authors to find all the ones using Author sort and using , when it should be &
Lots do use & and are fine with Author Sort generated.

Quality check Plugin: Check metadata section will help you FIND your issues.
IMHO anyone who cares about their metadata needs to use this PI

[Quoth]

Mysteriously the 'update each Author's Sort using the Tag Browser context menu to find "Manage Authors", and recalculate all of them.' didn't fix all, but it fixed enough that the catalogue generated.
Then I was able to fix the 10 or so books with warnings.

Some books had sort of tags/descriptions/comments in the Author Field or the Author Sort field.

[DaltonST]

Afterwards, use Bulk Metadata Edit to update every Book's Author Sort.

[BetterRed]

If author_sort is set to LN, FN, you may have to adjust author_sort values, e.g. "Madeleine St John" would default to "John, Madeleine St" you can fix that in Manage Authors by changing it manually to "St John, Madeleine".

The Manage Authors list is also reachable by right clicking on an Author name in the Book Details panel, same with Tags, Publishers etc.

BR

[Quoth]

Now I've created a catalogue for the first time, in azw format. I then converted that to epub.

It's impressive.

Is there a way to create it while a device is connected, or create custom columns in Calibre from each device while connected, so that it can be indicated, in the catalog copied to a device, the books that are not on it, or on other devices etc.

Also can links be between books on an ereader, so that the catalogue can take you to the book, or the contents page of a book has links (online works, but local books too, if existing and it's possible)?

[theducks]

Catalog works on Calibre metadata.
You need to make the device (contents) into Metadata. A Tag?

[Quoth]

Yes, custom column somehow updated when you connect a device. I've not yet looked at how I might do it. Reading position/Status?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Yes, custom column somehow updated when you connect a device. I've not yet looked at how I might do it. Reading position/Status?

Try the Reading List plugin. You can define a list so that it is populated when the device is connected. That includes setting a value in a column.

[Quoth]

Thanks.
I'll need to study what that does. It seems to have a few settings.