change first and last name order, and more...

[marp68]

1. How can I cange the how the author's name is displayed in the field in the Author column?

In the column Author(s) the authors are now displayed first name, then last name. When I sort them they sort correctly by last name. But I would like the last name to be displayed first in the field.

I don't seem to find the template for specifying name order in Author column

2. Similar question about if it's possible to to have the last name first in the author folder name in the calibre library? This is how I have specified the names to be written when sending the book to the Kobo device. It's easier to find a book when sorting the folders.

3. Curious question. Is there any particular reason for calibre to write the book's file name as "title" - "author"? Why not "author" - "title". And why not language specific characters, like åäö, in the file name?

4. Must one always use the Add book function to update the library with new books. Is it not possble to place the book directly in the calibre library folder and then update the library metadata about what's in the library folder? I wanted to copy some books from the library on one computer to a library on another computer and then just update the calibre library user interface with the new books. But it seemed that I had to enter every book folder and use the add button. Then a new copy of the book was created beside the one copied from the other computer.

[theducks]

The Quality check Plugin can identify Metadata issues lik Names with Commas
The FIX section, can Flip selected books names, format initials consistently

There is a Tickbox under adding books ( only woks WHEN adding)

Since metadata sources are inconsistent , you might resign yourself to just running the QCPI and keep up with those problem details.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by marp68

2. Similar question about if it's possible to to have the last name first in the author folder name in the calibre library? This is how I have specified the names to be written when sending the book to the Kobo device. It's easier to find a book when sorting the folders.

3. Curious question. Is there any particular reason for calibre to write the book's file name as "title" - "author"? Why not "author" - "title". And why not language specific characters, like åäö, in the file name?

@marp68 - the answers to 2, 3, are in this subforum sticky ==>> Want to change folder structure or file names in the Calibre library?

Bottom line - the structure and names of the folders and files in a calibre folder are determined internally - and that's not going to change. The heart of a calibre library is its database - metadata.db.

Originally Posted by marp68

4. Must one always use the Add book function to update the library with new books. Is it not possble to place the book directly in the calibre library folder and then update the library metadata about what's in the library folder? I wanted to copy some books from the library on one computer to a library on another computer and then just update the calibre library user interface with the new books. But it seemed that I had to enter every book folder and use the add button. Then a new copy of the book was created beside the one copied from the other computer.

If you use the Add Book->Automatic Adding feature you can add books without using the add books dialogue windows.

You can add books by dragging the file from your file manager and dropping it into the book list

If you're using Windows you can put a shortcut to calibre.exe into the Send To folder and use right click->Send To->calibre to add books.

BR

[marp68]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@marp68 - the answers to 2, 3, are in this subforum sticky ==>> Want to change folder structure or file names in the Calibre library?

Bottom line - the structure and names of the folders and files in a calibre folder are determined internally - and that's not going to change. The heart of a calibre library is its database - metadata.db.


If you use the Add Book->Automatic Adding feature you can add books without using the add books dialogue windows.

You can add books by dragging the file from your file manager and dropping it into the book list

If you're using Windows you can put a shortcut to calibre.exe into the Send To folder and use right click->Send To->calibre to add books.

BR

Yes, I've read the sticky and agree, but didn't thought it applied to the folder author name order, since in the libraries books generally are sorted on last name. So just curious why not in the calibre library.

Regarding copying books to calibre library on other computer, I need to first copy the books to the other computer. Since they are in folders, I just copy all book folders I wish to transfer. Easier then go into all folders and copy each book one by one. But I now discovered that it's possible to set Add books feature to Add books from directories, including sub directories. So I just put the book folders in one folder outside the calibre library folder and add all at once by letting the add feature search all folders once. Haven't tried it yet, but should work.

[marp68]

Originally Posted by theducks

The Quality check Plugin can identify Metadata issues lik Names with Commas
The FIX section, can Flip selected books names, format initials consistently

That worked great for the author column in the UI. Thanks. Will this affect anything when sending to device or something else that I need to know?

EDIT: Aha, now I saw that it also affected the actual folder and file name in the calibre library. Any risk with changing FN-LN to LN-FN in the folders and files?

[itimpi]

One of the issues you will find is that the online metadata sources are not consistent about name order, but the majority of them will give the author in firtname lastname format.

[marp68]

Originally Posted by itimpi

One of the issues you will find is that the online metadata sources are not consistent about name order, but the majority of them will give the author in firtname lastname format.

Yes, I discovered that when I now started to look more closely on metadata for the books, sorting etc. So now I try to edit everything as I want it for every new book and before sending it to the device.

And today I also stumbled on the two last name issue in, for example, Spanish last names. It seems that calibre get it right and sort by "first" last name, but that the device sort by the "second" last name. But there seems to be a solution for this...

[theducks]

Originally Posted by marp68

That worked great for the author column in the UI. Thanks. Will this affect anything when sending to device or something else that I need to know?

EDIT: Aha, now I saw that it also affected the actual folder and file name in the calibre library. Any risk with changing FN-LN to LN-FN in the folders and files?

NEVER change the file or folder names in the library folder.

Anyway, why do you care??? Calibre delivers books without you ever needing to see inside the Library folder. Send to device, save to disk, save to folder, the content server and Calibre Companion (sold separately)

Those follow the GUI values

There are Tweaks and preferences give you options FOR NEW Additions. you need to use the tools below for existing

Fn Ln or Ln, Fn
Sort Fn or Ln

The QC PI flips selected books.
Bulk Metadata edit ( just the tick boxes can be used) can adjust selected books.
Manage Authors (A right click option on any author in the Tag Browser)

[marp68]

Originally Posted by theducks

NEVER change the file or folder names in the library folder.

Anyway, why do you care??? Calibre delivers books without you ever needing to see inside the Library folder. Send to device, save to disk, save to folder, the content server and Calibre Companion (sold separately)

Those follow the GUI values

There are Tweaks and preferences give you options FOR NEW Additions. you need to use the tools below for existing

Fn Ln or Ln, Fn
Sort Fn or Ln

The QC PI flips selected books.
Bulk Metadata edit ( just the tick boxes can be used) can adjust selected books.
Manage Authors (A right click option on any author in the Tag Browser)

I did use QCPI to flip fn Ln to Ln, Fn. I just saw that it also affected the actual library. I really don't care about changing the files in the library. But it was easier to read the author column with Ln, Fn than Fn Ln when it's sorted by Ln. So, if there's no risk using that plugin feature, I will do that to all books.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by marp68

I did use QCPI to flip fn Ln to Ln, Fn. I just saw that it also affected the actual library. I really don't care about changing the files in the library. But it was easier to read the author column with Ln, Fn than Fn Ln when it's sorted by Ln. So, if there's no risk using that plugin feature, I will do that to all books.

Only the 'standard rule'
Backup reccomended

[marp68]

True...

But does it affect something else that could be good to be aware of or is it just a matter of preference?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by marp68

1. How can I cange the how the author's name is displayed in the field in the Author column?

In the column Author(s) the authors are now displayed first name, then last name. When I sort them they sort correctly by last name. But I would like the last name to be displayed first in the field.

I don't seem to find the template for specifying name order in Author column

2. Similar question about if it's possible to to have the last name first in the author folder name in the calibre library? This is how I have specified the names to be written when sending the book to the Kobo device. It's easier to find a book when sorting the folders.

calibre does not care what you use in the Authors field. It does care, however, that you allow the filenames to be generated from the metadata in the calibre database.

You can use "LN, FN" format if you want to, to fill in the Authors column, if you don't mind metadata downloads and anything else that cares about comparing the authors info, getting the wrong information (LN, FN is wrong if FN LN is expected...)


There is no magic code that recognizes "hey, you made a policy decision to use LN, FN". The only way calibre can know is by comparing it to an authoritative source (i.e. metadata downloads).

...

This change will cascade to the actual folder structure on disk, it will cascade to send-to-device templates, etc.

3. Curious question. Is there any particular reason for calibre to write the book's file name as "title" - "author"? Why not "author" - "title". And why not language specific characters, like åäö, in the file name?

No, you cannot change the use of "title - author", because calibre demands a rigid filename structure for the sake of being consistent, and an arbitrary decision was made that that should be "title - author" instead of say "author - title". It is that simple, there is no "particular reason" beyond that.
Likewise, filenames are normalized to ASCII, for the simple reason that not all filesystem/OS combinations support full unicode, and it is best to be consistent.

Note that both restrictions are lifted for books exported through Send-to-Device or Save-to-Disk.

4. Must one always use the Add book function to update the library with new books. Is it not possble to place the book directly in the calibre library folder and then update the library metadata about what's in the library folder? I wanted to copy some books from the library on one computer to a library on another computer and then just update the calibre library user interface with the new books. But it seemed that I had to enter every book folder and use the add button. Then a new copy of the book was created beside the one copied from the other computer.

There are a number of ways to add books to calibre in a calibre-compliant way, via the calibredb command-line interface, via Add Books, via the Add format button in the Edit Metadata window, via drag-and-drop on the Book Details pane, etc...

But the fundamental difference between that and what you are doing is that calibre adds the book and handles the metadata tracking.

It must do so, because the library is one huge database of ebooks.
You cannot sneak around in the back and partially modify that database and expect good things to happen.

Why do you want top add books via the file browser? I can guarantee you there is a far better way to do whatever you wanted to do.
If all you want is to add books from one calibre library to another, just use "Add books from directories, including sub-directories (One book per directory, assumes every ebook file is the same book in a different format)" and it will import from a Save-to-Disk (it is more or less meant for this exact purpose).