Merge Author name variations to a list

[mkkyah]

Hi,
I have "Find Duplicates" plugin installed and finding it very useful.

But I want to select and merge different author name variations under a selected main name, so calibre remembers and lists them under the same name all the time ( even the book names are different)
All I can do now is to merge duplicates to the first selected one and delete others. And that is not saving any patterns for future use.

Is this possible?

[theducks]

You can (bulk)rename Authors (publisher, tags) in the
Tag Browser: (bulk) Right click on any Author: Manage: You can make changes in the list, the results combine as needed when you click OK

[theducks]

Also
Quality Check Plugin has a FIX section that offers a few things to standardize SELECTED authors.

[mkkyah]

Originally Posted by theducks

You can (bulk)rename Authors (publisher, tags) in the
Tag Browser: (bulk) Right click on any Author: Manage: You can make changes in the list, the results combine as needed when you click OK

Thanks that was quick,

I will check that but, I think that will edit all names in bulk for once. When a new book with one of that author name variations is added again, it will do nothing. I need do it again.
I was hoping a way to add that variations to a sub list for the author.

[mkkyah]

Originally Posted by theducks

Also
Quality Check Plugin has a FIX section that offers a few things to standardize SELECTED authors.

I have installed Quality check, it has lots of good options, but not what I need.

Can you help me with the first solution you have suggested? I'm not experienced with the advanced details of Calibre and trying to figure out without success.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by mkkyah

I have installed Quality check, it has lots of good options, but not what I need.

Can you help me with the first solution you have suggested? I'm not experienced with the advanced details of Calibre and trying to figure out without success.

Right click on any Author: Manage
This iis where you edit (or delete if working in the Tags)

Sometimes I Copy (from the correct name entry) and double click on the wrong entry then Paste to avoid introducing other variations

[BetterRed]

@mkkyah - all of the above, especially Manage Authors (and Publishers etc). For Authors you can sort on the 'author sort' column which really helps, I think that's the default.

When I started using calibre, I tried to utilise the User Categories and the Grouped Search features (independently) to 'manage' name variants. Whilst both worked to some extent, they added a layer of complexity for not much gain. I soon decided it was easier to settle on one name for an author, publisher etc and make sure I got them 'right' when adding new books.

If I'm unsure that the value of Author of a newly added book is correct - e.g. 'Fred Smith', I right click on it in the Book details panel (on the left), and select Manage Fred Smith, if I find I also have a 'Frederick Smith' I can make the correction to the newly added book within the Manage Authors list. Same with publishers, series etc.

Pseudonyms are a different issue.

BR

[mkkyah]

@betterred
Yes, I agree; Calibre have great alternative and flexible options to edit and I try to use some of them as far as I can.
But adding books as a huge group or syncing creates problems. Again, Find Duplicates is a gem, but eliminating author names again and again is killing me.
I'm checking the Author/manage option and I'm confused about how it works. I hope I will figure it out.

[BetterRed]

Adding a huge group of books was probably a bad idea. I did that initially, ~30K books. I then set about the task of getting the metadata correct and consistent - but I soon realised what a daunting task it was going to be. That approach was akin to putting 30,000 real books into bookshelves haphazardly, and then trying to arrange them into DDC order.

I actually started again and added books in batches of 100 books to an Intake Library, I used Find Duplicate->Find library duplicates (ignoring Title) to get the Authors 'right' before moving books to the Main library. I continue use this process with new 'books'.

It took me several weeks to get the 30K books loaded into Main calibre library. Doing it in bite size chunks allowed me to adjust my processes as I learnt more about calibre.

BR

[mkkyah]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Adding a huge group of books was probably a bad idea. I did that initially, ~30K books.

BR

My huge was 100 books.
For sure, Find Duplicates is great tool for that purpose. But I'm adding/syncing new books from the same folder regularly. When adding new books, older books are also added because I had fixed/changed the author names, remember?
Comparing dates etc. is possible but not that easy.
BTW. Find Duplicates has find metadata variations option, which is very handy to find and rename author name variations. But again, that is not merging names in a list as I wanted.
I still couldn't figure out how author sort can solve my problem

[BetterRed]

Let's say you have authors William Smith, Bill Smith, and William S. Smith. You come to the conclusion (perhaps with the help of Find Duplicates) that they're the same person. You decide the name you'll 'keep' is William Smith.

In Manage Authors change William S. Smith (in the Author column) to William Smith and do the same to Bill Smith. Use F2 to get into cell edit mode, hit enter to stop editing in a cell. Make sure you exit Manage Authors via the OK button. That's all there is to it, the books that were 'under' William S. Smith and Bill Smith will now be 'under' William Smith.

You can also change author names etc in the Tag Browser by right clicking on an entry and choosing the Rename option.

If you want to keep the different author names, you could try using User Categories or Group Searches to 'tie them together'. Whilst those options didn't suit me, they might suit you.

BR

[mkkyah]

Thank you both for the detailed explanations and for your patiance.

It seems like I will use a mix of Find Duplicates and manual renaming for now.

I hope this is considered as a new feature or plugin petition:

-Rename other Author name variations with the chosen one(this part is already in Find Duplicates), but keep other variations in a list and handle new books as same author's if the name is any variation from the list (ask or automatically rename).

[BetterRed]

Ah-ha - the penny dropped, I think. Are you referring to the Find Duplicates->Find metadata variations... option?

For no obvious reason I've never used that feature (maybe I should). And yours is the first thread I can recall that's ever referred to it - albeit somewhat obliquely

Tip : when referring to calibre features please try to use the precise words as they appear in the user interface. Or post screen shots.

If you want to make a request for calibre itself to be enhanced then this is where you can do that ==>> Bugs : calibre

If you want the Find Duplicates->Find metadata variations... option to be enhanced to include a history of prior replacements then make a post in the FD thread in the Plugins subforum. But you should be aware that the author of the FD PI is currently inactive and has been for some considerable time.

If you think it could be done via a separate PI, there's a sticky 'Plugin ideas' thread at the top of the Plugin's subforum where you could make a request.

Or you could write your own PI or hack the existing FD PI.

BR

[mkkyah]

Originally Posted by mkkyah

BTW. Find Duplicates has find metadata variations option...

You're maybe tired with my endless questions and missed that part.
It is really working very good for renaming variations; better and easier than standard way of finding duplicates.

Thanks again for the links and info.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Ah-ha - the penny dropped, I think. Are you referring to the Find Duplicates->Find metadata variations... option?

For no obvious reason I've never used that feature (maybe I should). And yours is the first thread I can recall that's ever referred to it - albeit somewhat obliquely


BR

or include ATTACHMENT of a small screen capture (in accordance with MR guidelines)