Author Sort

[gbm]

In calibre tweaks:

Use author_sort and/or series_sort for names in Tag browser (ID: categories_use_field_for_author_name)

ID: categories_use_field_for_author_name

Set which author or series field is used to display as the item name in the Tag browser (the list of authors, series, publishers etc on the left hand side). The choices for author are 'author' and 'author_sort'. The choices for series are 'series' and 'series_sort'. This tweak affects only what is displayed under the category in the Tag browser and Content server. Please note that if you set this to …_sort, it is possible to see duplicate names in the list because although it is guaranteed that author and series names are unique, there is no such guarantee for their sort values. Showing duplicates won't break anything but it could lead to some confusion. The tooltip for an item will show the item's name no matter how you set this tweak. Examples:

categories_use_field_for_author_name = 'author'
categories_use_field_for_author_name = 'author_sort'
categories_use_field_for_series_name = 'series'
categories_use_field_for_series_name = 'series_sort'

bernie

Originally Posted by JeffGeorge

I believe this is something that was a standard part of the Calibre GUI.

In the left pane of my screen is an Authors section. This opens up to a submenu of each letter. Inside each letter (A, B, C, etc.) is alphabetized list of authors and how many books I have by that author. It is sorted by last name. This is great except it's displayed as First Name, Last Name. Is there a way to make it display as Last Name, First Name instead?

[retiredbiker]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

In the Books tab, yes. Go to the Authors tab on your Kobo. What do you see there?

Even worse mess will result if you have books written by more than one author.

Ha, 5 years and I've never used that tab. Yes, it's a mess. Also shows all the empty folders Calibre leaves behind!

I only keep ~6 books on the reader. The Calibre libraries are my storage. So that makes it very easy on the reader.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by retiredbiker

Ha, 5 years and I've never used that tab. Yes, it's a mess. Also shows all the empty folders Calibre leaves behind!

If you remove books from your Kobo via Calibre (not on the device), no empty folders will be left.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JeffGeorge

Uh oh. I think my Kobo is a Kobo Plus. However, I'm still not sure what interface you are looking at when you refer to the "main library." As I noted previously, the only way I see any author name is if it's on the displayed book cover or I use the Authors multi-level dropdown on the pane to the left of that center panel.

There never was a Kobo Plus. Kobo Plus is Kobo's version of Kindle Unlimited.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Only bear in mind that if you use calibre to send books to a Kobo eink reader, then your Kobo won't like the author names to be LN, FN - it wants them to be FN LN.

Personally I use LN, FN in my main library and FN LN in a separate sub-library, and use the latter for interaction with my Kobos.

I have a Kobo Libra 2 and use LN,FN in my library. I use a metadata plugboard to "fix" the authors (change them to FN LN) when a book is sent from calibre to my kobo.

The plugboard:


The template as text:

program:
	comma = '';
	res = '';
	for author in $authors separator '&':
		res = strcat(res, comma, swap_around_comma(author));
		comma = ', '
	rof;
	res

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by retiredbiker

Ha, 5 years and I've never used that tab. Yes, it's a mess. Also shows all the empty folders Calibre leaves behind!

I only keep ~6 books on the reader. The Calibre libraries are my storage. So that makes it very easy on the reader.

If you've been using the default save template, I suggest you change that. Create a directory on your Kobo called books and then make your save template start with books/ and then whatever follows will be the format of the filenames. Mine is

books/{author} - {series} {series_index:0>2s|| - } {title}

This is updated in the Kobo Touch driver for calibre 8.

There is a program for Windows called Remove Empty Directories that can remove all of those empty directories. https://www.jonasjohn.de/red.htm

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If you remove books from your Kobo via Calibre (not on the device), no empty folders will be left.

And if you stop using the defalt template that makes all of those useless directories as Kobo doesn't do directories, then they won't exist.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And if you stop using the defalt template that makes all of those useless directories as Kobo doesn't do directories, then they won't exist.

BUT Kobo supports putting books into directories. They just are not needed.
If you keep (a copy of) your Library on your Kobo, having directories keeps their size (entries) under control.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by chaley

I have a Kobo Libra 2 and use LN,FN in my library. I use a metadata plugboard to "fix" the authors (change them to FN LN) when a book is sent from calibre to my kobo.

Good to know, thank you.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

BUT Kobo supports putting books into directories. They just are not needed.
If you keep (a copy of) your Library on your Kobo, having directories keeps their size (entries) under control.

Just because Kobo will read the books in the directories does not mean they are supported. Directories are not supported on Kobo.