Format of author name field

Dan__ · 11-30-2025, 05:47 PM

I have a question that I hope someone can answer.
Some epubs have a metadata tag for author that if typically Firstname Mi Lastname. Others have no such tag at all.
When books are added to calibre they all end up with the author name showing as FN MI LN.

For my simple brain this makes for a disorders file structure on the disk since the folder names all mirror the author name. As a result I can never find anything because I can't remember an authors first name.

So I have been manually renaming each book so the author is LN, FN MI with no periods (which translate to _ in the folder names).

The question is: How can I, when adding a book, get the author name formatted the way I prefer. I have tired reading the docs and searching but I have yet to figure out how to do it.

If anyone can tell me how to accomplish this it would be a really great help.

Thanks

Sirtel · 11-30-2025, 06:42 PM

The Quality Check plugin can rename the authors in bulk. As to having them come in LN, FN, that depends on the book's metadata and it's usually FN LN. I don't know if it's possible to automatically swap them while adding a book. But at least you won't have to change the names one by one with the Quality Check plugin.

Dan__ · 11-30-2025, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The Quality Check plugin can rename the authors in bulk. As to having them come in LN, FN, that depends on the book's metadata and it's usually FN LN. I don't know if it's possible to automatically swap them while adding a book. But at least you won't have to change the names one by one with the Quality Check plugin.

Thank you

11-30-2025, 05:47 PM	#1
Dan__ Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 39754 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Nook - Simple Touch	Format of author name field I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Some epubs have a metadata tag for author that if typically Firstname Mi Lastname. Others have no such tag at all. When books are added to calibre they all end up with the author name showing as FN MI LN. For my simple brain this makes for a disorders file structure on the disk since the folder names all mirror the author name. As a result I can never find anything because I can't remember an authors first name. So I have been manually renaming each book so the author is LN, FN MI with no periods (which translate to _ in the folder names). The question is: How can I, when adding a book, get the author name formatted the way I prefer. I have tired reading the docs and searching but I have yet to figure out how to do it. If anyone can tell me how to accomplish this it would be a really great help. Thanks

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11-30-2025, 06:42 PM	#2
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 14,804 Karma: 245110941 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	The Quality Check plugin can rename the authors in bulk. As to having them come in LN, FN, that depends on the book's metadata and it's usually FN LN. I don't know if it's possible to automatically swap them while adding a book. But at least you won't have to change the names one by one with the Quality Check plugin.