Calibre dropping 2nd name when there are multiple authors

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@jhowell: This should take care of the author_sort issue: https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...a396a74577603c

Thank you!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by A Lurker

If I understand you correctly, a Kindle only recognizes the metadata in the "Author(s)" field and doesn't register anything I enter into the "Author sort" field (unless I check the option in advance settings to use it).

Correct.

Originally Posted by A Lurker

The problem I described (and you replicated) results in a .mobi file with the correct metadata (i.e. both authors' names) in the "Author(s)" field, but deletes the second author's name in the "Author sort" field.
...
Moreover, if the Kindle is looking to the "Author(s)" field, which does retain both authors's names, then why aren't both of them displaying on my Kindle?

The problem that I replicated only affects books imported into calibre and is not the cause of the original problem that you reported. What you are seeing on your Kindle is an entirely different issue.

There is a limitation in the "send to kindle" feature that it only supports a single author name. When you email a book to your Amazon account only the first author is retained by Amazon. Additional author names are stripped out.

[stumped]

the kindle stuff could all be verified by testing: tedious but doable

for testing, you need to make a few mobi books , with multiple authors and also put deliberate garbage into the author sort field ( including various delimiters to be ultra-thorough )
then
1. transfer from calibre to kindle via USB & see what gets displayed on Kindle
2. delete all the results of 1. from kindle, and then send them via amazon "send to Kindle" instead. then observe

[A Lurker]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The problem that I replicated only affects books imported into calibre and is not the cause of the original problem that you reported. What you are seeing on your Kindle is an entirely different issue.

So you're saying I have two different issues:

1.) The second author's name is not displaying on my Kindle.
2.) The second author's name is missing from the "Author sort" field.

You're saying they're unrelated. That very well may be. But it strikes me as a massive coincidence they started happening at literally the same exact time. That's what suggested to me they are indeed related.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by A Lurker

I do not use the "Send to Kiindle" feature. My Kindle and my Calibre library are not linked/do not interact. I manually add the Calibre-generated file to my Kindle.

You previously wrote:

Originally Posted by A Lurker

(For the record, I do not sync my Calibre library directly with my Kindle. Instead I take the .mobi file created by Calibre and email it to my Kindle.

[A Lurker]

Originally Posted by jhowell

You previously wrote:

Yes, sorry. When you wrote "Send to Kindle" I thought you were referring to the Calibre "Send to Device" function, but now I understand that you meant email to Kindle. That was my mistake.

[A Lurker]

Originally Posted by stumped

the kindle stuff could all be verified by testing: tedious but doable

for testing, you need to make a few mobi books , with multiple authors and also put deliberate garbage into the author sort field ( including various delimiters to be ultra-thorough )
then
1. transfer from calibre to kindle via USB & see what gets displayed on Kindle
2. delete all the results of 1. from kindle, and then send them via amazon "send to Kindle" instead. then observe

This is a great suggestion. Thank you very much. I just tried it with interesting results...

I entered the genuine authors' names in the "Author(s)" field and fake names in the "Author sort" field.

When I dragged-and-dropped the file via USB to my Kindle, both the correct authors displayed. That tells me @jhowell is correct -- Kindle ignores the "Author sort" field. It's also interesting to note that both authors' names appeared.

Next I emailed the file to my Kindle. In this case, my Kindle displayed the real author's names, but only the first author. This is further verification that Kindle is ignoring the "Author sort" field. But more importantly, it tells me the second author's name is being dropped when I email it. The Amazon server must be stripping it? I've test two books so far and I'll test a few more books. If this pattern keeps up, I'll contact Amazon.

Also, while this answers my question about why Kindle is only displaying one author, it leaves unresolved the issue of Calibre deleting the second author from the "Author sort" field.

[stumped]

i think we are actually making progress
the results you just posted match what J Howell's explanation predicted

as we've been round the block several times now, maybe its time to summarize what if anything is still broken/inexplicable ( assuming that the proposed calibre fix from Kovid works as intended in next update )

[A Lurker]

As a side note, when I created thes test mobi files with fake names in the "Author sort" field, Calibre generated folders for them with BOTH authors' names.

Previously in this thread when I said that Calibre has created folders using two authors names, multiple people insisted I was wrong -- that will never happen.

Ultimate this is a non-issue. I was just a bit insulted that no one believed me. So here's your proof in the attached photo.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by stumped

( assuming that the proposed calibre fix from Kovid works as intended in next update )

I tested it. It works.

[A Lurker]

Originally Posted by stumped

i think we are actually making progress
the results you just posted match what J Howell's explanation predicted

as we've been round the block several times now, maybe its time to summarize what if anything is still broken/inexplicable ( assuming that the proposed calibre fix from Kovid works as intended in next update )

Yes, I agree. Thank you very much for your time and patience.

Based on the results of the test you suggested I believe the reason only the first author is displaying on my Kindle is because when I email it, the second name is getting stripped by Amazon's processing/server/whatever. I will contact Amazon, but based on past experience they probably won't understand what I'm saying.

However, as @jhowell confirmed, Calibre is stripping the second author's name from the "Author sort" field. Apparently that is just a coincidence and not the root cause of my problem (because Kindle ignores that field), but it is nevertheless an issue.

[Bookstooge]

Originally Posted by A Lurker

As a side note, when I created thes test mobi files with fake names in the "Author sort" field, Calibre generated folders for them with BOTH authors' names.

Previously in this thread when I said that Calibre has created folders using two authors names, multiple people insisted I was wrong -- that will never happen.

Ultimate this is a non-issue. I was just a bit insulted that no one believed me. So here's your proof in the attached photo.

That is really interesting. This is a bit off subject, but could you do a screen shot of the calibre gui of the book's metadata so I could see how you've inputted that?

No worries if you don't feel like it...

[stumped]

Originally Posted by Bookstooge

That is really interesting. This is a bit off subject, but could you do a screen shot of the calibre gui of the book's metadata so I could see how you've inputted that?

No worries if you don't feel like it...

i second that request. I wonder if its a mobi-only bug/feature. I looked through all of my own library and the only case I found was because a comma had been used in place of an ampersand. But my library is 99% epub.

[A Lurker]

Originally Posted by Bookstooge

That is really interesting. This is a bit off subject, but could you do a screen shot of the calibre gui of the book's metadata so I could see how you've inputted that?

Sure, here you go.

Notice that the folder names are based on the fake names in the "Author sort" field, rather than the real names in the "Author(s)" field.

This might explain why the folder names changed for me. Back when Calibre was properly maintaining two author names in the "sort" field, the folders always had two names. Now that Calibre is mysterious dropping the second name from the "sort" field, the folders are also usually dropping the second name. My guess is, once the bug is fixed so that the "sort" metadata maintains both names, my Calibre folders are going to go back to regularly having two names.

I'm also reattaching the snapshot I took earlier to show that my file names typically have both authors as well.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by A Lurker

As a side note, when I created thes test mobi files with fake names in the "Author sort" field, Calibre generated folders for them with BOTH authors' names.

I am assuming that you used the "save to disk" feature to create those folders. Is that the case?