Author sort by surname in Kindle?

LeabharOm · 12-27-2012, 04:40 PM

Hi all. Apologies in advance if there is a blindingly obvious solution to this issue but I'm at my wits end here

What I'm trying to do is use Calibre to transfer ebooks from my PC to my Kindle 4 in such a way that the Kindle can sort by author surname (while ideally still displaying FirstName, Lastname). Currently the Kindle will only sort by first name

Now I've had a look through the site already. So I've used Calibre to set the author sort in the metadata to LastName, FirstName (which works fine in Calibre) and I've converted the files to .mobi (being sure to check 'Use author sort for author' box). But this doesn't appear to work: when I transfer to my Kindle it still sorts the files by first name. So 'Albert Camus' before 'Mikhail Bukgakov', etc

So does anyone have any advice? Am I missing something obvious or is there some way I can figure out what's going wrong?

Sabardeyn · 12-27-2012, 11:00 PM

I cannot give you details as I'm not sure of the exact steps you need to perform. However, so far you've altered how calibre deals with it's own internal information. Not how calibre exports information.

You are going to need to look at the Send to Disk, or Send to Device output in the Preferences. Something in the output rules needs to be changed to produce the expected output. Since I'm reading ebooks on my PC, I cannot advise you further. Take a look through the Calibre User Manual for more information.

If that doesn't work you might have to create a custom Template or Plugboard; which are advanced features - but I think that should not be necessary.

medard · 12-27-2012, 11:03 PM

Just set the same as: Surname, Firstname in Calibre.

You'll get the names sorted by Surname at your Kindle and displayed as Firstname Surname.

Quite easy, and very elegant..

LeabharOm · 12-28-2012, 04:08 PM

Thanks for the help, both. I finally managed to figure it out. The key seems to be changing 'Metadata management' (Preferences>Sending books to devices) to 'Only on send' or 'Automatic'. Apparently this allows Calibre to update the files' metadata when sending to my Kindle

12-27-2012, 04:40 PM	#1
LeabharOm Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: Kindle	Author sort by surname in Kindle? Hi all. Apologies in advance if there is a blindingly obvious solution to this issue but I'm at my wits end here What I'm trying to do is use Calibre to transfer ebooks from my PC to my Kindle 4 in such a way that the Kindle can sort by author surname (while ideally still displaying FirstName, Lastname). Currently the Kindle will only sort by first name Now I've had a look through the site already. So I've used Calibre to set the author sort in the metadata to LastName, FirstName (which works fine in Calibre) and I've converted the files to .mobi (being sure to check 'Use author sort for author' box). But this doesn't appear to work: when I transfer to my Kindle it still sorts the files by first name. So 'Albert Camus' before 'Mikhail Bukgakov', etc So does anyone have any advice? Am I missing something obvious or is there some way I can figure out what's going wrong?

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12-27-2012, 11:00 PM	#2
Sabardeyn Guru Posts: 644 Karma: 1242364 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Right Coast Device: PC (Calibre), Nexus 7 2013 (Moon+ Pro), HTC HD2/Leo (Freda)	I cannot give you details as I'm not sure of the exact steps you need to perform. However, so far you've altered how calibre deals with it's own internal information. Not how calibre exports information. You are going to need to look at the Send to Disk, or Send to Device output in the Preferences. Something in the output rules needs to be changed to produce the expected output. Since I'm reading ebooks on my PC, I cannot advise you further. Take a look through the Calibre User Manual for more information. If that doesn't work you might have to create a custom Template or Plugboard; which are advanced features - but I think that should not be necessary.

12-27-2012, 11:03 PM	#3
medard Wizard Posts: 1,014 Karma: 5595784 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Electronic Paper	Just set the same as: Surname, Firstname in Calibre. You'll get the names sorted by Surname at your Kindle and displayed as Firstname Surname. Quite easy, and very elegant..

12-28-2012, 04:08 PM	#4
LeabharOm Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: Kindle	Thanks for the help, both. I finally managed to figure it out. The key seems to be changing 'Metadata management' (Preferences>Sending books to devices) to 'Only on send' or 'Automatic'. Apparently this allows Calibre to update the files' metadata when sending to my Kindle