Author alphabetized incorrectly after export?

[DavidK44]

Hello,

Relatively new to Calibre, and I've encountered a problem. I decided to use Calibre as the main holding area for all of my ebooks. I've put a number of books into Calibre from various sources, and then sent them to my iPad, using either iBooks or Marvin on the iPad.

In both apps, the books are being sorted by the author's first name, then last (Jane Austen is with the J's and Aldous Huxley with the A's). They look okay in Calibre, as far as I can tell. Since it's occurring with both apps, I suspect I've reversed a setting somewhere. Any idea as to which, and is there a way to fix it in bulk?

Any help is appreciated!

[theducks]

use {author_sort} instead of {authors} in your send template

delrte and send again is the only fix. Note this will be treated as a NEW book and bookmarks, progress and annotations go poof

[DavidK44]

Originally Posted by theducks

use {author_sort} instead of {authors} in your send template

delrte and send again is the only fix. Note this will be treated as a NEW book and bookmarks, progress and annotations go poof

Thanks for the quick response. If by 'send template' you mean the Sending Books To Devices in the Import/Export pane of the Preferences, then it was already set to {author_sort} as the first term. To be sure, I deleted a few books on the iPad in Marvin, changed the Calibre preferences to either {authors} or {author_sort}, and tried re-sending the books under either variation. No luck - no matter the term, Marvin still put them in the wrong spot. Even tried closing and restarting Marvin and Calibre after preference changes, with no effect.

[HarryT]

Do you have "author sort" set correctly in Calibre? E.g. If you look at the metadata for a book by Jane Austen, does it show as "Austen, Jane"?

[dwig]

Originally Posted by DavidK44

Thanks for the quick response. If by 'send template' you mean the Sending Books To Devices in the Import/Export pane of the Preferences, then it was already set to {author_sort} as the first term. To be sure, I deleted a few books on the iPad in Marvin, changed the Calibre preferences to either {authors} or {author_sort}, and tried re-sending the books under either variation. No luck - no matter the term, Marvin still put them in the wrong spot. Even tried closing and restarting Marvin and Calibre after preference changes, with no effect.

The template in Preferences>Sending Books to Devices affects the filename and optionally the folder name used for the saved book. It does not alter the book's internal metadata.

If the reading apps are using the metadata fields for title and author, rather than using the filenames, then you need to use a Plugboard, which is set in Preferences>Plugboards. These alter the metadata inside the exported copy of the book.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you have "author sort" set correctly in Calibre? E.g. If you look at the metadata for a book by Jane Austen, does it show as "Austen, Jane"?

To expand on this
Get the quality check Plugin
it has tests (among many others ) for author sort, title sort, so you can know which need attention
This (QCpi) is one of the most useful tools to wrangle your metadata into a consistent corral

[DavidK44]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you have "author sort" set correctly in Calibre? E.g. If you look at the metadata for a book by Jane Austen, does it show as "Austen, Jane"?

Thanks for the reply. Yes, the author sort field does show it as Last Name, First Name.

[DavidK44]

Originally Posted by theducks

To expand on this
Get the quality check Plugin
it has tests (among many others ) for author sort, title sort, so you can know which need attention
This (QCpi) is one of the most useful tools to wrangle your metadata into a consistent corral

Ah, QCpi seems to have done something to help. After installing the plugin, I ran the Fix option to Swap author FN LN <-> LN, FN. When I re-sent a few to the iPad, they showed up in the proper place.

Looks like I need to delete my Marvin and iBooks libraries and set them up again, after running the plugin on the full set of books. I'll probably use the Quality Control plugin to check my Calibre database before that for other issues, too.

Much thanks!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DavidK44

Ah, QCpi seems to have done something to help. After installing the plugin, I ran the Fix option to Swap author FN LN <-> LN, FN. When I re-sent a few to the iPad, they showed up in the proper place.

That would suggest that the book is being sent with the author field, not author_sort.