how are ebooks organized on kindle paperwhite?

ChipAHoy · 04-25-2018, 12:46 AM

Is there a rhyme and reason as to how ebooks get sorted on the Kindle? When I view the directories and folders on my Kindle, they seem to be all over the place. It would help me if I knew the rules.

Thanks for any help.

DuckieTigger · 04-25-2018, 06:35 AM

They get sorted alphabetically by title or author depending on selection or by "recent", meaning that the last book that you opened is at the top.

If sorting by author does not look correct, it might be that the author is listed wrong in meta data. Normally the Kindle wants authors listed as "Lastname, Firstname" and display them as "Firstname Lastname". In this case the authors get sorted correctly by last name first, and then by first name. If the metadata has author as "Firstname Lastname," then the Kindle would sort out of the normal order.

The forth option is to sort by "collection" and would show collections first before books without collection. Inside an collection there is recent, author, title as options.

ChipAHoy · 04-25-2018, 10:18 AM

Thanks for the reply. But why are there ebooks that are not in the folder labeled Books, and some ebooks that are not in a folder at all?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

They get sorted alphabetically by title or author depending on selection or by "recent", meaning that the last book that you opened is at the top.

If sorting by author does not look correct, it might be that the author is listed wrong in meta data. Normally the Kindle wants authors listed as "Lastname, Firstname" and display them as "Firstname Lastname". In this case the authors get sorted correctly by last name first, and then by first name. If the metadata has author as "Firstname Lastname," then the Kindle would sort out of the normal order.

The forth option is to sort by "collection" and would show collections first before books without collection. Inside an collection there is recent, author, title as options.

DuckieTigger · 04-26-2018, 01:10 AM

Books by default are not in a folder. Imagine they are just thrown into an empty room. The folders are like book shelves in that room and you can pick up books off the floor and stick them in a book shelf. A little unusual is that a book put in a book shelf disappears from the floor (that is still logical), but you can put the book in multiple book shelves with different names (that is like having multiple copies of the same book, but it is the same book).

patrickt · 04-26-2018, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChipAHoy

Thanks for the reply. But why are there ebooks that are not in the folder labeled Books, and some ebooks that are not in a folder at all?

I have 2,485 books on Amazon's server. When I click on "All" I get all 2,485 books that I acquired from Kindle listed. I don't have books from other sources but I believe they would not be listed.

ChipAHoy · 04-26-2018, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Books by default are not in a folder. Imagine they are just thrown into an empty room. The folders are like book shelves in that room and you can pick up books off the floor and stick them in a book shelf. A little unusual is that a book put in a book shelf disappears from the floor (that is still logical), but you can put the book in multiple book shelves with different names (that is like having multiple copies of the same book, but it is the same book).

Doesn't moving the ebook files around effect their visibility on the Kindle? I can't believe that manually rearranging the files would make it difficult to find them when using the Kindle when I want to open a book.

DuckieTigger · 04-26-2018, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChipAHoy

Doesn't moving the ebook files around effect their visibility on the Kindle? I can't believe that manually rearranging the files would make it difficult to find them when using the Kindle when I want to open a book.

No, physically moving the books around into sub folders changes nothing. Kindle does not make use of the directory structure when displaying books. Sorting them into (multiple) Collections is just a database. That is how the same book can be in different Collections.

DNSB · 04-26-2018, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

No, physically moving the books around into sub folders changes nothing. Kindle does not make use of the directory structure when displaying books. Sorting them into (multiple) Collections is just a database. That is how the same book can be in different Collections.

If you move the book and the database is not updated, how does the Kindle know where the book is?

j.p.s · 04-26-2018, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you move the book and the database is not updated, how does the Kindle know where the book is?

As long as the book is in or below the documents directory, Kindles don't seem to be affected by changes in location or file name.

HLS · 04-28-2018, 08:52 AM

You can organize by recent, by author, and one other category i can not remember what it is

04-25-2018, 12:46 AM	#1
ChipAHoy Thistle Sifter Posts: 187 Karma: 24088 Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: San Diego Device: Kindle Paperwhite	how are ebooks organized on kindle paperwhite? Is there a rhyme and reason as to how ebooks get sorted on the Kindle? When I view the directories and folders on my Kindle, they seem to be all over the place. It would help me if I knew the rules. Thanks for any help.

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04-25-2018, 06:35 AM	#2
DuckieTigger Wizard Posts: 4,742 Karma: 246906703 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: USA Device: Oasis 3, Oasis 2, PW3, PW1, KT	They get sorted alphabetically by title or author depending on selection or by "recent", meaning that the last book that you opened is at the top. If sorting by author does not look correct, it might be that the author is listed wrong in meta data. Normally the Kindle wants authors listed as "Lastname, Firstname" and display them as "Firstname Lastname". In this case the authors get sorted correctly by last name first, and then by first name. If the metadata has author as "Firstname Lastname," then the Kindle would sort out of the normal order. The forth option is to sort by "collection" and would show collections first before books without collection. Inside an collection there is recent, author, title as options.

04-26-2018, 01:10 AM	#4
DuckieTigger Wizard Posts: 4,742 Karma: 246906703 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: USA Device: Oasis 3, Oasis 2, PW3, PW1, KT	Books by default are not in a folder. Imagine they are just thrown into an empty room. The folders are like book shelves in that room and you can pick up books off the floor and stick them in a book shelf. A little unusual is that a book put in a book shelf disappears from the floor (that is still logical), but you can put the book in multiple book shelves with different names (that is like having multiple copies of the same book, but it is the same book).

04-28-2018, 08:52 AM	#10
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,028 Karma: 15107670 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	You can organize by recent, by author, and one other category i can not remember what it is