Changing from author first, last to last, first

[bobwal]

just got my kindle and got calibre too. transferred some books to the kindle before i realized that the kindle was doing the authors sort based on first name.
so i went back to calibre and changed the authors names to the way i want them i.e. ln,fn.

what do i do now?

can i hook up my kindle and change the authors names info via calibre without having to transfer all of the books again? (just the authors name data)

hope i have made sense of this, still pretty new to the software and kindle.

thanks

[ViktorShchedrin]

i need advice if possible.

i have authors with the Calibre library - books added already - a lot - as - example -

Isaac Asimov and Asimov Isaac and Asimov, Isaac

otherwords "FN LN" and "LN FB" and "LN, FN" in the same library.

i would like to change all authors as Asimov, Isaac = LN, FN

is it possible RegEx or other way to change authors which are
"FN LN" and "LN FN" to "LN, FN" ?

i thinking it would be possible by edit metadata in bulk -> search and replace -> but i can't create RegEx cause i can't understand how to avoid space in case "LN, FN" existed.

Thank you.

[Manichean]

Just do two s&r passes.

[ViktorShchedrin]

Originally Posted by Manichean

Just do two s&r passes.

many thanks your suggestion, got it! first removed the spaces between ie transformed "LN, FN" to "LN,FN", and then "FN LN" -> "LN,FN" and finally "LN,FN" -> "LN, FN"

[Jason_54]

I'm trying (for a while) to get the LF, FN in both fields (Author(s) and Author sort). Until now I've used the copy invert method (the standard) and after adding a book I copied manually the correct author_sort (LF, FN) to the field Author(s).
The discussion above inspired me to try it again: I've changed the method to 'copy', but it doesn't seem te have any effect (I restarted Calibre). An example:
My author(s) name is Child, Lee. When I press the button right below the author(s) the field Author sort shows Lee, Child, (including the comma at the end) and turns green? If I change the tweak to 'invert' exactly the same happens.
What am I doing wrong?

By the way: "There is a button in the manage_authors dialog box" ... Ik can't find this box (I right clicked every possible item)? Is it part of the 'edit metadata bulk' (I see a checkbox there for the author sort field)?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Jason_54

I'm trying (for a while) to get the LF, FN in both fields (Author(s) and Author sort). Until now I've used the copy invert method (the standard) and after adding a book I copied manually the correct author_sort (LF, FN) to the field Author(s).
The discussion above inspired me to try it again: I've changed the method to 'copy', but it doesn't seem te have any effect (I restarted Calibre). An example:
My author(s) name is Child, Lee. When I press the button right below the author(s) the field Author sort shows Lee, Child, (including the comma at the end) and turns green? If I change the tweak to 'invert' exactly the same happens.
What am I doing wrong?

By the way: "There is a button in the manage_authors dialog box" ... Ik can't find this box (I right clicked every possible item)? Is it part of the 'edit metadata bulk' (I see a checkbox there for the author sort field)?

Another place to *fix* authors after a Bulk input is the Tag Editor (Authors section ), Just right click and rename to the correct order (it will merge these with any existing )

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by Jason_54

I'm trying (for a while) to get the LF, FN in both fields (Author(s) and Author sort). Until now I've used the copy invert method (the standard) and after adding a book I copied manually the correct author_sort (LF, FN) to the field Author(s).
The discussion above inspired me to try it again: I've changed the method to 'copy', but it doesn't seem te have any effect (I restarted Calibre). An example:
My author(s) name is Child, Lee. When I press the button right below the author(s) the field Author sort shows Lee, Child, (including the comma at the end) and turns green? If I change the tweak to 'invert' exactly the same happens.
What am I doing wrong?

Just setting the tweak to copy won't change anything in your metadata, you'll need to initiate that change manually. However, if it is set to copy, everything is configured correctly.

By the way: "There is a button in the manage_authors dialog box" ... Ik can't find this box (I right clicked every possible item)? Is it part of the 'edit metadata bulk' (I see a checkbox there for the author sort field)?

This only works if your author fields already contain LN, FN. You can find the manage authors dialog by right-clicking on the authors category in the tag browser. In the dialog, tell Calibre to recalculate the author_sort values, that should do the trick for you.

[Jason_54]

Thanxs for your reactions! I finally found the Tag browser. It just was turned of ...
I'm going to do the trick!

[ackleybj]

Kiwidude, I found this thread & fixed the author sort to copy as per your 12-01-10 post. Thought I was home free until I read about tweaking each author under Manage Authors in the tag viewer. Fortunately I saw the Recalculate all author sort values before I had even read down to chaley's post & that cleaned it up beautifully. Since I got the author the way I want in the author name, I don't have to worry about things like MD or Jr at the end being misconstrued as the last name. Thanks for all your help today.

[kiwidude]

@acklebj - brilliant, glad you got it sorted.