Grouping by first letter of first name rather than last name

[Dopedangel]

Is it possible for the letter groupings to be of the first name instead of last name.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Is it possible for the letter groupings to be of the first name instead of last name.

The first letter for the author group is taken from calibre's author sort. If you enter and sort authors in calibre as first-name last-name then CC will group by the first letter of the first name.

There is an implicit assumption in CC that the sort value begins with the first letter. If this were not true then some sorts would produce lists in the wrong order. So no, CC can't separate these two values.

[eschwartz]

Shouldn't a plugboard work as well?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Shouldn't a plugboard work as well?

Nope. CC does not use the metadata inside a book, instead using calibre's metadata as it exists in calibre's db.

[Terisa de morgan]

If I have a custom column called Initial (don't ask), could it be used for this grouping?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

If I have a custom column called Initial (don't ask), could it be used for this grouping?

No. CC's database is built around the fact that the sort value either comes from calibre (author sort, title sort, series sort) or is identical to the column contents. There is no way to specify that column A is sorted by column B. Couple that with the other CC assumption, that sorting on the sort value will give you the same first-letter order as sorting on the first letter, and options like alternate first letter specifications aren't feasible.

You could of course add "Initial" to the grouping drawer if that solves any problem for you. I would probably turn off first letters for that group.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by chaley

No. CC's database is built around the fact that the sort value either comes from calibre (author sort, title sort, series sort) or is identical to the column contents. There is no way to specify that column A is sorted by column B. Couple that with the other CC assumption, that sorting on the sort value will give you the same first-letter order as sorting on the first letter, and options like alternate first letter specifications aren't feasible.

You could of course add "Initial" to the grouping drawer if that solves any problem for you. I would probably turn off first letters for that group.

No, I use it for another totally different goal, and I don't show even in CC, but it was mainly curiosity.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by chaley

Nope. CC does not use the metadata inside a book, instead using calibre's metadata as it exists in calibre's db.

Ah. I only use a Kindle, which gets all its metadata from inside the book, but I thought metadata plugboards would redefine the metadata through whichever vector it gets sent to the device.