Bulk changing author names to author sort in tag browser

[AussieTupp]

Hi, I'd like to show my authors FN, LN alphabetically, i.e.:

Alan Bradley
Alan Cumming
Alan Furst
Alan Gold
Alan Jacobson
Alan Sillitoe

etc. In other words, have "Author" and "Author Sort" exactly the same. I've had a look at Preferences, Tweaks and I'm not sure what/how to tweak there.

I've also popped into the "Authors" list in the tag browser and have been individually editing the sort for each author by right-clicking on a name then clicking "Copy to author sort" and that does the job beautifully.

However, I have a total of 1322 authors and the thought of 2644 mouse clicks is a little daunting. Is there a quick work-around that I've missed please? Any help greatly appreciated.

[BetterRed]

Go to Manage Authors and click Recalculate all author sort values

Reset all the author sort values to a value automatically generated from the author. Exactly how this value is automatically generated can be controlled via Preferences->Advanced->Tweaks->Author sort name algorithm

Manage Authors can be accessed via the context menu when you right click an Author name in Tag Browser or Book Details, or via the Alter Tag Browser button at bottom of Tag Browser

BR

[AussieTupp]

Hi BetterRed and thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

I'm really, really, really dumb when it comes to programming/algorithms, etc (mind you, I can spell anything you throw at me!).

Here's the "Author sort name algorithm" in the Tweaks:

author_sort_copy_method = 'comma'

author_name_suffixes = ('Jr', 'Sr', 'Inc', 'Ph.D', 'Phd', 'MD', 'M.D', 'I', 'II', 'III', 'IV', 'Junior', 'Senior')

author_name_prefixes = ('Mr', 'Mrs', 'Ms', 'Dr', 'Prof')

author_name_copywords = ('Corporation', 'Company', 'Co.', 'Agency', 'Council', 'Committee', 'Inc.', 'Institute', 'Society', 'Club', 'Team')

How/where exactly do I show "fn ln" -> "fn ln" in it, or "nocomma" etc. I don't dare press "Recalculate all author sort values". In fact, what I'd love those buttons to read, especially bottom right, is "Copy all author values to author sort" and the job would be done!

Thanks again ....

[BetterRed]

From the tweak

The algorithm used to copy author to author_sort

Possible values are:


invert.....: use "fn ln" -> "ln, fn"
copy.......: copy author to author_sort without modification
comma......: use 'copy' if there is a ',' in the name, otherwise use 'invert'
nocomma....: "fn ln" -> "ln fn" (without the comma)

When this tweak is changed, the author_sort values stored with each author must be recomputed by right-clicking on an author in the left-hand tags pane, selecting 'manage authors', and pressing 'Recalculate all author sort values'.

The author name suffixes are words that are ignored when they occur at the end of an author name. The case of the suffix is ignored and trailing periods are automatically handled. The same is true for prefixes.

The author name copy words are a set of words which if they occur in an author name cause the automatically generated author sort string to be identical to the author name. This means that the sort for a string like Acme Inc. will be Acme Inc. instead of Inc., Acme

From what you written I suspect you need to have copy in author_sort_copy_method, but if that doesn't produce the result you want, try the other values and redo the Recalculate all....

If you're concerned you might lose what you've already done then before doing anything take a backup of your library, and make sure you know how to do a restore from it.

BR

[AussieTupp]

Thanks ... I'll give all that a go. Really appreciate your time.

Speaking of time, it's 4:58 p.m. Down Under!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by AussieTupp

Speaking of time, it's 4:58 p.m. Down Under!

I don't care about the time, just that it is 36ºC. And I don't think it will get below 30ºC tonight.

[AussieTupp]

Yuk - Your weather up there has been horrible lately. We're lucky that we've avoided too much in the way of superhot heat waves this summer. Mind you, we have a fair whack of humidity at the moment, and I KNOW it's nothing like yours!

Keep the fluids up! Try to smile ...