Several columns sharing same set of author names?

[284984]

In addition to my authors column I also use a translator, editor and contributor custom column. There's some overlap between the four, and ideally I'd them all to use the same master list of authors for auto-complete. Is this possible?

[kovidgoyal]

No, columns cannot share auto-complete lists as they are built based on existing values in the column.

[fidvo]

A possible workaround is to set up a single hierarchical tag-like column to store the contributors. So you would have entries like "Illustrator.Smith, John" in it.

There are three drawbacks. First, you would still have to keep the authors in the Authors column, so you would either have to do double entry (also keep the authors in the Contributors column) or maintain the list of authors separate from the other contributors.

Second, the "contains names" option for tag-like columns is incompatible with a hierarchical field. You can still enter names in the column; you just can't have Calibre treat them as names.

Third, you would have to remember to exclude periods from the names. e.g. Tolkien, JRR instead of Tolkien, J.R.R.

I use a system like this in my Media library to store info about the cast and crew of movies, mainly because I tend to go overboard with custom columns and like to merge them into hierarchies to keep the number of fields down. I'm willing to live with the drawbacks (especially since the concept of an "Author" of a movie is rather vague), but you might not be. I just present it here as an idea in case you want to use it.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by fidvo

A possible workaround is to set up a single hierarchical tag-like column to store the contributors. So you would have entries like "Illustrator.Smith, John" in it.

good idea

I'm wondering if the Contributors column could be composed via a template (Column built from other columns, behaves like tags) that took the values from the Illustrator, Translator, Editor etc. The would eliminate the double entry.

BR