[Old thread] Book Sort Order Messed Up

[russdyer]

Why is it when I sort by Author, the books are listed in Z-A order by Author instead of A-Z?? Is there a way to fix this??

As an example, if I sort by Author and look at Dan Brown, it shows:

Lost Symbol
Digital Fortress
Deception Point
Angels & Demons
Da Vinci Code

Instead of:

Angels & Demons
Da Vinci Code
Deception Point
Digital Fortress
Lost Symbol

And actually, it isn't even in reverse Z-A order as Da Vinci Code is at the end after Angels & Demons.

Does this have anything to do with Metadata information from Calibre?? Is there something I can do to fix this??

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by russdyer

Why is it when I sort by Author, the books are listed in Z-A order by Author instead of A-Z?? Is there a way to fix this??

Click the Author column header to switch from A-Z sorting to Z-A sorting and back. The sort order is controlled by the author_sort field, which you can see when you edit metadata (point to a book and press "e").

The book title sort order is sorted the same way, except there is no title_sort field you can access. It can be reversed from ascending to descending sort order, and it has a built in ignore on indefinite articles, like "a", "an", "the", etc., so "The King" sorts under "K".

[russdyer]

I am actually speaking about how that relates to the Kindle. The sort order is fine in Calibre. When looking at the Kindle list, that is where my complaint is. When I sort by Author name in the Kindle, the Book order by Author is not in A-Z and was wondering how to fix this.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by russdyer

I am actually speaking about how that relates to the Kindle. The sort order is fine in Calibre. When looking at the Kindle list, that is where my complaint is. When I sort by Author name in the Kindle, the Book order by Author is not in A-Z and was wondering how to fix this.

There are so many different e-readers, you need to specify which one, when asking questions about what you see on your reader. I don't have a Kindle, so can't help much, but IIRC, Calibre sends books to devices and/or disk according to the sort order (and possibly selection order) in Calibre. Have you tried deleting the problem books from your device, sorting them correctly in Calibre, selecting them carefully from top to bottom and then resending?

You may also have to get the internally stored metadata correct, depending on format and your device.

[.rob.]

I don't own a Kindle, I've got a jetBook, but from playing around with the Calibre system a lot, try going into the preferences and looking for something that refers to the output format in regards to the ACTUAL FILE NAME. Also, did you set calibre to the correct version of your kindle? (also found in the preferences)

Not sure if that'll do it for you, but for the jB, it sorts by FULL file name for certain file formats, so,,, let me know (for curiosity's sake)

[.rob.]

Originally Posted by russdyer

Why is it when I sort by Author, the books are listed in Z-A order by Author instead of A-Z?? Is there a way to fix this??

As an example, if I sort by Author and look at Dan Brown, it shows:

Lost Symbol
Digital Fortress
Deception Point
Angels & Demons
Da Vinci Code

Instead of:

Angels & Demons
Da Vinci Code
Deception Point
Digital Fortress
Lost Symbol

And actually, it isn't even in reverse Z-A order as Da Vinci Code is at the end after Angels & Demons.

Does this have anything to do with Metadata information from Calibre?? Is there something I can do to fix this??

I don't know all of Dan Brown's books, but is that in publication order?

[GRiker]

To control sort order on Kindle:
In calibre:

• Preferences|Conversion|MOBI|Use author_sort for author should be checked
• In metadata, author_sort should be last, first

On the Kindle:

• Show Books or All My Items
• Sort by Author

If you're seeing things Z-A, you might have sorting by Most Recent First selected.

G

[russdyer]

Okay. I think .rob was onto something with the Publication Dates. I have run two examples (Dan Brown and James Patterson) looking at the Publication Dates. The Kindle is first sorting by Author then by Books in Publication Date order (Newest to Oldest).

How can I make it sort by Author --> then Book Title (instead of by Publication Date)?

In the Kindle, I am sorting Books and then by Author. I am not sorting by Most Recent First but by Author.

Is this a Calibre thing that needs to be set first?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by russdyer

Okay. I think .rob was onto something with the Publication Dates. I have run two examples (Dan Brown and James Patterson) looking at the Publication Dates. The Kindle is first sorting by Author then by Books in Publication Date order (Newest to Oldest).

How can I make it sort by Author --> then Book Title (instead of by Publication Date)?

In the Kindle, I am sorting Books and then by Author. I am not sorting by Most Recent First but by Author.

Is this a Calibre thing that needs to be set first?

Calibre has control over the publication date. Try changing it (edit metadata screen) , delete the book from the Kindle and reload it.

[russdyer]

Should I really need to make up Publication Dates for the Kindle to sort properly. I deleted files from Kindle and reloaded to no avail. Still sorting by Publication Date. Do I have to manually make up Publication Dates to fix?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by russdyer

Should I really need to make up Publication Dates for the Kindle to sort properly. I deleted files from Kindle and reloaded to no avail. Still sorting by Publication Date. Do I have to manually make up Publication Dates to fix?

I suppose it's up to those who know the Kindle to advise you. You posted that you have the sort order set to book, then author, and if all your books are by the same author, you need a third level sort. Why not set the order to author, then book (I assume "book" means "title). Wouldn't that fix it?

[russdyer]

No, I am not setting up and sort orders. The Kindle only lets you sort by either Book Title or Author Name. I am choosing the Author Name. But it seems the Metadata from Calibre is messing up the Sorting. As an example when I sort by Author and with the example of Dan Brown, I get the following:

Lost Symbol (published Sept 2010)
Digital Fortress (published April 2004)
Deception Point (published September 2003)
Angels & Demons (published July 2003)
Da Vinci Code (published April 2003)

instead of being sorted A-Z. Just weird.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by russdyer

instead of being sorted A-Z. Just weird.

GRiker will be around to comment. I believe he knows the Kindle well enough to explain what's going on.

[GRiker]

Here's what I've learned about how the Kindle sorts books:

• You have three sorting choices on the Kindle: Most Recent First, Title and Author. The choice is made in the Home screen by toggling up, then right.
• Most Recent First sorts by the date the book was added to the Kindle, or the last time you opened it. It's in reverse chronological order. A book added at 3:01 will be shown before a book added at 3:00, regardless of Title or Author.
• Title sorts by the title as shown in the Home screen.
• Author sorts by the author, but this is not as straightforward as the first two options. I'm assuming that you have used Send to device in calibre to copy the book to the Kindle.
• If Preferences|Conversion|MOBI|Use author sort for author is checked, then calibre uses author_sort in the copy of the book sent to the Kindle. If it is not checked, author is used.
• Author/author_sort values of 'John Smith' and 'Smith, John' will both display on the Kindle Home page as 'John Smith', but sort according to the actual author value.
• If there is more than one book by an author, and the author/author_sort fields are identical for those books, the Kindle does not do a secondary sort on Title as one might reasonably expect. I haven't explored this deeply, but my sense is that the order within an author is random, and not based upon any other metadata like pubdate. This is annoying.
• Using a calibre-generated catalog is a much more pleasant way to browse your books on the Kindle, as all of these sorting issues are handled much more intelligently.

G

[russdyer]

GRiker,

Thank you for the info. However, how do I go about using/setting up a Calibre-Generated Catalog so these issues can be resolved?