How do you sort Authors

[rjfernandez]

I have been trying to sort my Authors list with no success.
I right click on "Authors" and then "Manage Authors"
I choose to "Sort Authors" and it does it ok at that view, but when I go back, the list of authors is not sorted. It stays the same.
What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

Rodrigo

[chaley]

In the library view, click on the column heading for a column to sort on that column. For example, click on authors to sort on that.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by chaley

In the library view, click on the column heading for a column to sort on that column. For example, click on authors to sort on that.

Clicking column heading for author does not work for me - authors are still not in order. Titles column works, rating, etc works. But authors does not work when clicking on the column heading. BTW, my authors are listed as LN, FN and my titles are listed as LN, dash, series name, series number, book name.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

Clicking column heading for author does not work for me - authors are still not in order. Titles column works, rating, etc works. But authors does not work when clicking on the column heading. BTW, my authors are listed as LN, FN and my titles are listed as LN, dash, series name, series number, book name.

My guess is that you have not set the tweak that controls how the author_sort value is computed from the author's name, or you have not recomputed the author sort values after having set the tweak.

See these two threads for some help.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=102846

and

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99131

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

BTW, my authors are listed as LN, FN and my titles are listed as LN, dash, series name, series number, book name.

You might also want to consider having your book titles more human-readable, and letting calibre's output turn them into what your reader needs (I've got a Sony, so I'm not very up on how other readers list their books). So your authors could be listed as FN, LN, with LN, FN in author_sort, and author, series name, and series number could go into their respective slots, leaving the title as just book name. Then have the output to device assemble the book title (or pseudo-title) the way you've got it, which I assume is the way your device needs it. This can avoid some weird sorting problems because each field to be sorted is limited to a simpler format.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by chaley

My guess is that you have not set the tweak that controls how the author_sort value is computed from the author's name, or you have not recomputed the author sort values after having set the tweak.

See these two threads for some help.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=102846

and

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99131

Thanks so much - I had forgotten all about the author sort field. When I load a book into Calibre I don't go to metadata, I have just been changing the author from FN LN to LN, FN. Since all my authors are in LN, FN the tweek won't help me - sigh. So, I'll spend my Sunday going into the metadata field for all my books

Thanks for the answer.

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

Thanks so much - I had forgotten all about the author sort field. When I load a book into Calibre I don't go to metadata, I have just been changing the author from FN LN to LN, FN. Since all my authors are in LN, FN the tweek won't help me - sigh. So, I'll spend my Sunday going into the metadata field for all my books

Thanks for the answer.

Well, you're wrong, it would help you. Set it to "copy" and put LN, FN in your author field and your authors will be sorted the way you expect them to be.

[itimpi]

You can still make use of the tweak. Set it to be the way you want, and then find the author(s) in the the category dialog and go into manage authors mode. You can then use the option to recompute the author sort fields.

[peaceridge]

Thanks Manichean and itimpi. That didn't occur to me - I'll give it a try.