how does sorting work in koreader?

[Gaqs]

Something has been annoying me and I haven't found a solution yet, since I switched to KOReader, I can't figure out how to sort my books so that they are sorted by author and then by volume order. As things are, some of my books are properly sorted (let's say, from volume 4 to 10 they're sorted correctly), but then other volumes are sorted in the incorrect order (like, 1,3,11,12,2), or be cut off by single books that aren't in a series.

I've been editing the calibre metadata to try and edit things to see if things change and I've tried sorting by filename, filename natural and by name.

I'm guessing there's some specific calibre option to sort things correctly in koreader that I haven't figured out, so if someone could explain to me what to do I'd be grateful.

[NiLuJe]

What's the exact naming scheme used for volumes?

For best results, the volume number should either be at the start of the filename, or at the *exact* same place after the *exact* same "prefix".
And numbers need to be zero-padded unless you switch to natural sorting.

Metadata *never* enters the equation (at runtime, at least; with calibre it will just dictate how calibre will name the file on device on send), everything is based on the filename (and/or file timestamps for time-based sorts).

[Gaqs]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

What's the exact naming scheme used for volumes?

For best results, the volume number should either be at the start of the filename, or at the *exact* same place after the *exact* same "prefix".
And numbers need to be zero-padded unless you switch to natural sorting.

Metadata *never* enters the equation (at runtime, at least; with calibre it will just dictate how calibre will name the file on device on send), everything is based on the filename (and/or file timestamps for time-based sorts).

In koreader at least, on the "detailed list with cover images and metadata" display mode they show up like this:

[volume] - Booktitle

In fact, I'd like to remove these numbers from the titles somehow so that they can be sorted without having the number at the start. They're for sorting in the kindle reader I imagine, and they worked there.

That being said, I changed the display mode to "classic(filename only)" and the naming scheme just changes from series to series kind of, they're mostly like this:

Booktitle, (volume, subtitle or both separated by"_") - Author (some number)

not sure if that makes sense but they're not using any uniform format. I imagine the ones that showed up are the "book title" rather than the filename.

I'm guessing this is the problem then? How do I change the filename from calibre so that it sorts correctly on koreader? And how does each sorting method work on koreader(I think only filename, natural and name/mixed matter for this case).

Thanks.

[Frenzie]

Originally Posted by Gaqs

Booktitle, (volume, subtitle or both separated by"_") - Author (some number)

That'll be the filename that's used for the actual sorting. Seems a bit backwards to me (quite literally, should be something closer to author - series - volume - title).

[Gaqs]

Originally Posted by Frenzie

That'll be the filename that's used for the actual sorting. Seems a bit backwards to me (quite literally, should be something closer to author - series - volume - title).

I see, indeed it is quite backwards, I looked through my calibre folders, and it seems to be using the exact same names as the ones that are saved on calibre.

How would I go about changing that? I've tried googling how to change the filenames through calibre and apparently you can use "templates", however I went through the preferences menu and it SHOULD be using the template "{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}" I think, instead it's just using the filename that is saved on calibre.

I'm trying to figure out how to make it work, but if you know what I'm doing wrong I'd be glad to hear.

[Frenzie]

Iirc there's some kind of send to device menu somewhere. @NiLuJe should probably know.

[Gaqs]

Originally Posted by Frenzie

Iirc there's some kind of send to device menu somewhere. @NiLuJe should probably know.

EDIT: I just went through this again and it actually DOES NOT WORK. Please disregard the part where I say this worked. I'm not sure why I thought it worked, but when I downloaded my whole library all the filenames followed the format:

Book Name - Author Name (number)

Seems like koreader just disregards the calibre filename template when using the wireless connection transfer mode. Not sure how to change this or a transfer method that doesn't ignore the template.

Disregard the following
I believe I figured it out, for some reason using the "/" character just made the templates I was using not work at all, so it was just defaulting to the calibre filename or something, when I stopped trying to use these the template worked.

I ended arriving at this template for personal use.

{author}{series:| - | }{series_index} - {title}

It's been working ok so far, now I the filename works for sorting while the display mode shows the book title with no "header" numbers.

Thanks for the help.

[Gaqs]

After some more testing I just found no way to save the filenames in the way I want through calibre. The template option on calibre seems to only work when saving to disk, and according to the internet when using usb connection, but you can't do usb connection on a kindle with koreader. When sending books to device it seems to follow the same format not matter the template, I don't know if this is a problem with koreader, calibre or with what I'm doing.

If anyone knows the solution to this problem please share, thanks.

[Jellby]

Are you sure you're using the "send to device" template, and not the "save to disk" template?

[Frenzie]

Preferences → Sending books to devices → Save template

(Distinct from Preferences → Saving books to disk → Save template)

[Gaqs]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Are you sure you're using the "send to device" template, and not the "save to disk" template?

Yes, I'm 100% sure of that. I used save to disk to test my templates to see if the filenames were how I wanted, then I copied the template to the send to device option.

Originally Posted by Frenzie

Preferences → Sending books to devices → Save template

(Distinct from Preferences → Saving books to disk → Save template)

I'm aware, I added a screenshot of the window on my device to show I'm using the right one, I don't think there's any syntax error since the same template works on save to disk.

[NiLuJe]

Assuming you *are* actually using "Send to Device", that should take. I don't recall if those might not be device-specific, and it's been ages since I've used the Kindle driver, so, do check its settings with the right device connected, too.

(Note that this obviously only applies to newly sent books).

In any case, definitely a calibre setup issue .

[Gaqs]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Assuming you *are* actually using "Send to Device", that should take. I don't recall if those might not be device-specific, and it's been ages since I've used the Kindle driver, so, do check its settings with the right device connected, too.

(Note that this obviously only applies to newly sent books).

In any case, definitely a calibre setup issue .

I decided to download koreader on my android tablet to test this out, and the results are the same there, the format is always Book title - Author(some number) even on that device.

I have to note that I'm using "wireless device communication" option, which gives me the "Send to Device" button when it's connected. I think this is the only way to connect to calibre that lets you search by metadata, but if there's another option for me to try please let me know.

Could you elaborate on what settings I need to look at? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

[Gaqs]

I decided to record a video to show the behavior exactly. Sorry for the low quality and shaky camera, I just used my crappy smartphone.

The template I used in the video is:

{author}{series:| - | }{series_index} - {title}

As you can see the resulting filename is not in line with the template, I even tried just making the template the word "test" with no fields so all the books would have the same name but the result is always the same:

Book name - Author(some number)

[NiLuJe]

Aha! That's the bit of info we were missing: the smart device driver is a special snowflake .

xref: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/9284