# Ordering Series in Collections using Calibre



## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

This is a little complicated, but I have discovered a way to make a collection you create for a series appear in order.

(NOTE: You probably will not want to try this if you use the Sync to keep track of where you are in a book on multiple devices. Since you will be changing the Title names, I assume amazon will just assume they are books obtained from another source. You also can't use the books saved in calibre with more than one Kindle, since each one still contains DRM for a specific Kindle.)

I have some screen shots of both my DXG and calibre to show my results. I did this using calibre on my Mac, but I assume you should also be able to do it with the windows version.

1. Make sure you have calibre installed on your computer. If you do not already have it, you can download it from http://calibre-ebook.com/download. There are versions for Windows, Mac and Linux.

2. Start calibre and connect your K2 or DX to your computer using the USB cable that came with your Kindle. It is part of the power cord that you use to charge your Kindle.

3. If this is the first time you have used calibre, it should detect your Kindle and load all your books into calibre. If it does not load them, click the Add Books button in calibre and select the ones you want to load from the Documents folder on your Kindle. You will need to use the Add Books method anyway for subsequent purchases.

4. Find out the correct order of the books in the series. I used http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ for this, but you could probably go to your local bookstore and take a picture of the appropriate page from the latest book in the series.

5. For the first book in the series, select it in calibre and click the Edit meta information button. Click in the Title: field, move to the beginning and add "01. ". Click in the Series: field and enter the name you want to use for the series. Click the OK button.

6. For each of the other books in the series, increase the number at the beginning of the Title: field by one. Use the drop down arrow to select the series name you already created for the first book. Click in the box showing Book 1.00 and it should increase the number to the next higher one for the series. If it doesn't show the correct number, you can click on the up or down arrows to change it. Click on the OK button.

7. After you have finished adding all your books to the series, select them all and then click on the Send to Device button to send them back to your Kindle. The number after Jobs: will increase to 1 on the lower right of the calibre screen. When it changes back to 0, the send it done and they are on your Kindle.

8. Eject your Kindle from your PC. In calibre move your mouse pointer over the Reader icon near the top of the screen and an arrow icon should appear next to it. Click on the arrow to complete the eject. You can also do the ejection using the Finder window on a Mac or the Eject USB on a PC. You can also just unplug the USB cable, but your Mac or PC will give you an error message.

9. Now it is time to create the collection for the series on your Kindle.
A. Use the five way to go to the top of the screen and change the order to Most Recent First to make it easy to find the books you have just added.
B. Use the five way to move to the first book in the series and press the five way to the right.
C. Press on the five way to Add to Collection...
D. Move the cursor to Create New Collection and enter the name you want to use for the collection (I use something like {{Author Name - Series Name}}. The leading {{ makes sure it will appear toward the top of your screen on your Home page.)
E. Move the cursor to Save and press the five way.
F. Move the cursor to Done and press the five way.
G. Either press the five way to the left or press the Home button to return to your Home page.

10. For each of the additional books in the series:
A. Use the five way to move to the book and press the five way to the right.
B. Press on the five way to Add to Collection...
C. Move the cursor to the collection name you created and press the five way to add the book to the collection.
D. Move the cursor to Done and press the five way.
E. Either press the five way to the left or press the Home button to return to your Home page.

11. After you are done you will have two copies of each book on your Kindle, the original Title name and the new Title name. You may want to delete the ones with the original Title names so you don't run out of space on your Kindle.

12. Whether or not you delete the originals, Use the five way to go to the top of your home screen and change the order to By Title.

This is what calibre on the Mac looks like after I have added all my Tom Clancy books to their appropriate series.










This is what my home page looks like on my DXG.










This is what my {{Clancy, Tom - Jack Ryan}} collection looks like on my DXG.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

If you're using Calibre to edit the metadata, a quick way to make books by the same author appear in the order you want (when sorted by author) is by changing the published date. The Kindle will display the latest date first so change them so that book 1 has the latest date and then each book through the sequence has an earlier date from the one before.


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## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

I figured there had to be something simpler than what I was doing.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

Linkjeakel - I was going to mention that as well.  LuvMyBrats had posted this information a while ago and I have been using it to order my various books that are series.  It has worked out quite well.  Now, I organize my collections by series and when I open the series up - all the books are in order starting with #1 - #X.

It has made life a lot easier and I don't have to constantly look up which book is next.  Try it Bruce and see if it works for you or at least until Calibre has a way to move the series over to the Kindle in the order they should be based on the 1, 2, etc.  I think there is a ticket opened on this but not sure.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I was wondering about something. I had read luvmybrats instructions on how to deal with series in calibre and started to make the changes. I have 1300 books in calibre and a lot of them are series so it will take a while. So I tested it and when I finished with the A's I send it to my Kindle, the newly edited ones. 

I found that when I first sort them by author they show up correctly, once I go to other pages and go back, they sort the exact opposite way with the last in the series first and the first last. When I then go and turn on Whispernet it sorts it back to correct, first in series first and so on. 

I can't figure out why it does that. I can't have whispernet on all the time as I have a K1 and it eats the battery very very fast. 

I also had another issue with having more then one series by the same author. I used the system by year, each series used different months in a different year to seperate them. I only edited the published date. When I went to check on the order on the Kindle, same problem again once WN is off and also some series were mixed in with others. I double checked the published dates and it was all correctly edited. I was and still am baffled. So I went ahead and matched the regular date to the published date and that worked with not having series mixed with each other but I still have the issue with the opposite sorting depending on if WN is on or off. 

Now I have a K1 so I don't deal with collections and I thought this would make it much easier for me with having 103 pages off books to at least have the series by authors in order. I guess they are still in order even with the last one in series being first, but I prefer it the other way around. 

Could it be because I use a K1? Anyone else run into that? 

I stopped with the edited at the F's for now, so many more to go


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I believe any function that uses the time or date can be thrown out by the clock on the Kindle not being correct or up to date. That is why turning the wireless on solves the problem - the Kindle is able to update it's internal date/time from the Amazon server. That would be my guess as to the likely reason for the problem. Fortunately, on a K2 or a DX leaving the wireless on doesn't run down the battery too quickly unlesss you're in a very bad reception area, but I have no experience of a K1.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I believe any function that uses the time or date can be thrown out by the clock on the Kindle not being correct or up to date. That is why turning the wireless on solves the problem - the Kindle is able to update it's internal date/time from the Amazon server. That would be my guess as to the likely reason for the problem. Fortunately, on a K2 or a DX leaving the wireless on doesn't run down the battery too quickly unlesss you're in a very bad reception area, but I have no experience of a K1.


So the correct sorting only works when Wn is turned on? Even on a K2. I tested this on my K1 and turned WN on and off several times in the same hour. Always same result. The clock is off as soon as I turn off WN? It won't even keep it for 5 minutes correct? Oh well, its still better than before as far as sorting, at least I have the titles in the series together even if they are upside down. I am planning on buying a new K2, or K3 once we know what it will be. I want that new screen. But I still don't want to have WN on all the time. But at least I will have collections then so it will be a bit more contained. I know though that the upside down order will annoy me to no end lol


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

No, the clock is accurate, generally, with W/N off.  BUT, if you have to reboot or something and haven't turned on WN since doing so, it is very likely the clock will have sort of reset itself to Jan 1 1970 or something.  And if you've opened books in the mean time, the bits that tell what's most recent might be off. . . . .that's why your order can end up upside down.


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## lovesangelrn (Dec 28, 2009)

In addition, I've found that the metadata for publish date doesn't overwrite correctly if a book is already in a collection.  Simply remove the book from the collection, and then put it back in.  Then when you sort books via author in collections, they should be in order....at least I haven't noticed any issues (but then again, I don't have alot of series collections)


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Hmmm. I didn't have a reboot though, my test happened within minutes of each other, or seconds. All I did was change sorting from author to recent and back and the order was upside down. Then turn on WN and its back to normal. Turn off WN, change sorting a couple of times and its back upside down.  

lovesangelrn, I don't have collections, yet that is. I still am using a K1. I'll keep that in mind though once I move on up in the kindle world


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Wow, I can't believe I'm finding out about the date sorting just now!    What rock have I been living under?!


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

You do need to remove the original book when you change any of the metadata through calibre.  The developer (Kovid) said that was the best and cleanest thing to do when I asked him a few months ago, when Calibre started being able to edit the Titles and Authors.


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## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

All I know is I tried it multiple ways:

1. Just add the books to a series in calibre and increase the number of the book for each one in the box below series. I tried just transferring the books back to the DXG both first deleting the books and without deleting the books. Either one showed the books in reverse order after the transfer.

2. I also tried changing the dates in calibre, but many authors write books for multiple series at the same time. I still didn't have them appear in the correct order that way either in the collection.

I suppose you could either change the century for each series and that might work.

I also thought about using something like notepad with the books in each series for an author shown in the correct order. If you transferred that to the kindle as well and included it in each series that would should give you a file you could open on the kindle to find out the correct order.

For now I think I will continue to use the method I described. I plan on giving my K1 to one of my nephews and K2 to the other. I plan to leave them on my amazon account for now. If I leave synchronization turned on, I assume that would lose their place if they are reading the same book.

At least I can always change to another method if I find a better one.


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## Bonbonlover (Oct 17, 2010)

has anyone figured out a way to keep collection in order that they were written in the series?


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Bonbonlover said:


> has anyone figured out a way to keep collection in order that they were written in the series?


That is luvmy4brats discovery. Edit the metadata in Calibre so that the first book in the series has the latest publication date.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Yep, I saw how luvmy4brats did it and it was right up my obsessive alley. Its all her fault I sat there for hours and hours editing meta on 1500 books  
You just have to go backwards in the published date. So the first series by the author I used 2010 and for the 1st in the series I used december, the 2nd november and so on.
Some of my authors have more than one series so the next series would be 2009 with same system. The newest series would have the oldest year in my case. If a series is more than 12, then I just keep going from january 2010 to december 2009 for the next one and so on. 

Then when you sort by published and author, its all in order. I also add to the title 1 of 5, 2 of 5, and so on and the name of the series.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

I've used the numbering system, but to keep the series separate I give each one a 2 or 3 letter code. For example the Louis L'Amour Sackett series is like SC01, SC02, etc. The Outlander series is OL1, OL2, etc.


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## Bonbonlover (Oct 17, 2010)

"Just add the books to a series in calibre and increase the number of the book for each one in the box below series. I tried just transferring the books back to the DXG both first deleting the books and without deleting the books. Either one showed the books in reverse order after the transfer."

I have done this a number of times as well.  I changed the published date and they are in chronological order.  The books show up in correct order on Calibre... but when I transfer the books they end up in reverse order on my K3 (ordered by author and then when I put them in collection)


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Atunah said:


> Yep, I saw how luvmy4brats did it and it was right up my obsessive alley. Its all her fault I sat there for hours and hours editing meta on 1500 books
> You just have to go backwards in the published date. So the first series by the author I used 2010 and for the 1st in the series I used december, the 2nd november and so on.
> Some of my authors have more than one series so the next series would be 2009 with same system. The newest series would have the oldest year in my case. If a series is more than 12, then I just keep going from january 2010 to december 2009 for the next one and so on.
> 
> Then when you sort by published and author, its all in order. I also add to the title 1 of 5, 2 of 5, and so on and the name of the series.


Sorry  But isn't it just PERFECT? I even fiddle with the published dates to make books that aren't in a series to show up in alphabetical order... My Kindle is so organized now, I barely even need collections.


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## Bonbonlover (Oct 17, 2010)

Atunah said:


> You just have to go backwards in the published date. So the first series by the author I used 2010 and for the 1st in the series I used december, the 2nd november and so on.


Seriously? In order for the collection to show up in correct order (1st published then 2nd published then 3rd published) I must change the published date to show the 1st book to be the most recently published and then follow with the 2nd in series as reflecting a published date sometime before the 1st and so on and so on?

Seems odd because I do have some series which reflect the correct published date and do fall correctly in the collection.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Bonbonlover said:


> Seriously? In order for the collection to show up in correct order (1st published then 2nd published then 3rd published) I must change the published date to show the 1st book to be the most recently published and then follow with the 2nd in series as reflecting a published date sometime before the 1st and so on and so on?
> 
> Seems odd because I do have some series which reflect the correct published date and do fall correctly in the collection.


Yes, because when you sort by Author, the Kindle sorts by author first and then by published date, newest to oldest. The published dates aren't always correct in the metadata anyway, so it didn't bug me to change them... Especially since now it sorts so nice..


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## Bonbonlover (Oct 17, 2010)

Wow thank you!  You probably described the process a dozen times.. but this was finally a light bulb moment for me.  It makes total sense for me now.  My collections are in correct descending order and my kindle is all cleaned up.

I did go into my Calibre preferences and unchecked the published date column so that I an not looking at those books being published within months of each other...   That would bother me ... 

*Yah I agree that the metadata is not always "correct" as to published date... but that is because of 2nd 3rd and subsequent printings... I had gone in and put in all original 1st printing dates... but that is all out the door now ... I feel liberated!!!

Thanks!!!


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Bonbonlover said:


> Wow thank you! You probably described the process a dozen times.. but this was finally a light bulb moment for me. It makes total sense for me now. My collections are in correct descending order and my kindle is all cleaned up.
> 
> I did go into my Calibre preferences and unchecked the published date column so that I an not looking at those books being published within months of each other...  That would bother me ...
> 
> ...


It's the little things isn't it?  I love being able to just go to right where I want and see what book is next. Yes, it's a little bit of work to get it set up, but once you do, it's so worth it.

Glad it *clicked* for you.


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