Sorting via recent (date added) doesn't work

[marp68]

Had to delete and transfer all books again from Calibre to device. The problem is now that they all have the same added date, so I can't sort them via recent added.

Is there any way to replace the device added dates with the added to Calibre dates? In this case the sorting via recent added would at least be in the same order as in Calibre.

[davidfor]

Firstly, well it does work. The problem is the date used is when the book was imported by the device. Which will be over a short time.

To change it, the Metadata update function in my Kobo Utilities plugin can set it to various dates including the "Date" column in calibre or the Published date. It should be able to use any date column you have in calibre.

Originally Posted by marp68

Had to delete and transfer all books again from Calibre to device. The problem is now that they all have the same added date, so I can't sort them via recent added.

Is there any way to replace the device added dates with the added to Calibre dates? In this case the sorting via recent added would at least be in the same order as in Calibre.

Davidfor provided the right solution to your problem. However, I wanted to provide some screenshots too since the Calibre UI can be not so user-friendly, it's got so many options but knowing where to look for is the first step. First, as stated, you need the KoboTouch plugin. This should be straight, go to "Preferences"->"Plugins"->"Get new plugins", search for kobot utilities and install that plugin. After installing it or if you already have it installed then what you need to do is click the little arrow next to the Kobo Utilities icon to show the drop menu. There you have the option "update metadata in device library". If you are on the "Device" view the option will be greyed out, you have to be on the "Library" view for it to appear clickable and have your device connected. You also must have the books you wish to update selected before clicking it. Clicking "update metadata in device library" opens a new window with the option you are looking for. Check the "Date added" box and select what date field from Calibre you want it to be. In your case you would select "Date", which is the date added to Calibre, but it works with custom columns using dates too. From then on sorting by "Date added" in your kobo device will sort your books according to the parameter you selected, I particularly like setting it to the "published date" so I can have the books in my Clara sorted according to their publication date.

[marp68]

Thanks, davidfor and OneManRevolution.

Worked brilliant

Don't know why, but it looks kind of nice seeing the adding history. Brings memories

[milady133]

Thanks for the step by step instructions, @OneManRevolution. I tried to update the date added metadata in my Kobos before, and wasn't able to find the option, I think the part about staying in the Calibre library and not in the Device library view was the key to my frustrated attempts.
I didn't look into it very hard, when I wasn't able to find the option I just let it be, it's just something that bothers me when I get a new kobo because sometimes ordering by date is convenient, but I just use my phone with the Calibre Companion app when I need that order as a workaround.

[rinze]

Recovering this old thread: does anyone know how to do this, but when using KO Reader? I have a .books folder inside Kobo and I copy my books in there (flat structure, no directories). The date of the files is the date of the day they were copied. Is there any similar plugin that would allow me to maintain the same order I have in Calibre?

Thanks a lot.

[hatuluang]

Originally Posted by rinze

Recovering this old thread: does anyone know how to do this, but when using KO Reader? I have a .books folder inside Kobo and I copy my books in there (flat structure, no directories). The date of the files is the date of the day they were copied. Is there any similar plugin that would allow me to maintain the same order I have in Calibre?

Thanks a lot.

You can add the book in Calibre, edit the metadata, check the date added, and later send the book to Kobo.
You can use SmartDevice plugin to send books from Calibre to KOReader wirelessly, and also set the book folder on KOReader in the plugin configuration.

[rinze]

That would still have the copied file in the Kobo device have the timestamp of the copy operation. i'm looking for something that might potentially change that to artificially maintain the same order as I have in Calibre.