Columns and sorting

Collectarr offers extensive customization for tabular browsing, multi-level sorting, and automatic name normalization to help you organize your music collection precisely the way you want.

1. Choosing Columns (List View)

In List View, you can customize exactly which metadata fields appear as table columns:

1. In the toolbar, click the Columns icon (or right-click any table header and select Choose Columns).
2. The Column Chooser dialog opens:
   • Available Fields: Browse available catalog and personal fields on the left.
   • Visible Columns: Check or uncheck fields to add or remove them from your active table view.
   • Reordering Columns: Select a visible field and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change its left-to-right position in the table.
3. Click Apply to update your library table.
4. Resizing Columns: In the library table, hover your cursor over the vertical divider between any two column headers until the resize handle appears, then drag left or right to set your preferred width.

2. Sorting Your Collection

You can sort your collection with simple header clicks or construct sophisticated multi-tiered sort rules:

Quick Header Sorting (List View)

• Click any column header to sort your library by that field in ascending order (▲).
• Click the header again to reverse the order to descending (▼).
• In Collectarr, sorted columns display a subtle blue caret and a priority number indicating active sort precedence.

Multi-Level Sort Dialog

When you want to order albums by artist, then chronologically by year, and finally alphabetically by title:

1. Click the Sort button in the main toolbar.
2. In the Sort dialog:
   • First Sort Field: Select the primary comparison (e.g. Artist or Sort Artist). Choose Ascending (A–Z) or Descending (Z–A).
   • Second Sort Field: Select the secondary comparison to break ties (e.g. Release Year or Original Release Year).
   • Third Sort Field: Select the tertiary comparison (e.g. Title).
3. Click Apply Sort. The library updates immediately according to your criteria.

3. Sort Names, Articles, and Natural Number Ordering

Collectarr applies intelligent normalization rules to ensure titles and names sort logically:

Article Handling (Sort Titles & Sort Names)

• By default, leading definite and indefinite articles (such as The, A, An in English, as well as common international articles like Le, La, Les, Der, Die, Das) are automatically bypassed during alphabetical ordering.
• For example, The Beatles is filed under B, The Rolling Stones under R, and A Tribe Called Quest under T.
• You can manually override any individual album’s sort behavior by typing a custom value into the Sort Title field in the album editor.

Contributor Names (Last Name First)

• In pick lists and folder trees, musician and composer names maintain their display formatting (David Bowie, Akira Yamaoka) while respecting their underlying Sort Name (Bowie, David, Yamaoka, Akira).
• In Settings → Appearance / Formatting, you can customize whether names sort by last name or strictly by first letter.

Natural Number Order

• Numeric values and disk indices sort by numerical magnitude rather than raw text character comparison: Track 2 sorts before Track 10, and Shelf 2 sorts before Shelf 12.

4. Music-Specific Values and Summaries

Music collections have unique multi-disc properties that require deliberate sort handling:

• Format Summary vs. Disc Format:
  • Format Summary describes the complete combination of media across all discs in an edition (e.g. 2xCD + DVD or Vinyl + CD).
  • Disc Format contains the distinct physical formats contained within the album. When grouping into folders, use Disc Format so that hybrid editions appear in both format categories.
• Chronological Recording Dates:
  • Earliest Disc Recording Date and Latest Disc Recording Date evaluate the actual recorded sessions across all contained discs, providing accurate chronological ordering even for compilation box sets spanning multiple recording eras.
  • Partial dates are ordered safely: a year-only date (e.g. 1973) is evaluated at the start of that year for earliest comparisons and at the end of that year for latest comparisons.