Volumes view¶

A manga that comes as loose chapters, or as a Volumes folder next to a Chapters folder, is easier to read as volumes. The Volumes view groups a series' chapters into volume stacks ("Volume 3 - 10 chapters"), orders everything by volume, and shows where a chapter is missing. Your files are never touched: the view is built from your archive names, their embedded ComicInfo and, for linked series, the volume list stored with the series record.

It works without any network access. Names like Series v03 c012 group on their own; a stored volume list only adds the volumes your file names don't state.

Where to find it¶

Open a series folder that has something to group. In the top bar a Volumes | Folders switch appears next to the series information button. Volumes is the grouped view; Folders is the real folder list with every file and subfolder as it is on disk. Your choice is remembered for you.

The switch is only shown where a Volumes view exists: a folder whose files group into volumes, or a folder linked to a series that holds volumes (its Volumes view shows the series status, see Missing volumes and chapters). It is greyed out while another sort (Recently added, Recently read, Recently updated), a read-state filter or Favorites only is active: those views are about single items, so they always list them flat. Hide empty folders works in both views.

How chapters are placed in a volume¶

For every chapter archive, the first rule that applies decides:

The file name or ComicInfo says so. Title v03 c012 is chapter 12 of volume 3. An archive named only Chapter 12 with ComicInfo Volume 3 is in volume 3 too (a ComicInfo volume that is a year, such as 2019, is ignored).
The volume list places it. For a series linked to a record, the volume list stored with it says which chapters make up each volume.
Between two known volumes. When exactly one volume is missing from the list between two known ones, the chapters in between belong to it. A chapter inside a known volume's own span belongs to that volume.
An estimate. When several volumes are unknown, their chapters are split evenly; after the last known volume, chapters are placed in steps of the average chapters per volume, never past the last volume the series is known to have. A stack that uses an estimate is shown as ~ Volume 12.
Between two neighbouring volumes. A chapter the list places in neither of two consecutive volumes (volume 1 ends at chapter 10, volume 2 starts at 12, and you have chapter 11) goes at the end of the first one.
Otherwise it stays loose, listed after the volumes as a normal chapter ("not in a volume yet"). That is where the chapters after the newest published volume of a running series end up.

Extras (a fractional chapter such as c045.5) follow their whole chapter into its volume. A split chapter is different: when the volume list names only parts of a chapter (4.1, 4.2) and not chapter 4 itself, the parts are chapter 4, and it is complete when all its parts are here (a c004 file also covers them). Without a volume list, a fractional chapter is always an extra.

A fractional volume (Series v02.5, a bonus book) goes at the end of volume 2's stack; if volume 2 has nothing here, it keeps its own card in its place.

A folder that has no list and no linked series groups by names alone, and only when at least half of its chapters state their volume: one v01 among two hundred bare chapters is not a grouped folder.

What the list shows¶

Entries are ordered by volume, not by file name: a chapter named Series c019 no longer sorts before Series v01. The order is:

volume entries by volume number: a real volume file, a volume file with its chapters (one stack), or a stack of chapters;
subfolders that are not merged (see below);
loose chapters and other archives.

Name descending reverses the whole list; the chapters inside a stack always stay in reading order. The count above the list is the number of entries, so a stack counts once, and a stack is never split across pages.

A real volume file with no chapters of its own volume is just its card, no stack.
A volume file and chapters of the same volume become one stack; the volume file comes first and nothing is marked missing in it, because the volume holds all its chapters.
A range file such as Vol. 01-05 belongs to volume 1 and takes the chapters of volumes 1 to 5 with it.

One list for a series with Volumes and Chapters folders¶

When a folder is linked to a series, its generic unit subfolders are merged into the one volume-ordered list: Volumes, Vol 1-10, Chapters, Ch 1-50 (also one inside another). Their own cards are hidden in the Volumes view; the Folders view still shows them, and the breadcrumbs, open containing folder and the reader's previous / next chapter always follow the real folders.

Season 2, Part 3 and other named parts are not merged: they stay folders, and each groups inside itself using the series' volume list.
A subfolder linked to a series of its own, side material (Extras, Specials, Colored...) and a subfolder that holds another folder stay folders.
If the numbering restarts, for example two folders that both start at chapter 1, nothing is merged, and a Season folder whose numbering restarts is never grouped.
A folder that is not linked (or is marked Don't match) never merges its subfolders; it only groups its own files by their names.

Missing volumes and chapters¶

"Missing" means released in your preferred language - Preferred language (covers and releases) in Metadata Manager > Settings (English by default). A volume or chapter that exists only in the original language is never marked missing.

Chapters. When the volume list says a volume holds chapters 37 to 46 and one is not on your shelf, the stack gets an incomplete mark ("8/9": complete chapters you have out of the chapters the volume holds) and, inside, a dashed placeholder ("Ch. 39, Missing") where the chapter belongs. Placeholders aren't clickable; they only show what is missing.

A gap below your highest chapter is missing: a later chapter is here, so this one exists.
After your highest chapter, a chapter is missing only when the series' volume list says it is released in your preferred language. When nothing says so, nothing after your last chapter is marked.
Extras are never missing. c045.5 next to a listed chapter 45 is shown between 45 and 46 but never fills chapter 45 and is never counted as missing.
Parts of a split chapter are: with 5.1 and 5.3 here, 5.2 is missing, and chapter 5 is not complete.
A volume file covers its whole volume, so a stack with a volume file has no placeholders.
Estimated volumes mark missing chapters against their estimated range, so treat those marks as hints.

Volumes. In a folder linked to a series, a whole volume with neither a volume file nor any chapter here shows as a dashed Volume N - Missing card in its place: the gaps below your highest volume, and the volumes after it that are released in your preferred language. Today MangaPixer knows the volume total only for English (the English publisher's total on the series record), so in another language only the gaps are shown. A Season or Part subfolder never shows missing volumes (the rest of the run is elsewhere).

Series status. Above the list of a linked series the Volumes view says how the series stands, for example "Complete (Japan) · English: 12 of 14 volumes · 2 volumes missing" or "Ongoing (Korea) · English scanlation: ongoing · up to date". The first part is the publication status in the country of origin. The second says what is out in your preferred language when MangaPixer knows it: the official release (from MangaUpdates' English publishers - "English: complete" once every volume is out), otherwise the chapters released in that language ("French: up to chapter 87", from MangaDex), and for English the scanlation status or "not licensed" (from MangaUpdates). The last part counts what is missing; "up to date" is said only when MangaPixer knows what is released in your language. The counts include gaps between loose chapters that no volume holds yet.

The numbers agree with the Missing volumes and chapters report: both use the same rules for extras, ranges, restarts and your preferred language.

Opening a stack¶

Tap a stack to open the volume: its cover, "Volume 3", how many chapters you have of how many (and how many extras), where the grouping came from, Previous and Next volume, and the chapters in reading order with the read state, favorite star and series information button of a normal card. Tapping a chapter opens the reader as usual; the reader's previous / next chapter follow the folder, not the stack.

A stack can't be selected or starred: open it to select or star its chapters. A stack shows a star when any chapter in it is starred.

Turning it on and off¶

The Volumes view is on wherever there is something to group. Who decides, first match wins:

You, with the Volumes | Folders switch. Your choice applies to every series until you pick what the folder shows by default: then it is cleared, and the admin's settings below decide for you again.
An admin, per folder: select one folder in the browse list, choose View… in the selection bar, then Automatic, On or Off.
An admin, per library: Metadata Manager > Settings > Libraries, the Volumes view column (Default, On, Off).
An admin, globally: Metadata Manager > Settings > Volumes view, Group chapters into volumes by default (on by default).

The Volumes view only reads what is already stored, so it keeps working when fetching from the web is off or a consent has to be renewed; a series simply has no stored volume list until one is fetched.

Where the volume list comes from¶

For a series linked to a record, MangaPixer can fetch the volume list, and the covers of each volume, from MangaDex when Fetch from the web and Automatic matching are on. That is described under Series information; the credit for those covers and lists is in Metadata Manager > Settings. Nothing in this page needs it: file names and ComicInfo group on their own. While some of a series' covers are still being downloaded in the background, opening its Volumes view says so in a short message; the covers appear as they arrive.