Multiple “copies” of audiobooks in iTunes

Question

I am using iTunes on Windows 10.

There are multiple "copies" (air quotes) of most (not all) audiobooks in iTunes. I used air quotes because when I search the PC for the books, there are only single instances.

Another post (Why does iTunes create multiple exact copies of my music files and hide them from view in Finder?) asked a similar question about music files. The answer for that post alluded to a playlist problem.

But (a) I do NOT have any playlists for my audiobooks, and (b) that post is old, dating to Sept. 2012. I am running version 12.7.2.

When I select a copy of a book and drag it to my iphone, I can see that the copies are numbered 1, 2, 3, ...

When I try to delete any one of those copies, then all copies are deleted.

What can I do clean up the lists so that I only see one copy of the book?

Answer 1

Through trial and error, found the source of the problem and a solution that consistently works for me. Explanation and screenshot follows.

Source of the Problem

The Sorting tab has three groups you can sort on: title, chapter, author. If the text in the specific field is disabled, then there will be duplicate copies of a given audiobook.

Note: The words "disabled" (for gray text) and "enabled" (for black text) in this context are my own and may or may not be the same terms used by Apple devos.

Solution

Simply retype the disabled (gray) text.

The screenshot shows an example where the "chapter" field was disabled. When I retyped "Mixed," the text changed to black. Clicked OK, and the duplicate audiobooks disappeared.

The same solution worked for me when title or author were disabled. Note that the "sort as" field is ok in gray.

Answer 2

This works like a charm.

1. switch to grid view in View > View as
2. Select all chapters of the offending book
3. follow solution above