Author Topic: Confused by auto-organizing lib: are files moved/copied or what else?  (Read 2427 times)

bazinga

  • Guest
Sorry if this is explained somewhere, but I couldn't find any useful info:

if I use the auto-organizing library feature, will my "original" files be deleted or not?

psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
Auto-organize will move your files, but will not delete anything.  Steven also disabled the copy function of auto-organize for recent versions, because it was sometimes causing excess duplication.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

bazinga

  • Guest
so would you suggest to make a backup copy of the files just in case? I mean, the template I use could lead to errors during the library construction? Say I forget to add the artist name to the template, and I have 2 albums with the same name...

psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
If there are duplicate file names, MB names them something like Filename_1.mp3 to distinguish them.  A backup of your library is always a good idea, though.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

bazinga

  • Guest
thank you everybody for the replies.

So, backup aside, what's a good "workflow" to be sure that it won't mess up my files? How can I check that

- there won't be duplicates
- files have all required tags

?

And: where my files will be moved?
Last Edit: April 16, 2014, 10:05:07 AM by bazinga

psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
"Where" is entirely up to you.  I suggest you look over this page for more help: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Organizing

There is a Duplicate Manager to help you catch duplicates.  Look in the Tools menu.

Also in the Tools menu, there is a "Show Files with Missing Tags" filter.  Although a custom search to the effect of "<Field> has no value" might be more effective: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Searching
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)