Carry out search across all playlists?

[Jennepen]

Hello,
 
Can I search all existing playlists at once?
Many times I want to play a certain track but totally forgot which playlists it is in.

[Zak]

This is a bit of a strange question.
If you want to play a track, can't you just search the library and play it from there? Why do you need to find it in a playlist?

See also this thread about changed search behaviour for playlists, which may or may not be relevant to your request:

https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=35258.0

[Jennepen]

I don't use the librabry 

[phred]

Whether you're -using- the library or not, it exists. MB can't function without the library. Although I suppose if you keep everything in the Inbox and don't bring it into the library, then it won't exist.

But the answer to your is no, you can't.

[Jennepen]

Thanks, that's too bad

Arn't you suppose to 'import' all your stuff to create a library? I never do that.

[phred]

Arn't you suppose to 'import' all your stuff to create a library? I never do that.

Yes, that's what I said.

If you're not taking advantage of all MB has to offer as a music manager, why are you using MB?

[Jennepen]

Arn't you suppose to 'import' all your stuff to create a library? I never do that.

Yes, that's what I said.

If you're not taking advantage of all MB has to offer as a music manager, why are you using MB?

To play music?  
I just want playlists, play count and custom art, that's it.
Couldn't care less about the library, any managing whatsoever, album covers, tags, lyrics etc.

[frankz]

I just want playlists,

...library section

play count

...library function

and custom art, that's it.

...library feature

Couldn't care less about the library, any managing whatsoever, album covers, tags, lyrics etc.

LOL you're using a music library whether you think you are or not.

[sveakul]

Couldn't care less about the library, any managing whatsoever, album covers, tags, lyrics etc.

LOL you're using a music library whether you think you are or not.

Indeed.  Jennepen, I started out like you, I just wanted a player for selected files or playlists.  Then I found that even though I had no visible library per se, everything I played was still being written and appended into the MusicBeeLibrary.mbl file.  So I still had a "library", but no way to view it or use the endless tools/management/sorting that MusicBee provides with it.  Deleted the whole thing and started over with a declared library, and never looked back.  I hope you know that the "library" isn't some folder where all your files get moved to, or extra copies thereof.  Your files stay exactly where they always were (unless you have manually activated the "auto-organize" option, I recommend you NOT do that).  The library is just a file containing references to your music files location and other info on how to arrange/play them within the MusicBee view, etc.

That said, if you insist on not having to deal with a library at all, useable or otherwise, players like Foobar and AIMP will allow you to do that, but of course at the trade-off of the zillion features MusicBee has to offer.

[Jennepen]

I get that the files I manually added to playlists are now associated with MB and I know what you are saying Sveakul, thank you.
And I have good news, all of you made me see the light and I will start fresh with a declared library as well  
Will this make it easy to search and find what I want then? Please say yes!
It must be worth it because my music is spread around 6 drives and many of the files I do not even want to "import" into MB
so I think I have to sort it all out beforehand and that is going to be torture

[Zak]

Will this make it easy to search and find what I want then? Please say yes!

A million times, yes.

It must be worth it because my music is spread around 6 drives and many of the files I do not even want to "import" into MB
so I think I have to sort it all out beforehand and that is going to be torture

Setting up a new library for the first time is a pain in the arse, for sure. Especially if you've been accumulating tracks for years and never worried about having accurate tags or file names before.

The good thing is that even if you don't want to commit to tagging everything as a project, you don't strictly have to.
Just pressing the Insert key (or selecting File > Scan Folders for New Files) and pointing it to the folders where you have saved your music will give you a library that you can search on file names or whatever tags may already exist without any other effort. This still gives you a lot more functionality than only playing tracks that exist in playlists, so you really have nothing to lose. 

[Jennepen]

Thank you kindly Zak