Author Topic: Replacing a portion of filename with a tag  (Read 568 times)

MusicBebe

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I am trying to figure out how, and which tool to use, to batch replace a portion of a filename with the "artist" tag. So for example:

Change:
06 Various Artists - Sunshine Superman.flac

To:
06 Donovan - Sunshine Superman.flac

When "Donovan" is already in the the artist tag.

I've got the MusicBee plugin "mb_TagTools_2021-07-11.zip" installed and have used it for various things already. But for some reason I'm not seeing which of that plugin's tools or which of the native MB tools will let me do this.

Thank you.

psychoadept

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This would be easiest to do with the File Organization feature. It looks like you want something like <Track#> <Artist> - <Title> for your template.

https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/File_Organization

Uncheck the "to folder" setting on the left and it should rename the file in place. It will show you a preview so you can see what it's doing before applying it.
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MusicBebe

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Thank you! That did the rename, but it also moved the files, which I didn't want. (I was able to recover.)

The File Organizer seems to insist on moving files to the "to folder" even when the box is unchecked - or is it that the box gets re-checked by default every time the FO window opens, and I only just noticed that? Other settings seem to be retained, at least sometimes.

When I uncheck the box, the preview in the "new file name" col disappears, as though there has to be specified path. But, if it sees the selected file, it must also see its path, and if I want to keep newly named file it in the same path, then unchecking the "to folder" box should be enough, or so I would think....? There's something I'm not getting here....  

Also, where are the presets for the File Organizer saved? And are they only saved after the settings have been run once? [Edit: Yes I see that's it.)

Thanks again.
Last Edit: April 12, 2022, 11:41:13 PM by MusicBebe

MusicBebe

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I just realized, the File Organizer process I ran didn't actually change just a portion of the file name, although that's what it seemed to do.

What it actually did was, it replaced the full name with a tags+punctuation template, some of whose output happened to be identical to a portion of the original name, which made it look like just a partial change (which in the end amounts to the same thing.)

Interesting!
Last Edit: April 12, 2022, 11:51:15 PM by MusicBebe

Steven

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if you untick 'move to folder' and ensure there are no '\' characters in the naming template then the file will not be moved to a different folder