Rename Auto-Edit Options

As with manual edits in the Main Editor, the file "renaming engine" has a set of auto-editing features that can be enabled or disabled on the Options Panel:

Note that in order to allow the following options to be applied to filenames, the 'Titles" checkbox must be checked in the Apply To... section of the "Tag Edit" tab on the Options Panel shown above.

Auto-Cap: (located on the "Tag Edit' tab) Automatically capitalize all words in a filename after it's been edited. When enabled, capitalization is applied to any text used to name a file in accordance with the Default Capitalization Options defined on the Capitalization Editor (click button on the Tag Edit tab to execute this editor). The option may also be enabled or disabled with the button on the Center Toolbar. File name extensions are not capitalized by this feature.

Remove 'The ': When the word "the," followed by a space, is found at the beginning of Artist, Original Artist, or Orchestra/Band data, do not include it in the new name created during a rename or rename preview. Thus, for example, a file with Artist "The Kingston Trio" and Title tag "Five Hundred Miles" can be renamed to "Kingston Trio - Five Hundred Miles," rather than "The Kingston Trio - File Hundred Miles."

*option may be applied to the following fields: Artist, Original Artist, Orchestra/Band, Involved People, Title, Original Filename, Subtitle, Album, Album Artist, Original Album, Album+Artist, Track+Title

'& xxx' -> 'and xxx': When the expressions " & his ", " & the ", or " & a " are found anywhere in a tag field, convert them to " and his", " and the ", and " and a ", respectively, during a rename or rename preview.

'X -> 'x: Whenever one of the characters D, M, S, or T (followed by a space or at end-of-text) is found to occur after an apostrophe, or one of the characters L, R, or V is found to occur after an apostrophe, convert the letter to lower case. Thus, for example, the contraction "can't" is capitalized as "Can't" and not "Can'T," when this option is enabled. Note that this option takes precedence over the more general option to auto-cap after all apostrophes found in "Default Capitalization Options" on the Capitalization Editor.

'Xx -> 'xx: Whenever one of the letter sequences VE, LL, or RE (followed by a space or at end-of-text) is found to occur after an apostrophe, convert it to lower case. Thus, for example, the contraction "we've" is capitalized as "We've" rather than "We'Ve," when this option is enabled. Note that this option takes precedence over the more general option to auto-cap after all apostrophes found in "Default Capitalization Options" on the Capitalization Editor.

'Mcx -> McX': Capitalize the next letter following the expression "Mc". Thus, for example, the name "mcguire" is capitalized as "McGuire" rather than "Mcguire."

" -> ' Converts all double-quotes to a single-quotes.

'_' -> ' ' Convert all underbars to spaces.

Anti-Cap (located on the "Tag Edit' tab): Prevent capitalization of all words and phrases in the anti-capitalization list on the Capitalization Editor (click button to access this editor). When Auto-Cap (see above) is applied to a tag field, the words and phrases on the anti-cap list are prevented from being capitalized. May also be enabled or disabled with the "Enable Anti-Cap List' checkbox on the Capitalization Editor itself.

Exact-Cap (located on the "Tag Edit' tab): Capitalize all words and phrases in the exact-capitalization list as shown on the Capitalization Editor (click button to access this editor). When Auto-Cap (see above) is applied to a tag field, words and phrases in the exact-cap list are capitalized exactly as shown in the list. May also be enabled or disabled with the "Enable Exact-Cap List' checkbox on the Capitalization Editor itself.

Note: The auto-edit features above are applied in the order listed.

Filename.mp3: Use this button to set the capitalization style for file extensions when files are auto-renamed. For MP3s, for example, the button toggles through three possible choices: 1) Filename.mp3, 2) Filename.Mp3, and 3) Filename.MP3. The actual extension name shown changes to reflect the type or types of files being listed in the Editor.

Stop on illegals: The OS does not allow certain text characters ( \ , / , : , * , ? , " , < , > , and | ) to be used as part of a filename. When a file to be renamed contains one or more of these characters in the tag data being used to rename it, the proposed new name appears in the Preview Window with the expression "***ILLEGAL DATA***" prepended to it.

When enabled while using the Rename Page, the Rename button is turned red when a rename preview produces a new name containing an illegal character, and file renaming is not allowed to proceed. When disabled, new names containing illegal characters are automatically skipped during a renaming process. A summary is given at the end of renaming which will include the number of files skipped for this defect.

When enabled while renaming multiple files via the popup menu Rename function (see Renaming with the Popup Menu below), notification is given as each instance of a file occurs that cannot be renamed due to the presence of illegal characters, and an opportunity is given to cancel or proceed with the renaming process. When disabled, filenames containing illegal characters are simply skipped. A summary is given at the end of renaming which will include the number of files skipped for this defect.

Auto-replace illegals: Illegal characters in tag text used for renaming files can be automatically removed or replaced while renaming is in progress, as directed on the Illegal Character Replacement Editor (click edit button to execute this editor). Check this box to enable this option while renaming. This option is ignored if Stop on illegals, above, is enabled.

Auto-Edit Paths: Apply enabled rename auto-edit options to the path portion of a fully-qualified filename when renaming, when renaming involves Directory Restructuring (that is, when files are being relocated as well as renamed),. When disabled, only the filename itself is auto-edited.

Do partial-data renames: When a file to be renamed contains no data in one or more (but not all) tag fields used to create a new name, the file appears in a preview with the expression ***PARTIAL DATA*** prepended to its proposed new name. By default such files are skipped during the renaming process and are not renamed. This option may be enabled to have such files renamed anyway, using whatever tag data happens to be present. This setting is not applicable when the rename template being applied contains a backslash character "\," indicating Directory Restructuring is to be performed (that is, files are to be moved as well as renamed). Partial-data renames are not permitted when restructuring; although, partials can be manually edited and corrected via the Preview Window's popup menu "Edit" function. Note that if a file contains no data in ANY tag fields used to create a new name, the file's name appears in a preview with the flag ***NO DATA*** in front of it. Files with this designation will not be renamed unless manually corrected first.

Use two digit track: Insert a leading zero in front of any single-digit track number when the track is used as part of a new filename.

Enable cancel: Allow user-cancellation of multi-file renames and drag-and-drop operations by clicking on the Main Editor or the Preview Window. Other types of multi-file operations can be cancelled in this way at all times regardless of this setting. Choosing to enable or disable this option involves a trade off between convenience and speed, since a certain amount of overhead is involved in monitoring for user-cancellation requests.

Note that changes made to the options above are not recorded by the program's preview undo facilities (with the exception of the Anti-Cap and Exact-Cap settings). Thus, if they are changed between Previews, precise undo's cannot be guaranteed.

When renaming files using the contents of Comment or User Text fields as part of the name, line breaks are removed and lines are concatenated to derive text for renaming. See topic Comment Editor for additional discussion about multi-line tag data in Tag Clinic.