Row & Column Operation

Row Operations

• 'Rename': Please refer to the end of topic Auto-Renaming Files for an explanation of how to use "Rename" for renaming files.
• 'ID3v1 * ID3v2 Row': Copy all ID3v1 tag data from selected rows into corresponding ID3v2 tag fields. If a selected file does not contain an ID3v2 tag but supports one, one is created. Note that ID3v1 tags are shown on Page 1 for MP3s only, while other file types that support ID3v1s (AAC, APE, FLAC, MPC) may show these and any other tag types they support on Page 2, depending upon the active tag selected for the file type. The tag type being viewed at any given time for these files is selectable via popup menu on File Type Toolbar buttons, or on the Main Menu.
• 'ID3v2 * ID3v1 Row': Copy all ID3v2 tag data from selected files/rows into corresponding ID3v1 tag fields. If a selected file does not contain an ID3v1 tag, a new tag is created, if the file type supports it.
• 'File Ops': Copy, move, or delete selected Editor files.
• Copy Files...: From the mini-browser presented, choose another folder into which to place a copy of selected Editor files. Unlike the file-copy function in the File Window, this function will not create duplicate copies of selected files in the same folder in which they reside. Any selected files with the same source and destination paths are skipped.
• Move Files...: From the mini-browser presented, choose another folder into which to move selected Editor files. Any selected files with the same source and destination paths are skipped.
• Delete Files: Moves all selected Editor files into the Recycle Bin.
• 'Remove Tag': Removes the tag from files in selected rows, or from all files if norows are selected. For ID3v2 tags, this function uses the tag size specified in a file's ID3v2 tag header to determine how much data to remove from a file. If a file's tag is found to be defective or unreadable, the file is searched for the first instance of an audio frame sync byte (signifying the beginning of audio), and all data are removed from the beginning of the file up to this point.

In most editing situations, tag data are not actually written into the Editor's table unless and until confirmation is received from the tag "update engine" that it has been successfully written to the tag. User-notification for most non-critical types of update errors is not normally given, however, unless option "Tag Errors" is enabled in Confirmations/Warnings in Preferences. When not enabled, the only indication that an error has occurred may be that a tag change does not appear to "take" in the Editor, as the text in one or more cells appears to revert back to previous content when a change is attempted.

Selecting Rows / Files

Selecting files in the Editor is much like selecting files in a file browser. Here, however, the mouse is used on row numbers rather than filenames. A single file is selected (highlighted) by clicking the mouse on the file's row number (first column). Click it again and it becomes deselected. Multiple files can be selected in several ways:

1. To select files one at a time, in any order, select the first one as above, then continue clicking additional row numbers to either add or remove rows from the selection.
2. To select consecutive files, position the mouse pointer over the first row number to be selected, then depress and hold down the left mouse button while dragging the mouse down or up the first column and across row numbers of the block of files you want to select. Repeat this process as needed to add additional files.
3. An alternate way to select consecutive files is to select the first file as described in 1) above, then hold the shift-key down while selecting the last. All files from the first to the last are selected. Repeat this process as needed to add additional files.
4. Select all rows at once by clicking the "Select All" button on the Center Toolbar.

Cancel row selections at any time by clicking anywhere on the main Editor, navigating to another page or window, or clicking the "Select All" button.

Row and Column Rearrangement via Drag-and-Drop

Exchange one row in the Editor with another row by moving its row number button to another location: while holding the Control Key depressed, drag a number button onto another button to have the dragged row inserted there. Especially useful for fine-tuning a file order when creating playlists. Most columns can be moved in a similar manner.

In the image on the left above, row 1 is being swapped with row 2. In the image on the right, the Artist column is being dragged to the Title column position. If released there, the Title column will move to the right and the Artist column will take its place. This column-swap between two neighboring columns could also be performed by right-clicking on the Artist column's header cell and choosing "Swap left" from the context menu. For more options and details about column arrangements and configurations see topic Column Order and Visibility.

Column Operations

• Paste: Pastes text or field data from the Clipboard into the column that has been right-clicked with the mouse, in each selected row. Pre-existing data in each cell is overwritten by the pasted data.
• Paste Extra: Adds text from the Clipboard to either the front or the end of pre-existing text. Also may be used to paste specific text without using the Clipboard.
• User Text: Similar to the Paste option above, but allows manual entry of paste text, bypassing use of the Clipboard as the source for paste data.
• Append: Add Clipboard text to the end of existing cell text. When used on filenames, text is inserted between the end of the filename and the file extension.
• Append with space: Prepend a space character to text in the Clipboard and append this text to the end of existing cell text. When used on filenames, text is inserted between the end of the file name and the file extension.
• Prepend: Add Clipboard text to the front of existing cell text.
• Prepend with space: Add Clipboard text plus one space character to the front of existing cell text.
• Delete: Remove all tag field data from a selected column, in each selected file. Unlike the Delete command on the Single-Field Popup Menu (see above), this command removes ALL instances of a tag field type found in a tag, rather than just the first one found.
• Swap Right: All tag data in selected rows in the right-clicked column is exchanged with tag data in the column to its immediate right (if the column accepts the type of data being exchanged).
• Swap Left: All tag data in selected rows in the right-clicked column is exchanged with tag data in the column to its immediate left (if the column accepts the type of data being exchanged).
• 'ID3v1 --> ID3v2 Col': Choose this feature to copy ID3v1 column data for selected files into the same tag field of the corresponding ID3v2 tag. If a selected file does not contain an ID3v2 tag but supports one, a new tag is created. Note that ID3v1 tags are shown on Page 1 for MP3s only, while other files that support ID3v1s (AAC, APE, FLAC, MUSEPACK) can show these as well as any other tag types they support on Page 2. The tag type being viewed at any given time for these files is selectable by popup menu on the File Type Toolbar or on the Main Menu.
• 'ID3v2 --> ID3v1 Col': Choose this feature to copy ID3v2 column data for selected files into the same tag field of the corresponding ID3v1 tag. If a selected file does not contain an ID3v1 tag, it is created if the file type supports one.
• Tools: Displays a submenu containing special-purpose editing tools identical to those found on the Single-Field Popup Menu described above. Please refer to this section for a description of this function.