# Action is only working on one file at a time
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [June 4, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962 "2024-06-04T22:33:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jonwilf](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Jonwilf)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/1 "2024-06-04T22:33:50Z")
I had an action that I could run on a bunch of files, and it would move them all to folders based on the Album Artist (i.e. all tracks by ABBA moved into a folder called ABBA etc)
I just updated to the latest version of Mp3tag, and now when I run it, it only moves the first file in the list, and ignores the rest. And then when I run it again it moves the 2nd file etc.
The action is Format Field: \_DIRECTORY
Format string: `D:\Songs for car\%albumartist%\`
Any idea what's changed, or what I can change to get it working again?
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/2 "2024-06-05T01:18:50Z")
> [@Jonwilf](#):
>
> The action is Format Field: \_DIRECTORY
> Format string: D:\Songs for car%albumartist%\
Is this the original action you were using? The additional text "Songs for car" isn't reflected in your previous example.
If you already have tags in your files, you can use them to rename files and folders for each song file.
> **[Rename Files – Mp3tag Documentation](https://docs.mp3tag.de/converters/rename-files/#create-folder-structures-based-on-tags)**
>
> Documentation on Tag to Filename, a converter to rename files based on tags. Mp3tag is the universal Tag Editor.
Otherwise you should be able to use the action Format Value for the field \_Directory and have all files in that folder moved including pdf and others.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/3 "2024-06-05T05:50:04Z")
> [@Jonwilf](#):
>
> Any idea what's changed, or what I can change to get it working again?
See this thread:
> [@String function prevents formatting \_DIRECTORY on multiple files](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/string-function-prevents-formatting-directory-on-multiple-files/64890):
>
> Thanks for updating Mp3Tag to 3.26. After updating, I noticed a change in behavior on an Action I use. First, I'll explain how I use it. I have media files in separate folders. I want to rename the files, then move all of them to the parent directory. Each of the separate folders are eliminated. G:\Folder A\Folder 1\song1.mp3 G:\Folder A\Folder 2\song2.mp3 G:\Folder A\Folder 3\song3.mp3 The Action: Format value "\_FILENAME": $validate(%album% - %title%$if($grtr($len(%artist%),0), - %artis…
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 7:09am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/4 "2024-06-05T07:09:49Z")
> [@Jonwilf](#):
>
> Any idea what's changed, or what I can change to get it working again?
I think, based on your description above, it's best to use an action **Format Value** for `_FILENAME` with
`D:\Songs for car\%albumartist%\%_filename_ext%`
Using `_DIRECTORY` as field doesn't move the files but really renames the directory the files are stored in. This can lead to undesired results if the action would lead to varying target directories for one base directory.
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### Author:  [@Jonwilf](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Jonwilf)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 8:49am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/5 "2024-06-05T08:49:20Z")
Hi, yup that's the same action I was using - however it looks like it might be a bug, someone's pointed me towards a report of someone else having the exact same issue - it seems to only affect \_DIRECTORY changes.
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### Author:  [@Jonwilf](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Jonwilf)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 8:49am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/6 "2024-06-05T08:49:56Z")
Yup that is pretty much the exact same issue. Cheers for that, I'll hang on and see if a fix emerges.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/7 "2024-06-11T13:53:30Z")
I've just released [Mp3tag v3.26a](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/455) which should fix the observed issue.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-is-only-working-on-one-file-at-a-time/64962/8 "2024-07-11T13:54:07Z")
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