# After actions the old folders have the album art **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [July 17, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644 "2020-07-17T20:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/1 "2020-07-17T20:24:11Z")
I am very happy with this application. I have cleaned up over 40K worth of songs to be more organized. One issue I just ran into is after my action %artist% \ %album%\ $num(%track%,2) - %title% the old folders are still remaning with the album art (.jpeg, .jpg,ect) and I can't figure out a good way to move them over without doing it manually. Please tell me there is a way? ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/2 "2020-07-17T20:28:40Z")
If you rename the \_DIRECTORY instead of the \_FILENAME then all the files in the renamed folder get moved. ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/3 "2020-07-17T20:52:35Z")
Can you explain further? I am still rather knew to this and trail and error my way through it. Is there anything I can do after the fact? ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/4 "2020-07-17T22:46:59Z")
> [@djdanko1](#): > > Is there anything I can do after the fact? How would you know which old folder should be merged with a new folder? If you cannot tell then I do not see a lot of hope here. For the best case you would need at least one audio file in the old folder from which you could create the new folder name. Renaming a folder takes all files that are in the folder to the new location. ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/5 "2020-07-18T22:30:06Z")
I can start over from my backup if I need too. What would the process look like from scratch following the action I did before? ---
**Author:** ![poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/poster/32/4881_2.png) [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 5:51am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/6 "2020-07-19T05:51:17Z")
If your music-files and coverart are not separated in different folders per album you can't. Principally you can also move the cover files in renaming the pseudo-field \_DIRECTORY but that would move all files in that folder. How are your cover-art-files named and how is your folder-structure you start with?? ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/7 "2020-07-19T13:55:31Z")
Right now the structure is artist \> album \>songs and then I use the action %artist% \ %album%\ $num(%track%,2) - %title% to clean them up and get them consistent. Most of the album art is filename.jpeg or .jpg ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/8 "2020-07-19T14:01:03Z")
I assume that the number of folders is already the correct one which means that no new folders have to be created, just the existing ones have to be renamed. Then I would suggest the following. First create an action of the type "Format value" for \_DIRECTORY (you may have to type it in) with the Format string: `c:\music\%artist%\%album%\` (use an absolute path) This moves all files to the new location, including the non-audio files. When that is done, rename the files, and only the files without a path component: > [@djdanko1](#): > > $num(%track%,2) - %title% As the files are already in the new folder, only the filename has to be adapted. ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/9 "2020-07-19T16:00:18Z")
I guess I am still confused and maybe if I provide an example it will explain it better. When I first had my file structure it was a mess, so I ran the above command to clean things up, however any album that had cover art, the old folders still exist with those .jpeg files in there. Would the method you listed take the files from the incorrect folder names and move them to the new structure? Or should I start from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/10 "2020-07-19T16:03:02Z")
> [@djdanko1](#): > > Or should I start from scratch. Yes. I doubt that the cover files know into which folder they should belong now. And if you start from scratch: First rename the folders. Then rename the files and there the filenames only, no path. ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/11 "2020-07-25T13:23:03Z")
Could you show me exactly what that would look like? What actions I should run in whichorder? ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/12 "2020-07-25T14:22:07Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#): > > First rename the folders. An action of the type "Format value" or the function Convert\>tag-Tag for \_DIRECTORY Format string (e.g.): `d:\music\%albumartist%\%year% - %album%` > [@ohrenkino](#): > > Then rename the files and there the filenames only, no path. Format value for \_FILENAME or function Convert\>Tag-Filename Format string (e.g.): $num(%track%,2) \_ %title% ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/13 "2020-07-25T15:41:40Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#): > > An action of the type "Format value" or the function Convert\>tag-Tag for \_DIRECTORY > Format string (e.g.): `d:\music\%albumartist%\%year% - %album%` Now can I run that to move everything to a new path and it will rename everything at the same time in the new directory or should I just do it all in place and manually move it all over (drag and drop) ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/14 "2020-07-25T15:59:28Z")
If you rename a folder or directory (same thing) then everything that is in this folder gets moved to the new location. This includes all the music files and all the other files like text files or pictures or whatever. Once all the files have arrived at the correct new location, you can rename just the music files. If you follow these steps then you don't need to drag&drop any files. Yet, all this only works if the number of source folders is equal or bigger than the number of target folders. If you have files from e.g. 2 albums in just 1 folder and you need to split them up into 2 folders, then you probably have to rename the files of one album without renaming the folder. In that case it is hard to guess to which folder the picture files should belong. To be quite honest: we circle around this topic for quite some time now. I made the same suggestion in post #8 > [@After actions the old folders have the album art](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/8): > > I assume that the number of folders is already the correct one which means that no new folders have to be created, just the existing ones have to be renamed. Then I would suggest the following. First create an action of the type "Format value" for \_DIRECTORY (you may have to type it in) with the Format string: c:\music\%artist%\%album%\ (use an absolute path) This moves all files to the new location, including the non-audio files. When that is done, rename the files, and only the files wit… so I would seriously suggest that you take some test files and simply try it. ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/15 "2020-07-25T16:01:04Z")
Sorry I think I understand now and am testing on one album now. Thank you for your patience. ---
**Author:** ![djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@djdanko1](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/djdanko1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/16 "2020-07-25T16:05:07Z")
Just tried it and it did exactly what I wanted to do. Thank you again my friend. Very much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/after-actions-the-old-folders-have-the-album-art/49644/17 "2026-02-09T12:28:43Z")