# Copy tag in batch from folder 1 to folder 2
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 10, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156 "2025-04-10T12:43:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/1 "2025-04-10T12:43:54Z")
i have folder 1 with flac files and folder 2 with m4a files converted from flac files. m4a files is converted without tags (present in flac files)
my goal is bat file or python script to copy all tags from folder 1 (flac files) to folder 2 (m4a converted files) with automated process.
how to ?
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/2 "2025-04-10T12:57:02Z")
See if this thread helps you, esp. the reference to copy&paste all tags from all the source files and paste them to all the target files in 1 go.
> [@Action to copy field between two files](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/action-to-copy-field-between-two-files/14805/2):
>
> You can do this with the export function (which is then more script based) to create a text file first that you then read in for the empty files. Or, if this is only a a rare occasion, the special functions from the file-list-context-menu to copy tags and paste tags might work just as nice - provided you have the same sequence and number of files for the source and the target files.
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/3 "2025-04-10T14:51:38Z")
on thread above i can't see any script or other code... just copy tag from source files and paste on target files...
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/4 "2025-04-10T14:57:19Z")
> [@nebexe5539](#):
>
> just copy tag from source files and paste on target files...
Exactly.
The alternative would be to
- create an export script from the source files that has all the tags and tag data in it but not the picture,
- export the picture to the filesystem
- edit the export text file (if necessary) to adapt the filenames to match the target files
- load the target files and/or select them
- apply Convert\>Text file-Tag with an accurate tag field list
- import the picture from the filesystem.
I would say that copy&paste is much quicker. Otherwise there is no simple script solution.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/5 "2025-04-10T15:10:32Z")
> [@nebexe5539](#):
>
> just copy tag from source files and paste on target files...
1. You can load your FLAC files into Mp3tag
2. Sort them by tracknumber and title ascending (or any other unique sort order that you can repeat)
3. Select all FLAC files and press Ctrl + C
4. Then Load all your m4a files into Mp3tag ("replace" your FLAC files)
5. Repeat the sorting as in step 2 to get exactly the same file sort order as for your FLAC files
6. Select all your m4a files and press Ctrl + V
This should really be
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> much quicker
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/6 "2025-04-10T16:10:37Z")
mmm ... really not easy to do. I thought there was an easier way
and yes @LyricsLover what you suggest is what i'm doing, but i thought there was an easier way to automate the process!
and thanks @ohrenkino but i think i looking for an easier way
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/7 "2025-04-10T16:47:19Z")
I wonder what the easier way should look like.
How should MP3tag "guess" what the source files are and where the target files are?
If you have to select the source files anyway, it is only a little keystroke of Ctrl-C to copy the tags.
And then you would have to select the target files - and it would be just another little keystroke of Ctrl-V to paste tags.
Any script for the 2 steps would require more interaction.
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2025, 7:53am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/8 "2025-04-11T07:53:05Z")
easy. bat file. source and target folders. start mp3tag
the hard part is tell mp3tag to copy tags from source folder and copy them to all files in target folder
or another is make new action 'copy all tag from current folder' move to target folder and with another action 'paste tag to all files in current folder'
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2025, 8:01am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/9 "2025-04-11T08:01:10Z")
This would still include to either edit the action each time to cater for target and source folder (and limit the action to files that have to be arranged in folders - right now, the files only have to be selected) and it would also mean that the files need to be in the same order.
So I would think that most of the steps have to be carried out for both methods but the editing process would take a lot more steps than the 4 necessary with the copy&paste method.
Even though an action based processed workflow may be possible, I doubt that it would be easier - see the above reasoning.
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2025, 8:26am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/10 "2025-04-11T08:26:26Z")
the files are in the same order. because they were converted from flac to m4a, so they are the same
and with AI and python script i'm near to my goal, just py script don't see cover art from flac files ...
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 7:10am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/11 "2025-04-12T07:10:31Z")
nothing to do. tried 3 different AI model but all fail to copy year field and covert art
now, tired, i've used mp3tag with Ctrl-C / Ctrl-V
just one consideration: i think more users like me convert from one format to another, and sometime the codec used in conversion does not always maintain the original tag file
so because mp3tag do this and he use action, i don't know why dev of this amazing tool don't write an action for copy all tag from all files into current folder and paste to all files on another folder (or maybe 2 action, 1 for copy, another for paste)
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 9:04am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/12 "2025-04-12T09:04:17Z")
> [@nebexe5539](#):
>
> (or maybe 2 action, 1 for copy, another for paste)
If you call 2 actions separately, the effort with mouse navigation and file selection would be more than the current way with selection and copy&paste. I do not see a benefit. But perhaps I am too ignorant. Perhaps a description of the workflow would clearify the whole thing.
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 9:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/13 "2025-04-12T09:19:40Z")
You need to consider and acknowledge that other users have different workflows.
I think your special case is not used **very** often and for most users (like me) Copy&Paste is much more flexible, not so specific, and an approach that fits for more than 1 task. Copy&Paste in the way Mp3tag offers fulfills al lot of tasks and is a more general approach and not so narrowly defined.
Most time when I want to to copy tags from one format to another, they are not in 2 separate folders and even not naturally sorted and even don't have exactly the same filename at this time. The actions would afford that filenames have to be equal in source and target and other ways would have be sorted anyway.
And last but not least:
When I convert music from one format to another, I almost always do it from a lossless format to a lossy or at least compressed format. In many cases, the source format (i.e. Wave) is only a temporary format, and the metadata and even more so the final file naming are only done in the target format.
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 9:20am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/14 "2025-04-12T09:20:11Z")
yea, maybe you're right. so 1 action only, but this action required anyway 2 steps: copy all tags on clipboard from all files on current folder, then navigate to target folder and paste tags from clipboard
and my goal is copy (and paste) just 3 fields only: Artist name, track name, year and cover art
Album name is variable value, and for my playlist i need to use one album name for all playlist tracks. also i don't need track number, because i want add my personal list (and number)
AI with py script copy Aartist name and track name, but fail with year (because some track have value like 2019-01-04, not year only) and covert art (no one script can copy the cover art ....)
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 9:36am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/15 "2025-04-12T09:36:38Z")
> [@nebexe5539](#):
>
> Album name is variable value, and for my playlist i need to use one album name for all playlist tracks. also i don't need track number, because i want add my personal list (and number)
You can do (and I also have some collections like that), but that is not the definition of a playlist. I would call that a personal sampler because you fill tagfields specific for this "medium". My playlists are files that address music files and then I don't have to change original tags of the music files to make a special order.
Anyway:
As I wrote it is always a case of someones own workflow and a software like Mp3tag mostly cares about workflows that fit to lot of people.
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/16 "2025-04-12T15:03:24Z")
> [@poster](#):
>
> You can do (and I also have some collections like that)
if you have action for copy and paste some tag value, please share. or explain/write here how to
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/17 "2025-04-12T15:49:02Z")
My reply was related to your system to tag personal samplers.
If you want to copy only some tag-values, I think the fastest way is to copy all tag-values with C&P to the target and then apply an action of the type "Remove fields except", where you list the fields that you want to keep in the target.
> **[Remove Fields Except – Mp3tag Documentation](https://docs.mp3tag.de/actions/remove-fields-except/)**
>
> Documentation on the Remove Fields Except action type that can be performed as Quick Action or as reusable workflow from Action Groups. Mp3tag is the universal Tag Editor.
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### Author:  [@nebexe5539](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/nebexe5539)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/18 "2025-04-12T15:59:30Z")
nope. remove some field isn't a problem. and/or also copy all tags from source to target is ok for me.
my goal is automate process copy from source, paste to target with action or script. and for me is enough tag title, artist, year, cover
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### Author:  [@Reason](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Reason)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/19 "2025-04-13T16:12:15Z")
If the conversion method is dropping metadata, it might be worth it to use a method that retains it and reconvert (assuming you still have the source files). When I reripped all my CDs to flac a few years ago, I just converted them all to mp3 in one shot. A little more work on the front end could make the whole process smoother.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_Mackie](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Doug_Mackie)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156/20 "2025-04-13T18:00:15Z")
> [@nebexe5539](#):
>
> My goal is automate process copy from source, paste to target with action or script....
Actions only affect the current selection of files. There are no actions that can process selected files and then _ **automatically** _ process another group of files. Actions can be grouped but even then the elements of the group only affect the initial selection. And that selection can only be changed manually, after the Action has finished. Therefore Actions are unsuitable for the automation that you hope for.
[Next page](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tag-in-batch-from-folder-1-to-folder-2/68156.md?page=2)