# Cover art display on external drive
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 3, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907 "2026-10-03T20:16:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/1 "2026-10-03T20:16:52Z")
afternoon,
after spending countless hours searching, can someone help me on how i can just display the cover art in the mail panel. my files are named as artist.title and on a external drive. Thank You sorry to bother you with a problem that is probably simple.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/2 "2026-10-03T21:05:15Z")
> [@dp19](#):
>
> the cover art in the mail panel
Which program should show the covers? Mail?
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### Author:  [@rboss](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/rboss)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/3 "2026-10-03T22:47:15Z")
> [@dp19](#):
>
> how i can just display the cover art in the mail panel. my files are named as artist.title and on a external drive.
I could be wrong, but I think OP made a typo, and meant "main panel"; and questions on how to load cover art from an external source.
@dp19 Am I correct in assuming you wish to bulk import covers from an external source, using `artist.title` as the format string?
If not, some context and a concrete example would help.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/4 "2026-10-04T07:06:08Z")
If this is related to this problem:
> [@Moving covers to network drive with an action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/moving-covers-to-network-drive-with-an-action/66806):
>
> Good Morning, i having a problem with moving my covers to a network drive. my action is format value field \_directory string \mh\y my problem is that i don't know what i need to put after \mh\y to only move the cover, i now when i do this action it's oullung the mp3 file itself. so can someone help with to comman i need to just pull the jpg. file? Thank You DP
then the answers are still the same: covers have to be embedded or, if the files are all external files, untick the option
`Don't display first image from the directory as cover art`
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 11:21am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/5 "2026-10-04T11:21:33Z")
you are correct and i finally figure it out thanks all.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 11:26am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/6 "2026-10-04T11:26:03Z")
> [@dp19](#):
>
> i finally figure it
And what did lead to your solution?
What did you figure out?
What was the cause for your initial post and what did you change so that the problem is gone?
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/7 "2026-10-04T11:51:21Z")
what you suggested. also the main panel displays the jpgs but without the artist and title its blank, i'm not sure as to why i'm thinking my naming is incorrect. any suggestions?
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 12:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/8 "2026-10-04T12:05:41Z")
the tag info for artist and title are missing the picture is there. so how can i automatically add the missing info from the jpg is this possible?
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 12:07pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/9 "2026-10-04T12:07:30Z")
MP3tag does nothing more than topic the first picture file it finds and then display it in the tag panel.
What other programs do, is beyond the influence of MP3tag.
Some programs pickup external pictures if they are called `folger.jpg` or `cover.jpg` - but no guarantee about that.
For MP3tag there is no connection between arbitrary files and the currently loaded supported file.
There is no way to take the name of any other file and use it to fill the tag data.
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/10 "2026-10-04T12:18:47Z")
i only use mp3tag 3.28 for mp3s and i have an action to copy the jpg so i don't why tag from a copy isn't displaying. thanks for the support i'm going recopy.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/11 "2026-10-04T12:25:35Z")
> [@dp19](#):
>
> i have an action to copy the jpg
As jpg files a usually no supported file type for MP3tag I wonder how you copy external jpg files with an MP3tag internal action.
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/12 "2026-10-04T13:59:01Z")
i use export to file action
format string: H:\covers%artist%.%Title% %year%
i'm coming to the conclusion that the metatag info doesn't copy into the metatag for the jpg when it's copied over. so is it possible to get the metatag from the file added to the copied jpg file automatically or can't this be done?
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/13 "2026-10-04T14:05:24Z")
The export cover to file function only works for embedded covers.
Are the covers embedded or is you claim from
> [@Moving covers to network drive with an action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/moving-covers-to-network-drive-with-an-action/66806/):
>
> Good Morning, i having a problem with moving my covers to a network drive. my action is format value field \_directory string \mh\y my problem is that i don't know what i need to put after \mh\y to only move the cover, i now when i do this action it's oullung the mp3 file itself. so can someone help with to comman i need to just pull the jpg. file? Thank You DP
> [@Moving covers to network drive with an action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/moving-covers-to-network-drive-with-an-action/66806/11):
>
> I DON"T USE EMBEDDED ALBUM COVEER ART.
still valid.
If it is then the action will not export anything.
The file name that you might see in the tag panel only shows which file Mp3tag has found as first file in the current folder and which is now being displayed.
External baggage files are not handled by MP3tag (with the possible exception of lyrics files).
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/14 "2026-10-04T18:05:41Z")
I'm not sure on embedded covers. i thought mine were from where i c/p from spotity. if they are embedded then why can't the metatag info from the mp3 be copied into that embedded file as well. i can't add any metatag unfo as well. if i configure the window into filename then they show up and don't with other configuration. can mp3tag have different configurations for different drives? really trying to understand all this.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/15 "2026-10-04T18:10:27Z")
TBH I don't understand what you do, what you have done, what your data looks like, what you expect.
Screenshots sometimes help, preferably those which show the data in MP3tag and the applied functions.
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### Author:  [@dp19](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dp19)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/16 "2026-10-04T18:27:17Z")
too many screenshot to send and as for the outcome i like to have the metatag from the mp3 appear in embedded/jpg file as well using an action to automatically do this since i have over 25,000 songs. i thought this was happening each time a added or updated song covers. i know someone out there is smart enough to figure this and an action out just not me.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cover-art-display-on-external-drive/71907/17 "2026-10-04T18:32:54Z")
> [@dp19](#):
>
> too many screenshot to send
I would have expected that we start with 1 screenshot showing the folder and the view in MP3tag.
But it is your problem, not mine, so you set the pace and the progress.
If you are not satisfied with the suggestions you got so far: the forum is full of threads that deal with artwork that is displayed or not and just as many hints what can be done.
So perhaps a forum search will get you closer to a solution.