Hi, I think I have a challenging one:
my favourite podcast has changed its file naming format. Instead of a nice [podcast name]-year-month-date [title].mp3 format I now get random number-another random number.mp3
Call me picky, but I'd like to archive them the way I've done the past years. I like to revisit things, and the numbering thing makes it hard and annoying.
So I've contrived a way:
- the tag contains the podcast's date, along with a lot of other information
[speaker+guest+random stuff+podcast title+(day.month.year).mp3]
so what I do is:
tag -> file name:
%title%
file name: -> tag
%dummy% podcast title (%track%)
tag -> file name::
%track%
file name: -> track
%track%.%composer%.%%bpm% [I picked there tags randomly, TBH]
tag -> file name::
podcast title_%bpm%-%composer%-%track%_%title%
This means a lot of clicking. So, after a long introduction: is there a way to do this in one click? I looked into actions, but this seemed different, I could not find an option for the file names, and searched for batch conversion, but only got info on renaming multiple albums, but not several actions after another.
Any help appreciated...
You can combine multiple different Actions into one Action Group.
In such an Action Group, the individual steps will be executed one after the other automatically.
Of course you have to be sure that your Actions are working in the defined order.
You could choose "Format Value" as Action type to rename your file names.
The most simple Format string to rename your
Field: _FILENAME
would be
%TITLE%
This would rename your existing filename with the content of your tag TITLE.
You can choose whatever you like as Format string, for example also your
podcast title_%bpm%-%composer%-%track%_%title%
(best working if you have filled content into your tags BPM, COMPOSER, TRACK and TITLE before).
Thank you for the advice. I'm rather looking for a way to string all these things into one click. I'm still working on the action groups, trying to wrap my head around this: I can't find a way to simply convert the filename. Re-reading the manual right now.
Ok, I'm gonna show myself to be quite stupid here, but I'm stuck again: I looked up the various ways to use format strings. I followed the good advice for "Format value" [my mistake was I tried to directly reproduce the Format Tag - Filename button]
So, now my filename is the title.
My next operation was FORMAT VALUE "TRACK" > %_filename%, to the sole benefit that I now have two fields with identical content. I tried to amend that with brackets to only select the last four numbers (%dummy (), but I'm stuck. I tried reading up on format strings, regular expressions, but it just does not stick in my head. If anybody has a good idea for a site where I can LEARN this stuff to understand myself and not bother you guys, that would be much appreciated.
You are already in the right place 
To get the best matching suggestions you should provide real existing examples from your collection. Let us see real, complete filenames, even the currently "wrong" ones.
Let us see screenshots from View -> Extended Tags for real existing files.
Let us know, what exactly is your desired result. With real examples how they should look after using Actions or Converters.
And BTW:
Wir können die Fragen hier auch gerne auf Deutsch beantworten.
Please note that there is a difference between matching format strings and generating format strings.
See the documentation on format strings:
Ok, so I hope I got it all right:
current filename: 3156257_58508180.mp3 [that's the original one I downloaded]
current title: Tanz in den Wolken: Hochseilakt auf dem World Trade Center | WDR Zeitzeichen (07.08.2024)
desired filename: wdrzeitzeichen_2024-08-07 Tanz in den Wolken: Hochseilakt auf dem World Trade Center.mp3
[i.e. the date in the brackets is supposed to be the leading date after the podcast's title]
will not work as a colon in the middle of a filename is not allowed.
Here is a suggestion for Convert>Tag-Filename:
$validate($regexp(%title%,'(.*) \| (.*) \((\d\d)\.(\d\d)\.(\d+)\)',$2_$5-$4-$3 $1),_)
will not work as a colon in the middle of a filename is not allowed.
dang, missed that one. You're right of course.
Here is a suggestion for Convert>Tag-Filename:
That looks great!!! I'll use this to try to make sense of the regexp business. Thanks!
