I had the idea for the option to turn on or off a narrow column on the far left of the big panel that’s numbered to show how many tracks/files are in the program.
Useful??
Thanks.
Could you describe a workflow in which the line number would be needed?
So far the informations of totals and selected files is available in the status bar.
And as there is no function to address the e.g. 9th file, I wonder what the benefit would be.
I do not doubt that everyone has an approach of one's own and that these approaches could vary considerably.
And as I am eager to learn (as I think that I am far from a perfect use of this program) I would like to know which steps could be facilitated with the presence of such a column.
Please note that such a column would also have to cater for larger collections with a six-digit or more number of files.
I just tried a selection of 13 files to replace T with T with Convert>Tag-Tag - and I hardly could see the progress indicator window flash as it closed so quickly again. That was far too fast to check which file of the 13 was treated at the moment.
So, yes, I have a different workflow.
I never wanted to say anything against the request itself. But as there are a number or ideas in the pipeline it would increase the priority of a request the more details illustrate the urgency of an idea.
I don't believe there was any pushback about your request. Rather the discussion was to add more details about what information would be displayed and how it would be useful.
Given that this information…
…is already available I too am curious what additional details could be presented.
For reference my library is over 28k music files. Often I only open newly acquired tracks for editing which doesn't take much effort to update. However I have occasionally updated large filters of the library as well. I can't think of what other information could have been shown in either use case.
You seem to be anxious to push back yourself. Contrary to the idea that anyone is pushing back on your proposal, the ask is simply to provide additional perspective on what you are really asking for. It obviously isn't clear if several other members are essentially asking the same thing.
There is no need to withdraw your request. Just clarify and include more details.
I said no such thing.
You started the thread with a feature request. There were a few requests for more details to help expand on that. How else is anyone supposed to take action?
Maybe look in a mirror. 
This is the column I’m trying to describe in my request… just informational. Not editable other than on or off. Not used in scripts or other processes. Just information that would be useful to me when the program is writing tags to large files in a long list.
This is a request to the author, not the community.
So you don't want a column with the total number of loaded files, but rather a column where the files are numbered sequentially.
Since you've selected all the files in the screenshot: Should only the selected files be numbered, or all of them?
What should happen to the numbering if you rearrange the loaded files, or if you delete some of them, or if you remove some from the view, or if you apply a filter to the loaded files?
Should the numbering be updated in these cases, or should the existing numbers be retained?
I'm so bold and will ask the questions anyway.
In addition to @poster's questions:
How should it count for 2 or more albums?
From 1 to 12 for the first album and 1 to 12 for the second album?
From 1 to 24 for the first and second album?
The numbers should just track along with whatever files are in the program, selected. filtered or otherwise.
If there are 12 files then 1 - 12. If you rearrange the order of the 12 files, there are still 12 files, so 1 - 12… if you remove one then 1 - 11…
A sequential numbering of the files loaded in the program.
The numbers should just track along with whatever files are in the program, selected. filtered or otherwise.
If there are 12 files then 1 - 12. If you rearrange the order of the 12 files, there are still 12 files, so 1 - 12… if you remove one then 1 - 11… If there are 2 albums with 12 files each,. that would be 24 files, so 1 - 24.
A sequential numbering of the files loaded in the program. Nothing to do with anything else. Just for quick visual information and not editable other than on/off and not connected to any process or filter or any other scenario.
I’ll quickly suggest that if %_counter%/%_max_counter% was supported in Columns, that could be an easy enough solution.
Or like a constantly updating auto-numbering wizard always starting at 1 in it’s own column.
Coming back to the original question
and with the further explanations what the new feature should look like
I have the impression that this feature would only be useful in a very limited use case:
- The number of files must not exceed the number of number of lines in the file list window.
- The first treated file must also be the first in the file list - otherwise the message "Formatting file 1 of 3" does not make sense as number 1 would actually be e.g. number 5 in the list.
- The selected files must be in a single block without gaps in the selection. If there are gaps then the displayed number of the currently treated file would not correspond to the line number.
- The manipulation of files must be so slow that one has time
Summing up, these could be the reasons why such a feature has not yet been implemented. But we will see.
I find the idea
quite nice - although it would require to manually refresh the list as soon as a position changes or a filter is applied.
Edit: just a test:
In the current implementation a modification introduced to a larger number of files (65 in this case as I wanted to see the progress indicator for some time) the display in the tag panel does not get updated.
The test went as follows:
filter for a number of files with the same data in GENRE, e.g.
%genre% IS Pop
Select all these files
Use Convert>Tag-Tag for GENRE
Format string: %genre%s
(which should result in "Pops" as genre).
While the converter is running and changes the genre from Pop to Pops, it could have been, that, with the first file that has a different genre, the display for Genre in the tag panel would change to <keep> - but it does not.
So besides an added line number it would also mean that the display would update after each treated file. Otherwise the visual inspection would not show the updated data.
I even managed to click on a single file (and loose the former selection) while the converter was running.
But the tag panel was updated after the converter finished its work.
I am not quite sure now about the visual inspection of the currently running process.
But perhaps my test environment was not good enough.
The numerical column wouldn’t have anything to do with filters or selections or blocks of selections with gaps. It there is a file on the line then there is a number in the column. ‘Treating’ some of the files, in blocks or not, had never been a part of my workflow.
Maybe try a test with 15 or 20 large video files, each well over 1.5 gigbytes, select action Case Conversion, then save and see if the small progress window stays open a bit longer. It does for me and tells me file ## is being processed. In my workflow I would then know which file in the loaded list that is without having to count down the list by eye or with my finger.
If this feature does not fit with the workflow you use, than switch it off.
None of this is an urgent need. If I were just tagging an album of music files it wouldn’t be of much use, as the progress window goes very fast, and the numerical column could easily just be ignored or shut off. When I was working on a bunch of large video files, I thought of it and thought it would be a nice very tiny feature I would enjoy seeing. I have been informed that there are many much more important things in the works… so as with many requests, this one won’t by implemented. No problem. I appreciate the work Florian does and donate to the cause, regardless. As I said, this program already goes way beyond what anyone should expect from a file tagger.