# Import cover art error **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [May 13, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937 "2020-05-13T15:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hm3093](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/a4c791/32.png) [@hm3093](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/hm3093)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/1 "2020-05-13T15:50:58Z")
I created a folder that has all my exported cover art by album (not by file) using: d:\music\covers%artist%\_%album%.jpg How can I import the covers to their corresponding albums (being that I didn't save it by file)? ---
**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:** [May 13, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/2 "2020-05-13T17:29:09Z")
Use the export format string as format string for the filename for import. And where is the error that the topic indicates? ---
**Author:** ![hm3093](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/a4c791/32.png) [@hm3093](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/hm3093)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/4 "2020-05-14T13:48:33Z")
On some of the files, I'm getting the message that the file "cannot be accessed". The problem occurs with files where the album title or album artist has one of these characters ' \ / : \* ? " \< \> | '. When the covers are exported, the filename created deletes these characters. Here's an example: %albumartist% is De/Vision %filename% is DeVision% ---
**Author:** ![Bluesrule](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Bluesrule](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Bluesrule)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 5:02am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/5 "2020-05-16T05:02:58Z")
> [@hm3093](#): > > file "cannot be accessed". [Search results for ' file "cannot be accessed"' - Mp3tag Community](https://community.mp3tag.de/search?q=%20file%20%22cannot%20be%20accessed%22). ---
**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:** [May 16, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/6 "2020-05-16T05:17:41Z")
> [@hm3093](#): > > On some of the files, I'm getting the message that the file "cannot be accessed". The problem occurs with files where the album title or album artist has one of these characters ' \ / : \* ? " \< \> | '. When the covers are exported, the filename created deletes these characters. These are characters that are not allowed in filenames. Therefore they are not written. If you use `%artist%_%Album%.jpg` as format string that should match the cover-filename it is naturally that your format string and your filename do not match. Use `$validate(%artist%_%album%,)` as format string for the action that imports covers from files. ---
**Author:** ![LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/7 "2020-05-16T10:22:46Z")
> [@poster](#): > > These are characters that are not allowed in filenames. To be more exact, this characters are not allowed in WINDOWS/NTFS filenames. Every Operating- and Filesystem has [different limitations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filename#Comparison_of_filename_limitations). For example: On a Mac OS/HFS the only not allowed character is a `:` On most Unix file systems, the only not allowed character is a `/` ---
**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:** [May 16, 2020, 10:36am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/8 "2020-05-16T10:36:54Z")
If you create a filename from tag fields, it may be advisable to use $validate() to eliminate invalid characters. This helps to get reproduceable results also for import. So for export use e.g. `$validate(%artist%-%album%,_)` to replace any invalid characters with an underscore. ---
**Author:** ![hm3093](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/a4c791/32.png) [@hm3093](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/hm3093)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/9 "2020-05-16T10:56:53Z")
Thanks to all who responded and helped me understand how to it works. Using "$validate(%artist%-%album%,\_)" fixed everything! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/import-cover-art-error/48937/10 "2020-06-15T10:56:58Z")
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