# ORIGYEAR tag confusion!
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 12, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416 "2019-05-12T18:59:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ripnburn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ripnburn)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/1 "2019-05-12T18:59:23Z")
OK, I have searched the forum and I am very confused. I made an action and it works great but the Original year tag is not working at all and I am stuck. Is there any advice that can point me in the right direction? Here is my Action:
> %\_folderpath%'..\'%artist%'\'%origyear%' - '%\_directory%
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/2 "2019-05-12T19:05:28Z")
I am a little confused:
> [@ripnburn](#):
>
> %\_folderpath%'..'%artist%''%origyear%' - '%\_directory%
DOes not look like an action at all but like a format string that can be applied in numerous actions and even the converter.
As this looks a little like a path, I am also confused about the parts with %\_folderpath%, `"..\"` and %\_directory%
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### Author:  [@ripnburn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ripnburn)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/3 "2019-05-12T20:34:29Z")
@ohrenkino yes it is a format string as an action, what it does is takes a complete directory as is with all contents included and creates and moves it into an artist directory and adds year before the directory. It works perfect with %year% but is not working at all with %origyear%.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/4 "2019-05-12T21:14:26Z")
What is it that does
> [@ripnburn](#):
>
> not work... at all with %origyear%.
Could it be that you have the same value in YEAR but different values in ORIGYEAR or no values at all?
If you want to rename a folder, it would be much easier to use a fully qualified absolute filename.
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### Author:  [@ripnburn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ripnburn)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/5 "2019-05-12T21:40:45Z")
@ohrenkino I am not looking to rename a whole folder, I am just looking to add the original year before the folder and put the folder in an artist dir. As I stated the whole string works perfectly with the year value just does not seem to retrieve any info for the original year value. You may be right there may be no value info for the original year on some albums but you would think this would be an easy task.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2019, 7:02am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/6 "2019-05-13T07:02:04Z")
> [@ripnburn](#):
>
> I am not looking to rename a whole folder, I am just looking to add the original year before the folder and put the folder in an artist dir.
I think that this describes fairly accurately the process of renaming.
> [@ripnburn](#):
>
> You may be right there may be no value info for the original year on some albums...
If there is no data in the field ORIGYEAR but you need that then any attempt to use non-existent data will lead to undesirable results.
I am not sure who is supposed to carry that out what
> [@ripnburn](#):
>
> you would think this would be an easy task.
and I am also not sure what the task would be.
So far you present only very vague information about you do so that I do not see me in a position to help to find the root cause of the ORIGYEAR tag confusion.
It would help, though, if you told us
what action for which field you use,
what the format string looks like,
what the data for the relevant fields looks like and
with which property you start and how the property should look like in the end.
Or you test your format string in one of the converters, Tag-Filename for the \_FILENAME or Tag-Tag for \_DIRECTORY.
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### Author:  [@ripnburn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ripnburn)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/7 "2019-05-14T23:16:34Z")
Basically I am just looking to add the original date the album came out to the front of the album folder without touching the folder tag layout as my example shows. I am not even sure if it is possible?
From this--\> Motley\_Crue-Girls\_Girls\_Girls\_(30th\_Anniversary\_Edition)-(Remastered)-2017
To this--\> 1987 - Motley\_Crue-Girls\_Girls\_Girls\_(30th\_Anniversary\_Edition)-(Remastered)-2017
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/8 "2019-05-15T06:29:59Z")
To add further information to already existing fields or properties, see the HowTos:
> [@Actions and batch-operations](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions-and-batch-operations/967/5):
>
> How to append the string " xyz" to the content of a tag field? Create a [new action](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/actions/967/2) in an existing action group and choose Format value as action type. Field specifies the tag field the formatting rule should be applied to. Format string must have the field placeholder for the field selected above and the string which should be appended. Example: If you want to append the string " xyz" to the current value of the comment field: Action type: Format value Field: COMMENT Format string: %com…
In this case the field/property would be \_DIRECTORY
You can see the result in a preview if you use
Convert\>Tag-Tag for \_DIRECTORY
Format string: %origyear% - %\_directory%
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### Author:  [@ripnburn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ripnburn)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/9 "2019-05-15T22:52:17Z")
@ohrenkino Thank You so much,
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> In this case the field/property would be \_DIRECTORY
>
> You can see the result in a preview if you use
> Convert\>Tag-Tag for \_DIRECTORY
> Format string: %origyear% - %\_directory%
Perfect short and sweet and did the trick! 😉
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/origyear-tag-confusion/45416/10 "2026-02-09T12:28:05Z")