# Recognize files that are copied or moved
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [February 7, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786 "2018-02-07T21:13:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/1 "2018-02-07T21:13:11Z")
Yes I know: Mp3tag i not a filehandler. But it handles them anyhow and simply looses from on eyesight on a simple accounts of moving and does not care about those copied ones
**As for copying:** it is a little of an overkill as most likely not many users would need that. But if the moving of files should be corrected then I see no problem of taking care also of duplicated files. Giving it as an option would not hurt those uninterested in them but could help the other users
**As for moving:** that is just illogical or I sense a bug somewhere here. Some times I move a file within Mp3tag and it stays on the list of files and sometimes it does not. I tried figuring that out by moving files that were first played / filtered and / or only to folders in which files already loaded to Mp3tag were- but I could not find a pattern. All in all it should be like this: you move a file to whatever location and it stays on the list no matter what. [And if the file cannot be moved because there already is a file with such name at the destination- then spit a message about it. If such file later cannot be renamed because of the same- spit an error. Just like it is happening right now]
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/2 "2018-02-12T20:15:35Z")
> [@Zerow](#):
>
> [...]
> Some times I move a file within Mp3tag and it stays on the list of files and sometimes it does not. I tried figuring that out by moving files that were first played / filtered and / or only to folders in which files already loaded to Mp3tag were- but I could not find a pattern.
> [...]
Does anyone know what are the current rules that govern moving of files by Mp3tag?
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/3 "2018-02-13T07:36:48Z")
> [@Zerow](#):
>
> Does anyone know what are the current rules that govern moving of files by Mp3tag?
Yes, I do 🙂
I'm referring to Edit \> Move... and right-click Move here:
1. Files that are moved to a directory that is not inside the current active working directory get removed from the file list.
2. Files that are moved to a directory that is inside the current active working directory stay in the file list.
3. If there already is a file with the same name in the destination directory, it will show the same shell dialog that you're getting when you move files in Windows Explorer.
If you find a different behavior, please be very specific in your description so that I can reproduce it here.
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/4 "2018-02-13T19:38:17Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> > [@Zerow](#):
> >
> > Does anyone know what are the current rules that govern moving of files by Mp3tag?
>
> Yes, I do 🙂
>
> I'm referring to Edit \> Move... and right-click Move here:
> [...]
> If you find a different behavior, please be very specific in your description so that I can reproduce it here.
Thank you
But one more vital information is missing from your replay: what exactly constitutes in Mp3tag as such "current active working directory"?
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/5 "2018-02-13T21:21:52Z")
> [@Zerow](#):
>
> what exactly constitutes in Mp3tag as such “current active working directory”
It's the directory visible on the Directory field on the Tag Panel and in the Window caption (if you've enabled the respective option to show the current directory).
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/6 "2018-02-13T22:14:23Z")
What I am aiming at is this: every file I right click and move I would like to see retained on the list of files; no matter how and when the file got on a list of files. If needed I can first specify in Options the folder to which files will be moved- but that folder will have also sub-folders
Is this even at all currently possible?
There is either a bug; or all options / rules governing the visibility of moved files are so complex that I cannot comprehend them
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/7 "2018-02-14T07:05:32Z")
As I've stated above, the files currently stay on the list if and only if the move target is a subdirectory of the current working directory. This is a quite simple rule.
It's currently not possible to have the files _always_ retained on the file list. Not a bug, but intentional behavior. You request is noted.
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/8 "2018-02-14T16:54:05Z")
So until then: how do I make that folder-for-moved-files-of-mine be my current working directory?
I tried putting it on top of the list of folders written in my M3U8 playlist which I use up for loading all of my files- but it did not do the trick. To be exact: sometimes files that are moved to it stay on the list in the main window but sometimes they do not; as it always had been for me. So I just don't know how is that possible if i constantly use the same M3U8 file- what I am sometimes during my workflow doing [or not doing] that makes such a difference?
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/9 "2018-02-19T17:18:23Z")
> [@Zerow](#):
>
> So until then: how do I make that folder-for-moved-files-of-mine be my current working directory?
It's only possible if all the files are in the same directory or in subdirectories of the directory where your \*.m3u8 playlist is located.
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/10 "2018-02-21T22:48:14Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> > [@Zerow](#):
> >
> > So until then: how do I make that folder-for-moved-files-of-mine be my current working directory?
>
> It's only possible if all the files are in the same directory or in subdirectories of the directory where your \*.m3u8 playlist is located.
Here is behind the scenes of my workflow
I either work on some small number of files from 2-3 folders that I add manually [drag drop on Mp3tag]; or on a whole one folder that I also add manually [drop on]. That scenario is not a problem
The problem is with my main approach, which I utilize most of the time. And most of the times I load all of the files by the usage of playlist pinned down to the Mp3tag icon on the Taskbar of Windows. Just one and constantly the same playlist
```auto
#EXTM3U
M:\M\-
M:\M\+
M:\Mus
```
And if I move any file it is either to the `M:\M\` location or some subfolder in it. So how is it possible that sometimes I see what I have moved to it and some times I do not? And I am talking here about moving files that reside originally either in `M:\M\+` or `M:\Mus`. I see no possible way in just how I could work that playlist in some alternate way, with me not being aware of it- and yet Mp3tag behaves in two different ways, depending on I do not know what
What gives?
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2018, 6:38am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/11 "2018-02-22T06:38:46Z")
Where is your playlist stored?
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/12 "2018-02-24T13:51:07Z")
On drive P, within some sub-folders. And as drive P is not to have music whatsoever so I never load anything from it or send anything to it. And the operating system is stored on drive C
So the C stores shortcut information about playlist file that is on drive P - and that playlist evokes data from drive M
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2018, 9:50am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/15 "2018-02-25T09:50:23Z")
OK, then it is **not** possible with your current setup. To summarize:
> [@Florian](#):
>
> As I've stated above, the files currently stay on the list if and only if the move target is a subdirectory of the current working directory. This is a quite simple rule.
>
> It's currently not possible to have the files always retained on the file list. Not a bug, but intentional behavior. You request is noted.
> [@Florian](#):
>
> It's only possible if all the files are in the same directory or in subdirectories of the directory where your \*.m3u8 playlist is located.
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/17 "2018-03-16T18:45:18Z")
The current [Development Build Mp3tag v2.86f](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/455) changes this behavior in the sense, that moved files are now always kept in the file list.
Kind regards
— Florian
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/19 "2018-03-20T20:56:05Z")
And so, my prepared answer
> It seems that If I change order within my playlist from
>
> ```auto
> #EXTM3U
> M:\M\-
> M:\M\+
> M:\Mus
>
> ```
>
> to
>
> ```auto
> #EXTM3U
> M:\M\+
> M:\Mus
> M:\M\-
>
> ```
>
> making thus that my move-to location M:\M- as the last to be loaded, it changes nothing. But if I were after loading such playlist once again drag and drop the M:\M- location on Mp3tag, then immediately it becomes the current active directory, apparently on the account of being loaded as the last one. And so maybe a slight correction of the loading process would do the trick; in that it would take less time that to implement a change that would always keep track of moved files
>
> And also, based on those findings, as a workaround for current version of Mp3tag I could maybe do this:
>
> 1] Make playlist A
>
> ```auto
> #EXTM3U
> M:\M\+
> M:\Mus
>
> ```
>
> 2] Make playlist B
>
> ```auto
> #EXTM3U
> M:\M\-
>
> ```
>
> 3] Create a BAT file listing first A and then B
>
> 4] Add parameters to that BAT file that would load playlist A to Mp3tag
>
> 5] Add parameters to that BAT file that would load playlist B to Mp3tag, but by adding and not replacing the old list of loaded files
>
> Unfortunately. I do not know how to make 4 and 5
is now obsolete
And so, my prepared answer
```auto
It seems that If I change order within my playlist from
#EXTM3U
M:\M\-
M:\M\+
M:\Mus
to
#EXTM3U
M:\M\+
M:\Mus
M:\M\-
making thus that my move-to location M:\M\- as the last to be loaded, it changes nothing. But if I were after loading such playlist once again drag and drop the M:\M\- location on Mp3tag, then immediately it becomes the current active directory, apparently on the account of being loaded as the last one. And so maybe a slight correction of the loading process would do the trick; in that it would take less time that to implement a change that would always keep track of moved files
And also, based on those findings, as a workaround for current version of Mp3tag I could maybe do this:
1] Make playlist A
#EXTM3U
M:\M\+
M:\Mus
2] Make playlist B
#EXTM3U
M:\M\-
3] Create a BAT file listing first A and then B
4] Add parameters to that BAT file that would load playlist A to Mp3tag
5] Add parameters to that BAT file that would load playlist B to Mp3tag, but by adding and not replacing the old list of loaded files
Unfortunately. I do not know how to make 4 and 5
```
is now obsolete
Thanks for taking care of that issue
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/20 "2018-04-11T12:12:59Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> The current [Development Build Mp3tag v2.86f](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/455) changes this behavior in the sense, that moved files are now always kept in the file list.
> [...]
Yes- the version 2.87 has this change; it that the moved files are now being tracked. And so no additional solutions are needed
The only matter would be: should not files copied with Mp3tag also be added to the list? The argument would be the same as it was in the beginning:
> [@Zerow](#):
>
> [...]
> Mp3tag i not a filehandler. But it handles them anyhow
> [...]
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2018, 9:35am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/21 "2018-06-08T09:35:09Z")
After lots of feedback, I've now reverted the change and added an option to keep moved files with the latest [Development Build](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/455) Mp3tag v2.88b.
---
### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/recognize-files-that-are-copied-or-moved/19786/22 "2018-06-22T13:30:08Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> After lots of feedback, I've now reverted the change
Nooo...
> [@Florian](#):
>
> and added an option to keep moved files
> [...]
Phew...
How about then adding another such select-able option: to keep track of copied files?
We can guess than even less people will enjoy this than keeping track of moved files. But for me this would be another tiny help in some of my workflows