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Move tracks into artist and album folders

Uses: Tag → Filename, optional year text and padded track numbers.

Works on: Copied local audio files with checked artist, album and title tags.

Time: About 10 minutes for a small album.

Undo: Apply changes paths immediately; inspect recorded Edit → Undo in the same desktop session and keep originals.

The problem

Your copied tracks sit together in an incoming folder. You want an artist folder, an album folder and numbered filenames. This recipe builds each relative destination under that track's current containing folder. It does not gather files from several source folders into one archive automatically.

Check the tags first. Keep originals outside the practice folder, resolve pending edits deliberately, and choose an album with useful ARTIST, ALBUM, TRACK and TITLE values. The optional YEAR can be absent.

The solution

  1. Select only the practice audio files. If a filter is active, inspect the selection count; hidden selected files can still belong to an operation.
  2. Choose Convert → Tag → Filename… (Alt+1; Alt is ⌥ Option on macOS).

  3. Enter this Format string, without adding an audio extension:

    %artist%\%album%[ (%year%)]\$num(%track%,2) - %title%

  4. Choose Preview. Check the full destination, including the root, every folder and the final filename. The following paths are relative to each input's containing folder; / shows folder levels for readability.

    Scroll the table sideways on a narrow screen to read the complete destinations.

    Artist Album Year Track Title Source name Relative destination
    Juniper Vale Harbour Lights 2024 3/8 Paper Boats old.mp3 Juniper Vale/Harbour Lights (2024)/03 - Paper Boats.mp3
    Juniper Vale Harbour Lights Absent 3 Paper Boats old.mp3 Juniper Vale/Harbour Lights/03 - Paper Boats.mp3
    Kofi/Mira Harbour Lights 2024 3 Paper Boats old.mp3 Kofi_Mira/Harbour Lights (2024)/03 - Paper Boats.mp3
    Juniper Vale Harbour Lights 2024 3 Low Tide: Dawn old.mp3 Juniper Vale/Harbour Lights (2024)/03 - Low Tide_ Dawn.mp3
    Juniper Vale Harbour Lights 2024 100 Last Harbour old.flac Juniper Vale/Harbour Lights (2024)/100 - Last Harbour.flac

  5. Inspect the destination folders in the file manager if they already exist. Ensure your intended names are distinct and account for existing files. A preview is not a reservation or a guarantee about every filesystem alias.

  6. When the small practice plan is correct, choose Apply to … files. The audio files move/rename immediately; no second Save tags step is needed for the paths. Inspect operation errors and the saved destinations.

How it works

  • %artist% supplies the artist folder. A literal backslash in the expression starts the next folder on all supported desktop platforms.
  • %album%[ (%year%)] keeps the album, adding a space and parenthesized year only when the year field contributes a value. An absent year does not leave empty parentheses.
  • $num(%track%,2) reads the leading track number and pads to at least two digits. It turns 3/8 into 03 and leaves 100 at three digits; it does not preserve a vinyl-side label such as B2.
  • %title% supplies the final title text. The host retains the source audio extension. A FLAC input remains a FLAC file; this is not audio conversion.

A separator inside a tag value does not create the literal folder level: with the default replacement, Kofi/Mira becomes Kofi_Mira. The setting is Options → Files → Replace folder separator in tag values with. Other forbidden value characters such as the example colon become underscores. These rules do not certify that every generated component is suitable for every target filesystem, network share or device. Preview and test the actual destination.

Required empty fields need attention before applying. A missing artist can leave a leading separator and change the destination root: stop and correct that field rather than applying the unexpected path. A missing album can leave an empty component, or only the optional year suffix when YEAR is present. A missing title can produce an incomplete name, and a missing/nonnumeric track can become 00. Do not treat a syntactically valid format string as proof of correct metadata.

Variations

For an artist folder based on album credit, use this expression only after checking the album artist policy for the selection:

$if2(%albumartist%,%artist%)\%album%[ (%year%)]\$num(%track%,2) - %title%

$if2 uses the album artist when present, otherwise the first track artist. With album artist Various Artists and the first practice row's other values, the relative destination is Various Artists/Harbour Lights (2024)/03 - Paper Boats.mp3. The compilation recipe explains why per-track fallback can split one album across several artist folders.

To use a shared archive root, prepend the intended absolute root and preview it on that platform. A Windows drive path is not a portable absolute path on macOS/Linux. Choose a real writable location; do not copy another machine's root blindly. A complete date in YEAR remains a complete date here; use the year-only recipe if a deliberate extraction is needed.

Reapplying this relative expression after moving files can nest the structure again under their new folders. It does not promise to move sidecar pictures, playlists or text files, or to remove old empty folders. Keep moved files controls whether moved entries remain listed. Undo can meet newly occupied paths, so verify the result and retain originals beyond the session.