Customize the tag panel¶

Choose View → Customize tag panel…, the tag panel's ⋯ → Customize tag panel…, or its Options page to choose the fields you edit most often. A control's Name is its label; Field is the actual metadata name. Showing, hiding or rearranging a control does not by itself remove metadata from an audio file.

Add a Mood control¶

Open Customize tag panel… and choose New.
Set Name to M&ood and Field to MOOD.
Keep Default value at < keep > for this practice change.
Choose Text as Type and Normal as Size of field.
Leave its visibility checkbox checked and choose OK.
Select one copied practice file. The panel now offers Mood; enter Calm to stage that field, then save tags when the value is intended.

The ampersand marks o as the label's Alt mnemonic. It is not part of the stored field name or value. && writes a literal ampersand. On macOS, Option combinations can remain text entry in a focused editor; use the visible control when the keyboard context does not route that mnemonic.

Every field setting¶

Setting	Purpose
Name	Display label; an ampersand can mark its mnemonic.
Field	Uppercase metadata identifier such as MOOD, ISRC or a custom name; type it without `%` wrappers.
Default value	Literal value used by the panel's default-filling rules, or the special keep/blank choices below.
Type	Text, Check or Multiline control.
Size of field	Relative width: Full, Larger, Large, Medium, Normal, Small, Smaller or Tiny.
Rows	Visible height of a Multiline control, from 1 to 20 rows. Disabled for other types.
Visibility checkbox	Whether this control appears on the panel.

A normal metadata field can appear only once in the layout. The field input normalizes names to uppercase and rejects technical information fields, with the two special layout controls described below. Do not paste %mood% into Field; that placeholder syntax belongs in a format string.

Understand defaults before selecting a batch¶

Keep < keep > unless a default should deliberately fill selected files. When several files are selected and the tag panel is visible, its visible fields with non-keep defaults can be staged automatically. Existing pending field edits are protected from that automatic fill. The command Default values in input fields applies configured defaults to visible controls explicitly as well.

Default value	Intended staged result
`< keep >`	No update
`< blank >`	Remove field
`Reviewed`	`Reviewed`
`%artist%`	`%artist%`

The final row is literal text, not a lookup of the artist. Use Tag → Tag or a Format Value action for calculated metadata. These defaults produce pending edits; save tags to write them, and inspect save-on-navigation preferences before assuming they will remain pending.

A non-keep default is not restricted to an empty existing field. It can replace selected files' loaded values when no pending edit blocks that fill. Test a default on copied files and restore < keep > when it should not continue filling later selections.

Choose Text, Check or Multiline¶

Text offers the field's selection values, configured suggestions and applicable special choices in a drop-down. Multiline offers a textarea for notes/lyrics. Rows changes its visible height, not the allowed number of text lines or the audio file's tag format. For individually editing separate values, use Extended tags.

Check is intended for a flag such as COMPILATION. A checked change stages 1; an unchecked change stages clearing the field. The displayed checkbox can be mixed when selected files disagree. Loaded text 0, false, no and empty text count as off, ignoring case and surrounding spaces. Other nonempty values count as on; using Check for a free-text field can therefore normalize its contents when the box is changed.

The following examples refer to one loaded value from each of two selected files, before any checkbox change:

File A value	File B value	Checkbox state
`1`	`1`	On
`0`	(absent)	Off
`1`	`0`	Mixed

An untouched mixed state keeps each file's values. Choosing a real on/off state intentionally standardizes that field for the selection.

Arrange, hide or remove controls¶

Use Move up / Move down to reorder fields; Alt+Up/Down in the layout list also moves the current field. Consecutive controls share available space according to their relative sizes. Full occupies the widest slot; smaller controls can fit beside each other. Dock position and available window space affect the final arrangement.

Uncheck a field to hide it temporarily. The tag panel's own menu provides quick show/hide choices too. Remove deletes the layout entry; it does not delete that field's existing metadata. Restore defaults replaces the draft layout with the built-in one for review before OK.

The panel supports at most 100 layout fields. Invalid names, duplicate real fields, unsupported sizes/types or out-of-range row counts prevent saving. Correct the displayed error instead of assuming the saved layout has changed.

Directory and separator controls¶

_DIRECTORY is a folder control, not an editable audio tag. Its drop-down can select files already loaded from a known folder; its browse/new-path routes can load a folder under the normal workspace/pending-change rules. It is different from renaming a folder through a converter or action.

_SEPARATOR starts a new layout row, or a new column when the panel is docked above/below the file list. Separators can be repeated. They do not write a metadata field, and ordinary default filling ignores both special controls. Other underscore-prefixed technical properties cannot be added as editable tag-panel fields.

The Display cover art checkbox shows/hides the cover section, without removing embedded images. Working with covers explains image editing and its separate confirmation paths.

Supply consistent suggested values¶

Use Field values… or Options → Field Values to maintain a list of composer names, moods or another field's preferred spellings. A custom list offers suggestions; selecting a field's layout entry does not rewrite existing tags to match the list.

Shift+Enter in a populated tag-panel field adds its current value to that field's custom suggestions when valid. Genre has additional standard-list preferences. The field-values reference explains list import/export and how selected-file values can take priority over custom suggestions.

Save, load and import a panel layout¶

In Customize tag panel…, Save configuration… writes the current valid layout to a JSON file. It can save a draft before OK; canceling later does not remove that external file. Load configuration… fills the dialog for review, and OK persists/applies it.

The tag panel's direct ⋯ → Load configuration… route instead loads and persists the chosen panel layout immediately. Use View → Show tag panel or physical Control+Q if the loaded layout hides the panel. Keep a known layout export before replacing it. This panel file is separate from audio metadata, custom field-value lists and the whole-application configuration backup.

Where Import Mp3tag configuration… is offered, select a user-supplied usrfields.ini or supported saved panel file. Inspect the imported fields and Not imported report, then choose OK to keep the reviewed layout. Unsupported controls/settings are not an identical-layout guarantee.