Editing, saving and undo¶
Changing a value on screen and writing it into an audio file are separate steps. Use this page to practice that distinction, save a reviewed selection, and recover from a change before continuing with a whole album.
Make one change you can recognize¶
- Work on a copied audio file. Select it in the file list.
- In the tag panel, replace its Album with
Harbour Lights — practice. - Look for the pending marker beside the row and the unsaved files count. The displayed album changes immediately; this is still a pending edit.
- Choose File → Save tags (Cmd+S / Ctrl+S).
- Inspect the operation result. After a successful save, that file's pending marker clears. File → Reload tags reads the saved result again.
The shortcuts with Cmd use ⌘ on macOS; use Ctrl on Windows and Linux. While learning, use menu items if a text field's focus makes a shortcut ambiguous.
A field left unchanged is kept. An explicitly cleared field requests removal. A format string typed into an ordinary tag-panel field is stored as text; use Tag → Tag to calculate it.
Save the intended selection¶
Save tags writes pending edits for the selected files. The status bar's unsaved-file count covers the loaded list, so it can include files outside that selection. A successful save of one selection need not clear every pending marker in the window.
Before saving a batch, check the selected count, the fields changed and any active filter. A filter can hide an already selected row; hiding it does not necessarily remove it from the selection. Select the intended files again when the scope is uncertain.
A batch can partly succeed. For example, all three files below have pending album edits, but only the first two are selected for saving:
| File | Selected for Save | Result | Pending afterward |
|---|---|---|---|
01 - Paper Boats.mp3 |
Yes | Saved | No |
02 - North Pier.mp3 |
Yes | Failed | Yes |
03 - Quiet Harbour.mp3 |
No | Not attempted | Yes |
A failure does not turn the successful first write into a failure too. Read each file error, fix its cause, and retry the files that still need saving. Cancel stops remaining work; it does not roll back files already written. Unattempted edits remain pending. Do not close the application merely because some files in the batch were saved.
Discard, reload or undo¶
| Goal | Command | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Abandon unsaved edits in selected files | Edit → Discard pending changes | Return to the loaded values without reading the files again |
| Read selected files again after an external edit | File → Reload tags | Read current storage and discard those files' pending edits after confirmation |
| Reverse a recorded write | Edit → Undo … | Restore the operation named in the menu, when its history step is available |
| Reapply a reversed operation | Edit → Redo … | Restore its redo state, when available |
Discarding pending edits is different from undoing a saved operation. Undo does not mean “clear every unsaved edit”: pending edits are retained when recorded file history is replayed. Inspect them afterward so a later save does not unintentionally write those pending values over the restored file.
History is for the current desktop session. Read its operation label and file count, including any failure notice. It is not a durable backup of the library, and changes made by another program are not automatically reversible here. A batch history operation can concern several files, beyond the current selection.
The Redo menu slot can instead say Repeat. Repeat runs the available last action or action group again on the current selection; it does not restore a historical snapshot. Use action groups to understand what that repeated operation will do.
Know which commands write immediately¶
Tag-panel text edits, metadata cells, Keep changes in Extended tags, Cut/Paste tags and staged auto-numbering wait for Save tags. A filename cell edits a path instead of a metadata field.
Actions, applied converters, Remove tag…, and direct artwork commands write when run. They do not leave their completed results waiting for a later Save command. Managed cover edits have their own OK commit step. Follow the specific dialog's preview and confirmation instructions.
Check automatic saving and prompts¶
Under File → Options… → Tags, Save tags when using arrow keys or a single mouse click is off by default. When enabled, a supported selection change can save pending edits from the previous selection of local files. This includes mouse/arrow navigation, Select next file, and leaving the selection through commands such as Unselect all. Extending a selection can also trigger a save of previously selected pending files. Treat selection changes as potentially writing when this preference is on.
Extended tags has a separate navigation save-mode setting for its << and >> buttons. See Tags options for its pending, ask, ignore and save choices.
Commands that would replace the list, reload or close with pending edits can ask whether to discard them. Options → Messages controls these prompts. Disabling a prompt does not save the edits automatically. Resolve the edits first when they need to survive closing the window.
Respect storage and access limits¶
Options → Files → Preserve timestamps of modified files preserves the file's modification time during supported writes. It does not make a save invisible to backups, preserve every filesystem date, or stop metadata bytes from changing.
Tag storage is format-specific. An ordinary save can synchronize several configured tag types and remove a type selected for removal but not writing. Review Tags options before changing storage policies to solve a player compatibility issue.
Read-only local files can fail to save. Provider-backed documents have their own access and recovery state: follow Source read-only, Source access unknown or Recovery required messages. Save a copy… can preserve supported edited tag fields or an original backup when offered; pending artwork is not included in that copy request. It is not a general desktop “Save As” replacement. See the File menu.