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Filtering the file list

Use the Filter to show files that need attention: tracks without an album artist, files above a bitrate, or titles containing a particular phrase. Filtering changes the view; it does not remove files or edit tags.

Start with a text search

  1. Open a folder or add files to the list.
  2. Show View → Show filter with F3 if the Filter is hidden.
  3. Type Juniper Harbour into the Filter.

In the installed app, ordinary search requires every space-separated word to occur somewhere in the tags or filename. The words can occur in different fields. Juniper Harbour can therefore find ARTIST=Juniper Vale with ALBUM=Harbour Lights, regardless of case or word order.

The search does not require complete words: harb can match Harbour. An asterisk is literal text here, not a wildcard. To search only a particular field, switch to an expression.

Ask a more precise question

Goal Enter
Find an artist exactly, including one value of a multi-artist field ARTIST IS "Juniper Vale"
Find titles containing Live TITLE HAS Live
Find missing album artists ALBUMARTIST MISSING
Find tracks numbered above 8 TRACK GREATER 8
Find Folk tracks except live recordings GENRE IS Folk AND NOT TITLE HAS Live
Find a numbered track/total pair TRACK MATCHES "^[0-9]+/[0-9]+$"

Write keywords such as IS, HAS, and AND in uppercase. Field names and compared text are case-insensitive. Quote a multiword value as one operand; the quotes group the filter text and are not part of the wanted tag value.

HAS asks about contained words. IS asks whether a complete stored value equals the text. MATCHES runs a regular expression. These are different questions: TITLE IS "Live*" looks for the literal asterisk, while TITLE MATCHES "^Live" finds a value beginning with Live.

The complete filter syntax reference covers all operators, missing versus empty fields, quoting, numeric rules, and format-string selectors.

Choose automatic or manual application

Open the helper menu beside the Filter, or focus the field and press Ctrl+Space. Control is used on every platform; Ctrl+Alt+Space is also available on macOS when the system reserves Control+Space.

Auto-apply filter defaults to enabled. Results update while typing after a short delay. Turn it off to compose an expression without filtering at each partial word, then press Enter to apply it. The text being edited and the currently applied query can differ in manual mode.

Enabling Auto-apply while unapplied text exists applies that text. The helper also lists fields, information fields, functions, and history/favorites. Inserted placeholders still need the surrounding filter syntax: a function by itself is not an operator.

Clear, hide, and restore the filter

Erase the text to show the original loaded list again; in manual mode, press Enter to apply the empty query. View → Hide filter or F3 also shows all loaded files. OpenTag remembers the hidden text during the session and restores it when the Filter is shown again. If the hidden text was still being edited in manual mode, showing it restores that text as the applied filter.

A filtered-out file remains loaded. The selection count is separate from the visible count, so a hidden selected file can still be selected. Review the selected count and selection before a write, rename, or removal. Use Unselect all and deliberately select the intended visible rows when a batch must be limited to the result set.

Position the Filter

Use View → Filter position to choose Above the file list, Left of the toolbars, or Right of the toolbars. The default is above the list. Compact layouts keep the Filter with the list and omit the position menu.

If the result looks wrong

Filtering files… means the current query is still being evaluated. No matching files is a successful query with no matches. Invalid filter is an error: read the message, correct the query, or clear it. A syntax error does not mean that the files disappeared from disk.

Start with a simple field query and add one condition at a time. Check these common mistakes:

  • Write MATCHES, not MATCH.
  • Use integer thresholds such as TRACK GREATER 8; 3.5 and 3:30 are not valid numeric operands.
  • Use %_path% or another explicit information field for a folder/path search. Plain search does not search every technical field.
  • Distinguish a missing field from a present value containing empty text.
  • Avoid double quotes inside a quoted literal. Use the regex or $char(34) techniques in the reference.

The browser preview has a simpler substring search over its displayed data and paths. The full expression parser described here belongs to the installed app's backend. Do not use browser-preview matches as proof of installed filter behavior.