Build your first action group

Save a three-step title cleanup and run it again from the menu. In about 15 minutes you will record the original title in a comment, replace underscores with spaces, and normalize capitalization.

• Two copied audio files, with original copies kept elsewhere.
• First file: TITLE = paper_boats (LIVE), with COMMENT absent.
• Second file: TITLE = north_pier (LIVE), with COMMENT absent.
• Pending edits saved or discarded; only the first practice file selected.

The comment is a teaching aid, not a substitute for a file backup. The first action replaces any existing comment, which is why these practice files start without one.

1. Create a named group

Choose Actions → Actions… (Alt+6; Alt is ⌥ Option on a Mac). Under Groups, choose New… and name it Practice title cleanup. Select that group and choose Edit actions….

The group is a saved ordered list of actions. Creating or editing the list does not itself change the music file. Applying the group will.

2. Record the title before changing it

Choose New…, select Format Value in Action type, and enter:

Setting	Value
Field	COMMENT
Format string	%title%

Choose Keep action. The first action should appear in the list.

When this action runs, %title% reads that file's current title and writes it to COMMENT. It creates the comment if missing. Nothing in this expression edits TITLE.

3. Replace underscores

Add a second action of type Replace:

Setting	Value
Field	TITLE
Original string	_
Replace with	One actual space
Only as whole word	Off
Case-sensitive comparison	Off

Choose Keep action. This replacement changes every underscore in the title. Its search and replacement boxes are literal text: do not type quotes around the space.

4. Normalize capitalization

Add a third action of type Case Conversion:

Setting	Value
Field	TITLE
Case	Mixed Case
Words begin after	(-_

Choose Keep action. Mixed Case capitalizes the beginning of words and lowercases their remaining letters. Here paper boats (LIVE) becomes Paper Boats (Live). It does not know which abbreviations or artist spellings should remain uppercase.

5. Check the order before running

Use ↑ Move up and ↓ Move down until the list reads:

Order	Action	Field	Result after this step
1	Format Value	COMMENT	paper_boats (LIVE)
2	Replace	TITLE	paper boats (LIVE)
3	Case Conversion	TITLE	Paper Boats (Live)

Each action reads the results of the actions above it. Moving the comment copy to the bottom would record the cleaned title instead of the original. The group name does not determine execution order; the displayed list does.

Choose Keep group, then Save groups. Saving keeps the reusable settings; it has not run them on the file.

6. Run only this group

In the group list, check only Practice title cleanup. A selected row identifies what to edit; the checkbox identifies what will run. Choose Apply checked groups.

The actions save immediately. Inspect the selected file:

Field	Before	After
TITLE	paper_boats (LIVE)	Paper Boats (Live)
COMMENT	Missing	paper_boats (LIVE)

There is no extra Save tags step after applying an action group. Check the operation result; an error in a later step is not a guarantee that earlier file changes were rolled back.

7. Reuse the group

After the dialog closes, select only the second practice file. Open the Actions menu and choose Practice title cleanup. The saved group runs again without reopening its editor.

The second title becomes North Pier (Live), and its comment becomes north_pier (LIVE). The expression used the second file's title, not a fixed title copied from the first file.

Actions (Quick)… (Alt+Shift+6) is the one-action route. It is useful for a single replacement; this three-step sequence belongs in a group. Quick actions also save when applied, and their previous settings are remembered.

8. Understand repeat and undo

Edit → Undo reverses recorded changes in the current desktop session. Use it immediately after the second practice run and inspect that file's title and comment again. Another undo can reverse the first run; work backward through the operation labels instead of assuming one undo always restores the entire lesson.

The Edit menu can offer Redo or Repeat, depending on the history. When it offers Repeat for the last action selection, it can run that selection again. When it offers Redo, Cmd+Y / Ctrl+Y redoes the undone operation. Read the menu label before using the shortcut.

The saved group remains available after undo. Undoing a file change does not remove the reusable group definition.

What you learned

• A group stores actions; applying it saves file changes.
• The list order determines what each action reads.
• A checkbox controls execution; selecting a row controls editing.
• Format Value calculates a field, Replace changes literal text, and Case Conversion follows a capitalization rule.
• A named menu entry reuses the group on the current selection.
• Session undo and a permanent file backup serve different recovery needs.

Next steps

• Move guest artists to titles
• Format strings
• Multi-value fields

For a larger collection of groups, Cleanup#Titles creates a Cleanup submenu containing Titles. Prefix a mnemonic character with &, such as &Cleanup#&Titles, to use Actions (Alt+A), then C, then T. Use && when a group's displayed name needs a literal ampersand.