...For instance, I store all my music files a tree of A-Z folders, the letters being the name of the performing group, or LAST name of the performing person. Within each are the files, named in the pattern ARTIST - TITLE. This is all accomplished selecting the files, one or several or many or even All. Then press F6 > Enter. Done.
I don't need to start with anything except the ability to select the files in MC. Usually my new-to-organize music files are in various folders and drives on my system. I just make them visible in MC (sometimes by navigating to their physical location, or dragging them into MC). Then I tag as desired. Happy with that, I select the files, do the two key presses, and all the files get renamed and moved and I'm done with them.
Rename/Move/Copy is also a bit smart. If I'm not sure which files need to be processed, I select many or even All, then pressing F6 > Enter. MC moves the files that need it, and renames the files that need it, but also skips files that are already in the right place with the right name. This is all visible upon pressing F6, because MC shows a list of all the changes it is going to do, and not do. Review if desired, then press Enter (because the default button is "OK"). It's very simple, and quite fast.
The magic comes from setting up the Rename/Move tool to know how I want files named, and in what folders. This is a one-time step, set-and-forget. But because it is powerful, it requires proper set-up, which is a tiny bit delicate to get right. But help is right here.
As Marko suggests, explain what you need -- how your files should be named, and what Directories folder arrangement you want, including an example of the full path with drive letter and upper folders (Base Path). If not obvious, explain how your desired names and folders relate to the tags you use.
You'll likely get fast response from one or several forum members on exactly what to enter in the Filename and Directories sections.
Once you get the result you want, you might never want or need to touch it again. I'm still using the Rename/Move/Copy settings I created more than a decade ago, they get transferred to newer MCs when I update.
Rename/Move/Copy can do more elaborate naming and moving, should the need arise. For instance, my rules do a bit more than I said. My Directories Rule uses a particular tag to steer each file to either my Major music tracks folder tree, or a tree of Minor tracks that are rarely if ever played (Major/Minor was originally implemented to copy only the Main songs collection to iPod and similar, these days to copy to my laptop for mobile use). The point in mentioning is that MC can make naming/moving decisions based on tags, handling each file individually.
Also, my Rules add a filename suffix to distinguish multiple files of the same artist-title. I force file/folder names to all lowercase, and a rule truncates filenames at a max length (these to assure compatibility with various OS platforms). Most users have no need to do anything like this, but if/when, MC has the power to do it with just a couple of clicks.
Tagging is the big big task because it is manual and personal. But once you've done that, Rename and Move is automated, super-simple once your Rules are specified.
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Topic: tagging with tag editor does not change file name ?! (Read 2708 times)