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[marko]

[Edit by JimH -- No comments or questions please.  Keep the list clean.  Start a new thread if necessary.]


A very common reaction to some helpful replies throughout the forum here is "WOW, I've used MC for years and never knew it could do that" or words to that effect.

It's bothered me for a bit. This morning, I thought we could try getting some of the more useful, lesser known shortcuts listed in one place.

I think the important thing is that suggestions must be for things that are present from the moment MC is installed. No complicated expressions or other tweaking, just, what's there from the get-go.

I'll start with my most used....

• Ctrl+G to collapse all tree items
• Middle click an item in the tree to have it open in a new tab
• Middle click a tab to close it
• Middle click the "Close" button to restart MC (and server if it's running)
• 'inline' editing of tags for a selection of multiple files in the list... Hold down the left mouse button and right click
• The search field in MC's options

Anything else? Remember, out of the box stuff only....

[MusicBringer]

The search field in MC's options.
This one is invaluable 👍🏼

[marko]

If you select a file in a list, you can 'slow - double - click' on a field and you will be able to edit the field contents. This is "inline editing". You can, of course, also press F2, but, F2 activates the last field clicked on in the list, which may not be the one you want, meaning you then have to TAB or Shift+TAB to get where you want to be.
When you want to do this with a selection of files, the slow double click route is closed, because, you'll lose your selection, so, you're left with F2. However, if you put the cursor directly on the field you wish to edit for the selection, hold down the left button, and with that held down, right click once and you're straight into edit mode for the selection. It's quick and easy

[HPBEME]

If I spent more time thinking about it I could come up with many more great things MC does, but off the top of my head here are more items. 

• Change default Playing Now default horizontal upper/lower split to vertical side-by-side split. Open Playing Now tab menu and select "Vertical Split" (IMO, the single greatest improvement to MC's standard view ever)
• Middle click blank area on tab bar to cycle through display styles options: list, thumbnail, tiles (works in all views, not just Playing Now)
• DSP window can be set to "always on top". Click "Manage plug-ins" button below the DSP category list on left side and select it from the menu.
• To horizontally scroll a detailed list, hold down shift key while rolling mouse wheel
• Right-click list column header and select "Freeze Column" from the menu to prevent it from going off screen while horizontally scrolling. Repeat to freeze multiple columns if desired.
• Right-click column header menu to autosize column width. This is the same setting in Options/Tree & View/List, but when done from the list view itself, it only autosizes the column temporarily. If the checkbox is activated in Options, the columns will continually revert to the autosized width. I've seen many posts by users frustrated with columns constantly reverting after they had customized the width (to stop that behavior, deactivate the checkbox in the options dialog).
• Right-click column header menu to save custom column order/widths. A seemingly infinite number of unique presets can be created with layouts dedicated for Playing Now, Audio, Images,Video, etc.  Column presets are IMO one of the most powerful easy-to-use aspects of MC.
• Instead of using shift-click to select multiple list items, ensure cursor is over blank space and then left click drag to select as many rows as desired (note: left click directly on text selects that row only, which can then be dragged to a different list position).
• Scroll mouse wheel over volume bar to increase/decrease volume. Scrolling over Player Bar text also increases/decreases volume (careful: scrolling over progress bar will ff/rew track)
• MC hotkey list.  Yes, there is a JRiver webpage that already lists them, but having direct access within the program itself (via a permanent note) would be far more convenient

[markf2748]

[I'm not sure if this strictly qualifies as "out of the box", but I think it should be included.  Easily missed, it requires no code-level programming, and it provides very useful, convenient shortcuts of the user's choice - lots of bang for the buck.]

Custom Toolbars can be added at top or bottom left of the window.  RMB to the right of the "Help" menu or in bottom border brings up the self-explanatory Customize Toolbar... popup.  For the Options "Dim icons" and "No text labels" a mouseover brings out the color and a tooltip.  Alternatively, the included options enable Full color and Text Labels.  A "Clock" can be added as well.
Note:  Many of the icons displayed in the attachments are custom art.  Also, some different buttons of "related types" share icons - that's a design limitation of MC, pointed out years ago but never addressed.

FYI, I prefer "Dim icons" and "No text labels".  The last 6 buttons shown in the right panel are by far my personal favorites and most heavily used.  I add a Clock at bottom left.

2/11/2025 Edited to be a more concise general description, with my personal preferences collected separately at the end.

[markf2748]

• "MC top left menus > View > Load / Save View > Save > (set name)" quickly saves the current set of View Tabs with a unique (or old) name.  Then when things get All Fouled Up, or you just want a change, "View > Load / Save View > (set name)" quickly restores all View Tabs in the selected set!
  
  When adjusting View Tabs, "View > Load / Save View" is a fast, easy alternative to a full "File > Library > Back Up Library...".  It's also useful to invoke it before a library backup from time to time (usually a Save, but a Load if needed).
  
  One shortcoming:  Save works silently, without any success/failure feedback.  A brief completion popup or flash, and a blocking message on failure, would instill confidence.  Nevertheless, it typically works as expected with at least 90% success rate .
• Keyboard <Spacebar> toggles play/resume <--> pause playback.  If it does not work, or if you are editing a text entry, first LMB click an empty area in the Player Bar to change focus. 
  

2/10/2025 Edited for clarity.
2/11/2025 Edited first item to be a more concise general description.

[Awesome Donkey]

Here's one that's recently come up in this thread. If the Library Server isn't able to access the internet in the Information dialog it should also display the local IP address of the device Media Center is running on so a user could use that instead of the Access Key. In fact, it should probably always display both the Access Key and the local IP address so the user could use either one of them.

[marko]

Here's one that's recently come up in this thread. If the Library Server isn't able to access the internet in the Information dialog it should also display the local IP address of the device Media Center is running on so a user could use that instead of the Access Key. In fact, it should probably always display both the Access Key and the local IP address so the user could use either one of them.

If it doesn't, this doesn't belong in this thread. Here the goal is to bring together all those little shortcuts that are introduced over the years that become second nature to those that use them, but are subsequently wasted on those that come after, because the info is buried deep in the forum somewhere, and unless you've a fair idea what to search for, you're not going to.

[EnglishTiger]

As long as a TrackInfo Plugin is not in use then double clicking in the Display Panel in Standard or Cover View will switch MC into Display View and when in Display View double clicking on the Display Panel  will take you back to Previous View.

[marko]

[Need] a neat list of simple, out-of-the-box things that can make life easier, but only if you know about them.

Here's another tip...

Anywhere within the program that you can enter a search rule, if you want to filter based on playlists, rather than the cumbersome "PlaylistID" generated by ticking the playlists from a dropdown list, simply use "p"
Example: p="4 Star" will include all tracks from a playlist named 4 Star. -p="4 Star" would exclude all tracks from a playlist named 4 Star.

[JimH]

Split Browser Discussion

Please keep a clean list here.  No comments or discussion.  Thanks.