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Import Text File

Use Import Text File to replace one field with the complete contents of a text file. It suits lyrics, a long comment or album notes. It does not parse columns or assign different lines to different audio files.

Load a text file into a field

  1. Put a UTF-8 file named notes.txt beside your practice audio file. For this example, give it the text Recorded at the north pier.
  2. Save pending edits and select that copied audio file.
  3. Choose Actions → Actions (Quick)…, then Import Text File.
  4. Set Field to COMMENT and Text filename format to notes.txt.
  5. Choose Apply action, then inspect COMMENT in Extended tags….

The comment becomes Recorded at the north pier.. Existing comment values are replaced with one value containing the imported text.

Filename formats

Setting Meaning
Field The destination tag field, such as LYRICS or COMMENT
Text filename format A format string evaluated separately for each selected audio file
Browse… Choose a specific text file

A relative path is resolved in each audio file's folder. An absolute path reads the same file for every selected track.

Literal \ separates folders on every platform. Ordinary tag values have separators and reserved filename characters cleaned, using the configured folder-separator replacement. %_folderpath%, %_path% and %_workingpath% retain native path components, including a backslash within a macOS or Linux folder name.

Filename format Example use
notes.txt The album folder's notes for every selected track there
%_filename%.txt For 02 - Paper Boats.flac, read 02 - Paper Boats.txt beside it
%_folderpath%lyrics.txt Read one lyrics file from that audio file's folder

Use an exact path, including the extension. The filename expression does not expand wildcard searches. A missing file warns for that file; later actions and groups still run. It does not schedule an import for later.

Text and encoding rules

The entire file becomes one value, including its line breaks and spaces. Use UTF-8 for new text files. A byte-order mark selects the corresponding Unicode decoding. Without one, valid UTF-8 is accepted; otherwise the configured ANSI/system codepage is used, with Windows-1252 as the fallback when none is configured.

Check accented characters after importing older files. Convert Codepage repairs some already-misdecoded field text, but choosing a known encoding for the source text before import is preferable.

Gotchas

  • The action replaces all existing values of the destination field. It does not append the text.
  • An empty source file replaces the existing content with empty text. Use Remove Fields when the goal is to delete the destination field.
  • _FILENAME, _DIRECTORY and other underscore targets are not supported destinations for this action.
  • This action writes immediately. Keep copies and inspect operation errors and Edit → Undo for recorded changes.