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Merge Duplicate Fields

Use Merge Duplicate Fields when a field contains several separate values and the target player expects one combined value. It joins the existing values with a chosen separator. It does not remove repeated text.

Join a field's values

  1. Save pending edits and select a few copied files.
  2. Open Actions → Actions (Quick)… and choose Merge Duplicate Fields.
  3. Set Field to ARTIST and Separator to ;, including the space.
  4. Choose Apply action and inspect the field in Extended tags….
Setting Meaning
Field One tag field, or _TAG for every tag field
Separator Literal text inserted between values; leave empty to concatenate them

Worked examples

Separate values before Separator One value after
Juniper Vale, Mira Solberg Semicolon and space Juniper Vale; Mira Solberg
Juniper Vale, Mira Solberg & Juniper Vale & Mira Solberg
Low, Tide One space Low Tide
Juniper Vale, Juniper Vale ; Juniper Vale; Juniper Vale

The last example matters: duplicate fields means multiple values of one field, not necessarily equal values. To remove repeated values, use Remove Duplicate Fields with its same-content option instead.

A field with zero or one value is unchanged. Existing order is preserved. An empty separator joins directly, so Low and Tide become LowTide. The separator is text, not a format string: %artist% would be inserted literally between the values.

Gotchas

  • _TAG can collapse every multivalue field, including ones whose separate values a player needs. Prefer a named field.
  • _FILENAME, _DIRECTORY and _FIELDNAME are not supported targets.
  • Merging changes the stored structure. A later split can only recover the original values if the separator never appeared inside any original value.
  • The action writes when run. Practice on copies and check Edit → Undo for the recorded file change.