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Remove Fields Except

Use Remove Fields Except to keep an explicit list of fields and remove all other fields. This is useful for a controlled export copy of your music; it can also remove useful identifiers, sort fields and artwork if they are missing from the keep list.

Keep a chosen set of fields

  1. Save pending edits and select copied files.
  2. Choose Actions → Actions (Quick)…, then Remove Fields Except.
  3. Enter the field names in Keep fields (separate with semicolons).
  4. Choose Apply action and inspect the full tag with Extended tags….

For example:

TITLE;ARTIST;ALBUM;ALBUMARTIST;YEAR;DATE;TRACK;TRACKNUMBER;DISCNUMBER;GENRE;COVER

This preserves the named fields if present. It does not add missing ones. COVER preserves embedded artwork; PICTURE can be used for the same purpose. Without either artwork selector, embedded pictures are removed.

Build the list from actual files

Different formats can expose similar values under different names. For example, a file may use DATE rather than YEAR, or TRACKNUMBER rather than TRACK. Open Extended tags… before preparing the keep list, and include the names used in the files being processed.

Keep list Effect
TITLE;ARTIST;COVER Keep only title, artist and embedded artwork
TITLE;ARTIST Keep only title and artist; remove embedded artwork
COVER Keep embedded pictures while removing all tag fields

The list is literal field names separated by semicolons. It does not accept placeholders or patterns such as MUSICBRAINZ_*. Add each field that must survive explicitly.

Gotchas

  • An empty keep list removes every field and embedded cover. Review it before applying; keep an untouched copy of the files.
  • Identifiers, ReplayGain values, lyrics, sort names and totals are metadata too. Include them if another application depends on them.
  • The action writes immediately. Check operation errors and the session's Edit → Undo entry; do not rely on an unspecified whole-batch rollback.