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Write one playlist in each album folder

Uses: Generate playlists, folder-path partitioning and M3U8 output.

Works on: Copied ordinary local audio files already organized into album folders.

Time: About 10 minutes for two practice albums.

Undo: Playlists are external outputs written on OK. Keep existing lists and clean up practice outputs deliberately; tag undo is not a playlist backup.

The problem

Your visible list spans two album folders. You want a separate playlist in each folder, with tracks following their current list order. Equal album titles alone are not a reliable partition: different releases or locations can share a title. This recipe groups by containing folder.

Keep originals, save intended tag edits, and use fresh practice output names. Return to whole audio-file rows before starting; chapter/CUE-track rows are not independent playlist files. Clear a filter if hidden tracks should be included, and arrange the file-list order deliberately.

The solution

  1. Load two copied album folders. For this example, the visible rows have this order. Paths below are relative to a common practice root:

    Order Folder File Disc
    1 Harbour Lights 01 - Paper Boats.wav 1
    2 Harbour Sessions 01 - North Pier.wav 1
    3 Harbour Lights 02 - Low Tide.wav 2

  2. Choose Edit → Unselect all if the generator should use the whole visible list. Otherwise, select exactly the subset wanted: a nonempty selection takes precedence over all-visible scope.

  3. Choose File → Generate playlists…. Set Partition format to:

    %_folderpath%

  4. Set Playlist file name to:

    %_folderpath%listening.m3u8

  5. Inspect the live preview. It should show two playlists; the full output paths end in the following relative names:

    Playlist Members in their playlist order
    Harbour Lights/listening.m3u8 01 - Paper Boats.wav, 02 - Low Tide.wav
    Harbour Sessions/listening.m3u8 01 - North Pier.wav

  6. Check that the outputs are new practice names in the intended folders, rather than audio files or existing valuable playlists. Review playlist options for extended labels, relative entries and BOM.

  7. Choose OK to write. Read errors, inspect each output and load a playlist back. No later Save tags step creates these external files.

How it works

%_folderpath% supplies a path including its trailing separator. Identical partition results group files together even when another folder's row appears between them in the list. The generator keeps each group's relative list order; it does not sort the filenames or track tags independently.

The filename format is evaluated against the group's first readable file. Here its folder path plus the literal listening.m3u8 gives a distinct output inside each folder. The grouping key and filename are separate decisions: changing the partition alone does not automatically make output names unique. The .m3u8 suffix chooses UTF-8 M3U output, not a copy of the audio.

The preview displays the total and at most its first 50 output paths. Changing inputs updates that planning display; OK performs the current write request. It is not a reservation of filesystem names. A later error is not proof that no earlier output was written. Keep the original lists and inspect actual results without assuming universal alias/overwrite protection.

Variations

File → Playlist per folder (all files) is a direct alternative for the current visible whole-file list. It uses the configured Filename of playlist from Playlist options without individual filename-confirmation dialogs. A relative configured name is resolved inside each group's folder; an absolute name overrides that base and can cause different groups to share one output name. Check the configuration before using this direct command. Its shortcut is Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P; this shortcut invokes the per-folder command in OpenTag, not the generator dialog. Try the previewed recipe first when destinations are unfamiliar.

For one list per disc within each folder, use these two coordinated formats:

%_folderpath%-%discnumber%

%_folderpath%disc-$num(%discnumber%,2).m3u8

For the three practice rows, expect:

Source row Relative disc playlist
1 Harbour Lights/disc-01.m3u8
2 Harbour Sessions/disc-01.m3u8
3 Harbour Lights/disc-02.m3u8

Check disc tags first: a missing/nonnumeric disc can create an unintended disc-00 name. Two distinct partition values can still converge on one filename if their numeric formatting discards differences.

For an action-group workflow, use Generate Playlists. It includes selected files and executes after that group's per-file actions, so preceding renames/field changes can affect the playlist. A recipe that needs an earlier intermediate state should use a separate group.

If a playlist is incomplete or in the wrong place

  • Check selected versus visible scope, the active filter and ordinary-file versus chapter rows. The generator does not scan every unlisted file in a folder just because one listed track came from it.
  • Check actual list order and readable-file errors. A count of selected paths does not prove every file was read successfully.
  • Relative output names without %_folderpath% use the working-directory context. This recipe makes each target explicit with its folder placeholder.
  • Relative entries are calculated from each output's folder, subject to the configured working root and filesystem roots. Test after moving an album with its playlist as a unit; moving the audio independently can break it.
  • Don't create directories requires existing parent folders; turning it off is not permission to overwrite valuable files.