How to Tag Files With Picard

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Revision as of 13:37, 28 December 2009 by PavanChander (talk | contribs) (Added mention of the youtube screencast.)
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Products > Picard > Picard Documentation > How to Tag Files With Picard

In addition to this quick start guide there is also a helpful screen cast on YouTube.

This quick start guide describes how you can tag your files using MusicBrainz Picard.

  1. Under 'View' enable 'File Browser'.
  2. Select a directory or files and drag them to the Unmatched Files folder.

    n picard1.jpg
  3. Wait for Picard to process the files (the names will turn from grey to black) and then click on the cluster button in the toolbar to cluster files into album clusters.

    n picard2.jpg
  4. Select a clustered album and click on the lookup (magic wand) button in the toolbar to lookup the cluster. Depending on your previous metadata, album will show up in the right side panel. If an album shows up, you can skip right to step 7. Though since you are a new Picard user, I recommend reading the steps in-between as well.

    n picard3.jpg
  5. If nothing happened when you clicked the magic wand, click the lookup button on the bottom right panel. Your default browser should open and allow you to find the right album manually.

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  6. Pay attention to the amount of tracks in each album, and pick the one you have. Click on the mblookup-tagger.png icon.

    n picard5.jpg
  7. Drag the clustered album onto the album that was just opened, if it didn't happen automatically.

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  8. Depending on your previous metadata, Picard will try to guess the matching tracks. The order is green, yellow, orange, red, where green is the best match. If you are seeing a lot of red and orange, it could mean that picard has guessed wrong, or that your files didn't have a lot previous metadata to work with.

    n picard7.jpg

    If this is the case, it's recommended to click a track and compare the metadata using the Original Metadata and New Metadata panels at the bottom of picard window. If there is an incorrect match, simply drag & drop the track to it's correct spot.

    n picard7-2.jpg
  9. When you are satisfied with the matches, select the album you want to save and click on the save button in the toolbar to save files.

    n picard8.jpg
  10. A green check mark means the file is saved in its proper location.

    n picard9.jpg

At first there may not seem much to Picard, but a lot of Picard's power is in its extensive drag and drop features. Try some of these operations:

  • Drag a file from the file browser to an album track
  • Drag a file from the file browser to an album -- this attempts to match the file to the album automatically
  • Drag a directory from the file browser to an album -- this attempts to match all the files from the dir to the album
  • Drag an album cluster onto an album to match the cluster to the album
  • Drag one album onto another to match all the files from one to the other
  • Drag an album cluster into unmatched files to move the cluster back to unmatched
  • Drag unmatched files from an album onto another album or back to unmatched files

Related How To's

Further Information