# Copy Metadata

Many people are re-ripping lo-quality versions of albums to higher quality versions. It is possible to completely copy the tagging information from the lo-quality versions to the hi-quality versions so that you do not have to re-tag your music.

In order to use the Action>Copy Metadata function to facilitate this, you must open both copies of the albums. Typically the Open Mode would be Album, Add. Album mode because the default album sort is more than likely what you want. Add mode because it makes it easier to successively open two albums. It is advisable to display the Path column so that you can see which files are in which folder.

While it may seem obvious, in order for this function to work, both copies of the albums must contain exactly the same number of tracks. The process either copies the metadata from the top half of the list of files to the bottom half of the list of files or in the opposite direction. This makes it easier to successively open two albums and to perform the operation regardless of the sort order. Remember that you can drag & drop files in the main window if you want to change the order.

There are three variants of the function:

Copy Top to Bottom
  Copy all metadata in files at the top of the list to files at the bottom of the list.
Copy Bottom to Top
  Copy all metadata in files at the bottom of the list to files at the top of the list.
Copy Selected Metadata...
  A panel will open allowing you to select which metadata you wish to copy. You can also set the direction of the copy. The table displaying the fields has a context menu which allows to to set or clear all items.

example: Copy Metadata>Top to Bottom and the following list of files:

- file1.mp3
- file2.mp3
- file3.mp3
- file1.flac
- file2.flac
- file3.flac

- metadata will be copied as follows:

- file1.mp3 -> file1.flac
- file2.mp3 -> file2.flac
- file3.mp3 -> file3.flac

example: For the same list of files and Copy Metadata>Bottom to Top:

- file1.flac -> file1.mp3
- file2.flac -> file2.mp3
- file3.flac -> file3.mp3

Note that the copy operation never copies Unhandled metadata or any of the Variable 0 through Variable 9 fields.

Note also that when copying a metadata field which supports multiple items, all items will be copied. This incudes Artwork, Comments, Lyrics, Ratings, User Defined Text Info, User Defined URLs, and more. You can find a complete list here.