These actions implement a means to retain and update Finder Tags on your audio tracks. The metadata is retained in a custom field named Finder Tags. A preference list is used to retain a list of tags that you are using. This preference list must be configured prior to running any of the actions. The actions will terminate if the list is not configured.
There is also a custom edit panel which is available to display the Finder Tags field and provide quick access to the actions. Note that this custom panel is optional ... but you will more than likely want to have the field on a custom panel. You can add the field to one of your own panels, or create a new one if you wish.
Configuring the Preference List Mapping
Installing the Custom Edit Panel
Working With the Finder Tags Field
In Preferences - Lists - List Mappings you must map the Finder Tags custom field to one of the preference lists. You do this after installing the actions. The custom field will have been imported when you imported the actions. The following screenshot shows the field mapped to the Custom 2 list. Note that Auto-Saves and Autocompletes have been enabled. This will make it easier to use the field.
While not required, you can rename the list to something more meaningful than Custom 2. On the same Preference panel you can hit the Rename Lists button to rename the list.
After renaming the list your mapping will look as follows:
At this point you have configured the required mapping of the Finder Tags field to a preference list. Note that you can rename the list at any time. However, if you change the list which is mapped, the actions will lose access to any items you've accumulated.
As mentioned in the introduction, the custom edit panel is optional. However, if you do not have the Finder Tags field displayed on an edit panel, functionality will be lost.
The first time you run any of the actions, you will be asked if you want to download the custom panel. If you elect to download the file, the downloaded file will be named Finder-Tags-Edit-Panel.zip. You can install the custom edit panel (which will be named Finder Tags), by dragging the zip file to the main window's file list area. The custom panel can be found at any time in the Templates section of the web resources page.
When you install the edit panel, or the actions for that matter, you may be asked to confirm the creation of the Finder Tags custom field. If asked, you should import the field.
Once the edit panel is installed you can display it at any time by right clicking on any edit panel preset button in the main window.
The list can be maintained completely automatically by the actions and your probable workflow. However, if you want to easily delete or edit items in the list, you can do so in Preferences - Lists - the name of your list.
You can quickly find this panel by clicking on the function button to the left of the Finder Tags field and then selecting Edit List.
The configuration of the actions is performed by the Manage Finder Tags Config action. This action can be called at any time with or without loaded audio files. There is typically no need to directly call the action as it is automatically called by all other actions in the suite to determine the validity of the configuration.
As already mentioned, the action will give you the opportunity to download the Finder Tags custom edit panel.
If the preference list is empty, the default Finder colour tags will be placed into the list.
There is only one user configurable setting. When writing the tags in the Finder Tags field to the Finder, duplicates will be removed from the field preserving the order. You can elect to have the tags sorted in the list. Note that this is a visual preference only. The Finder does not care. The only time you have to manually call this action is if you want to change your sort preference.
The Finder Tags field, is a multi item field where each item is separated by the Multi Value Delimiter, typically (;;;).
You can manually enter data or use the menu button to the right of the field to append or overwrite the current value. If the field contains a ;;; delimiter, items selected in the menu will automatically be appended. When appending, the text in the field will appear as green. If the field does not contain a ;;; delimiter, the tag will overwrite the field unless the Option key is held before displaying the menu.
If you enabled Auto-Saves when mapping the field to the list, all new items will automatically be saved to the preference list. Note that preference list items are case insensitive. The alphabetic case of the item, as it appears in the list, will not be modified by editing the field. Whenever you write the field to the Finder, the alphabetic case will be standardized on the representation in the list. If you want this to happen automatically when editing the field, go to Preferences - Lists - Advanced List Settings and enable the Standardize on list items when typing option. Again, this is optional as the standardization will occur when you write the field to the Finder.
If you decide that an item is not capitalized correctly there are two ways of fixing the issue. The first is to manually edit the list. The second can be done while editing a field. Correct the alphabetic case and without exiting the field, select the Add to Field menu item from the function button to the left of the field. The Add to Field function enforces the alphabetic case as it appears in the field.
Other list oriented functionality can be performed by the function button to the left of the field (currently yellow in the above image). More information can be found in the The Current Selection, the Editing State, Red Light Green Light and What's With All Those Round Coloured Buttons? topic.
All of the actions associated with this suite (with the exception of the configuration action), can easily be accessed via the Finder Tag field's function button on the Multi Field Editor Actions submenu. In the image above, the relevant function button is currently yellow.
The Read Tags from Finder action will read the current Finder tags for all tracks and save them to the Finder Tags field.
Note that the contents of the Finder Tags field will be completely overwritten.
The action is written such that it can be invoked from pretty much anywhere. This includes from the Multi Field Editor as long as the Finder Tags field is selected. It can also be called from the field's function button's Multi Field Editor Actions submenu.
The Write Tags to Finder action will write the tags in the Finder Tags field to the Finder.
Note that all Finder tags are overwritten.
When the action is called, all duplicates will be removed and the alphabetic case of the tags will be standardized to the representation in the preference list.
The action is written such that it can be invoked from pretty much anywhere. This includes from the Multi Field Editor as long as the Finder Tags field is selected. It can also be called from the field's function button's Multi Field Editor Actions submenu.
You can have this action automatically run every time you save files via a File>Save (menu or toolbar). Go to Preferences - Actions - General. Enable the Auto-run on Save setting and select Write Tags to Finder as the action. If you are already have an auto-run on save action you can chain them as follows:
Create a new action and add a Run statement for each action that you want to call. For example:
Run action 'my old auto run on save action'
Run action 'Write Tags to Finder'
Reference the action you've just created in the Auto-run on Save action field. You can use this method to execute as many actions as you wish whenever you save files. Additional information as to when the action will be run can be found in the Automatically Running an Action When Saving Files topic.
The Capitalize Finder Tags action will capitalize all tags in the preference list.
If any audio files are selected, their associated Finder Tags field will be standardized on the possible new representations.
If you want to manually sort the Finder Tags field, you can do so with this action.
The Import Finder Tags action can be used to import the names of Finder tags from a text file. The tags should be placed one per line in the file. Empty lines, leading and trailing spaces and duplicates are ignored. Sequences of whitespace characters are changed to a single space. (tab characters are replaced).
The action prompts for the name of a .txt file which contains the names of the tags to be imported. At the bottom of the panel is an option named Remove existing tags. When the option is enabled, all existing tags will be removed prior to the import. Note that there is no need to include the Finder's standard colour tags in the file as they are automatically added after the import. If the Remove existing tags option is not enabled, all tags in the file will be added to the list. The alphabetic case representation of items in the file will be enforced.
If any audio files are selected, their associated Finder Tags field will be standardized on the possible new representations.
Actions:
Folder: Manage Finder Tags
Capitalize Finder Tags
Manage Finder Tags Config
Import Finder Tags
Read Tags from Finder
Sort Finder Tags
Write Tags to Finder
Custom Field Mapping Data for:
Finder Tags
Requirements:
Yate v6.16.2.1
History:
| Date | Version | Information |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-07-03 | v1.0 | First release. |
| 2023-08-07 | v1.1 | Changes for Yate v6.16.2 |
| 2023-08-23 | v1.2 | Added Sort Finder Tags |