# Help

**URL:** https://discourse.beets.io/c/help/5.md?page=2

[Latest](https://discourse.beets.io/latest.md) · [Categories](https://discourse.beets.io/categories.md)

**Page:** 3

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## [Organize by composer, not composer and performers?](https://discourse.beets.io/t/organize-by-composer-not-composer-and-performers/2531)

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**Author:** [@socie9Ph](https://discourse.beets.io/u/socie9Ph)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [April 18, 2024, 10:50am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/organize-by-composer-not-composer-and-performers/2531 "2024-04-18T10:50:20Z")

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I’m starting to use beets to tag and organize my music library (still at the stage where I’m working out whether it suits my purposes), and I’m running up against a few issues. The first is that when I import a classica…

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## [Query items without certain field](https://discourse.beets.io/t/query-items-without-certain-field/1323)

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**Author:** [@dorade](https://discourse.beets.io/u/dorade)\
**Replies:** 3\
**Last updated:** [April 11, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/query-items-without-certain-field/1323 "2024-04-11T17:07:49Z")

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Hi. How can I query for items which do not have a certain field? I’m trying to find albums without ReplayGain information and the query I built is unhelpful: $ beet ls -a ^rg\_album\_gain. Must be something simple, but I…

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## [Hook command advanced help](https://discourse.beets.io/t/hook-command-advanced-help/2520)

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**Author:** [@alucardmage](https://discourse.beets.io/u/alucardmage)\
**Replies:** 4\
**Last updated:** [April 5, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/hook-command-advanced-help/2520 "2024-04-05T14:52:54Z")

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This may be beyond the scope of beets. I’m trying to use a separate python script to pull album art from VGMDB and everything works, but I need to provide a # or link. When automating this through beats, I can’t seem …

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## [Auto accept above X% similarity?](https://discourse.beets.io/t/auto-accept-above-x-similarity/2494)

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**Author:** [@skywalker007](https://discourse.beets.io/u/skywalker007)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [April 3, 2024, 12:36pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/auto-accept-above-x-similarity/2494 "2024-04-03T12:36:56Z")

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Hi ., I am fairly new to beets and have a huge music library to import. What I am looking for at the moment, is an option to have everything above X% similarity (e.g.85%) auto accepted during import and skip everything…

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## [Unable to download album art using fetchart](https://discourse.beets.io/t/unable-to-download-album-art-using-fetchart/2423)

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**Author:** [@Naylor](https://discourse.beets.io/u/Naylor)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [April 3, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/unable-to-download-album-art-using-fetchart/2423 "2024-04-03T12:34:44Z")

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Hey guys! Couldn’t find an answer for this problem elsewhere. When importing albums using beets, the current message pops up: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\\Users\\Thiago\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Pyt…

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## [Album Artist tags having ',' and ';'](https://discourse.beets.io/t/album-artist-tags-having-and/2518)

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**Author:** [@mirthe](https://discourse.beets.io/u/mirthe)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [April 1, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/album-artist-tags-having-and/2518 "2024-04-01T19:03:13Z")

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I am using the latest GIT version because it supports multiple tags. So, I realized that “album artists” separated by commas are not splited and all of them are considered like one unique artist. I learned that, For c…

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## [Pre-Assign release tag to speed up importing](https://discourse.beets.io/t/pre-assign-release-tag-to-speed-up-importing/2510)

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**Author:** [@pisaman2](https://discourse.beets.io/u/pisaman2)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [March 25, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/pre-assign-release-tag-to-speed-up-importing/2510 "2024-03-25T22:25:24Z")

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I’m currently going through the slow process of importing my library into beets, and was wondering if there was a way I could speed up the process by adding a manual tag with the MusicBrainz release for each album. And …

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## [Help with my pathing using %the, %bucket and $first\_artist](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-my-pathing-using-the-bucket-and-first-artist/2504)

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**Author:** [@alucardmage](https://discourse.beets.io/u/alucardmage)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [March 11, 2024, 11:48am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-my-pathing-using-the-bucket-and-first-artist/2504 "2024-03-11T11:48:23Z")

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So, my goal is to get the %the plugin working with a special item field that removes any additional artists from the path to canonicalize my collection, as well as put them in a bucket. So far, I can do 2 of these 3, ba…

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## [Update metadata in library after import with -A](https://discourse.beets.io/t/update-metadata-in-library-after-import-with-a/2501)

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**Author:** [@pr1ncess](https://discourse.beets.io/u/pr1ncess)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [March 7, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/update-metadata-in-library-after-import-with-a/2501 "2024-03-07T15:57:00Z")

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As title. I imported my large music library which has a lot of messed up tags using the -A option to another directory (because I don’t want to mess up my current library). Now, I want to update the library using autota…

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## [Automatically remove 'single' from title and album](https://discourse.beets.io/t/automatically-remove-single-from-title-and-album/2499)

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**Author:** [@lavish](https://discourse.beets.io/u/lavish)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [March 4, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/automatically-remove-single-from-title-and-album/2499 "2024-03-04T17:06:11Z")

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Hi everyone. I have using beet to manage my music library. But the problem I am facing is that when best gets metadata from Spotify, it sometimes contains " - Single" in the album or in the title. I want to automate rem…

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## [How can I use both "year" and "original\_year" in tags and paths?](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-can-i-use-both-year-and-original-year-in-tags-and-paths/2497)

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**Author:** [@akira](https://discourse.beets.io/u/akira)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [February 29, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-can-i-use-both-year-and-original-year-in-tags-and-paths/2497 "2024-02-29T19:32:11Z")

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Hello! Just started using Beets and it’s great! I only have a problem with using both year and original\_year in tags and paths. Let’s say I have the same album in two versions, the first press and a subsequent reissue…

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## [Beets CLI command not found on Mac Sonoma](https://discourse.beets.io/t/beets-cli-command-not-found-on-mac-sonoma/2492)

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**Author:** [@mic](https://discourse.beets.io/u/mic)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [February 27, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/beets-cli-command-not-found-on-mac-sonoma/2492 "2024-02-27T15:17:14Z")

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I am on an M2 MacBook Pro, Sonoma 14.2.1. I have run the command pip3 install beets. This ran without error. On trying to set up my config, I attempt to run beet config -e but my terminal responds: zsh: command not foun…

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## [Problem Converting](https://discourse.beets.io/t/problem-converting/2487)

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**Author:** [@slyfox](https://discourse.beets.io/u/slyfox)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [February 26, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/problem-converting/2487 "2024-02-26T18:46:17Z")

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Whe I try t import FLAC files, I get an error at the end. mp3 files are created in the tmp folder but then I get an error: error reading /tmp/tmp3gsm1xrq.mp3: can't sync to MPEG frame Here is what my config looks like …

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## [How to Trigger Organzie Library](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-trigger-organzie-library/2485)

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**Author:** [@slyfox](https://discourse.beets.io/u/slyfox)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [February 21, 2024, 9:41am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/how-to-trigger-organzie-library/2485 "2024-02-21T09:41:04Z")

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After making some internal (paths) and exteranl (tags) changes to the file in the library, how do I tell beets to organize library files based on the new paths and tags? For example, I set my paths to have Soundtracks s…

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## [Issue with convert, does not create target dir for ffmpeg](https://discourse.beets.io/t/issue-with-convert-does-not-create-target-dir-for-ffmpeg/2489)

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**Author:** [@mremond](https://discourse.beets.io/u/mremond)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [February 19, 2024, 9:02am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/issue-with-convert-does-not-create-target-dir-for-ffmpeg/2489 "2024-02-19T09:02:52Z")

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Hello, I am trying to use convert to convert from flac to aac. I am confuser because the copy of lossless files work fine, but creation of the target dir for ffmpeg conversion is not perform. ffmpeg fails with the fol…

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## [Beets folder issue - adds tracks to artist folder without creating album folder](https://discourse.beets.io/t/beets-folder-issue-adds-tracks-to-artist-folder-without-creating-album-folder/2483)

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**Author:** [@Caddik](https://discourse.beets.io/u/Caddik)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [February 17, 2024, 8:20am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/beets-folder-issue-adds-tracks-to-artist-folder-without-creating-album-folder/2483 "2024-02-17T08:20:05Z")

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Hi, I can’t seem to find a solution to this, reset to the original default config.yaml but the issue persists. If I leave beets running it just dumps tracks into the artist folder. If I run manually it creates an album …

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## [Keep Christmas music separate from everything else](https://discourse.beets.io/t/keep-christmas-music-separate-from-everything-else/2476)

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**Author:** [@johnsturgeon](https://discourse.beets.io/u/johnsturgeon)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [February 17, 2024, 12:15am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/keep-christmas-music-separate-from-everything-else/2476 "2024-02-17T00:15:10Z")

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All my music is in Plex, and I’m interested in keeping my Christmas music in a different library. What that means in practice is that my music is separated at the TOP level /ChristmasMusic/Andy Williams ... /Music/Andy…

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## [Ignore file and folder names when tagging- only use acoustic id](https://discourse.beets.io/t/ignore-file-and-folder-names-when-tagging-only-use-acoustic-id/2480)

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**Author:** [@lordjaba](https://discourse.beets.io/u/lordjaba)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [February 16, 2024, 11:20pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/ignore-file-and-folder-names-when-tagging-only-use-acoustic-id/2480 "2024-02-16T23:20:26Z")

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Some time ago autottagging messed up my library. Folders, filenames and tags are completely wrong. Can I force beets to completely ignore them and use only acoustic id ? Any suggestion that takes existing things to accou…

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## [Unexpected semicolons in RELEASETYPE tags](https://discourse.beets.io/t/unexpected-semicolons-in-releasetype-tags/2469)

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**Author:** [@0bfuscated](https://discourse.beets.io/u/0bfuscated)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [January 30, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/unexpected-semicolons-in-releasetype-tags/2469 "2024-01-30T17:44:14Z")

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Beets is adding semicolons and spaces after each letter of the releasetype tags. I’m not sure if the info is coming straight from Musicbrainz or if it’s something to do with my config, but if I have an album, the RELEASE…

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## [%tcp plugin question](https://discourse.beets.io/t/tcp-plugin-question/2467)

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**Author:** [@0bfuscated](https://discourse.beets.io/u/0bfuscated)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [January 29, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/tcp-plugin-question/2467 "2024-01-29T23:31:05Z")

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I’m running into a small problem with my file renaming where some letters are capitalized differently than I’d like them to be when I use the %title function. The %tcp plugin was suggested to me in that topic but this s…

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## [%title($album) giving me strange results](https://discourse.beets.io/t/title-album-giving-me-strange-results/2466)

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**Author:** [@0bfuscated](https://discourse.beets.io/u/0bfuscated)\
**Replies:** 4\
**Last updated:** [January 29, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/title-album-giving-me-strange-results/2466 "2024-01-29T17:28:41Z")

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I’m scratching my head and giving up for the day - I’ve been working on my config file for a while and started importing some albums and decided to use the %title function to standardize my album titles, but when I run b…

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## [Rename a folder?](https://discourse.beets.io/t/rename-a-folder/511)

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**Author:** [@jserio](https://discourse.beets.io/u/jserio)\
**Replies:** 18\
**Last updated:** [January 24, 2024, 6:22am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/rename-a-folder/511 "2024-01-24T06:22:37Z")

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Hey guys. First off, I LOVE beets!!! I purchased Jaikoz years and years ago to organize my music collection but really never used it. Over the last week, I’ve used beets to organize most of my collection. Thanks for your…

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## [Help installing Chromaprint/acoustid with Docker/Portainer](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-installing-chromaprint-acoustid-with-docker-portainer/2462)

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**Author:** [@sweiggster51](https://discourse.beets.io/u/sweiggster51)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [January 20, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-installing-chromaprint-acoustid-with-docker-portainer/2462 "2024-01-20T17:46:15Z")

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I am on a synology NAS and used portainer to install beets. Can someone walk me through how to get acoustic fingerprinting done so it can more accurately tag my downloaded music?

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## [Help with config file](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-config-file/2420)

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**Author:** [@paulmcrules](https://discourse.beets.io/u/paulmcrules)\
**Replies:** 6\
**Last updated:** [January 16, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/help-with-config-file/2420 "2024-01-16T00:07:08Z")

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Hi all, apologise in advance for the long post. Setting up Beets again for first time in a while, but this time I am using the linuxserver/beets docker image running on a Synology NAS. It is quite handy being able to use…

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## [Remove given string from all fields](https://discourse.beets.io/t/remove-given-string-from-all-fields/2450)

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**Author:** [@bdb484](https://discourse.beets.io/u/bdb484)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [January 10, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/remove-given-string-from-all-fields/2450 "2024-01-10T00:19:41Z")

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Is there a way (maybe with the scrub plugin?) to remove a specific word or phrase in every field in which it occurs? For instance, I would pass the word “rock,” and I would then have: an album called “For Those About …

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## [Import custom tag from file into beets, Mediafile plugin](https://discourse.beets.io/t/import-custom-tag-from-file-into-beets-mediafile-plugin/2445)

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**Author:** [@bob55](https://discourse.beets.io/u/bob55)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [January 9, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/import-custom-tag-from-file-into-beets-mediafile-plugin/2445 "2024-01-09T13:16:38Z")

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Hi can someone kindly help me get this plugin running? https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/dev/plugins.html#extend-mediafile I’m trying to figure out how I can import into beets a custom tag “source” that’s already …

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## [Extrafiles vs. copyartifacts plugin or something else for lyrics?](https://discourse.beets.io/t/extrafiles-vs-copyartifacts-plugin-or-something-else-for-lyrics/2171)

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**Author:** [@Casual\_Tea](https://discourse.beets.io/u/Casual_Tea)\
**Replies:** 10\
**Last updated:** [January 7, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/extrafiles-vs-copyartifacts-plugin-or-something-else-for-lyrics/2171 "2024-01-07T17:46:10Z")

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First time beets user here. I’ve got a mountain of ~2TB of music with inconsistent folder structure, naming and tags before me that I want to conform to the rest of my library with as little manual effort as possible. I…

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## [What is the recommened method for backing up a beets library](https://discourse.beets.io/t/what-is-the-recommened-method-for-backing-up-a-beets-library/2432)

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**Author:** [@fliz](https://discourse.beets.io/u/fliz)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [December 22, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/what-is-the-recommened-method-for-backing-up-a-beets-library/2432 "2023-12-22T17:39:11Z")

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I’ve been putting in a lot of work importing my library. I’ve got backups of my unsorted music from prior to this project but I would like to back up the imported library and everything beets related. Is there a recomme…

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## [List of Tag Fields added by Autotagger when matched to MusicBrainz album](https://discourse.beets.io/t/list-of-tag-fields-added-by-autotagger-when-matched-to-musicbrainz-album/2433)

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**Author:** [@ijabz](https://discourse.beets.io/u/ijabz)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [December 19, 2023, 10:19am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/list-of-tag-fields-added-by-autotagger-when-matched-to-musicbrainz-album/2433 "2023-12-19T10:19:36Z")

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Hi I was looking for a list of the Tag Fields that can be added by Autotagger when matched to MusicBrainz album but I couldnt find it in the docs, is there a list somewhere ?

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## [Lyrics missing lyrics](https://discourse.beets.io/t/lyrics-missing-lyrics/2425)

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**Author:** [@Chabula](https://discourse.beets.io/u/Chabula)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [December 15, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/lyrics-missing-lyrics/2425 "2023-12-15T15:27:24Z")

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In beets , I come across something strange .According to all my music programmes , certain songs have lyrics . But now I use the following string han@han-iMac:~$ beet ls lyrics::^$ Then I get to see the songs that do …

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