MusicBee Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Up-to-date with version 3.0.6006

Tracks View is a utilitarian view of the library, but there’s more to it than just a list.

Configure Columns[]

Track Detail

Tracks View with default settings

These are the options you can change directly from the columns menu, which can be opened by right clicking anywhere within the column headers. Most of this menu is also available in the menu at the top left of the panel (where it says "Tracks").

Keep Columns Sized to Panel

(Default: ticked) When ticked, this will keep all columns confined to the width of the panel; otherwise it will allow them to overrun the bounds of the panel if you resize them (creating a scrollbar at the bottom).

Auto Size All Columns

Selecting this will make MB try to find a best fit for the existing columns within the bounds of the panel (it will shrink columns to fit the panel even when Keep Columns Sized to Panel is unticked). It is a one-time event.

Artwork

If you choose one of the picture options, a column will be added for the artwork at the far left of the main panel. The small picture is no bigger than the normal lines for a track; the medium picture will cause the lines to be more spread out, but is still quite small.

  • Not Displayed (Default)
  • Small Picture
  • Medium Picture

Set Displayed Fields...[]

Set Displayed Fields

Set Displayed Fields

"Set Displayed Fields" opens a window where you can choose which columns to display in the main panel. The list of displayed columns ("Selected Fields") is on the right, and all the other columns are on the left. You can add and remove columns by drag & drop or by double clicking, and you can reorder them by dragging. The columns are listed in order from left to right, so in the list left is at the top. New columns are added on the right (the bottom of the list) by default.

Sort By[]

Sort By

Sort By menu

You can sort by any column you have displayed by clicking on the column heading. Clicking again will reverse the sort order (Z-A instead of A-Z). The Playlist column is an exception; it does not support sorting.

If you hold down the Ctrl key while sorting, you can choose multiple sort criteria. For instance, you could sort by Artist, then Year, then Album. This will be indicated by a small number next to the sorting arrow in the column header.

Alternately, you can use the sorting clusters found in the Sort By submenu. There are a number of preconfigured options, and you can create up to eight of your own Sort By configurations via Define Custom Sorting. One advantage of sorting from the menu is that you don't have to display all the columns you sort with. For instance, you could use Sort Artist without having to display the Sort Artist tag in the main panel.

For more tips on sorting, see Using Sort Order.

Group By[]

Track Detail Albums

Collapsed albums grouped by Album Artist

Choosing a grouping field will insert a header into the list of tracks at the beginning of each new group. It will also sort them by whatever grouping you chose, so that the groups aren't fragmented. For instance, if you choose to group by Artist, you will get a header for each unique artist, with all their tracks listed underneath. (This is not fixed. You can always change the sorting again once you've added a grouping. MusicBee will just create a new header each time the group changes, so you may see the same header multiple times.)

You can click on a header to select all the tracks in that group, or double click to trigger the action you have configured in Now Playing Preferences.

You can adjust the font of the headers via Customize Panel.

Collapse Albums[]

The Collapse Albums option, found at the bottom of the Group By menu, changes Track Detail view to display one album per line instead of one track per line. Individual tracks can still be viewed by using the open/close arrow in the first column. Single tracks will still display as usual.

Customize Panel[]

Configure Views - Track Details

Views Configuration for Tracks View

This window can be opened from the panel menu (where it says "Tracks") by choosing "Customize Panel..." (the last menu item). It can also be opened from Panels Configuration by clicking the [...] button where it says "files: Panel Settings", or from Preferences > Layout (1), under main panel settings, where it says "files: Customize Layout".

There's not much to configure for Tracks View.

set grouping header custom font

Hopefully self-explanatory. Ticking this will change the font for the Group By header.

click to set overrides for the configured MusicBee layout
Main article: Panel Layout Overrides

Configure Fields[]

Configure Fields

Fields Layout Editor

Configure Fields is a button at the bottom left of the Views Configuration window (see above). It allows you to rename any field (this mainly affects column headings in the main panel), or change the alignment of fields (Left/Middle/Right).

You can also change the field type for custom tags and virtual tags:

  • String: a text value, which will be sorted alphabetically
  • Enumerated: like string, but it will allow you to select from all previously entered values. Good if you have a short list of values that you want to choose from.
  • Date: MusicBee will attempt to interpret the contents of this field as a date
  • Number: MusicBee will attempt to interpret this field as a number (and sort it accordingly)
  • Rating: works like the Rating field

This may affect how the fields are sorted, and what options are available for the fields in rules. (Fields defined as Dates or Numbers can use rules with Greater Than/Less Than or a range of values, and so on.)

Warning
Don't use a field name already in use in the Original Label column. This can cause conflicts and unexpected results.
disc-track# format

(Default: 0-00) Here you can change how the Disc-Track# field is formatted. The number of 0s will force that number of digits when Disc-Track# is used, padding smaller numbers with 0s on the left (a setting of 00-000 would produce results like 01-034, 20-003, and 13-121). The character in the middle can be changed to any other character including a space, or removed if you prefer not to have a separating character.

show Encoding Quality (when available) in place of Bitrate

This will substitute MusicBee's encoding description (small file size, portable device, high quality, or archiving) for the bitrate field, but it requires that the files were encoded with MusicBee.


Layout
Panel Options The Anatomy of MusicBee · Library Navigation · Track Information · Visualizations
Main Panel Views Tracks · Album and Tracks · Album Covers · Artists · Custom Views
Other Tabs Bar · Main Menu · Status Bar · Layout Preferences
Advertisement