Export multiple / load template

[drdr6]

Apologies for asking what might be the obvious
I have a project set up with multiple named labels
I select File/Export/Export Multiple, with Name Files: Using Label/Track name
Press export and the dialog comes up "Edit Metadata tags". So far so normal.
The track title is from the first project label, as expected. All the other metadata is from the last project to have used export multiple. Again, so far, so normal
So I think Load Template should load me some metadata. So I load that, but now the track title is overwritten by the track title from the template file, which defeats the object of "Name Files: Using Label/Track name". But I've been clever and copied the track name before pressing "load template", so I can paste it back in (Should I /really/ have to do this?)
I press Ok, for this first track and the next track pops up and, lo and behold we're back to the last project metadata again, and I've got to go round the whole mullarky of copying the track title, pressing "load template" and pasting the track title back in again.
Kinda defeats the whole point of the template, no?

I'd expect loading the template to:
a) Load once for the whole export/multiple operation and
b) Respect the options in the main dialog for using track titles from the label data rather than overwriting the track title every time its used.

Worse than this; when using export multiple, if one updates a field such as "Artist Name", would it not be reasonable to expect the newly entered name to be suggested for the next track rather than continuing to use data from the previous project ? This coupled with the template behaviour make using the Export Multiple command a proper PIA as far as I can see.

Or have I misunderstood the point of templates or how to use them somehow ?

Linux is 18.10 (4.15.0-22-generic #24-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 16 12:15:17 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux)
Audacity is Audacity 2.2.1 from the Ubuntu distro. Though this problem has been around for years (certainly many versions)

thanks for any insights
Derek

[bnoeafk]

I get caught out on this every time - I don't think the template works particularly well.

I find the best method for exporting multiples, using labels, is to

1. Select Edit > Metadata
2. Complete Artist Name, Album Title, Year and Genre (assuming these are the same for the entire export)
3. Optional : save this file as a template
4. Click OK
5. Now select File > Export > Export Multiple
6. Ensure that Split files based on Labels is checked
7. Select Export

When you're prompted for the metainfo for each track, you should find that the defaults (step 2) are pre-populated.

The template file created in the optional step 3, looks like this:

Code: Select all

<tags>
    <tag name="ALBUM" value="Your artists album name"/>
    <tag name="YEAR" value="AlbumYear"/>
    <tag name="ARTIST" value="ArtistName"/>
</tags>

Of course, you can create this file to start with and then load it as part of Step 1.

HTH,


Dave