Moving and Organizing Tracks

As your projects evolve, you’ll need to reorganize your audio files. Feedtracks makes it easy to move tracks, playlists, and entire folders while automatically maintaining accurate storage calculations and preserving all metadata.

Understanding the Move Operation

When you move an item in Feedtracks:

• The item’s parent_id field is updated to the new folder
• Storage sizes are recalculated for both source and destination folders
• All metadata, comments, versions, and sharing settings are preserved
• If the item has versions, all versions move together
• Playlist references remain intact

Moving is different from copying—the item is removed from its original location and placed in the new location.

What Can Be Moved?

You can move three types of items:

1. Tracks

Individual audio files and their complete version stacks.

2. Playlists

Collections of track references (note: the referenced tracks themselves don’t move).

3. Folders

Entire folders and all their contents recursively.

Moving Items with Drag and Drop

The fastest way to move items is with drag and drop.

Moving Single Items

1. Navigate to the folder containing the item you want to move
2. Click and hold on the item
3. Drag it to the destination folder
4. Release to drop

The item immediately moves to the new location.

Moving Multiple Items

1. Select multiple items by clicking their checkboxes
2. Click and hold on any selected item
3. Drag the group to the destination folder
4. Release to drop all selected items

All selected items move to the new location simultaneously.

Visual Feedback

While dragging:

• The item(s) appear semi-transparent
• Valid drop targets are highlighted
• Invalid drop targets show a “not allowed” cursor
• The destination folder highlights when you hover over it

Moving Items with the Menu

If you prefer not to drag and drop:

1. Select the item(s) you want to move
2. Click the More Actions menu (three dots) or right-click
3. Select Move to…
4. A folder picker dialog opens
5. Navigate to or search for the destination folder
6. Click Move Here

This method is useful when:

• The destination folder is many levels deep
• You’re moving to a different shared drive
• You prefer keyboard navigation
• Drag and drop isn’t working properly

Moving Across Shared Drives

You can move items between your personal drive and shared drives (if you have the appropriate permissions).

Requirements

To move items to a shared drive:

• You need Editor or Admin permissions in the destination shared drive
• You need sufficient storage quota in the destination drive
• The item must not be locked by another user

What Happens When Moving Between Drives

1. The item is removed from the source drive’s storage calculation
2. The item is added to the destination drive’s storage calculation
3. Ownership remains with the original uploader
4. Access permissions are inherited from the new parent folder
5. Sharing links continue to work

Storage Quota Checks

If moving an item would exceed the destination drive’s storage quota:

• The move operation is blocked
• You’ll see an error message: “Insufficient storage space in destination drive”
• No changes are made to either drive

Storage Recalculation

Feedtracks automatically updates storage sizes when you move items.

How It Works

When you move a track:

1. Source folder: Size is decreased by the track’s size
2. Destination folder: Size is increased by the track’s size
3. All parent folders: Sizes are updated recursively up the tree

For example, if you move a 100MB track:

Before:
- Folder A: 500MB → After: 400MB (decreased by 100MB)
- Folder B: 200MB → After: 300MB (increased by 100MB)

Tracks with Versions

If a track has multiple versions:

• All versions move together (they cannot be separated)
• The combined size of all versions is used for storage calculation
• Example: Moving a track with 3 versions (50MB + 52MB + 48MB) moves 150MB total

Moving Folders

When you move a folder:

• The entire folder size (including all nested contents) moves at once
• All child items’ parent_id fields remain unchanged (they still point to the same parent folder)
• Only the folder’s own parent_id is updated

Moving Items to Root

To move an item to the top level of your drive:

1. Navigate to your drive’s root view
2. Use drag and drop or the “Move to…” menu
3. In the folder picker, select “Root” or “My Drive”
4. The item’s parent_id is set to null (indicating root level)

Items at root level are accessible directly from your main drive view.

Permission Requirements

Different permission levels have different move capabilities:

Admin

• Can move any item within the drive
• Can move items between drives (subject to storage quotas)
• Can move items to/from shared drives

Editor

• Can move items they uploaded
• Can move items within folders they have edit access to
• Cannot move items uploaded by others unless explicitly granted permission

Viewer

• Cannot move any items
• Can only view and download

See Understanding Access Levels for detailed permission information.

Moving Items to Trash

Moving items to trash is a special type of move operation.

How Trash Works

1. Select the item(s) you want to delete
2. Click Move to Trash from the menu
3. The item’s will_be_deleted_on field is set to 30 days from now
4. The item is moved to the Trash view
5. Storage space is NOT freed until permanent deletion

During the 30-Day Period

• Items remain in trash and still count toward your storage quota
• You can restore items to their original location
• You can permanently delete items early to free storage immediately

After 30 Days

• The BulkDeletionWorker background job permanently deletes the item
• Storage space is freed
• The deletion cannot be undone

See Managing Trash for complete details.

What Moves with a Track?

When you move a track, these elements move with it:

✅ All versions in the version stack ✅ All comments and timestamp markers ✅ Waveform data and visualizations ✅ Custom artwork (if uploaded) ✅ Blockchain certifications (if created) ✅ Metadata (title, artist, album, etc.) ✅ Sharing settings and public links

❌ Playlist references remain unchanged (the track stays in its playlists, but the playlists don’t move)

What Moves with a Playlist?

When you move a playlist:

✅ The playlist container itself ✅ Track references (the list of tracks in the playlist) ✅ Track ordering (position fields) ✅ Playlist artwork and description ✅ Sharing settings and public links

❌ The actual track files do NOT move (they stay in their original folders)

This is because playlists only contain references to tracks, not the files themselves.

What Moves with a Folder?

When you move a folder:

✅ The folder and all its nested structure ✅ All tracks inside the folder (recursively) ✅ All playlists inside the folder ✅ All subfolders and their contents ✅ Total size calculation for the entire tree

Moving a folder is equivalent to moving everything inside it simultaneously.

Best Practices

1. Plan Your Folder Structure

Before moving items extensively:

• Sketch out your desired folder hierarchy
• Group related items logically (by project, date, client, etc.)
• Consider how you’ll search and access files later

2. Move in Batches

When reorganizing:

• Move related items together in one operation
• This is more efficient than moving one at a time
• Reduces the number of storage recalculations

3. Check Storage Before Large Moves

Before moving large folders between drives:

• Check the destination drive’s available storage
• Ensure you won’t exceed quota limits
• Consider cleaning up trash first to free space

4. Use Folders for Organization

Instead of moving individual tracks repeatedly:

• Create a folder structure that works for your workflow
• Upload tracks directly to the right folder
• Move folders instead of individual tracks when reorganizing

5. Keep Playlists Near Referenced Tracks

While playlists don’t require their tracks to be in the same folder:

• Keeping them nearby makes navigation easier
• Consider a structure like:

  Project Folder/
  ├── Tracks/
  └── Playlists/

6. Document Major Reorganizations

If you’re doing a major reorganization:

• Add a comment to affected tracks explaining the move
• Notify collaborators of the new structure
• Update any external documentation or links

Troubleshooting

I can’t move a track

Possible causes:

• You don’t have edit permissions
• The destination folder is in a shared drive you don’t have access to
• The destination drive is out of storage space
• The track is locked by another user (rare)

Solution:

• Check your permission level in both source and destination
• Verify available storage in the destination drive
• Ask an admin to grant you access or free up storage

The move operation failed

Possible causes:

• Network connection interrupted
• Concurrent edit by another user
• Storage quota exceeded during the move
• Database constraint violation (rare)

Solution:

• Refresh the page and check if the item moved anyway
• Try the move again
• Check the browser console for error details
• Contact support if the issue persists

Storage sizes are incorrect after moving

Possible causes:

• Recalculation still in progress (for large folders)
• Browser cache showing old values
• Background job hasn’t completed yet

Solution:

• Refresh the page to see updated values
• Wait a few moments for recalculation to complete
• Check the actual folder properties to verify correct size

Items moved to the wrong folder

Solution:

• Simply move them again to the correct folder
• No data is lost—just the parent_id changed
• Use the “Move to…” menu for precise destination selection

I can’t find the item I just moved

Possible causes:

• Moved to a different folder than intended
• Item moved to a shared drive you forgot about
• Search index hasn’t updated yet

Solution:

• Use global search to find the item by name
• Check your Recent Items or Activity feed
• Look in both your personal drive and shared drives

Playlist tracks aren’t accessible after moving the playlist

This shouldn’t happen: Moving a playlist doesn’t affect the actual track files.

If tracks are missing:

• The tracks may have been moved to trash separately
• You may have lost access to the shared drive containing the tracks
• Check with the drive admin about access permissions

Moving vs. Copying

Feedtracks supports moving but not copying (yet).

Move:

• Item appears in new location only
• Original location no longer has the item
• Storage is not duplicated
• Fast operation

Copy (not available):

• Item would appear in both locations
• Storage would be duplicated
• Not currently supported

If you need the same track in multiple locations:

• Use playlists to reference the track from multiple places
• Share the track with a public link
• Manually re-upload the file to a different location

Related Articles

• Creating Shared Drives
• Making and Managing Playlists
• Managing Track Versions
• Managing Trash and Recovery
• Understanding Access Levels
• Upgrading Your Plan