Refresh metadata without deleting the files

[Frank_Kohntopp (Frank Köhntopp)]

I have just recently upgraded hundreds of albums with synced lyrics with the tool I built, and now I need to tell roon about it.

I found this thread, but it would be really cool not to have to delete all the albums (what would happen to the playlists…?), a re-read metadata button on library level would be much better - I don’t really have too much confidence in mass file operations

It would be even better if roon could expose the “Edit / Rescan album” functionality in the API, then I could fully automate it

Metadata not updating, even after force rescan

Content you’re reporting an issue with Not important. This is a friend’s band, not in any metadata database anywhere. Have you made any edits to this content in Roon? No. Only with kid3. Is the album identified in Roon? Unidentified (as expected). Is this content from local files, TIDAL, or Qobuz? Content from local files on a NAS. Screenshot of import settings [Screenshot 2025-12-02 at 15.19.20] Note this is not the complete screen. The dialog is much longer than one screenshot c…

[mjw (You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline.)]

Metadata edits should be picked up automatically, even if you replace the original file with the modified version (as long as it is the same file with changes.) If your music is on a NAS, this may be the reason as inotify can be unreliable.

To avoid issues, I always include the MusicBrainz IDs and add the IMPORTDATE tag.

I’ve moved the post to Roon Software Discussion since you should not post directly in Support.

[Frank_Kohntopp (Frank Köhntopp)]

Thank you for moving to the right section.

Can you help me understand how to use the IMPORTDATE in that context? I’m currently changing lots of metadata, and I can’t get the roon Docker image to pick up the changes without lots of manual clicks ;(

[Jay_Tee]

You can back your way into what I think that you are looking for via the Folder View and take chunks or full boat re-read at track level within each folder in Storage.

Open the Folder View from the hamburger menu to display list of imported mount/shares.
Drill down one level and select(right click for checkmark) from tracks selected menu, Select All, then from ellipsis menu, select Edit >>Rescan

Caveat: It will not allow this at the Base Folder/mount node of “All Folders” but any combination of subs is fair game.

My folders mounted in Roon are like this, so I could do the classical and contemporary sections in two passes completely rescan my whole library (might take a good while).

Classical
	/Classical-Mix/			<< Can select this level here or multiples of anywhere below
                 {Conductor-Name}/
                                {Album-name}
	/Classical/				<< Can select here or multiples of anywhere below
		{Composer-Name}/
				{Album-Name}/
					Track1.flac
					Track2.flac	
					Artwork/
							xy.jpg

Music/
	{Group-Name}/ 				<< Can select here or multiples(Select-All) of anywhere below
		{Album-Name}/
			Track1.flac
			Track2.flac	
			Artwork/
				xy.jpg

[mjw (You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline.)]

I wrote rough and ready shell scripts that determined the oldest date of a file using metadata and Linux commands, and wrote that out to date modified (of the file) and added a Vorbis IMPORTDATE tag to every file.