Deleting all exclamation mark'ed files in itunes

Hi,
I understand that exclamation marked files in iTunes are basically broken links. I have quite a few and I'm much too lazy to fix them or delete them all one by one. Is there a function in iTunes to delete all exclamation marked references in one fell swoop?

Download this: http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/RemoveDeadTracks.txt (right click and Save As).
Rename it to "RemoveDeadTracks.js".
Run it like you run any other program.
It'll remove all the ! entries from your iTunes library.

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How do I batch delete all my protected music files from iTunes.

Hi, in a moment of stupidity, while I was working on a backup folder of my friends files (from his broken computer - copied them to my PC so he could get them back onto his new PC) I managed to copy all of his songs from his iTunes folder into my iTunes library. I don't know how I managed to do this, maybe it was the fact that I was really tired at the time.
I own all my music - none of my music is copy protected (it is either downloaded from legal sites where the bands themselves [usually unknown or alternative artists] release their music, or I ripped the music from CD's I bought) and all of his music is copy protected.
Now thing is, I have upgraded my PC before realising I did this, so now I don't have the original iTunes library (formatted PC and reinstalled XP from scratch) - is there any tools out there that will find and delete all your copy protected files from iTunes?
I could go through song by song and when it comes up with the "Authorise computer - This computer is not authorised to play "******" Would you like to authorise it" and delete those songs, but as this is a very slow and time consuming process and considering I have 8,551 songs, I would prefer a faster way.
I would go and re-rip all the songs, as I have the original discs, but this would take very long, and put quite a bit of strain on my CD drive, and this would not account for all the songs I have spent years finding on the internet/demo songs from friends bands.
Any help is appreciated, as I would love to be able to remove all of his songs so they don't keep popping up in my iTunes library
Thanks in advance.
Dale.

I have never tried this and am not at a computer with iTunes, but can you delete from a Smart Playlist? If so, you could make a smart playlist that shows songs that are of kind Protected ACC. Then select all and delete from that playlist. But I am not so sure if you can delete from a smart playlist.

How can I delete all those ! dead files from iTunes without having to do it manually?

I recently merged 2 iTunes libraries into 1 on a PC. This has resulted in 1000's of dead files, notated by a ! (exclamation point). Does anyone know of a quick way of removing all of these without needing to spend many hours doing it manually?

Lost & Found
Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist (it may take some time to count the tracks that are to be dropped). Create a smart playlist called Lostmatching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist. You should be able to select all the tracks in this playlist with CTRL-A and then remove them from iTunes with CTRL-SHIFT-DELETE.
Or use iTunes Folder Watch with its option to check for dead tracks on start up.
However if the broken tracks are duplicates of non-broken files then I've written a script called DeDuper which can help remove unwanted duplicates, merge ratings, play counts and playlist membership, and remove dupes with dead links as long as there is one real file to merge the stats to. See this thread for background. I also have a tool called FindTracks for fixing the broken links if the files are sill there but not quite where iTunes is looking for them. For more details see this thread.
tt2

How can I find all exclamation marks in my iTunes without clicking on each song? Is there a way to delete all instead of one at a time?

How can I find all exclamation marks in my iTunes without clicking on each song? Can they be deleted all at once instead of one song at a time?

Lost & Found
Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist (it may take some time to count the tracks that are to be dropped). Create a smart playlist called Lost matching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist.
Optional: It depends a bit on why things aren't where iTunes expects to find them but if they are in sensible Artist & Album folders in some common location then my FindTracks script should be able to reconnect them to iTunes. FindTracks uses some fuzzy matching routines and searches for multiple potential locations. For more details see this thread. Once you have repaired the tracks that can be found you can drag the contents of the Lost playlist into Found which will update things.
Or, you can simply delete all the tracks in the Lost playlist with Ctrl-A to select them and then Shift-Delete to delete.
tt2

I tried to delete all of my duplicate songs in iTunes and it deleted all of my music. Is there a way i get my music back?

i tried to delete all of my duplicate songs in iTunes and it deleted all of my music. Is there a way i get my music back?

From the backup you maintain in case something drastic happens to your collection as it surely will when your drive crashes, the computer is stolen, etc.?
Are the files in the trash? I don't let iTunes manage my music so when I delete a track I have to hunt down the file, drag it to the trash, and empty the trash in order to get rid of it. I don't know how iTunes does it for others.

I deleted all my playlist by mistake from itunes. tried copying the to on the go on ipod and thought it would copy it on to my itune but it didn't. does any one know how i can do this without redoing all my playlists. thanks

I deleted all my playlist by mistake from itunes. tried copying them to on the go on ipod and thought it would copy it on to my itune but it didn't. does any one know how i can do this without redoing all my playlists. thanks

Are the playlists still on the iPod? If so I can probably cook up a script to read them back into iTunes, or you can check the features of the various tools listed at the end of this user tip to see if you can find one that you want to use.
tt2

I'm setting up my new iPhone and already have an iTunes account. It's asking me if I would like to set up as a new iPhone, or Restore from the backup of my iTouch. If i set up as a new iPhone will that delete all my music from my previous iTunes account

I'm setting up my new iPhone and already have an iTunes account. It's asking me if I would like to set up as a new iPhone, or Restore from the backup of my iTouch. If i set up as a new iPhone will that delete all my music from my previous iTunes account?

It will not do anything at all to your computer.

How do I delete all the imported (not synchronized with itunes) photos on my ipad ?

how do I delete all the imported (not synchronized with itunes) photos on my ipad ?

Depending on how many photos there are, you can do it diretly on the iPad via the trashcan icon in the top right corner if viewing the photos in full screen, or via the icon of the box with the arrow coming out of it in thumbnail view and selecting the photos to delete (there is no select all option).
Or you can connect the iPad to your computer and do it via Windows Explorer on a PC by selecting the photos and pressing delete, or on a Mac iPhoto/Aperture should have a delete option at the end of their import dialogues.

Can't find "Delete all backups of this file " in Time Machine Actions

I want to free up some space from Time Machine backups, but when I select the folders and go to "actions" the "Delete all backups of <this file>” command that others posters (here) refer to isn't in the Actions drop-down menu. I don't want to just drag them to Trash, but that's the only deletion option. Am I missing something?
Brian

Are you doing this via Time Machine, as detailed in #12 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions?
If so, what options do you see?
You might want to try the things in #E4 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Exclamation mark and the message "itunes could not find your song file

Hi everyone. I've tried doing a search but couldn't find this exact problem. I hope i'm not about to annoy everyone with a question that has been asked a thousand times before.
my problem is that every now A/some song file(s).that are already in my itunes library and played fine and synced with iphones ipod app fine. well sometimes I get this little exclamation mark on A/some song(s) in the library and the message "itunes could not find your song file would you like to locate it" and when i do and it always seems to be in what itunes find box locates first anyway.......( I'm paraphrasing...........i forget exactly what it says)........the funny thing is when i try and locate the files for itunes they are exactly where they are supposed to be........ and i've been able to put the mp3 back into the itunes library in the past, but now a certain mp3 will not show up in itunes library or play. like i said I can locate it fine, i've never renamed any folders or mp3's. other mp3's in this folder play fine , but i've had exclamation marks on some of them in the past, it seems that i know of 2 folders in my music folder that always have this problem with the mp3's in them at ramdom .
does anyone know why itunes is doing this?................it happens sometimes with downloaded music and sometimes with ripped music................sometimes a single track and sometimes just a few single tracks .........it's begining to become slighty annoying........
any help would be most appreciated.

Helpful but i was reading some posts and threads about consolidate library and it seems that if the song is not in the itunes library it will not consolidate it.i've had songs in the library that i deleted from the library and i remember getting a message when i do that action if i would like to delete it from the music folder as well ( in other words trash it completly from harddrive or do i just want to delete the song from the library and still keep it in the music folder but i guess those actions have little effect if you didn't have the song in itunes music folder,, but another folder. except for the part that it will remove the song from the library. if there was a way to consolidate your music folder(s) into the itunes folder that would be cool. and still leave your itunes library with out those songs you didn't want in there, but wanted to leave in the music folder.

How to find all exclamation marks/error photos in library

Hi,
Thanks to the forums, I know how to get rid of the exclamation marks (rebuilding, etc). But first, I want to locate all the dead links. The only way I'll know right now if a thumbnail is dead is if I double click on it and see the exclamation mark. Is there a way to filter them all out? Otherwise, I have over 5,000 pictures, and I definitely don't want to doubleclick through all of them to check.
Basically, I want to identify the error files first before I rebuild the library. Otherwise, I won't know which photos I'm missing in the new library, right?
For example, currently, photo #123 brings up the ugly exclamation mark. I can see #123 thumbnail, so I know which photo it is, but iphoto can't find the original link (I probably deleted it from the root folder a while ago). If I rebuild the library, I'm guessing the new library will know not to include #123, since it can't find the original file. This means if I didn't know #123 was there to begin with, I wouldn't know it was missing from the new library, right? In this case, I know I'm missing #123, and I want to make sure I find it first before rebuilding. So, is there a way to make iphoto just show all the problem files?

No.
If you rebuild with iPhoto Library Manager it will list the files it cannot find.
Regards
TD

Deleted all my actual music files but have " backup"

Dear All, I use a mac mini and had all my physical files on an external hard drive which sits on top. I use time machine to back up muy mac mini but not being able to work out how to use that to back up an external drive I made a physical coppy of my music folder to another drive a few months agao.
Well seduced by reports of extra bits and bobs on a program called songbird I installed that and ran it. It deleted all my music. ( googling songbird deleted my songs brings up numerous distraught people who this has happened to. ) Now my artwork, library etc is still on my mac mini bit of course none are now linked to the actual song files any more ( all deleted ) . Thank god I only brought a few songs since I made a copy of all my music files. Its a large file 250GB.
Whats the best way now to get my songs back into itunes ( from my copy on an external hard drive ) with the minimum of fuss and duplicates etc? Delete all my itunes libraries art etc and start again. Something simpler?
Any feedback on hoew to use timemachine to back up an external hardrive holding my music would be appreciated.
Thanks all
Richard

richardb22 wrote:
Dear Jolly Giant, thanks for that everything is back to what I would call normal now.
glad i could help
After my "restore" Itunes says I have 71,638 songs taking up 406GB. Clicking on get info on my music folder it says 106,340 items 426GB. That leads me to believe that I have not imported some songs into itunes. What do you think? Any suggestions as to how to "hoover" tracks up into itunes ( if thats indeed the case that there are tracks that Itunes does not know about ) would be gratefully recieved.
Doug has an answer for almost eveything:
_*Music Folder Files Not Added v2.0*_
This application will list the file paths of the files in your designated "iTunes Media" folder which are not in iTunes' library. Additionally, you can select a different parent folder and its contents will be compared to the iTunes library. Options to Add a selection of found files to iTunes or move them to the Trash.
Another strange ( but nice ) thing is that I brought a few tracks from itunes recently which definitly were not backed up. I am 99% sure they were lost but now seem to be working fine? Weird ?
not weird - try blind luck or +pulled a Homer+
anyhoo, might want to close this thread by marking your question answered !

Exclamation marks, locating files etc....

I recently transferred my whole itunes library over to my new computer.
I'm pretty sure that allthe files were transferred successfully, because I saw it happen.
But now, a lot of my files can't be located and I get the exclamation mark next to the song title.
There are so many in there, but I don't want to have to manually locate each individual file.
Is there something I can do which will highllight all the 'exclamation mark' files for me to use as a guide?
Also, what will consolodating my itunes library do? Will this be of any help?
Thanks for any info you can give me.
Stressed.....

No, you did not literally lose your music. It is located on your harddrive, iTunes just lost the file path to reference them. iTunes never physically holds your music, thats stored on the harddrive. Just search your harddrive and try to reimport them back over.
Always let iTunes manage your music. To do this: Click on iTunes in the task bar, and click on Preferences. Then Click on the General Tab and make sure the Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized is checked. It may say something a bit different in Windows. I am on a Mac and it varies just a bit.
Post back if you need some more help. We can walk thru all the steps together.
Rachyl

How can i move my HDD and not get all exclamation marks?

I am having issues with my mouse and keyboarda nd need to plug them into the motherboard USB ports. But I was told earlier today that my external HD has to be in the one it was in when I synced it up, so if I move it across to a different port, how can i stop it from giving me 17000+ exclamation marks?

You probably don't want to run your external through a hub either. As long as your external drive is assigned the same drive letter iTunes should find the files on it but I noticed your other thread where someone suggested that you should use the same port as earlier. What happens if close iTunes, switch ports, confirm you have the same drive letter then restart iTunes? What other devices do you have that assign drive letters? Windows may assign these in a particular order as your system boots up but you should also be able to take control and assign a specific letter to a specific device.
tt2

How do I delete all or multiple synced apps from iTunes where the app has already been removed from iPad?

I have recently purchased the latest iPad and been trying lots of apps. These apps are synced with iTunes on a regular basis. I want to delete synced apps from my iTunes backup that I have removed from my iPad.
I am aware of a manual way of removing apps from the iTunes backup but it is far too painful and cumbersome. You have to select the iPad under devices, click the apps tab up the top, and then see which items are not ticked (which runs very slow I might add, but it is a big list). After noting them down, I then visit the apps section under library on the left, highlight all the unwanted apps, right click and delete.
Unless there is some special way of doing this that I am un aware of, it would be really helpful if the libary application view had a column which informed me which ones were still on my iPad. I could then sort by that column, and then delete all the removed apps.

Yes, delete all the apps currently in iTunes, then transfer all the apps currently on the iPad back into iTunes. Of course it will take some time to sync the apps back into iTunes, but it satisfies your desire to remove all apps from iTunes that are not on your iPad without the need to laboriously note what is and is not there. In fact as a bonus after removing all the apps from iTunes you could open the ..\iTunes Media\Mobile Applications folder and delete any remaining orphaned files that might still be there, before you transfer purchases.
tt2

Deleting all exclamation mark'ed files in itunes

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