Comment Editing

PFrank can be used to perform bulk or manual editing of comment tags. Comment Editing is enabled by using the 'Mode' menu of the main window and selecting "Comment Editing" mode. Once enabled, you can edit the EXIF comment tags of JPEG (jpg) files or you can edit the ID3v1/2 comment tags of MP3 files The mode can also be enabled using shortcut keys from the Main window or the Detailed Information window (also called the preview window). Comment Editing mode makes it trivial to modify/create comments using either the Custom Renaming Creator (excellent for changing existing comments) or a specialized Comment Updater (excellent for creating initial comments). The specialized Comment Updater presents a look-ahead buffer while you type which can greatly speed up manual editing.

The preview window in Comment Editing mode has columns called "Old Comment" and "New Comment". The Old Comment column stores the original comment found during the initial scan. The New Comment column presents comments derived from the Old Comments using the custom renaming creator. The current comment for the file is displayed in the "Image Comment" or "Music Comment" columns and these columns are instantly updated when any changes are applied using the Apply button.

The Apply button has a menu to the right of it that is used to select the Apply method (the menu is circled in the screenshot below). The apply methods are used to select changes either via the Custom Renaming Creator or the Comment Updater. The screenshot below shows the layout of the preview page when Comment Editing mode is active.

Custom Renaming Creator Methods

For changing comments using the Custom Renaming Creator there is only one Apply method called: Apply 'New Comment' Column to All Rows
The New Comment column content is derived using Custom Renaming Creator of the main menu to add or transform existing comments. The procedure is identical to that used for renaming files (see Basic File Renaming) except that instead of previewing and renaming fies/folders, it is the comment tags within the files being previewed and changed. The "New Comment" column can be manually edited just like the "New Name" column.
The undo button will undo any changes by setting the current comment to whatever is specified in the "Old Comment" column.

Comment Updater Methods

For writing comments using the Comment Updater there are various apply methods. The comment updater has a text field which is used to manually create entries and a look-ahead list to assist.
A comment database is used to populate the look-ahead list with possible completions for whatever text has been entered in the text field. Users select comment strings from the list which will automatically be inserted into the text field. The comment database can be populated either by importing comments from a file, adding them from the text field, or importing them by reading comments from all files shown in the preview list. Any applied comments are automatically added to the database.

The Apply methods include selections for updating the comment in the text field to the currently selected row and then automatically moving to the next row or previous row or next selected row. There are also methods for updating all rows or all selected rows.
The undo button will undo any changes by setting the current comment to whatever is specified in the "Old Comment" column.

The screenshot below is modified from the previous in that the New Comment column has been hidden and the Apply method is configured to update the currently selected row and move to the next row.