Listing track numbers in file manager

DaveB

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I am wondering if there is a way to have the file explorer in Linux Mint to show the track numbers for mp3's? Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


Dave
 


G'day Dave, Welcome to Linux.org

I can understand wanting to number your mp3's. Mine are sorted by name only.

I have 1257 mp3 tracks, stored in folder on an external drive which is formatted ext3/4

If I right click in an open space in amongst those those tracks I see the below:
Screenshot from 2026-06-19 08-43-20.png

So, I do not see an easy way to get what you are after.

However, there will be others with more knowledge than myself will undoubtedly see your post.

Be patient, this is an international site and timezones vary widely.
 
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I don't want to put the track number as part of the song title. I would like a seperate number column.
 
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..the file explorer in Linux Mint..

@DaveB you should probably tell us which Linux Mint version, and the DE (Desktop Environment)

The File Managers differ.

Cinnamon - Nemo

MATE - Caja and

Xfce - Thunar

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
I've built an audio collection and from my experience you won't be happy with any sort of filtering/grouping of file names. I read that Dolphin can read metadata of the files, i.e. the ID3 tags, and group accordingly. I have not tried it, but (again) in my experience the ID3 tags of collected albums/tracks are too random to satisfy good hierarchical organisation.

What I usually do first thing on importing new music to the collection is run it through a music library manager that harmonises the ID3 tags according to official music library records. In doing so, it also brings the individual tracks and directory ordering into a uniform format (chosen by me. It is not, but it could be Album1.1.Songtitle.mp3, Album1.2.Songtitle.mp3) on import. AFTER doing this, you get adequate file grouping in a file manager, be it per ID3 tag or regular file listing.

So my advice to you is to get a music library software you enjoy using which supports updating the ID3 metadata. After you're done using it you'll see how much better it does everything else you try to do with the music (like creating playlists on the fly, etc).
 
There is no track number for .mp3 files other than in the tag or the title. They don't necessarily come from an album or CD. If there is no tag, and nothing in the title to show the track number, I don't know of a way to find it. You may have to edit the metadata and manually enter the track numbers, which is a lot of work for not a lot of profit, IMO.
 
The track numbers are in the ID3 tag. So why cant Linux read that?
I think a "file manager" is concerned more with managing the files as such without regard to what's -in- them so it doesn't surprise me too much that most FMs don't open a file to get information from the ID3 tag. It -does- surprise me that some FMs will show, for instance, a thumbnail of an image file - which would certainly require opening the file to get at what's in it.

I would expect thumbnailing to be a feature of a "photo manager" and perhaps handling ID3 tags to be a feature of a "music manager".

As a point of correlation, the command ls -l will show a file as being executable (a feature of its directory entry) regardless of whether or not the file actually contains any sort of program.

Just FYI though, a lot of things don't work they way I might want or expect them to and "creeping featuritis" is alive and well in many applications and distros. ;)
 
In the Software manager, type in; Id3 :
That will bring up a pge of apps concerned with tag editors etc
In mine (also running Linux Mint 22.3 cinnamon) only Id3 is installed.
How thta is used, I do not know.
My needs from my music manager are simple. Play music. I am not fussed what order they play in. There is over 13GB of music there. It works flawlessly.

I use deadbeef music manager to store and play my collection of mp3's

I sort the music by Artist ...so they are sorted in alphabetic order, just in case I am looking for a particular singer etc

It is possible from the list to sort by title, track number, album, artist, date,random, custom

if I right click inthe line starting with artist album (on its main page) i can add, remove, edit a column, or group tunes by artist/date/album, none or custom.

You likely know more about this than I do.

It occurs to me that almost every member on this forum will at one time or another play music which is stored on or attached to their pc. That is a guess, but it has a reasonable probability of being correct.

I will mention a few members here who may or may not respond. No action is necessary on your part.

@GatorsFan
@osprey
@MikeWalsh
@f33dm3bits
@kc1di
@deb_user
@JasKinasis
@kibasnowpaw
@KGIII
 
I use Dolphin and it does have the Track number but when I went to a folder that I know I ripped from CD (sure, it was 25 years ago), nothing is populating in the field. it may be that one has to set that to encode in the mp3 file when ripping? no clue, I have zero optical media/CD's, the last time I had a CD in my possession was over 10 years ago.

Dolphin.png
 
Thanks. I am just spoiled I guess after using MediaMonkey for a loooooong time. I just started with Linux and trying to get and using Windows for like forever. Even the file manager in windows you can have track numbers displayed. I know this is a Linux forum I am just trying to get things with what I know and am comfortable with.
 
Don't lose hope, it will be a matter of finding the right person here

There will be a way, and likely a damn sight simpler than we suspect.
 
I hope so. I have found other Windows Versions for software in Linux. Now it seems I might be nitpicking but why can't the file explorer show track numbers like in Windows????
 
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Thanks. I am just spoiled I guess after using MediaMonkey for a loooooong time. I just started with Linux and trying to get and using Windows for like forever. Even the file manager in windows you can have track numbers displayed. I know this is a Linux forum I am just trying to get things with what I know and am comfortable with.
It would have been useful if you had posted a screenshot of what that looks like because I'm not sure what you mean by that exactly. Also know that Windows and Linux aren't the same, so just because Windows has something don't expect Linux to also have that exact same thing or vice-versa.
 
The track numbers are in the ID3 tag. So why cant Linux read that?

It can, but you need to install and run an extension to Nemo.

I just ran a Google search on

linux mint nemo music track numbers

and its AI search came up with

AI Overview




Linux Mint's default Nemo file manager does not display audio tags natively, but you can easily handle music track numbers by renaming files with a numbered prefix or by installing the nemo-media-columns extension to view ID3 tags in the List View. [1, 2]

View Track Numbers in List View
You can add columns to see track numbers directly inside Nemo using the official extension:
  1. Open your terminal and run: sudo apt install nemo-media-columns
  2. Restart Nemo with the command: nemo -q
  3. Open Nemo, switch to List View, and right-click on the column headers to enable track and metadata columns. [1, 2]

Sort and Name Files
Because Nemo sorts files alphanumerically, track 2 will sort after track 10. To ensure your music stays in the correct album order:
  • Rename Files: Ensure files use a standard numbering format (e.g., 01 - SongTitle.mp3, 02 - SongTitle.mp3).
  • Bulk Renaming: Highlight the files in Nemo and press F2 to use the built-in bulk renaming tool.
  • Batch Tag Editors: For deep metadata and filename correction, install a dedicated batch tagger like Picard or Puddletag (sudo apt install picard) rather than ...

HTH

Wizard
 


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