How can I "refresh" my iTunes Library?

Rather than jump through dozens of hoops and mess up iTunes and lose a lot of info...

The simplest way to move your iTunes library…

1. Quit iTunes
2. Move the entire /Music/iTunes folder to the new location.
3. Hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) andlaunch iTunes.
4. Select Choose library…
5. Select the iTunes folder you just moved.
6. This is all you need to do.

The "quick fix" is probably this:

Open iTunes Preferences (under iTunes in the menu bar). Click "Advanced" in the upper right. You will see the iTunes Media Folder Location there, which you can change.

It is a bit rubbish that iTunes does not "push" new files into the library specially if you are a Windows user.

It has even the poor facility of "add file" instead of "add folder". Any music software from the last century has this option...

Anyway if you had the option of "add folder" you could go to your music folder like C:\My Music and iTunes would pick up any changes since the last one ie. the first time it catalogued your library.

You don't have this option though...😮😮

You have to mimick this...

Open iTunes

Choose "add file to library"

Go to My Music (or equivalent)

Enter My Music (showing all subfolders)

Select All (ctrl + A)

Enter

iTunes will review and match current list with previous ie. delete what is no longer present and add any new files / folders.

It is convoluted to say the least...

Good luck

Hi... Ok, I think I can help everyone with how to move your iTunes Music Library, both the iTunes library.itl file as well as your whole actual library of your data (mps, mp4, songs, movies, home videos, podcast, etc)... to a new computer or new HDD or something like that.

first thing you need to do is completely turn of iTunes and don't let it be open.

then tunr off your wifi or internet connection.

then you need to do is find where you have your actual library of your data (as noted above is). if you are novice mac user its probably in your Music folder which is in your user name... something like Macintosh HD/Users/Your User Name/Music.

if you are a little more advanced... it might already be in a different location like a HDD or such like mine was.

it is gonna be called either iTunes Music or iTunes Media depending on how long ago you started using iTunes... Mine is iTunes Music as its been a long long time for me.

so after you find it, move this database of all your files (noted above) to where you want to move them to.

then hold down the option key and open iTunes. it will ask you if you want to create a library or open library. you can do either one but i just created a new one to start from scratch. you can call it what ever you want.

***NOTE on above, this is where it gets confusing. It is not actually creating a new database of all your files, it is creating an iTunes library.itl file that is the Apple way of knowing your library. this is where it gets confusing.

so after you created new library or opened current library, iTunes will open.

Now go to the menu bar ITunes and select Preferences.... Then Advanced. You will see "iTunes Media folder location". Here you need to press the Change button to the right of it and then find where you copied your actual database library of all your songs, movies, and other media files to as noted above. select it and press Open.

you will see the "iTunes Media folder location" now changed to where your files are.

below it you will see some boxes....

Make sure that the "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" box has a check mark in it. but that "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" Does Not have a check. This is important. If you have a check here, in later steps its gonna move your music again. we will come back to this box later. all the rest of the boxes below it don't matter and are based on your preferences although i would definitely Not Check the "Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows box" for sure.

now Ok out of there and nothing should happen yet. maybe a quick library update window that should go away right away but maybe not..

again, make sure your wifi or internet is still not connected.

now, here is the big one... go to the Menu bar "File" and then down to the "Library" then click the Right menu "Organize Library" and a Box will open up that states "Organize Library". there are two boxes. put a check mark in "Consolidate files" but No Check Mark in "Reorganize files in the folder "iTunes Media".

Pres OK and wait away. Depending on how much stuff you have this could take a long long time. Let it run run run.

when it is done, you should have all your files now in your iTunes .itl file and they should all show up. You might have to reorganize them a bit but should be all good to go.

after this is done, go back to the Preferences tab then to the "Advanced" tab and put a check mark in "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" and press OK. this will allow for any of the actual files of any new items that you add: music, movies, etc to be put in the same location as all your other stuff.

After it is all done, you can now reconnect your internet and the iTunes will eventualy show any other items you have purchased online with like a cloud next to it so you can re-download it into your new library.

hope this works as it worked for me and took some time to figure out how to do it again.

if you want to move your User music outside of your user account, to a secondary hard drive for example

quit iTunes

go to User> Music and copy (or drag) the iTunes folder to the new location

Option+drag (create an alias) of the Music folder back into the original place

(make sure it has the exact name)

this means the only thing left in the Music folder is the iTunes folder alias

reopen iTunes and you should be good to go...

maintaining the integrity of the iTunes folder is the key to this method of backup/restore

it allows you to move your iTunes folder to other installs/users, other hard drives and open it intact as you copied it

note: i have thousands of songsand some playlists in my library and some videos, but nothing purchased from the iTunes store, though i don't see how authorizing the moved iTunes to play purchased would be a problem if that issue arose

I think another way is to delete all of your files in the iTunes file listings (but you jmay bve asked if you want to remove [yes] and do you want to keep the files [yes] I prefer to keep files if it is asked -- you never know)

OK, so once you have deleted the file listings, then simply go to the add function and tell it where to find the files. If you have a large library that may take a long time.

1. Quit iTunes.

2. Re-launch it while holding down the Option key.

3. Select "choose library."

4. Navigate to the iTunes folder and select it.

This will "refresh" the library.

i believe i know exactly what you are trying to do (and why it is not working for you), been there, done that (and i have the bumps on my forehead to prove it)

if you have a backup copy of your iTunes folder that is still intact -- follow my outline in my post 3-4 and you should be back to work in a few minutes

if you don't have an intact copy -- you will pretty much need to manually link up each song in the library with its new location or start from scratch

just drag the folder containing the songs (or videos) into itunes and you are done...!

(this is for windows only i dont know what to do on a mac!!)

Michael,

Your response here seems exaclty like the answer that I need. My logic board broke and I had to get a new one. Sent to Apple and all is working again. I didn't have an super recent time machine back up....my last one was 2 months old. I was able to salvage my music from the computer before sending in for repair and when I got it back, I reloaded my music file onto my machine. I use iTunes match so maybe that kept many of my files/playlists etc in order. But my iTunes is asking me to download many songs that are showing in iTunes and are in a folder in iTunes. These are songs I downloaded during that 2 month break between time machine backups. I think a refresh will fix this issue. But when I follow your steps above, I not certain what file to choose. I tried to go to my itunes ---> itunes media ---> music but that doesn't work. Do I need to choose the "iTuens Library.itl" file? I use my playlists for my job so I don't want to just guess here and lose everything. I did do a backup of my playlists so hopefully I'm protected if something happens but just want a bit more guidance on this. Thank you for your help and your time and let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Kirk

You should navigate to the "iTunes Library.itl" file and choose that.

Hey,

I found a way to do it as I had this problem as well. Go to your iTunes folder located at users/YOURUSER/Music/iTunes and delete the "iTunes Library.itl" file. This is just a database of the songs you have in your iTunes library, when you delete it, iTunes is forced to recreate it based on what is in your iTunes media folder. This made my iTunes show what music I have purchased but is not currently stored on my computer, this just means I can listen to it and download it if I want, but clutters it up with things you may not want. To turn this off, just click view --> hide music in the cloud.

Hope I helped,

Chris

My issue happened when I closed iTunes while it was scanning my library. I assumed it would resume the scan when I opened it again but it didn't. Everything posted on this forum didn't work for me but in the end I figured out my own solution.

In your root music directory look for a sub-directory called 'iTunes'. I don't know what goes in here normally, maybe the files when you have iTunes automatically copy songs or something. There are also some options files in here.

1) Close iTunes.

2) Delete the iTunes folder in your music directory

3) Start iTunes

4) This part is rather hilarious. This fix won't work if you give iTunes any time to access iCloud. You have to be deligent and click 'Scan for Media' immediately as iTunes opens OR disconnect from the internet before opening iTunes.

5) Wait for the entire scan to complete, don't cancel this or you won't have your full library in iTunes.

=========================================================================

If Apple monitors these forums, this is your user base begging you to add a 'refresh library' button to iTunes. I think every other music organizer / player has this feature. AFTER ALL, IT PROVIDES BASIC FUNCTIONALITY THAT EVERYONE NEEDS AT SOME POINT.