</p>
<table class="dl">
- <tr><th>(Local Playlists)</th>
- <td>Shows all of the playlists associated with this track, and indicates
- the currently selected playlist</td></tr>
- <tr><th>Rename…</th>
- <td>Displays a dialog to rename the current playlist</td></tr>
- <tr><th>New…</th>
- <td>Creates a new empty playlist, and the track switches to the new playlist</td></tr>
- <tr><th>New Copy…</th>
- <td>Creates a new playlist that is a copy of the current playlist; the track switches to the new playlist</td></tr>
- <tr><th>Clear Current</th>
- <td>Removes all regions from the current playlist</td></tr>
- <tr><th>Select From All…</th>
- <td>Displays a playlist browser to manually choose which playlist this track should use. (from this track or another one)</td></tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th><i>(Local Playlists)</i></th>
+ <td>Shows all of the playlists associated with this track, and indicates
+ the currently selected playlist</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th>Select…</th>
+ <td>Allows switching playlists, either for this track or multiple ones (more about that later)</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th>Rename…</th>
+ <td>Displays a dialog to rename the current playlist</td></tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th>New Playlist…</th>
+ <td>Creates a new empty playlist, and the track switches to the new playlist</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th>Copy Playlist…</th>
+ <td>Creates a new playlist that is an independent copy of the current playlist; the track switches to the new playlist</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th>Clear Current</th>
+ <td>Removes all regions from the current playlist</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th>Advanced</th><td></td></tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th class="sub1">Copy from …</th>
+ <td>Creates a new playlist that is an independent copy of a playlist from this track or another one; the track switches to the new playlist</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th class="sub1">Share with …</th>
+ <td>Uses a playlist from this track or another one; any edit to this playlist will be reflected on the other track(s) that use this playlist</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <th class="sub1">Steal from …</th>
+ <td>Uses a playlist from this track or another one and removes it from the local playlists in the "robbed" track. Otherwise, behaves like "Share with …"</td>
+ </tr>
</table>
-<h2>Renaming Playlists</h2>
-<p>
- Playlists are created by default with the name of the active playlist, plus a
- version number, and the first playlist is named after the track with which it is
- associated. So, the first playlist for a track called "Cowbell" will be called
- "Cowbell.1", the next one "Cowbell.2", etc. This name can be changed at any
- time, to anything: Ardour does not require playlist names to be unique,
- although it will make the user's life easier if they are. Suggested examples
- of user-assigned names for a playlist might include <kbd class="input"> Lead
- Guitar, 2nd take</kbd>, <kbd class="input">vocals (quiet)</kbd>, and <kbd
- class="input">downbeat cuica</kbd>. These might be different from the
- associated track names, which for these examples might be <kbd
- class="input">Lead Guitar</kbd>, <kbd class="input">Vocals</kbd> and <kbd
- class="input">Cuica</kbd>. The playlist name provides more information because
- it is about a specific version of the material that may (or may not) end up in
- the final version of the track.
-</p>
-
-<p class="note">Using the fact that playlist names are based on the active one with
- an incremented version number, one can rename a playlist "Cowbell take.1" so that
- the next playlist created is automatically named "Cowbell take.2" etc. This allows
- for a quick way to label different takes.
+<p class="note">
+ When <em>Stealing</em> a playlist, it does not remove the playlist from the
+ robbed track. The playlist now belongs to the current track, and the robbed track
+ uses the playlist as a shared playlist with the new owner. Hence, this playlist
+ won't be in the <i>(Local Playlists)</i> list from the robbed track anymore, but
+ will now appear in the current track's local playlists.
</p>
-<h2>Sharing Playlists</h2>
+<h2>Sharing vs copying Playlists</h2>
<p>
It is entirely possible to <dfn>share playlists</dfn> between tracks. The only
slightly unusual thing that should be noted when sharing is that edits to the
</p>
<p>
To avoid this kind of behaviour, and nevertheless use the same (or substantially
- the same) playlist on two tracks, the desired playlist must be chosen in the
- second track, and then the <kbd class="menu">New Copy…</kbd> button clicked.
+ the same) playlist on two tracks, the desired playlist must be copied and not shared.
This generates an <dfn>independent copy</dfn> of it for that track, which can
then be edited without affecting the original.
</p>
+
+<h2>Select menu</h2>
+
+<figure>
+ <img src="/images/playlist_select.png" alt="The Select playlist menu"/>
+ <figcaption>The Select playlist menu.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>
+ In its most basic use, the <kbd class="menu">Select …</kbd>
+ menu allows:
+</p>
+<ul>
+ <li>
+ to switch from one playlist to another (with the added benefit,
+ compared to switching directly from the <i>Local Playlists</i>
+ list, to see the creation date and time),
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ to create a new, empty playlist, with the <kbd class="menu">New
+ Playlist(s)</kbd> button,
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ or to create an independent copy of the current one, with the
+ <kbd class="menu">Copy Playlist(s)</kbd> button.
+ </li>
+</ul>
+<p>
+ When used for <kbd class="option">Only this track/group</kbd>, in the
+ selector below, it is the same as using the <kbd class="menu">New
+ Playlist …</kbd> and <kbd class="menu">Copy Playlist …</kbd> from the
+ Playlist menu.
+</p>
+<p>
+ But the selector also allows to apply these operation (changing
+ playlist, creating an empty new one or creating an independent copy)
+ for <kbd class="option">Rec-armed tracks</kbd> or <kbd
+ class="option">ALL tracks</kbd>. This can be useful in a recording
+ situation with many microphones and multiple takes to deal with.
+</p>
+<p>
+ These playlist operations, on multiple tracks, are also available
+ directly on the secondary toolbar in <a
+ href="@@recorder">Recorder</a> mode.
+</p>