How to · Rekordbox

Manage playlists and folders in Rekordbox.

Rekordbox lets you build playlists and nest them inside folders to organize your library for USB export. Vibes can do the heavy lifting by exporting a ready-made folder structure, by vibe, Set, and Combination, directly into your Rekordbox database.

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Vibes vibe overview showing tagged tracks organized by energy and mood

Tag once in Vibes, export a structured playlist folder straight into Rekordbox.

Manage playlists and folders in Rekordbox, step by step.

Rekordbox 7 organizes playlists inside the Playlist panel on the left sidebar. You can create standalone playlists or group them inside playlist folders for a cleaner view on CDJs and in Export mode.

Create a playlist folder

In the left sidebar, right-click on the Playlists section and choose Create New Folder. Give the folder a descriptive name (for example, a genre, energy level, or event night). Folders are for grouping only and cannot hold tracks directly.

Add a playlist inside the folder

Right-click the folder you just created and select Create New Playlist. Name it and press Enter. You can also drag an existing playlist into a folder to nest it.

Populate the playlist with tracks

Drag tracks from the Collection view into the playlist in the sidebar, or right-click one or more selected tracks and choose Add to Playlist and pick the target. Rekordbox respects the order you drop them in, and you can reorder by dragging within the playlist.

Export the folder structure to USB

Switch to Export mode using the mode selector at the top of the window. Your connected USB drive appears in the Devices section on the left sidebar. Drag the playlist folders you want onto your connected USB drive there. Rekordbox writes all playlist structure and track metadata to the device for CDJ playback.

The catch

Building this folder structure by hand is slow: every new event night or genre grouping means creating folders, playlists, and dragging tracks manually every time your library changes.

Mood

Euphoric

Melancholic

Mysterious

Energy

Aggressive

Peaceful

Rave

Function

Afterhours

Club

Home

The faster way

Let Vibes build your Rekordbox folder structure for you.

Vibes exports directly into your Rekordbox database (master.db via SQLCipher, falling back to XML), writing one playlist per Vibe, one per Set, and one per Combination, all nested into folders automatically. You tag your library once in Vibes and your Rekordbox sidebar stays current.

See how it works

One playlist per Vibe: every tag you apply in Vibes becomes a named playlist in Rekordbox with the right tracks inside.

Sets export as playlists: Sets you build in Set Designer land in Rekordbox in the order you arranged them.

Combinations become ready-made crates: tracks sharing multiple vibes (e.g. House + Peak Time) get their own auto-generated playlist.

Optional BPM or Camelot subfolders: Vibes can subdivide each exported playlist into BPM-range or key sub-playlists for fast on-the-fly filtering at the CDJ.

Organize in Vibes, export to Rekordbox.

Your playlists, tags, ratings, and cue points travel back to the gear you play on, so nothing you do in Vibes is locked away.

Track 001

Artist A

128

Afterhours

Mysterious

Introspective

Track 002

Artist B

124

Cozy Floor

Peaceful

Home

Track 003

Artist C

132

Rave

Aggressive

Festival

Build & Release

Playlists

Vibes

Mood

Aggressive

Euphoric

Melancholic

Mysterious

Peaceful

Playful

Tense

Function

Arrangement

Sets

Club Night 12/28

NYE Closing Set

Rooftop 01/04

Frequently asked questions

The honest answers, including the trade-offs.

Not entirely. Vibes handles the organizational heavy lifting: it tags your library, auto-generates playlists and folder structures by vibe/set/combination, and exports them into Rekordbox. You still use Rekordbox to export your USB for CDJ gigs, because that export pipeline is Rekordbox-only. Vibes removes the manual folder-building step, not the final export step.

Vibes writes into its own named folder inside Rekordbox (labeled by Vibes), so it does not touch playlists you created manually. Your existing structure stays intact alongside the Vibes-generated one.

Yes. Rekordbox 7 supports multiple levels of playlist folder nesting. You can right-click any existing folder and choose Create Folder or Create Playlist inside it to build a deeper hierarchy. On CDJs, the nested structure appears in the same hierarchy in the Browse menu.

Methodology