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How to · Rekordbox

Sort tracks by key in Rekordbox.

Click the Key column header in the track list and Rekordbox reorders the list by key, ascending on the first click and descending on the next. If the Key column is not there, right-click any column header and pick Key from the list that opens. The part most tutorials skip: that click only sorts the view, so run Renumber Track Order in the Playlist menu to write the order into the playlist itself.

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The Vibes library table with BPM, key, and vibe columns filled in for every track

A library where every track already carries a key.

Sort tracks by key in Rekordbox, step by step.

Rekordbox detects key during track analysis and reorders the list on whatever column you click. Here is how to sort by key in Rekordbox, in the Collection and inside a playlist, and how to keep that order once the tracks leave your laptop.

01

Turn on key analysis first

Open Preferences, choose the Analysis category, and open the Track Analysis tab. Under Track Analysis Setting, tick KEY next to BPM / Grid. With Auto Analysis set to Enable, every track you import gets keyed on the way in. For files already sitting in your Collection, select them, right-click, and choose Analyze Track.

02

Show the Key column in the track list

Right-click any column header above the track list and Rekordbox opens the full column list. Click Key and it appears in the header. Drag that header left or right to park it next to BPM, where you will actually read it. The column behaves the same way in the Collection and inside any playlist.

03

Pick the key format you read fastest

Open Preferences, choose the View category, and open the Display Type tab. Key display format offers Classic, which shows key names, and Alphanumeric, which shows codes such as 1A and 2A. A third option displays the key as it is recorded on the track. Choose before you sort, because the format decides the order you get.

04

Click the Key header to sort

Click the Key column header once and the track order changes. Each further click switches between ascending and descending. The sort applies to whatever list is on screen, so it works on the whole Collection or on one playlist you have open. Nothing about the files changes, only the order you are looking at.

05

Filter to one key instead of scrolling

Click the track filter icon on the left side of the search filter. It narrows the list by BPM, KEY, RATING, COLOR, and My Tag. Tick KEY and pick a value, or turn on MASTER PLAYER or MASTER DECK to take the value straight from the track loaded on the master.

06

Make the sorted order stick to the playlist

A column sort is a view, not the playlist's saved order, and a track can only be dragged into place while the list is sorted by the track order column. So sort your playlist by Key, then open the Playlist menu and choose Renumber Track Order. Rekordbox renumbers the tracks in the order you just sorted them.

07

Set what the player sorts by on the drive

On a CDJ the browse order comes from the player's own SORT menu, not from your laptop screen. In EXPORT mode, connect the drive, select it under Devices, and use its Sort setting to specify the sort items offered on the player. The same list lives in Preferences under the DJ System category.

The catch

Rekordbox sorts on one column at a time, so clicking Key replaces your BPM sort instead of adding a second level to it. There is no documented way to group by key and then by tempo in one pass, which is why DJs end up sorting, renumbering, and repeating, or keeping a separate playlist per key range.

Find compatible12B12A1B1A2B2A3B3A4B4A5B5A6B6A7B7A8B8A9B9A10B10A11B11A
8A120-136 BPM

The faster way

Plan the key order, then hand it to Rekordbox.

Vibes analyzes every track locally and shows the key as Camelot, musical, or Open Key, whichever you read fastest. Find Compatible pulls the harmonic neighbors of any track inside a BPM window you set, half and double time aware, so a key run is a filter instead of a scroll. Set Designer then sorts the set by key path or by energy flow, and the finished playlist exports back to rekordbox as a folder tree, with Camelot key sub-folders if you want the split baked in. Vibes does the prep; the mixing still happens in Rekordbox.

See how it works
Key on every track, displayed as Camelot, musical, or Open Key
Find Compatible: harmonic neighbors inside a BPM window, half and double time aware
Set Designer sorts a set by key path or by energy flow, ascending, descending, or arc
Exports back to rekordbox with optional Camelot key sub-folders, so the order arrives with the playlist

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 by Artist A

Track 001

Artist A

128
3A
Track 002 by Artist B

Track 002

Artist B

124
5B
Track 003 by Artist C

Track 003

Artist C

132
8A
Vibes App
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.

Open Preferences, go to the Analysis category, open the Track Analysis tab, and tick KEY under Track Analysis Setting. With Auto Analysis enabled, imported tracks are keyed automatically. For tracks already in your Collection, select them, right-click, and choose Analyze Track, or use Analyze Track in the Track menu. Key Analysis can also write the detected value into the ID3 tag. The full analysis pass is covered in analyzing tracks. Sorting puts the keys in order; the harmonic mixing chart is what tells you which of the neighbours actually blend.
Display the Key column, then turn on Traffic Light in the browser panel and choose the deck you are mixing out of. Rekordbox highlights the keys that are compatible with the track on that deck, and you can widen or narrow the match range in Preferences under View, Display Type. Related Tracks does the same job for planning ahead. Full walkthrough: find harmonic tracks.
You have playlists and folders, Intelligent Playlists that fill themselves from filters, My Tag for your own labels, plus colors and star ratings. Key is one column among those tools, best used for ordering a set once the selection is done. Start with a folder structure you can find things in, then layer tags on top: organize your library.
Two different things change order here. Clicking a column header sorts the view, and each click flips between ascending and descending. Dragging a track moves it inside a list, but only while that list is sorted by the track order column. To turn a column sort into the order the playlist keeps, choose Renumber Track Order in the Playlist menu.
Show the Key column, then click its header. The first click orders the list by key and the next reverses it. It works in the Collection and inside any playlist. The format you chose under Key display format decides the order you see, so set Classic or Alphanumeric before you sort. Alphanumeric is the Camelot style option: show Camelot key.
Open the playlist, click the header of the column showing the track order, then drag tracks up or down. Rekordbox allows dragging only while that column is the active sort, so if you have just sorted by Key or BPM, click the track order column again first. Renumber Track Order in the Playlist menu does the same job in bulk after a sort.
Sorting the playlists themselves is a separate control from sorting tracks. Select the folder in the tree view, open the Playlist menu, and choose Sort Items, which sorts the playlists in that folder into ascending order. It also works on Hot Cue Bank lists and on the equivalents under Devices, and it leaves the track order inside each playlist untouched. More on structure: playlists and folders.
Yes, in three ways. Sort by any column to reorder the view, drag tracks by hand while the track order column is the active sort, or combine both: sort by Key, then run Renumber Track Order from the Playlist menu so the sorted sequence becomes the playlist numbering. Do that before you export to USB, and remember the player's own SORT menu can re-order what you see on the CDJ.
Key, tempo, and energy are the three sorts that survive a move between apps, because they live in the analysis rather than in one app's folders. Analyze once so every track carries a key, put the key column where you can see it, and let playlists hold the selection while the sort holds the order. The same three steps work in Serato, Traktor, and Engine DJ.
Usually those tracks were analyzed while Track Analysis Setting had only BPM / Grid ticked, so no key was ever detected. Select them, right-click, and choose Analyze Track with KEY ticked in Preferences. A track set to Analysis Lock is skipped during analysis, so unlock it first. If the column itself is missing, right-click a column header and add Key. A wrong key is a different problem: fix a wrong key.

From a Vibes customer

The import worked perfectly. Have created several sets now and my life is so much easier
Danny

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Last reviewed June 2026.

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