How to Organize and Edit Your Library

Once you have added a few tracks or backgrounds, the library becomes one of the most important parts of Atmos. It is where the app stops feeling like a simple menu bar player and starts feeling like a reusable desktop environment.

The library is not just a list of files. It is where Atmos organizes profiles by what they contribute, tracks which ones are active, and lets you switch or edit them without rebuilding your setup every time.

This guide explains how the library works, how to manage it cleanly, and which hidden interactions are easy to miss if you only look at the most obvious controls.

What the library is actually organizing

Atmos organizes saved profiles by contribution, not only by raw file type.

That means a profile can appear based on what it does:

• audio profiles in the Audio section
• visual profiles in the Background section

Some profiles, especially video profiles in both mode, can contribute to both categories.

This matters because the library is designed around the role each item plays in your setup, not around a rigid media taxonomy.

Where the library lives in Atmos

Open the Library area from the main Atmos window to manage profiles and customization.

Inside that screen, the main sections are:

• Audio
• Background
• Cursor
• Trails
• Widgets

For this post, we are focusing mostly on the Audio and Background sections, because those are the primary media libraries inside Atmos.

Each section has:

• an enable or disable control
• an expand or collapse control
• an active item state
• a list view when expanded

This structure is small, but it is more capable than it first appears.

How the Audio and Background sections are grouped

Atmos does not simply dump every uploaded file into one long list.

Instead:

• the Audio section shows profiles that contribute audio
• the Background section shows profiles that contribute visuals

This means:

• audio files appear in Audio
• image files appear in Background
• some video profiles can appear in both

That keeps the library easier to reason about, especially once you start mixing still images, videos, and sound-based profiles together.

How active items are shown

Each library section tracks an active item.

When a section is collapsed, Atmos shows a compact version of the active profile instead of the full list. That means you can glance at the current selection without expanding the section every time.

If nothing is active, Atmos falls back to an empty state such as:

• Empty
• None yet — add from Upload

This compact-active behavior is one of the quieter design decisions in the app, but it makes the library much easier to scan.

How to switch profiles

To switch profiles:

1. Open the Library.
2. Expand the Audio or Background section.
3. Click the profile you want to make active.

When you choose an audio profile, Atmos loads it into the shared player.

When you choose a background profile, Atmos sets it as the active background and applies it immediately if backgrounds are enabled.

This is an important distinction:

• loading an audio profile changes the current track state
• setting a background changes the wallpaper layer

Both happen from the library, but they affect different systems in the app.

The hidden behavior: section title clicks also toggle the system

One subtle library behavior is easy to miss: the section title itself is not just a label.

In the Audio and Background sections, clicking the title row toggles whether that system is enabled.

That means:

• Audio can be turned on or off from the Audio section header
• Backgrounds can be turned on or off from the Background section header

This is different from changing the active profile. You are not switching which profile is selected. You are toggling whether that entire part of the Atmos environment is active.

That makes the library faster to use once you know it.

Disabling a section is not the same as removing a profile

This is one of the most important library concepts.

If you disable Audio or Background:

• the profiles stay in your library
• the active selection is remembered
• the system is only being turned off temporarily

If you delete a profile:

• the profile is removed from your library
• the current active state may need to be cleared
• the related player or wallpaper behavior may stop immediately

This distinction helps Atmos feel non-destructive in daily use. You can temporarily silence or hide part of your setup without erasing it.

How to edit a profile

Atmos includes a less obvious editing gesture in the library.

To edit a profile:

1. Open the relevant library section.
2. Find the profile row.
3. Long-press the profile row.

That opens the edit view for the selected item.

This is a hidden interaction that many users will not discover immediately, so it is worth remembering. If you want to rename a profile or change its artwork, long-press is the path.

What you can change in edit mode

When you open profile editing, Atmos lets you:

• rename the profile
• update or add profile artwork
• delete the profile if it is not built-in

The app also performs a duplicate-name check. If you try to rename a profile to a name already used by another profile, Atmos blocks the change instead of silently creating ambiguous duplicates.

That makes the library cleaner over time, especially once you have several similar tracks or backgrounds.

What happens when you rename an active audio profile

Another small but thoughtful behavior: if you rename a profile that is currently active as the audio track, Atmos updates the player-facing track name too.

That means the player does not keep showing the old name after the edit.

It is a small detail, but it keeps the app feeling coherent. The library and the player stay in sync instead of drifting apart.

How artwork works in the library

Profiles can carry artwork, and the library uses that artwork as the visual identity for each item.

If a profile has artwork:

• the row shows the artwork instead of a plain icon

If it does not:

• the row falls back to an icon based on media type

This makes it easier to distinguish profiles quickly, especially if you have several tracks with similar names or several background assets that belong to the same mood.

Built-in profiles versus user-added profiles

Not every profile is treated the same way in the library.

Atmos includes built-in profiles that are seeded automatically into the app. These behave differently from uploaded profiles in one important way:

• built-in profiles cannot be deleted

Uploaded profiles can be removed.

This protects the default library from accidental cleanup while still letting you manage your personal content freely.

What happens when you delete a profile

If you delete a profile, Atmos checks whether that profile is currently active.

If the deleted profile is the active background:

• Atmos restores the normal wallpaper
• clears the active background selection

If the deleted profile is the active audio profile:

• playback stops
• the current audio selection is cleared

That means deletion is not only about removing an item from a list. It can change the current app state immediately if the removed item is part of the active setup.

Hidden behavior: deleting does not work on built-ins

This is worth saying explicitly because it can otherwise feel like a bug.

If you long-press a built-in profile, you can edit some details, but you cannot remove it the way you can remove uploaded content.

That is by design. The built-in library is protected so the app always has a baseline set of content available.

How to keep the library clean over time

The easiest way to keep the library manageable is:

• give profiles clear names during upload
• rename messy filenames later through edit mode
• use artwork consistently if you want faster visual scanning
• remove unused uploaded profiles once you are sure you do not need them

The library stays much easier to use when the names reflect the role or mood of the profile instead of the raw downloaded filename.

How clear-library and reset differ from normal library cleanup

Atmos also gives you larger cleanup actions in Settings:

• Clear Library
• Reset App

These are not ordinary library actions.

Clear Library removes uploaded tracks and backgrounds while keeping built-ins.

Reset App is broader. It wipes settings, profiles, caches, and related state so the app returns to a factory-like baseline.

Most of the time, normal library editing is the safer tool. Use the larger resets only when you intentionally want to clean house.

Useful hidden details in the library flow

Here are a few library-related details that are easy to miss:

• Clicking the section title toggles the whole system on or off.
• Clicking the chevron expands or collapses the list view.
• Collapsed sections still show the active profile when one exists.
• Long-press opens the edit flow for a profile.
• Duplicate names are blocked during rename.
• Active audio renames also update the visible track name in the player.
• Deleting an active profile also clears its current app role.

These are the kinds of small behaviors that make Atmos faster once you learn them.

A practical library workflow

If you want a clean and efficient routine, use this approach:

1. Upload a few profiles.
2. Open the library and make sure each one appears in the right section.
3. Rename anything with a messy filename.
4. Add artwork only for the profiles you use often.
5. Collapse sections once you have chosen an active item.
6. Use title toggles to temporarily disable systems without removing anything.

That keeps the library organized without turning it into a maintenance chore.

Final thoughts

The library is where Atmos starts to feel mature. It does more than store files. It understands what each profile contributes, remembers what is active, gives you a compact overview when sections are collapsed, and supports editing without forcing a large settings workflow.

Once you understand the difference between selection, editing, disabling, and deleting, the library becomes one of the fastest and most satisfying parts of the app.

In the next tutorial, we will move into one of Atmos's most distinctive customization systems: how to enable and use cursor skins.