[mdavej]

I'm curious how to best utilize Collection, SongID and Custom Group fields.

Currently I have multiple parts in various bands and also would like to be able to share setlists with other band members using Mobile Sheets.

I use Collection and Custom 1 to organize my songs today. So my songs in band one for my instrument would be, for example, in Collection "Quartet - Alto 1" with each having a unique song number in Custom 1. So I can filter by collection, and sort by Custom 1.

But since our songs may have slightly different names for the other parts, I'm thinking I need to give each a unique SongID that would match across different band member's libraries. If I use SongID, should I add some sort of prefix or suffix, so I could duplicate numbers across bands, i.e., 127Q for a song in my Quartet and 127P for a song in my Pit orchestra? 

Would it also be useful to change the Collection to just "Alto 1" and start using the band, "Quartet" in the Custom Group? This means filtering by Collection would give me the same part in multiple bands (not useful) and I would have to further filter by Custom Group to isolate just the songs for a particular band. But the Collection name would be simpler. Or should I swap roles and use the part "Alto 1" in the Custom Group and the band name "Quartet" in the Collection? That way, every part, Alto 1, Alto 2, etc. would belong to the same Collection but belong to different Custom Groups.

Wondering what the intended use case for the above fields was and if my simple use of just Collection is the best way to do it. Was Custom Group and Collection intended for different bands or different parts or what?

[Zubersoft]

The SongID field only accepts numbers. So you'd have to use numbers, but recognize that this overrides some behavior when using .msf files or the synchronize library feature, as it will pair together any songs with matching song ID values.

Custom Group is just a general purpose group that contain a list of songs. How users use it is entirely up to them. The other groups are all the same. Collection is semi-unique in that it has the most accessible filter selection, and supports a few options the others don't yet (like being able to create a setlist from a collection). Setlists are the only fundamentally different group type as I manage their data differently in order to support having the same song multiple times in a setlist. That is why Setlist is not a supported metadata field.

As far as suggestions, hopefully other users will chime in with their thoughts, as I'm not sure I'm the best one to provide that kind of guidance.

Mike

[mdavej]

Thanks. Sounds like continuing to use Collections and Custom 1 still gives me the most flexibility. I may try to utilize Song ID in the future. For now, name matching is close enough.