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Library Setup - Need Advice
#1
I recently purchased a 14" Windows tablet and am finally ready to install MS Pro. While waiting for the Windows version of MS I have started to scan my extensive piano sheet music collection.  Right now I have accumulated 1766 files within 1318 folders.  Although I have read the manual numerous times and searched through the forums I am somewhat hesitant to go forward.  I am not sure that I understand clearly the best approach and so am asking for input, advice, as well as any corrections to my thinking.

I not only have different versions of the same song from sheet music books but also have the same song by different arrangers.  To keep all of the different versions together I created a folder for each song and coded the file names in a way that will allow me to know whether a particular file has an intro and/or a verse and the name of the arranger as well as the key designation.

From the manual it appears that MS will pick up a song title and create a folder from that.  This, however, won’t work for me as each file of the same song is uniquely coded and so my questions:

Q1 - Can I simply not allow MS to create folders and import the folder which I have already created on my PC?

Q2 - I still have a long way to go with scanning my music.  Assuming that I can import an entire folder from my PC into MS what would be the best way to handle future folder additions?  Am I correct that MS will automatically modify a folder within the program to include any new additions?

Q3 - Currently I have a folder under my Documents entitled PDF Scans with the individual song subfolders beneath it.  Would MS pick up any additions if I just import the entire PDF Scan folder after I make additions or would importing each modified folder separately or as a batch be a better idea?

Q4 - Again assuming an entire folder can be imported.  How will the library handle this?  For example if I do a search for say Misty will it come up with the folder to click on or will it show the individual files that are in the Misty folder?

Q5 - I am assuming that whatever way the library handles a song a collection would do the same.  Therefore if I set up a collection of Christmas carols rather than seeing folders I would see every version I have of all of the carols.

Q6 - I know I can print out a set list.  Is there anyway - or might there be in the future - a way to do the same with a collection?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and advice.
Karen
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#2
Q1 - Yes, you can disable the creation of folders by going to Settings->Storage and unchecking "Create Subdirectory per Song". MobileSheets is still going to try to copy every imported file to the storage location though. If you don't want to have that happen, you need to set the storage lcoation either to the folder you are importing from, or a parent folder of that folder.

Q2 - There are no automatic importing features. If you add additional files to the folder you are managing (and you have made that the storage location), then my advice would be to perform a batch import of that entire directory and select "Avoid Duplicate Songs". This should only pull in the new files (or updates to existing files).

Q3 - As answered in Q2, yes, just batch import and it will pull in any new files

Q4 - Every PDF is treated as an individual song entry in MobileSheets (although you can create songs with multiple PDFs, you can only do that through the song editor). So if you search for "Misty", every song that has "Misty" in any one of its fields will show up. If you tap on an entry, it will load that particular song/file.

Q5 - Correct - there is no concept of folders in MobileSheets. Just groups that organize songs.

Q6 - You can already do this with a few clicks. To print out a collection, start by selecting that collection from the collection filter dropdown. Next, long press a song on the songs tab to start selection mode. Tap the "Select All" button at the bottom right, then tap the overflow menu at the top right and "Print".

Mike
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#3
Hi Karen, welcome to the forum and MSP.

I'm not yet very familiar with MSP on W10 yet, though I recently purchased it for my PC, but haven't set it up there yet. So this is from my Android viewpoint and Mike should intervene if it can't be done this way on W10.

As Mike said, MSP doesn't work with a folder hierarchy per se (other than creating its own separate folders if wanted). But I understand your wish to keep your own established folder hierarchy completely since I'd like it the same way for my sheets (O.T and that's why I don't like to use the otherwise terrific Calibre for organizing my ebooks BTW). Personally I think it's a bit impracticable to use single files for each song as sources and have also also almost as many folders. Mostly because it makes the csv import feature more or less useless for such a collection of single files. But of course to each its own preference.

I'd suggest you don't import your files in a way that MSP creates the (source PDF) files itself on the tablet, but you choose the option to manage your files yourself, create and choose your PDF source directory for MSP and copy the contents of your folder to that folder yourself and then use the batch import so that only the database entries are created.

In the batch import feature you choose to include subdirectories and the option that the song name is derived (not estimated) from the filename since you have coded the information you need in it.

This should create the database entries in one go with not to much trouble and work. You can keep your folders in sync easily (as I do it in my setup). Adding new ones as you scan new sheets isn't too much effort either.

The only thing is that - if you want or need it - have to add metadata (composers, collections and whatever) manually either with the companion or on the tablet which is a bit of effort to do individually.

But IMO that's the best way to go with your specifications.
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#4
There isn't an option for managing files yourself in the Windows 10 version because the OS doesn't let UWP applications access files outside of their application data directory unless the user provided direct access. That's why you have to set the storage location to the folder containing all of your files (or a parent directory of that directory), so that MobileSheets has access to the files. When a batch import occurs on files inside the storage location, MobileSheets will recognize this and will not try to move/copy them, and will instead use them from their original location. This is basically the equivalent of managing your own files in the Android version with the caveat that any new files that are imported from outside the storage location will be copied into the storage location. Having said that, if you pick an entire hard drive as the storage location, then MobileSheets will never try to copy any files and will have access to every folder on that hard drive, so this is one way of handling it.
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#5
Why not let MS import all the files into its own folder path/ location.

Storage isn't expensive anymore. Keep in mind, that you need a backup of your MobileSheets library from time to time. You should store that backup files on a different hard drive, perhaps a cloud provider. Keep more than the last version, if something goes wrong which you discover later. In my opinion it is a good idea to have more than one location where things are accessible (as a fall back solution).

I have >1300 files in my library and it is constanly growing. (We are hunters, aren't we? ;-) My library is devided by orchestra/quintett/quartett/duett/big band/exercises. They are represented outside of Mobile Sheet as Folders and inside of MobileSheets as collections. The filenames contain Title, Composer, Arranger, Orchestra, Instrument, 1st/2nd/3rd/... voice. I am importing the filename as "Title".

For new sheet music i have additional folders: new-quintett, new-bigband, new-excercises, ...
For me this approach has the advantage, that i can extend the MS-library via batch-import of new files from time to time. I do not need to import all files again and again. although it would be possible. I am using "folder name = collection". But you can use the filter as well, you do not need to "preselect" a collection (but you might want to (pre-)filter by collection your 32 versions of "Oh Tannebaum" ;-)

Greetings, Wombat
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#6
Just remember that songs in the tab group titled 'Collections' in MSP you are not able to manipulate data like in many of the other tabs. I recommend you use MSP's 'Collections' as a personal, secondary, grouping of material.
 
Example: http://www.zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/fo...p?tid=4166
Dell Latitude 13.5" 2-in-1 Ubuntu/Win 11
Samsung Note Pro SM-P900 12.2 Android 5.0.2
Samsung S7+, Android 12
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#7
This is what's working for me. I've got over 2300 songs in my MS library.
I scan each page on my printer, creating a PDF on my PC. On my PC, I edit the PDF file which entails mainly trimming the edges of white space, adding other PDF files if the song has more than one page and assigning the appropriate filename. My filename start with the song title followed by two spaces and a code for which songbook the music was scanned from followed by a dash and then the page number of the song, e.g. Wake Up to Cape Breton  P2-203.pdf, meaning the song Wake Up to Cape Breton, on page 203 in the Portland Collection Volume II.

Putting the musicbook code and page helps me because we often have the same song in two different books, sometimes arranged slightly differently so we need to make sure we pick the right arrangement. Also, the book code and page number allows me to inform my fellow band members where the songs can be found for those who are still working directly out of the books (and have to lug around heavy book bags).

Regarding organization, under a Scanned Files folder, I have subfolders Classical, Rock, Folk, Religious, etc. Inside those, I break it down further, e.g. under Folk come subfolders "Contra Dance", "Waltz", etc. Inside "Contra Dance", the next subfolders are the names of the actual books I've scanned the music from. Inside those Book folders, each song is one PDF file, regardless of how many pages there are.  When I have prepared files for an entire book, I perform a Batch import from the MS Companion software program, first assigning the appropriate genre(s), composer and Album (Book) name.  The only thing I did on the tablet side for organization was to make sure my MS Library folder (aptly named "MS_Library") was in the root directory on my 128GB microSD card, NOT on my tablet's internal storage space. MS takes care of all the folder organization on the tablet. I don't pay it any mind. I just make sure my folder organization and filenames are well-organized on my PC.

HOWEVER - You've given me a good idea, Karen. I may start including the key in the filename, since I really don't need to search by key at this point - it's just a good thing to know.

Good luck!

Walter
Chuwi 13.5" H13, Win10, 128GB  μSD
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