[LD Jackson]

I just purchased Mobilesheets Pro, using it during our morning worship service. During the rehearsal, I needed to make an edit on one of the songs. I used Songbook to make the edit, synced it to Dropbox, then imported the song into Mobilesheets. During the dialog that came up in the import process, it warned me that the song already existed and asked me if I wanted to overwrite the original version. I chose that option and thought all was well, until I looked at the library and discovered there were now two versions of the same song. I have been playing around with the app this afternoon, making a few edits similar to the first one and the same thing has happened several times.

Am I not understanding the options correctly? I thought overwriting the original file would replace the file, not add a new one.

[BRX]

Imports don't delete or overwrite existing songs in the database. If you import a file with the same name it will replace the file but not the songs referred to it. For your scenario it would be the best to simply copy your changed file over the old one with a filemanager or you use the swap file function from within MSP.

[LD Jackson]

Imports don't delete or overwrite existing songs in the database. If you import a file with the same name it will replace the file but not the songs referred to it. For your scenario it would be the best to simply copy your changed file over the old one with a filemanager or you use the swap file function from within MSP.

Even though the import dialog clearly asks if I want to overwrite the song?

[Zubersoft]

It's not asking if you want to overwrite the song, it's asking if you want to overwrite one of the files in use by another song. If you just want to replace an existing file in a song, the swap file feature is the correct way to do that, as it lets the application determine if there are any important changes that have occurred between each version of the file. Long press the song, tap the three dots at the top right and select "Swap File" from the dropdown to initiate the swap. You can also just use a file manager to replace the file, as the app will scan for changes when it realizes the timestamp on the file has changed.

I could consider adding an option in the future to allow people to update existing songs when using the import feature if a conflict is encountered. If multiple songs use the same file though, this would effectively update all of the songs at once. I'd like to hear from people if this would be more intuitive and useful than the current behavior.

Mike

[Skip]

I don't know where I fit in on this. I have several pdf's with slightly different names in one folder. The folder has a more or less generic name for the contents, eg., Folder = Amazing Grace, contents = amazing grace j smith, amazing grace, amazing gracejc, amazing grace4, 001amazing grace. I would not want to replace all of the pdf's in that folder with an 'overwrite' of just one of them. My main library lists 9 different ver/arrangers, with some being identical names, in several different folders. They were all imported with different names and then given the name as shown in the pdf contents in the edit process. I have no idea how they ended up in the same folder.

[LD Jackson]

It's not asking if you want to overwrite the song, it's asking if you want to overwrite one of the files in use by another song.  If you just want to replace an existing file in a song, the swap file feature is the correct way to do that, as it lets the application determine if there are any important changes that have occurred between each version of the file. Long press the song, tap the three dots at the top right and select "Swap File" from the dropdown to initiate the swap.  You can also just use a file manager to replace the file, as the app will scan for changes when it realizes the timestamp on the file has changed.

I could consider adding an option in the future to allow people to update existing songs when using the import feature if a conflict is encountered.  If multiple songs use the same file though, this would effectively update all of the songs at once.  I'd like to hear from people if this would be more intuitive and useful than the current behavior.  

Mike

Thanks for the information. I understand better what the app is doing.

What text editor would you suggest if I wanted to just navigate to the storage and edit the file there

[LD Jackson]

Actually, I think I have a good solution to my editing problem. I have all of my songs in Songbook and it has a perfectly capable editor built into the app. I can easily edit the file and then use the Swap File feature to accomplish what I need. I can also add new songs using the same editor and then import them into Mobilesheets . It works like a charm.

[Zubersoft]

That sounds like it should work fairly well. Adding an editor into MobileSheetsPro for text/chord pro files is high on my list of things to do, so hopefully you wont have to jump between apps for too long.

Mike

[LD Jackson]

That sounds like it should work fairly well.  Adding an editor into MobileSheetsPro for text/chord pro files is high on my list of things to do, so hopefully you wont have to jump between apps for too long.

Mike

I don't mind it, actually. This allows me to have my songs in two separate apps and storage areas on my tablet. I will always have a backup because Songbook is synced to Dropbox.

Thanks again for the app.

[JJones4234]

My question is basically the same as others in this thread.  All of my charts are individual PDF files on my desktop computer.  My FileName convention is "SongName - ArtistName" and sometimes I add ",key=Bb" for example to the end of the filename.  When I import, I move these files to Dropbox and then do the standard import routine and use "Use Filename As Title" for the naming option.  I HAVE been going into each file and setting metadata such as artist, key, etc, but I'm finding that level of maintenance to be too time consuming which is why I include those important elements in the FileName and thus Title.

So, after time passes, I find that I need to make changes to the chart and I want this "latest version" to replace the version on Mobilsheets.  Just like everyone else, I've been expecting that I should be able to import the "updated file" and choose the proper options to "overwrite", but I'm experiencing the exact same results as everyone else.  I end up having to manually delete the original song, which means I loose any metadata I've added, AND I loose the setlist history too.  I THEN have to go into the 2nd copy of the song and set the Metadata again, but I've lost the Set List history.  I usually do these updates in "batches" of up to 20 songs at a time.  I've read the comment about using a "file swap" option, or something like that, but that sounds like an individual operation and may not be able to be performed with a batch of songs.

Please advise a more automated way to accomplish applying updates to an existing chart without loosing everything related to the original.  Thanks - Jamie Jones

[Zubersoft]

I've fixed a number of bugs in the last couple days related to the "Update songs if matching files are found", so if you've been using that setting, it might explain some of the issues you've been seeing (in general, that is a setting you will want to use with your workflow). I also messed up the duplicate file detection in the last update, so it will treat duplicate files as a conflict now instead of ignoring them correctly (or taking whatever action is appropriate for a duplicate file based upon selections). The best thing to do will probably be to have you update to v1.8.9 after it's released, re-test to see if you still experience any problems, and if you do, I'll work with you to ensure they get fixed.

Thanks,
Mike