[dallaskruse]

I'm trying to figure this out.

Today I had to go through all my PDFs on my tablet and enter Key and Tempo information. Took a long time but I got it done.

I am constantly updating songs (arrangements, layout, parts, etc) and importing them via Dropbox.

Duplicate files are always created.

No matter if I select "Create New Song From Existing File" or "Ignore Duplicate Files" ... a duplicate song will be created.

Here's my Storage Settings:
Let Mobilesheets manage my files - ON
Expose Database File - OFF
Delete Original After Copy - OFF
Create Subdirectories for Songs - ON
Copy Audio Files - OFF
Add Unique Id to Filenames - ON

I'm wondering if this is because the SONG A on the tablet has Tempo and Key metadata and the PDF being imported does not? Although even before I added Key and Tempo metadata to all the songs it was happening.

1. How do I import files and have them simply "replace" the old version
2. Is there a way to import Song A and have the old Song A's key and tempo metadata simply copy over to the new imported version?

I'm on MSP Version 2.1.7 using Android.

Appreciate any help

[dallaskruse]

After doing some digging, I may have found something.

I long pressed on a song, say "Stand By Me". I then selected the "Files" tab and noticed the song name was "Stand By Me_5". My original PDF is simply named "Stand By Me.pdf".

Does this mean that there's been an extension of "_5" added to my original import?

It took me about 4 hours to add Tempo and Keys to all my files and I'm hoping I don't have to do it all over again.

I'd like to have it set to where if I import an updated version of "Stand By Me.pdf", I can simply update the existing file in MSP and have the Tempo and Key metadata stay attached to the file.

Is there ANYWAY to not have to completely erase my Library and start over?  How can I take OFF the added "_5" extensions to my files on my tablet?

[Zubersoft]

If you enable "Add Unique Id to Filenames", it modifies the filenames to ensure you never have file conflicts. Unfortunately, that also means that MobileSheetsPro won't correctly detect when you are attempting to import a file to update an existing song. The only way to update your song at that point is to long press the song, tap the overflow menu at the top right and then select "Swap File". You can then swap in the file without the unique identifier in it. I have been considering lately completely removing the "Add Unique Id to Filenames" option, as I don't think it's necessary any longer, and was only left in place to ensure compatibility with the original MobileSheets. At this point, it just causes headaches for users who don't realize the implications of enabling that setting, and provides little benefit as MobileSheets asks for files to be renamed when conflicts occur anyways.

So you don't have to erase your library, but you will have to use the "Swap File" feature to update your songs instead of being able to just reimport those files.

Mike

[dallaskruse]

Thanks Mike


I went through my entire library and did the Swap File for each one individually. Took some time but I got it done.

I also turned off the "add unique Id" feature so this won't happen again.

[dallaskruse]

I'm updating my Insignia tablet that is running Android 6 for my singer to use lyrics sheets.

I have tried just about everything I can think of ... clearing library, deleting the entire app, deleting cache and storage, making sure "add unique Id" is turned off...

no matter WHAT I do, songs are being added twice (duplicated).

I cleared my library and tested with just one file...a song called "10,000 Emerald Pools.pdf". I imported. No problem.

I set the key to F# and tempo to 71. I ran a test and went to dropbox an imported the same song. When the import dialogue came up, I selected "create new song from existing file" thinking it would bring in the new pdf and add the metadata tags to it and simply replace the old pdf.

It added the song "10,000 Emerald Pools.pdf" as another song.

I checked the both songs in the EDIT SONG mode ... the "Files" are named identical so I'm not sure how this is happening. 

[Geoff Bacon]

You need to use SwapFile

I usually find that MSP (and/or companion) doesn't always  correctly detect that the file is a duplicate (even when you do the same physical file twice; very confusing).

Geoff

[Zubersoft]

If you import a file once, then import the identical file again, you need to make sure you have the identical file behavior set to "Ignore duplicate files" so that you don't get a new duplicate song in the library. If you import a new version of a file, you don't want to select "Create new song from existing file" as that would create a new song (as it states) using the file already on the tablet. You want to pick the option to "Update Existing Song using New File" or use the swap file feature as suggested by Geoff. 

The whole concept behind how songs and files are managed in MobileSheetsPro seems to confuse a lot of people, so I'm going to be making some changes at some point to address this. It seems that supporting a model where the user can import the same PDF multiple times to create separate songs is at the heart of it. There are instances where users may want to do this, but I think I need to take it out of the normal import process, because it's too confusing for people in general. For people that want to do this, they will have to copy the song, use the snippet feature, or use CSV/PDF bookmarks. If I instead just assume most users want to update an existing song when they import a file whose name matches an existing file name in the library, this will probably help. I also probably need to expand the code that looks for matching files. If an exact match isn't found using path, but there is a file with the same name, I probably need to ask the user if that is what they are actually trying to update (in case the user has changed the storage settings or if they have the same file in multiple different directories). As part of all this, I will remove the duplicate file behavior setting and always ignore duplicate files.

Mike