Hi support!
First of all thx for this great piece of software, that I'm using for our quartet rehearsals since January 2018.
I'm using it on my PC for updating and editing the whole library and for adding new songs. Right now the library contains approximately 450 Songs - still growing. For the rehearsals we use two Win 10 tablets. As the two other members of our quartet use IPads they don't have the benefits of MobileSheets right now.
So to keep the two tablets in sync with the library that is serviced on my PC, I kept using the method of restoring out of the backup file (size around 250 MBs), as this seemed to be the most reliable method. As I am editing a lot of songs for our mixed quartet (mainly adapting Barbershop songs to our mixed formation) I decided to overhaul my whole library and complete missing meta data. During this process I tried out several ways to make the syncing process more comfortable (also for the case that there will come a time when all four of us can use MS). So I tried hard to set up cloud sync to be a reliable solution. Unfortunately it turned out to be not successful (first Dropbox then Google Drive).
So what is happening? MS is now set up working great including all the meta data. This is saved in a backup file. So whatever I try, I can go back to this state. Today I tried to sync over Google Drive for the first time. I set up the connection to Google for the first time, created a new folder and started the syncing (two-way + check for updated files in cloud folders + search for new files and create songs in both libraries + use data from the song that was modified last). I wanted to have a clean start and make this the folder, that every tablet is synced to in the future. The first 'upload' took around 10 mins which is really nice.
Now I tried something. I renamed a PDF (in a subfolder) from 'Songname (Mozart) (SATB)' to 'Songname' cause I'm going to rename all PDFs to a standard format - e.g. if there are 2 Ave Maria i write the composer in brackets, so that there are never two matching filenames. I expected the following: I sync again and MS will recognize that the file name in the matching subfolder changed and will then update the path within the song. Instead it created a new song in MS with the same name 'Songname' but without meta data. Is there a way to update the filenames without having to enter all the meat data again?
When I sync the tablet (all existing songs erased before) to a cloud folder there is no meta data at all. So how can I have all tablets synced to a cloud folder INCLUDING all meta data? I suppose all data needed is within the mobilesheets.db. Is there a way to put this file into the cloud folder too, so that all clients get the complete meta data from it?
In the end I decided to keep the the 'old' process of updating the tablets via backup file for now. But during all that try out process something got messesd up with the mobilesheets.db file I guess. During the whole try out I also changed the storage location under 'Set the MobileSheets storage location' from one Dropbox folder to a new Dropbox folder. I realized that there was a mobilesheets.db in that folder before. After the whole experiment I switched back to the original Dropbox folder (empty at this time) and restored using the backup file. But there were only all the song-folders created and no mobilesheets.db. Instead it is now lying somewhere locally. But still it worked. All the songs were there including all meta data.
I did the same on my tablet restoring from a clean state. But now the restore didn't work. It wrote there's a folder that cannot be accessed. I should direct to that folder and give access or cancel. Although it asks for an accessible cloud folder it gives me errors. When I cancel it restores but without meta data.
So maybe I have messed up something at some point. I was pretty sure, that the backup file will always save my life, but now it obviously doesn't. Maybe I missunderstood some points of your concept. Could you give me an advice on what I should do now? I didn't really try the companion as I would like to be independent from my home PC. Usually we have our rehearsals at home, but what if we're somewhere else and I'm the only one with an updated library?
Maybe I'm mixing things together right now. Hopefully you can solve my confusion...
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Tom
First of all thx for this great piece of software, that I'm using for our quartet rehearsals since January 2018.
I'm using it on my PC for updating and editing the whole library and for adding new songs. Right now the library contains approximately 450 Songs - still growing. For the rehearsals we use two Win 10 tablets. As the two other members of our quartet use IPads they don't have the benefits of MobileSheets right now.
So to keep the two tablets in sync with the library that is serviced on my PC, I kept using the method of restoring out of the backup file (size around 250 MBs), as this seemed to be the most reliable method. As I am editing a lot of songs for our mixed quartet (mainly adapting Barbershop songs to our mixed formation) I decided to overhaul my whole library and complete missing meta data. During this process I tried out several ways to make the syncing process more comfortable (also for the case that there will come a time when all four of us can use MS). So I tried hard to set up cloud sync to be a reliable solution. Unfortunately it turned out to be not successful (first Dropbox then Google Drive).
So what is happening? MS is now set up working great including all the meta data. This is saved in a backup file. So whatever I try, I can go back to this state. Today I tried to sync over Google Drive for the first time. I set up the connection to Google for the first time, created a new folder and started the syncing (two-way + check for updated files in cloud folders + search for new files and create songs in both libraries + use data from the song that was modified last). I wanted to have a clean start and make this the folder, that every tablet is synced to in the future. The first 'upload' took around 10 mins which is really nice.
Now I tried something. I renamed a PDF (in a subfolder) from 'Songname (Mozart) (SATB)' to 'Songname' cause I'm going to rename all PDFs to a standard format - e.g. if there are 2 Ave Maria i write the composer in brackets, so that there are never two matching filenames. I expected the following: I sync again and MS will recognize that the file name in the matching subfolder changed and will then update the path within the song. Instead it created a new song in MS with the same name 'Songname' but without meta data. Is there a way to update the filenames without having to enter all the meat data again?
When I sync the tablet (all existing songs erased before) to a cloud folder there is no meta data at all. So how can I have all tablets synced to a cloud folder INCLUDING all meta data? I suppose all data needed is within the mobilesheets.db. Is there a way to put this file into the cloud folder too, so that all clients get the complete meta data from it?
In the end I decided to keep the the 'old' process of updating the tablets via backup file for now. But during all that try out process something got messesd up with the mobilesheets.db file I guess. During the whole try out I also changed the storage location under 'Set the MobileSheets storage location' from one Dropbox folder to a new Dropbox folder. I realized that there was a mobilesheets.db in that folder before. After the whole experiment I switched back to the original Dropbox folder (empty at this time) and restored using the backup file. But there were only all the song-folders created and no mobilesheets.db. Instead it is now lying somewhere locally. But still it worked. All the songs were there including all meta data.
I did the same on my tablet restoring from a clean state. But now the restore didn't work. It wrote there's a folder that cannot be accessed. I should direct to that folder and give access or cancel. Although it asks for an accessible cloud folder it gives me errors. When I cancel it restores but without meta data.
So maybe I have messed up something at some point. I was pretty sure, that the backup file will always save my life, but now it obviously doesn't. Maybe I missunderstood some points of your concept. Could you give me an advice on what I should do now? I didn't really try the companion as I would like to be independent from my home PC. Usually we have our rehearsals at home, but what if we're somewhere else and I'm the only one with an updated library?
Maybe I'm mixing things together right now. Hopefully you can solve my confusion...
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Tom