Cannot find where my recent MuseScore3 files are saved
I work on multiple scores pretty much all the time; I have autosave enabled and I save manually out of paranoia frequently as well, occasionally quit out of the applictation but always save all files first. I wanted to back up my files today but I can't find recent musescore files ANYWHERE on my computer! I have manually looked through files and the folder that they claim to save in and I only have files from September and earlier. I tried resaving, save-as-ing (so I could see where they are going), searching for specific file names, searching for all mscz files. I can only find instances where I have saved the files as pdfs, never the musescore files themselves, or as I said, only files from before September. I can't think of anything I might have altered around that time. And I have never experienced this with other applications; the files clearly exist SOMEwhere (because I can access them through MuseScore3's file>open recent dropdown), but can't find them ANYwhere on my computer. It is perplexing. I tried revealing hidden files and a couple popped up in the musescore folders but they were not any of my recent files. To be clear, I can't even find files that I have open in musescore right now- except in the musescore application. I have included screenshots to demonstrate the issue. Any help would be very, very appreciated!! These projects are very important to me. Thank you!
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Comments
Have a look in Edit >Preferences >General >Folders >Scores for the pathway to where MuseScore saves files.
In reply to Have a look in Edit … by underquark
Thank you for the reply and suggestion!! I looked up the file path. It is: /Users/stefanieschore/Documents/MuseScore3/Scores, which actually, super annoyingly was not where I was looking. I don't know why my mac has a documents folder outside of my stefanieschore user folder and one in it when I am the only user and am logged in as that user. However, regardless, following THAT path, I STILL could not find any of the files I'd saved recently. I could only find one file that was a completely new file, but none of the older created, but recently saved files or any of the recent new save-as files. Screen shot attached. What is happening?
One of your screenshots shows an inordinate number of recent files beginning with "sc".
![sc_files.png]( "sc_files.png")
These are auto-saved backup files which you may have been using (and saving).
See:
https://musescore.org/en/node/52116#2.-Autosaved-version
for the location on Mac OS.
Look through those to see if any of those recent "sc" files are what you want. If so, re-name and save to your regular score folder.
In reply to One of your screenshots… by Jm6stringer
Thank you for the suggestion!! Yes, there are a lot of those. My computer did crash some weeks back and I went through all of those and either resaved them under other names or tried to close out of them, but they're still appearing in my 'recents' dropdown. I will try to get to them and delete them because I don't need them anymore. I cannot find the other saved files, however. The one and only new-ish file I can find on my computer is the Holiday_Medley. But I can't find the most recently saved version of that either (just made some changes to it and saved; the file I can find on my computer says it was last touched 2 days ago). I tried saving a pdf of it. I can't find that anywhere either; it also did not ask me if I wanted to replace the previous pdf under that name when I tried to save it (the previous pdf having been made only a couple days ago). I tried saving under a different name. Can't find that either. I am looking under the exact file path indicated in the preferences. I tried navigating through Terminal (on a new macboook air) to make SURE I am following the exact file path. The files are not there.
In reply to Thank you for the suggestion… by Stefni
Earlier you wrote:
the files clearly exist SOMEwhere (because I can access them through MuseScore3's file>open recent dropdown)
O.K., so with one of those files open in MuseScore, go to menu item: File > Score Properties... and look at the File Path shown at the top of the dialog. That's where your score should reside.
In reply to Earlier you wrote: the files… by Jm6stringer
Sorry I had tried another way of finding the file path. Trying this! Thank you!
In reply to Thank you, but as I said, I… by Stefni
Thank you SO much!!! I didn't realize that was shown in score properties!! My files were being saved in all different places, but the ones I really couldn't find or search were in a hidden Library folder, (had to reveal with command shift .) that then contained Application Support/Musescore/Musescore 3. I really appreciate the tip! This was such a mystery to me, especially since they would not appear from a search of all files. I will continue to try to figure out how they are ending up here in the first place but my guess is it is because some of them were recovered at some point and maybe that's where these land. Doesn't explain the more recently saved and never recovered that I found there, or the pdfs though. At least I can find them!!
In reply to Thank you SO much!!! I didn… by Stefni
The hidden folder files are almost certainly autosave files that were recovered after a crash. normally if you choose to restore scores after a crash, then any saves to the recovered files go back to the original file in the original location and all is well. If, however, there is a second crash before you ever get around to saving the recovered file, now the signals can get crossed, and if you recover the recovered file, the link to where the original locations was can get lost.
For this reason, I always recommend immediately re-saving files if you choose to recover after a crash. Make some change to mark the score modified, then save. Use Score Properties to verify the location.
Even better, though, I recommend saving so often that you don't even feel the need to mess with recovered files after a crash. Just open the original files from the original location - don't just trust the "recent files" list to give you the correct version either. That's even safer.
In reply to The hidden folder files are… by Marc Sabatella
This makes sense. I think that happened when my last laptop totally died in september- it crashed a couple times before I could back everything up and properly save. It seems some signals are crossed now, but as long as I can find the files somewhere and get them backed-up, then I can work on troubleshooting and improving my workflow from here with your suggestions. Thanks for the information and for taking the time!
To be clear: saving is absolutely completely 100% necessary, not something you do only out of paranoia. The autosave facility is not a replacement for saving your file; it's insurance against crashes, nothing more. Autosave never even touches your file, it only saves a special hidden copy of your score that is used to recover after a crash and nothing else, and that copy is deleted if there is no crash. So again, always always always save your work regularly, pretend autosave isn't even there because it is not normally relevant.
If it helps, think of saving as being like the brakes on your car, autosave as being like airbags. Airbags are not a substitute for brakes - they are just there to save you in the event of a crash :-)
In reply to To be clear: saving is… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc, thank you for that clarification!! That is absolutely good to know and I had not realized that. I'm glad I was at least making some effort to save lol (and I always saved of course when quitting out of the app).
Unfortunately, my original problem persists and has, if anything, gotten worse. I cannot find the most recently saved version of a score I created three days ago and modified today, only the original from 3 days ago, and I cannot find any pdfs of the score that I have since saved. You can read more details of my problem in my reply above to Jm6stringer. Truly I am baffled. I don't have a phenomenal understanding of all things computers, but certainly not a bad one either as I am a software dev!
In reply to Hi Marc, thank you for that… by Stefni
... My only workaround is to do file>print>pdf> open in preview. And then to save the pdf from preview. This works for saving pdfs, but doesn't help me with recovering mscz files.
In reply to ... My only workaround is to… by Stefni
I'm confused. What program are you doing File / Print from? MuseScore? If so, doesn't that mean you have the score open?
In reply to I'm confused. What program… by Marc Sabatella
Yes, but I didn't know how to discover the file path from the file in Musescore (I looked at where it was 'supposed' to be saved in preferences, but not at the score properties). I could get to the scores themselves because they appeared in open>recent. I just couldn't figure where they were saved, outside of musescore. And for whatever reason, even save-as-ing to a specific folder didn't work either so I was out of ideas, other than to get them opened in a different application (preview)
In reply to Yes, but I didn't know how… by Stefni
So, I'm still confused - are you saying that now that you are looking at score properties, you have found the files? If not, still, nothing to worry about, just do Save As. Not sure what you mean that it "didn't work" - it does what it says it does. saves a copy of your file to a new name / folder. Choose the name / folder and you want, hit the button, and now you have a new copy. There is no way that can fail. But also, the default name & folder it will offer is normally the current name / folder (except in some of those special crash-recovery situations), so often you don't even need to do the actual save as, just open the dialog and see what folder is being suggested. But in the case of those special crash-recovery situations, indeed, the default being offered might not be correct, so simply choose your own destination. Then be sure touse that newly-saved copy, since you know exactly where it lives, rather than just relying on the recent files list.