delete

• Mar 30, 2023 - 13:57

Hi so ive been working on a peice and the app crashed and all my work was deleted and i was wondering if i could get it back

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• Mar 30, 2023 - 15:16

Hello! If MuseScore crashed then it should offer to recover the file for you the next time you launch the program.

If MuseScore doesn't offer to recover the file, look for an autosave copy in this location:

  • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\MuseScore\MuseScore4\
    • E.g. C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\MuseScore\MuseScore4\
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/MuseScore/MuseScore4/
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/MuseScore/MuseScore4/

You may need to change a setting in your file manager to show hidden files before you can navigate to the above location. (Search for "How to view hidden files on Windows" or whatever OS you are using.) Alternatively, simply copy one of the file paths above and paste it into the address bar of your file manager to go straight there.

If you can't find an autosave copy, look for a hidden folder called .mscbackup in the same directory as the score was last saved (e.g. look in ~/Documents/MuseScore4/Scores if that's where you saved it). The hidden folder should contain a backup copy of the score as it was prior to the last time you saved it, but this method relies on you having:

  1. Saved the score in a previous session.
  2. Closed it, reopened it, and saved it again at least once before the crash.

The .mscbackup folder is hidden so you won't see it unless your file manager is configured to show hidden files.

See also:

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• Apr 10, 2023 - 16:30

For Linux, shouldn't that be
~/.local/share/MuseScore/MuseScore4
(it is on Ubuntu for sure)

Is the location of the autosave file always in those directories?
When is an autosave file deleted?
Could it be there is no autosave file created if the file was never saved before? (edit: a file new_project.mscz is created. That file is deleted when the project is saved. But i cannot see an .autosave file)

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• Apr 10, 2023 - 21:07

Only if you literally never ever saved the file even once during the entire time you worked on it would the autosave be in one of those hidden locations. Normally, it's in the same folder you saved to, with the same name you save it as but with ".autosave" appended. Othewise - in the never-ever-saved case - it's that new_project.mscz file.

Either way, the autosave is deleted on successful close of the score, since it is intended only for crash recovery. In the case of files that were literally saved, the autosave isn't deleted, but it is potentially overwritten by the autosave for the next never-saved file.

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• Apr 10, 2023 - 21:32

Sorry to hear that! Probably you had another unsaved score open, and that overwrote the previous autosave.

To be completely clear: never ever expect autosave to take the place of a real save. Like almost all computer programs, MuseScore expects you to save scores to actual files on your computer. The autosave is for disaster recovery only, and even then, it's expected you'd have saved the score normally at some point.

Always save any work you don't want to lose. I recommend saving immediately open starting a new project to make sure the name fo the file and folder location is established. And then save again any time you've done more than a couple of minutes of work.

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