Losing changes

• Mar 30, 2020 - 20:26

I keep losing changes or additions I make to a part or a score even though I think I use cmd + s fairly often. What am I missing?

Comments

• Mar 30, 2020 - 21:18

What makes it seem like the changes are lost? Are you leaving the score open, and finding your msot recent changes undone? Make sure you aren't literally using the "undo" command if so. If you mean, you close the score, then when you reopen a score, it looks like a previous version of the score oyu were working on, msot likely you simply saved it under a different name or to a different folder than the one you are trying to open, so just be sure you are finding the correct file in the correct folder to open. If that doesn't help, please provide more information on exactly at what you are doing and at what point it seems something is missing. If it involves closing a score then opening one, be sure to check the exact filename and folder name to be sure they match.

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• Mar 31, 2020 - 01:03

Most dynamic & articulation markings were gone, along with coda & segno signs. Some part notes which I had put off entering 'til I got to the actual part, not the score. Sometimes I left the score open; sometimes I closed it. I did have a duplicate score that was marked scux2099; but I never made or wanted a copy. Is it normal for MS to randomly make a copy of a score? I did open and work on that copy because I didn't see my original in the Start Center - probably didn't scroll down far enough. BTW, I do occasionally use Undo to backtrack a mistake but never enough to eliminate a good deal of my work.
My question still remains can I use cmd+s to save or should I use File > Save (not Save as, Save a Copy, etc)?

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• Mar 31, 2020 - 01:45

Cmd+S is exactly the same as save. I still say, most likely explanation is that you saved to one file/folder, but are currently looking at another, meaning the version you saved is still waiting for you. What file name and folder name did you save under, and you are you sure you loaded the same file from the same folder?

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• Mar 31, 2020 - 01:57

Your explanation is quite possible - that I started work in a different folder. My question is "How did I get a duplicate folder with this odd name (scux2099)?" I never made a duplicate or back up copy. Does the program do that on its own? And how do I now get rid of these unwanted copies?

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• Mar 31, 2020 - 21:18

So what probably happened si, there was a crash sometime, and when you next started MsueScore, it asked you if you wanted to recover your old file. Older versions of MuseScore used to give the recovered score that automatically-generated name, so if the crash occurred with an older version, that would explain it right there. Subsequent saves would be to that file, not the original, so you'd have to find and open that file, either in your autosave folder (see link above) or perhaps soemwhere else (Windows would store them somewhere completely crazy and hard to find, not sure about Mac). Current versions of MuseScore generally don't do thatl but it might still be possible to get into a situation where it happens, like maybe if there is a second crash while working on the recovered file before you ever have a chance to save it? Just guessing.

Anyhow, bottom line, if you saved it, the file is there somewhere, but knowing exactly where will require some detective work I'm afraid.

Meanwhile, I will say in the future if there is a crash and MuseScore offers to recover, I personally still recommend doing an explicit Save As immediately afterwards to make sure you have both the last saved version and the recovered version and know which is which. Not that I always do this myself, I get lazy and trust things will work out.

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• Mar 30, 2020 - 22:05

Advice for everyone - do not rely on Autosave nor on manually saving your score as you go along. Make periodic copies of your work with different file names. Most OSs make this fairly easy - find your file and Copy, Paste ([Ctrl] C V; [Cmd] D or whatever). Do this and the forum will have far less “I lost 3 weeks' work“ posts.

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