Can Musescore remember the directoy I last used?
I am finding it annoying that Musescore insists on Opening/Saving/Exporting everything from the directory C:\Users\username\Documents\MuseScore2\Scores unless you explicitly browse to another directory. I do not use this folder for my work and prefer to work in a different folder. For exporting in particular, I think it would be more logical to default to exporting to the same directory where the musical composition has been saved.
Many programs handle this by keeping track of the directory where the user last opened/saved a file and then using that as the starting point for when they next open/save a file. It would be nice if Musescore did that too.
Comments
It doesn't always use that directory - it uses the last directory you used for that purpose. So if you open a score from folder X, the next open will also default to X. And if you save to folder Y, the next save will also default to Y. So it does remember the last directory you used - but it tracks opens separately from saves, because a common use would be to open a whole bunch of files from one folder and then save them all to another. But if your saving to save folder as you opened from, that too works - after the first save.
Agreed. This is non-standard behavior and something that I've seen brought up here again and again.
In reply to Agreed. This is non-standard… by Isaac Weiss
Issue created: #268530: "Save As..." (and more) should default to current file location instead of Scores directory or other previous folder
In reply to Issue created: #268530: … by Isaac Weiss
Thanks! It would also be great if Musescore could remember the location between saves so that you're not having to redo navigating to you preferred directory each time you restart the program.
In reply to Thanks! It would also be… by blackears
Not sure what you mean here. It already remembers the last-saved directory. You are proposing it stop remembering the last-saved directory, and instead simply use the same directory the current file was opened from. Since this is based on the current file, there is nothing to remember between sessions. If you mean, we should keep remembering the last load directory, well, yes, I don't think anyone was proposing changing that. We currently remember the last load directory and would continue to do so with the proposed change. Only difference would be that we would stop remembering the last saved folder and instead would assume that you might want to save instead to the same folder the file was opened from. So, no remembering at all - it has nothing to do with what was done most recently., Just a simple "default to same folder as current file".
I was just about to add this request too. My Musescore (2.1.0) certainly does NOT remember the last used folder, or the folder where my file is saved, when I select 'Save As'. It always defaults back to the Musescore default folder. Very tedious.
In reply to I was just about to add this… by Richard Cooke
Are you sure it is not remember the last saved folder? Try the following:
1) start MuseScore
2) open any score
3) File / Save As
4) browse to some crazy folder you don't normally use
5) save the file there
6) do File / Save As again
Are you saying it doesn't open in that same crazy folder? It should. It should continue to do so even if you then close and restart MsueScore. it should also remember that folder if now open a different file and so File / Save As again.
If you are finding it isn't, that could indicate a permissions problem on your system - where you don't have proper permissions in your own home directory. Could you please try the above and report back?
In reply to Are you sure it is not… by Marc Sabatella
Apologies Marc, I tried this sequence and it works.
I was certain it wasn't though because I've been saving backup copies of a composition to a different folder all week and I kept having to change away from my default scores folder.
If I can reproduce exactly what the problem was I'll post it.
In reply to Apologies Marc, I tried this… by Richard Cooke
Interesting, you are saving backup copies to a different folder than the original? So it sounds like for you, the current behavior is actually better than the proposed change - right now, it does remember the Save As folder so all your backups continue to go to the same place. Whereas with the proposed change, unfortunately, future Save As operations would keep reverting to the original folder and you'd have to keep navigating to your backup folder.
One thing that occurs to me that could possibly help address both cases without the need for a program preference: make "Save As" and "Save A Copy" work different. I don't know about anyone else, but if I save a backup copy, I usually want to keep working on the original, not the copy, so Save A Copy is actually the better choice. And I think most people probably keep their backups in the same folder as the original - although it sounds like you are an exception there.
On the other hand, the type of use case I have been describing isn't about backups, it is about making new versions of a file with different instrumentation, different transposition, or otherwise different, and that almost always means different folder as well. And in these cases, I usually want to continue working on the new version, not the original. So Save As makes sense here.
In theory, we could make Save A Copy default to same folder as original (to facilitate backups), but make Save As default to last saved folder (to facilitate the project-oriented workflow I have been describing).