Turn OFF "Save Online" option

• Sep 30, 2019 - 18:27

Hello All!

I am working really hard to get Musescore on ALL of the 1:1 devices in my district - it is such a powerful tool, and have already been told by our EdTech department that it would be REALLY beneficial for students to have access.

The hang-up in our district is the Cloud-based saving options - "Save Online" (creating a Musescore Account, login with Google, login with Facebook). Is it possible to get a version of Musescore without this embedded in the File menu?

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.


Comments

I am not really understanding why you'd want actively to remove the option - seems if the machines can get online in the first place, you'd probably just want to block the site in general?

Anyhow, if for whatever reason it's truly necessary to remove the menu item, it is possible, although anything that can be removed can be added back, so bear that in mind.

1) create a new workspace with the "+" button at the bottom of the palettes window (or, for 3.3 that is coming very soon, the control will be on the main toolbar)
2) check the box to include menus in the workspace
3) close MuseScore
4) find the workspace file (if these are Windows devices, ~/AppData/Local/MuseScore/MuseScore3/workspaces
5) open it in a ZIP editor
6) edit the XML file within
7) find and delete the takes corresponding to the save online command
8) save and close the XML and ZIP files
9) restart MuseScore

A pain, and as I said, it seems not really the best solution, but this is how you can do it.

Currently, a user could get the option back simply by switching back to one of the standard workspaces. But, in 3.3, I guess it would also be possible to remove that button (the toolbars can be customized directly from within MuseScore), and the corresponding menu item. You'd also want to remove the Help / Revert to Factory Settings. Then the only way to get the save online option would be to revert with the "-F" command line option.

All depends on how hard you want to work I guess.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you for your response - this is helpful, but I'm not sure if our EdTech folks will be willing to do this...which is frustrating. To further explain the issue my district has with MuseScore, here's a direct quote from the email I received today:

"The app does not require a login to use and all music that is created can be stored on OneDrive. It looks easy to use and makes good educational sense for music creation in the classroom. From that perspective, it looks as though the app would be good for student use.

The concern comes from the cloud option that is easily accessible from the app. Users can either attempt to save or open music from the cloud. When they go to do this, they are prompted with “Log in with Facebook”, “Log in with Google”, or they can create their own account. If that starts to happen, then we go down the road where student privacy is at the mercy of the company.

We don’t feel comfortable with kids being directed to the cloud version."

In reply to by jason.brinker

That looks like a matter of setting up a decent firewall and internet filter then.
Are Internet Browsers available on those PC? If so, how is logging in to Facebook etc. prevented?
If not, I see no reason to prevent logon to musescore.com, it yes, the same method should get applied to musescore.com

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

If I understand correctly OP is working for a school district (something that doesn't really exist in Germany). So "setting up a decent firewall" might mean: setting up quite a lot of firewalls, something the TechEd departement might not be willing to maintain. Browsers on school PCs are usually configured using configuration profiles (which are deployed by means of Active Directory GPOs or an Apple MDM). Those profiles are enforced and can't be changed or removed by users. Unfortunately, MuseScore doesn't support such profiles.

Many good comments. My most recent follow up - they have still not granted access to musescore for the reason outlined in their first message to me. The Save Online option is too readily available in their opinion.

These 1:1 devices are able to be taken home by the students. Any firewalls set up could still be enforced, even on public WiFi, for example? I have been pushing for this for months and have gotten no real help from our district. It is frustrating beyond belief.

In reply to by jason.brinker

Well, even if they won't follow the steps I mentioned to set up the custom workspace, maybe you could do that for them? Still seems strange to me that they would allow a browser to be installed, which can obviously access Google or Facebook, but then object to people actually using that browser. Seems they might be somehow not understanding something, but it isn't clear what.

It may be that their only hold up is that the "Save Online" option is "too readily accessible" from the File menu. If that's the case, then they are being ridiculous.

All of our district approved software is distributed/available to download through a program called Company Portal (by Microsoft).

Would it be possible to distribute the software to students with the "Save Online" option already removed, rather than adjusting it after the fact? I know this is probably a question for them, but I'm trying to hit back with as much information as possible. Thanks again for all your assistance and information.

In reply to by jason.brinker

Hello, I'm currently facing a similar situation. I've tried using PowerShell to write an install script for Install MuseScore with blocking the inbound and outbound firewall rules but it hasn't been successful. Have you found a solution to this problem since then? or should i give up.
I use Intune to deploy the Apps in Company Portal. I want to disable the cloud saving per a poweshell script.

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