Lost mscz file
I had entered a complete piece of music from scratch and saved it. I left the musescore app open but closed my laptop lid and went away for an hour or so and when I came back the score had reverted to a previous edit and the full score nowhere to be found in my files. I had powered down the laptop since completing the work so why this has happened foxes me completely. I'm guessing the answer is 'tough you must have done something to delete it' but I thought I'd try for an expert feedback. I only have a pdf version now. Any advice welcome. Thanks.
Comments
If you saved the file, and did not delete it, then absolutely positively guaranteed it is still right there where you saved it . MuseScore never under any circumstances deletes your files. So the only question is, to what folder do you believe you saved the file? Did you use an explicit Save As and choose a folder, or did you just accept the default?
My guess is it went somewhere other than you were thinking. Like, under some circumstances after a series of crashes and recoveries, MuseScore might lose track of what folder you originally started from, and not know where to save it, and it might go somewhere else, like the "virtual store" on Windows.
In reply to If you saved the file, and… by Marc Sabatella
Well, The MuseScore preferences is set to autosave every two minutes. I usually leave my laptop (MacBook) just closed and occasionally shut down. MuseScore has been live with the file open during that time. I know I did not delete the file myself because I want it and that would have meant going into the file system to find it, which I would and did not. Wherever MuseScore saved it (did it? I have not seen the auto save function actually do that but could have missed it) so it should be there. I accept what you say though. I have done a search on the complete file system and my backup (I do that every day). No luck. Even if I had closed the file w/o saving the previous version should be there somewhere. It's weird but academic now but maybe if someone else reports a similar issue there's something in it. Thanks.
PS just remembered I do have a .pdf version so maybe there is a utility to convert back.
In reply to Well, The MuseScore… by happyhacker
MuseScore autosaves every two minute,s yes, but that doesn't touch your copy of the file. It only saves a special autosave copy used only in the event of a crash. So if MsueScore didn't crash, autosave is irrelevant. The question is, where did you save the file - what filename and folder did you specify when you pressed the Save button or otherwise told MuseScore explicitly to save the file and it asked you where you wanted to save it?
Beyond that, it still isn't at all clear what you are talking about here If you literally left MuseScore running and just closed the lip on the laptop or otherwise put it to sleep, then when it it comes back, your score is still open and still in precisely the same state it was in when you left. If you saw something that looked otherwise, first step would be understanding what happened to mislead you right off the bat. Eg, maybe you had different versions open in different tabs?
You can attempt to import the PDF, but realistically it will probably go faster to just type the music in again using it as a reference - PDF import technology for music notation is still very much in its infancy.
In reply to MuseScore autosaves every… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks. I would appear then that I did not save the file after a previous edit which was only a few bars. So my fault as I must have closed Musescore at some time. This implies I did not save it for some reason. Word processors save files as set in their preferences so I would have expected the Pref - General tab in Musescore to do that and not as you say just for a crash situation which I would have thought is not a guarantee anyway during crash scenarios. I would suggest the autosave in the preferences does what it says and any auto-crash action is not something to have settable in the General tab or even show it, it does not make sense for the user to set a time on that if I understand how you have described it. Thanks. The pdf convert failed.
In reply to Thanks. I would appear then… by happyhacker
If you try to close MuseScore without having saved, MuseScore will prompt you to save then, so you'd also have to ignored that. If so, then indeed, your work is gone, I'm afraid.
This isn't unique to MuseScore, virtually all desktop-based computer programs work the same way. The only programs that save work completely automatically/continually are mobile-based apps - because mobile OS's don't generally provide a standard file system to save to - and cloud-based apps that implement their own storage scheme. I'm not aware of any desktop-based word processor that behaves differently.