My musescore files changed from 3 to 4 and now they’re basically deleted
I went to go edit some music that I’ve had for a few years, and when I went to click “recently opened” like I always do to open these files. They were all gone. I checked my file under the musescore 3 portion, and they weren’t there. I checked the musescore 4 portion, and they were there but completely empty. The file size was very very small “around 45kb” and when I tried to open it in 4 it would not open. The error read “cannot open file” and that’s it. I’ve searched EVERYWHERE on my computer for a possible backup or autosave, but there is literally nothing. There isn’t really even any musescore 3 files even though I’ve never really worked in musescore 4, minus just trying it out when it first came out. How do I recover these files?
Comments
All your MU3 scores are still where you saved them. But their association has changed to MU4. Which is why "recently opened" didn't work So, download 7-Zip. A free zip tool. Use it to unzip one of the former MU3 files. The result should include a mscx (not default mscz) file that MU3 will open.
In reply to All your MU3 scores are… by bobjp
I’ve tried unzipping them. It gives me the same error “the system cannot find the file specified”
MuseScore never ever deletes your files. You must simply be looking in the wrong folder. What OS are you on, whand how are you attempting to find the files? Don't rely on any sort of recent files list - be sure to navigate to the exact folder you saved them to. Unless you deleted themselves yourself, they are right there in that same folder.
If you have a file you are having trouble opening, please attach it here so someone can take a look.
In reply to MuseScore never ever deletes… by Marc Sabatella
This along with 3 other songs are all the songs ive been working on, these are songs ive downloaded from other creators just to add my own touch to them. Whenever I try to do anything with those files, i get this message. This the only place that they exist on my computer, ive used a recovery app to search through millions of files and sub files on my computer and these are the only ones on my computer. They are empty files, and show as 0kb when you open the information about them. I was able to change it from a musescore 4 file back to 3 by changing which app they launch, but the problem still persists. I cannot even attach those files to this website because they simply do not exist anymore, even though they still show that they are "there" on my computer, even though the file is empty and carries 0kb to it.
In reply to This along with 3 other… by chiavettas478
As I said, don't look at a recent files list; who knows what your OS is doing there. Looks like those are probably links to files that have since been moved. Instead of trusting an automatically-generated recent files list, Just navigate to the actual folder you saved the file to. For instance, Documents/MuseScore3/scores is the default folder for MuseScore 3.
So, what is the actual pathname of the folder you believe you saved those files to?
In reply to As I said, don't look at a… by Marc Sabatella
What im trying to say is that the recent files list is the only place these files exist on my computer, ive looked everywhere else on my computer and they are not saved anywhere. I even looked through musescore 4 files and they are not there either, just the one file that i opened to test out musescore 4 when i first downloaded it, which is not part of the files that i currently cannot get access to. This is what i get when i open the scores portion of my files for musescore 3, and they are not there. Ive even tried every other folder that musescore 3 holds files and they are not there.
In reply to What im trying to say is… by chiavettas478
even under the mscbackup file there is nothing there
In reply to What im trying to say is… by chiavettas478
If you deleted the file, check your Recycle Bin. If you've already empties that, you will need to search your backups. MuseScore never ever under any circumstances deletes your scores so if they are not there, you must have deleted them yourself, and it ewillo be up to you to figure out if you kept any backups.
I am having exactly the same problem! Did you find a solution?
In reply to I am having exactly the same… by lyrealbert
Did you actually read the responses? MuseScore does not--indeed, cannot--delete files. The file is wherever you put it. Good luck!!!
In reply to I am having exactly the same… by lyrealbert
The original post was a simple misunderstanding, so hopefully whatever you are experiencing is similar. Please explain in more detail the problem you are perceiving, and then we can understand and assist better.
In reply to The original post was a… by Marc Sabatella
I opened, edited and saved scores in Musescore 3. Recently I went to open those scores in Musescore 3. Error message comes up saying they were saved in Musescore 4 (they weren't) and it just opens a blank. I temporarily somehow fixed it (closed everything, restarted computer, removed Musescore 4 (I had a brief look at it once and that was a hard NO) to be sure it would not try anything) and it seemed to be fixed. Just tried again now, can't open anything of my files. Opening blanks. Reinstalled Musescore 4. Opened score in 4 to copy into 3, won't paste. Just want to be able to work on my previously saved scores, not reinvent the wheel or struggle through a totally different layout. Thanks (I think the misunderstanding is "Basically deleted" - neither of us is saying actually deleted, just may as well be, since now inaccessible)
In reply to I opened, edited and saved… by lyrealbert
Post some scores that you cannot open and see if others can open them.
In reply to Post some scores that you… by underquark
Thanks underquark. I'm not sure if this will work, since the icons on the score have changed to musescore 4, but here is one score that was opened, edited and saved in musescore 3
In reply to Thanks underquark. I'm not… by lyrealbert
This file was not saved with V3 (at least the very last one) but with version 4.1.1, so it opens just fine with the latest version, 4.4.2 (and not of course with the V3)
This can be checked in menu File / Project Properties, as can the file date creation, October 16, 2023, and other aspects (OS, etc.).
In reply to This file was not saved with… by cadiz1
No, I did not choose to save it as Musescore 4. That's the whole point of my (and at least one other person's) problem. I went to open my files and find they were now all musescore 4. Musescore 4 is very different from Musescore 3. I can't even copy from the now musescore 4 file into a new Musescore 3 file. Loading the pdf from the Musescore 3 file into the conversion process only gives an error riddled file in Musescore 3. There's no option to Save As an xml. The only file that survived as Musescore 3 was one that I had downloaded as an xml. I'm now left with having to start all over again or a huge learning process just to find things and navigate. Can't even arrow left or right between menus!
In reply to No, I did not choose to save… by lyrealbert
I'm sorry to contradict you, but this file was saved (this file, at this stage) with 4.1.1. The image below is like a signature of the version that saved this file.
In addition, you are deviating to another topic of PDF conversion. There's probably some confusion (I guess?) somewhere between how to use and save your V3 vs. V4 files.
To switch to something else, and get out of your frustration, perhaps remember this basic advice for now: keep opening V3 files created with this V3, and open and work on files created with V4 (please update to 4.4.2) with this same V4.
No mixing!
And if you really want to benefit from certain V4 functionalities with a file created with V3, don't forget to do “Save As” ... name, adding the version name ie V4 to avoid any error.
You'll then have two files, one named “Name.mscz” or “Name.mscz V3” and a second “Name.mscz V4”. No more risk of error. And if you still make a mistake, the MusicXML export format will help you out.
In reply to No, I did not choose to save… by lyrealbert
Others have explained this also, but sometimes it takes hearing things in different words before the light bulb clicks on, so I'm going to try as well.
Your files did not automatically turn into MuseScore 4 files. That happens only if you open a score in MuseScore 4 and then save it. You are probably being confused by the fact that the icon that your OS shows next to the name of the file is the MuseScore 4 icon. But that doesn't mean the file has changed. It just means that MuseScore 4 has been set up as the default program to open MSCZ files. But you can still open these files with either version - at least, the files you didn't already save using MuseScore 4. You can actually change that default back to MuseScore 3 if you like. In most operating systems, you would just right-click one such file and you'll see a menu containing something like "Open with..." that opens a dialog allowing you to choose a program and also to make it the default.
MusicXML isn't in "Save as", it is in "Export". It works reasonable well but isn't perfect.
Although MuseScore 4 certainly looks very different from MsueScore 3, it actually isn't really - it's almost all the same menus, shortcuts, buttons, etc. It's mostly Just a different look and feel, and a bunch of improvements and new features for you to explore as you have time. And a very small handful of things to actually need to do differently, like how you work with parts. It actually shouldn't take you long at all to get tot the point where you are more efficient with MuseScore 4 than you ever were with MuseScore 3.
In reply to Thanks underquark. I'm not… by lyrealbert
It was saved with Musceore 4, as cadiz1 said.
The icon of the file just says that you have Mus 4 installed and if you double click on it, the file will open in Mus 4, even if the file was saved with Mus 3 and you still have Mus 3 installed.
If you open a Mus 3 file in Mus 4 and save it again, it's a Mus 4 file!
Use 3.7 Evolution to open and save your Mus 4 files back in Mus 3 format. I did it with Mus 3.7.