File management on iPad

Dorico
1

Hello,
I am running into problems quite regularly, when working with Dorico’s iPad version, probably because how the filing system works.

  1. ipadOS has the autosave function.
  2. Dorico gives me the option to either save locally (to the Dorico folder on the iPad) or onto iCloud Drive (to another Dorico folder, located and synched to iCloud).
  3. Dorico can “open in place”, meaning it can open from another location on iCloud Drive and do the autosave to that location.

I have set the Preferences to Save to iCloud Drive:

IMG_0167
IMG_01672047×980 144 KB

Still I like to not use the iCloud Dorico folder, instead a specific location.
My folder location is iCloud>Music>Composer>Project.

Inside the Project folder I might have a .pdf file, which I will open in PlayScore2 and export to a musicXML file, which I save to the same project location.
This .xml file I will import into iPad-Dorico and do some edits.
I suppose, at this time Dorico auto saves a project file into iCloud>Dorico as set in my Preferences.
This means, if Dorico crashes during the edit, I would have to look into that folder to recover my work.
Still I want to save the Dorico project to my original folder iCloud>Music>Composer>Project.
That is why, after some work, I do a “Save as Dorico Project” to save and specify that very location.
If I now keep working on the project, it often hangs and I have to force quit Dorico. I wonder, if the project is still auto saving to the other location, which causes confusion.
To avoid these situations I now - after having saved/exported the project - close the open project and reopen the just exported project from it’s new dedicated location. So to make sure Dorico auto saves to the new location.
Is this right thinking from my side?
I ask, because I still get hangs and are unable to continue work, sometimes loosing time that way…
I might be doing something wrong fundamentally.
Any tipps appreciated.

ps., this is one of the error messages:

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Dorico Diagnostics.zip (207.9 KB)

2

When you do Share > Dorico Project, you’re not doing a “Save As” operation like you are in the desktop version – you’re just making a copy to that new location. The project you’re continuing to edit in the iPad version is still in its original location.

What I recommend you do is close the resulting Dorico project after you’ve imported the MusicXML file. Then outside of Dorico, using the Files app, move it to the desired location, and then finally using the Files app, reopen it in Dorico from its new location. As you continue to work on the file, it should then be saved only in the new location.

1 Like
3

Thank you Daniel, this makes total sense, and I will happily adapt my procedure.