How to get Export Filename Auto Update to work?

Cubase
1

Does anyone know how this is meant to work please?

I have Auto Update enabled in the Export Mixdown dialog and it never updates the file name to the project name.

A typical sequence would be this:

  1. Save file (I normally use the save to new version method).
  2. Open Export dialog with Auto Update enabled. Check file name. Is it the file I’ve just saved? No. It never is sadly.
  3. So I set the export file name to the project file name, do the export and carry on.

A little while later I’ll come to the next save and export and I go through the same sequence. Despite having updated the file name and having auto update ON and still in the same session, the Export dialog never updates the file name correctly.

This is a bug that goes back to C7.5 or perhaps before (I went to C7.5 from N4 so I don’t know the exact feature history).

If anyone can tell me what the secret handshake is to get this working, I’d be grateful! It’s the frequency of occurence that is the annoying thing. These things get very annoying when they happen every time and continue over major versions and to be honest, it doesn’t seem like a major issue to fix or get working correctly…

If AutoUpdate = TRUE then Export.Filename=Project.Filename else Leave it the same

(Code pedants, yes, saying =TRUE on a test is not necessary. I would normally just write If AutoUpdate Then …)

Thanks folks!

2

You may have misunderstood this ‘Auto-Update’ function…

The Auto-Update works by appending the same filename with an increasing number (at the end of the filename), automatically, at subsequent exports of that same file. You don’t have to touch it (the filename) upon re-opening the Export dialog each time.

Further, seeing as it only works (meaningfully) on subsequent exports of that same filename, the ‘sequence’ will be lost if you do another export inbetween, using a different name.

Thus:-

If you have a number at the end in your filename already, using Auto-Update:

1st export - Test middle bit_01.wav
2nd export - Test middle bit_02.wav ← automatically adds one to the name
3rd export - Test middle bit_03.wav ← automatically adds one to the name

If you don’t already have a number at the end of your filename:

1st export - Test vox.wav
2nd export - Test vox.wav1.wav ← just its way of adding ‘one’ it seems
3rd export - Test vox.wav2.wav ← and onwards in the same fashion

However, if you now went and did an export of say - First chorus.wav (which you’d manually enter in the dialog of course); that’s fine, off it goes… BUT, if you then wanted to go back to your ‘Test middle bit’ sequence of exports, and carry on where you left off, you’d have to go browse for the last in the series, choose it and manually update the ending number, then do your exports.

In Summary:-
Auto-Update knows nothing about the content of the filename dialog box; it has no idea of what is displayed there - all it knows is, that if that dialog filename has not been touched since last export, increase the number by one at the end of the name (add it if there is none there already).

I can just tell this is not what you are after…! :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

HTH,
Bob

3

Bob - many thanks for taking the time to explain this.

OK, so my understanding was wrong - I can see that now :frowning:

But in part, that is due to the function’s name being misleading. It isn’t an auto update feature, it is an auto increment feature. It doesn’t update the filename to keep it current, it increments the last number in the filename.

I thought with the word update in the text and as I had set the export file name to the project file name using the “Set To Project Name” option, it would keep this automatically updated as I saved each new version and did an export for that version.

I don’t know how other people work but I always do a save before an export so I have the project match the export exactly if I need to go back. The ideal solution for me is to have the export filename automatically set to the project name when I open the Export dialog. Would anyone else find this useful?

4

Agreed…!

I can see the sense of what you want, but I don’t work like that I have to admit… My exports tend to have very specific names, relevant to the immediate task conducted/desired. This is beyond a more ‘global’ project name, with date (and version/edition) ‘saves’ as the day progresses.

Good luck…!
Bob

5

In the ideal world, both our methods would work.

If you use the “Set To Project Filename” option, that should remain a static choice and if you work the way you do, you can use the auto increment feature instead.

Perhaps a quick simple solution would be to make the “Set To Project Filename” feature, a state that is turned on or off rather than a one-shot function. This would work for me and I think it would work for you as you wouldn’t have it turned on.

6

Sure…! As you say, wouldn’t affect me… :slight_smile: