Three days ago I created two montages. I saved them and checked to make sure they were saved correctly by reopening them. I went to reopen them yesterday and WL forgot where the files were. I have not changed anything on my computer or moved any files. I had to rebuild both montages from scratch. This same type of behaviour is also apparent in that WL does not seem to remember what my preferences are for the edit screen and yesterday opened the edit screen in a very strange configuration. What am I doing wrong? I looked on the internet and asked AI for a solution and AI said this was a “known problem” with WL 13. This is not good and right now we are super busy so any suggestions on what is happening to WL and its current Dementia would be most appreciated.
It had the wrong “where to search” location and only two of the 11 files were showing. I did not change anything in between when I saved the files and when I went to reopen them. This is NOT the first time this has happened.
Thanks for the quick reply.
I guess I am confused. If I save a Montage to a particular folder then why should’t WL go back to that folder instead of saying it cannot find the files? Sorry but that does not make any sense to me.
WaveLab will always find the audio files of a given montage if you do not move the audio files.
When you say "save a Montage to a particular folder ", what do you expect? I mean, “Save As” on a montage does not move the audio files. The newly saved montage will nevetheless find the audio files. But “saving as” a Montage is somewhay only used to make a weak backup. Possible but rarely recommended.
Thanks for the reply!
I think you are misunderstanding me. I use the folder I always use for montages - I have been using that folder since WL 9.5 NEVER A PROBLEM but this time WL could not find the files that made up these two montages. It was NOT the montage it was the files that make up the montage. I don’t know how to make it any clearer. BTW I did not change the location of any of the files.
You also never answered why the edit window preference will not save…I have reported this previously and again never got an answer.
If you do backups … does the montage open correctly from the backup folder?
The montage contains the references (file paths) of the audio file it uses.
So when you say “WaveLab could not find the files”, this in practice means the file paths stored in the audio montage are not pointing to any existing file.
And when this is the case, the missing file dialog opens. See my previous picture.
This is why my original question is important. What do you see in this dialogue?
The montage opens but with some files missing.
I saw two files and all the rest were missing. I did NOT move or rename any files between my saving the montage and reopening it.
WL 13 seems to be somewhat “quirky” when it comes to certain ways of doing things and there are too many “hidden” menus that can really mess up my normal work flow.
I have been using WL for 30+ years and so far WL13 is the first one that seems to not be user friendly. I have had more problems since I installed WL13 than any other WL version.
We are extremely busy with restoration work and not having WL13 working is a BIG PROBLEM for me.
You know from my other posts that I think you are the best but WL 13 is a real problem for me.
If this happens again, make a screen snapshot of this dialog.
This will reveal where the audio montage is expected to find the missing files.
This is described on my previous feature with red arrows.
That is unusual because the montage should be looking for a file within the backup folder (assuming you back up the entire Project).
Navigate to the project folder where you saved the montage and check if it contains the files you are missing or, if the files used in the montage were somewhere else, like an external USB drive, check if that external drive still have the proper letter (E / F / G…)
Thanks for the reply. This montage and the files were saved to an internal hard drive not to a USB connected drive. I did, as you suggested, but the files were MIA. WL13 has a lot of problems that seem to come up randomly. Thanks again…
Sorry I’m trying to understand what could have happened then: may I ask you how do you create a new montage? More precisely, how do you import files?
I have had instances where a montage in a Project that I haven’t opened for a time (usually a Project transferred back from archive) will open looking for a file.
The fix is to close the montage and re-open it from the project folder. I have not had an instance so far where the re-opened montage does not open correctly with the file … missing at first instance … in place.
I put this behavior down to some Windows journal error or the like.
I go to “new” and create a montage. I then use the normal import files routine for a montage that is built into the montage as part of WL. I have been doing this for years with no problems.
Thanks for the reply…
I use version #2…and place files into the montage using the last example. I have been doing this for years. I know how WL operates having used WL from version 1.6.2 30+ years ago. I did as I normally do and saved the montage but when I went to open it only two files of the original 11 showed up. Something is amiss. I did NOTHING to the files or their location. My computer is running windows 10. I am also having problems with WL remembering the layout of the saved version of the “edit” window so maybe there is something else wrong. I have NEVER had the problem with WL forgetting where it saved files that are used in the montage. I am confused and somewhat upset as we are very busy at the present time. Again THANKS!