Author Topic: Where are sorting preferences stored?  (Read 493 times)

GizBee

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I've had to wipe out my hard-drive, reinstall Windows, and have created a new profile (many thanks to the Microsoft tech who has helped me with ALL of this). When I open MusicBee, it finds my music files, but all my custom sorts are gone (last name, first). I have a Carbonite backup, and if I knew where to look, I'm hoping I can find the file with my sorting preferences.

Many thanks!!

Giz

Steven

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GizBee

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Thank you! Finally found it after changing settings to show hidden files and extensions. I see that my sorts are saved, but when I open MusicBee, none of my saved sortings are used. How do I get MB to apply the ini file settings?

karbock

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In Preferences -> Sorting/Grouping -> sorting,
make sure this tickbox is checked:

[v] enable custom sort values for individual artists, composers and albums

Only then will MB apply the custom sorts you can access to with buttons [Artists...] and [Albums...].

GizBee

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So far, so good. But, I don't see options for composers or artists.

karbock

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The list that opens with button [Artists...] applies to Artists, Album Artists and Composers.
One list to rule them all. :)

GizBee

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Artists, Album Artists, and Albums are all sorting properly. But not composers! Any other suggestions? And how can I make sure composers sorting is included in future backups?

karbock

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My own custom sort list includes composers along with artists and album artists, and I can assure you that all the rows are kept and applied. I don't see any reason for some composers (and only composers) to vanish from your list.

When you did a fresh computer installation, was it because you had found some corrupted sectors/files/settings? Anyway, you used a backup of your MusicBee files, among other things. As a matter of fact, no data storage is 100% failure-free. It might happen that, inside the backup version of MusicBee3Settings.ini, the character string containing all your custom sort orders is corrupted, and it does not mean it's MB's fault.

I propose you send me a copy of MusicBee3Settings.ini and MusicBee3Settings.bak (the ones you used to restore MusicBee), and I'll check the consistency of the custom sort order string. If the string seems ok, what is lost is lost, but you can use the LibreOffice spreadsheet to gain time when rebuilding the custom sort order for the missing entries.

Previous thread:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=38353
Last Edit: January 14, 2023, 02:37:27 PM by karbock

GizBee

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Not sure how to send you copies of those files, but the current .ini file reflects my most recent updates. The previous .ini is missing data. The Microsoft tech said my system had corruption, possibly due to Malwarebytes or iObit Advance not cooperating with Windows. I also had Open Office, which may not have played well with MS Office. Anyway, my system is now straight. Now to research the MusicBee backup. Thanks for your help!