Refresh Computer Node (for external changes in the filesystem)

[voodoopunk]

But when I went to Preferences | Library | monitored folders and added

• continously monitor and also

added the parent folder: C:\Music\, it works! :-)
Thanks. :-)

Sure, my workflow might not be the same as others, since I'm very filesystem-oriented (and not at all library-oriented), but that doesn't mean that obvious (to me) annoyances should not be rectified.
In this case we're talking about the navigation under the Computer Node.
I claim that most users assume that what they see here represent what's on their harddrive, up-to-date.
I claim that only a minority of users know/understand that if they navigate in this tree, they are actually browsing cached data -- unless they have manually enabled continous monitoring and selected folders in the preferences.

Hence, making the Computer node always up-to-date should prevent annoyances from people who don't bother to investigate in depth.

Never had to do any of that for my install to work as expected. The computer node refreshes the desktop without any manual intervention and that is not a monitored folder.

As Hiccup asks, check if you're using the store version. What you're after works perfectly fine on a portable install.

[elof]

No, I'm using the Installer Edition v3.6.9202 from https://getmusicbee.com/downloads/.

[elof]

Just for the sake of it I just confirmed that F5 don't work.

How to reproduce:
I installed MB (Installer) on a new computer.
I press + to create a new tab.
I open the Computer Node and see my C:, D:, E: drives and my S: share.
I now make changes to C: and S: outside of MB.
They are not updated if I close and re-open the Computer Node, nor if I create a new tab.
I open the Computer Node again, select C: (or any other folder) and press F5.
The only thing that happens is that the Computer Node collapses.
When I expand it again it still show the old cached file structure, not the updated changes.

[phred]

Perhaps I'm still not following, but...

Go to the computer node. Click on the word "Computer" > Manage Folders. Select either "Show all folders" or "Show filtered folders only" and then select "Choose filtered folders". This will make the folders you want to see in the computer node visible. Nothing else. But they'll always appear in the computer node.

-THEN- go to Preferences  > Library > monitored folders > continuously monitor and choose all the folders you want to monitor for changes. Test a change for a file that's in a monitored folder. Wait a few seconds after you save it. It should then automatically refresh.

[elof]

Yeah, you missed the point. :-)

I've already solved my problem but the general issue still exists.
Apparently I'm the only one who's bothered to create a post about it but I would guess that there are lots of MB users out there who have clicked around in the Computer Node tree and not found what they were looking for, but after a restart it is there. That's good enough for most people. They live with this nag.

I'm saying users shouldn't have to manually configure anything in MB for their Computer Node browsing to behave normally.
By default MB should show the current structure of the harddrive and shares as-is, not a cached version of how those filesystems looked at the start of the program.
Everything else is non-intuitive.

If I create the folder C:\foobar\ or someone rename a folder on a share S:\Music\gazonk_renamed\ after MB was started, I should see these changes in Computer Node without having to do anything. No F5, no rescan, no preferences, no nothing.

If MB can't be fixed to always show the updated and correct information by default, then please make F5 work + a context-menu choice for 'Refresh/Update'.

[Zak]

You're ignoring the people - including the guy that wrote MusicBee - who have said that pressing F5 works just fine to refresh the displayed folders.
I just tried it on my second MusicBee installation on my home PC that monitors my music folder and it updated the folders without even having to do that.

If I create the folder C:\foobar\ or someone rename a folder on a share S:\Music\gazonk_renamed\ after MB was started, I should see these changes in Computer Node without having to do anything. No F5, no rescan, no preferences, no nothing.

Think about how that would work from a programming perspective.

If you create a folder in File Explorer, it isn't then going to tell MusicBee, "Hey, there's a new folder here for you to display.". Windows just doesn't work that way.
Nor is MusicBee going to look for new folders every second. It could, but that would be bad programming.

What MusicBee can do, is ask Windows to let it know when folders are updated. That's what the continuous monitoring checkbox in the Library preferences is for.
You can't choose not to use that and then complain MusicBee doesn't work the way you want it to.