For most of iOS’ history, sharing files between apps has always worked one way—it sent a copy of the file to the receiving app, duplicating the data and making sure each app could only modify its own version. This straightforward way of copying content between apps is easy to understand, but it also makes editing files more difficult and uses up more of your device’s storage.
With forScore 10.4 and iOS 11 we now support in-place editing of files. That means that you can use other apps on your device to modify the files stored within forScore without duplicating them first, as long as two conditions are met: First, the other app must support in-place editing (if it doesn’t, it gets a copy of the file just like before). Second, only files stored within forScore’s Documents directory can be edited—if you share an annotated PDF, for example, forScore sends a temporary copy that isn’t saved anywhere, so any edits made won’t be reflected within forScore.
The easiest way to edit a file with another app is to share it from forScore and choose the app you want to view or modify it with. As we discussed last week, forScore now integrates with iOS 11’s Files app—this means you can also open the Files app and choose to share one of forScore’s files with another app. If you’re working with an app that uses iOS’ document browser to open files, like our Badger app does, you can even access and update forScore’s documents without leaving the app you’re working in.
Lets look at some examples:
- A PDF file’s table of contents has an entry that is misspelled and you’d like to correct it. Sharing the score from forScore as a PDF allows you to open the file in Badger, our PDF editing app, and make your edits. Because Badger also supports in-place editing, when you return to forScore your changes are immediately reflected in the Bookmarks menu’s TOC tab.
- The page number of several entries in a CSV index file are incorrect and must be updated before you can create bookmarks within that file. Sharing the file from forScore and opening it with a text editing app on your iPad allows you to make those changes and save them, so that when you return to forScore they’re ready to go.
- While browsing forScore’s documents in the Files app, you notice that the lyrics of a piece haven’t been updated properly. Tapping and holding the file and choosing “share” allows you to open the PDF file in another editing app on your device, correct the text, and save the changes. When you open forScore, the file has been updated.
If it seems like there are a lot of rules and different scenarios for working with your files, you’re right! By opening up the ability to access files between apps, Apple has introduced a decent amount of complexity that just didn’t exist before.
Fortunately, there’s a great example of a device that plenty of people use every day and behaves similarly: computers. If you’ve learned how to work with files and folders, apps and websites, then you’re already familiar with many of these concepts and after a little bit of an adjustment period you’ll be whizzing back and forth making edits without breaking a sweat.
When the iPad was first introduced it raised a lot of questions about where exactly this new device fell on the spectrum of iPhone to Mac. It had powerful multi-touch gestures on a screen big enough to make desktop-class apps possible, but it avoided some fundamental computing concepts such as the ability to view multiple apps simultaneously and, most controversially, the file system.
The iPad has a file system, of course, but iOS and its software was designed to hide that reality away from users in order to simplify the experience. Unlike on a computer, where one file can be opened and edited with multiple applications, iOS only allowed copying files between apps so that each one had its own version spread across your device. That approach remained controversial, but eventually Apple recognized the need to provide some sort of file management.
Files App
It began when Apple released the “iCloud Drive” app alongside iOS 9. That app only showed files stored in iCloud, but it was an important first step. With iOS 11, things got much more interesting: Apple replaced the iCloud Drive app with a new “Files” app that showed files stored in iCloud, certain files stored on your device, and even allowed third-party apps (like Dropbox) to offer their cloud storage services and display documents within the Files app. This provides users with a single, familiar interface for managing, sharing, and editing their files no matter where they’re stored.
Not all apps can display their documents in the Files app, however. To do so, they must support both iTunes file sharing and in-place editing. We’ve supported the former since forScore was first introduced, and with version 10.4 we added support for the latter. (In-place editing is a bigger topic, so we’ll be taking a deeper look at that next time.) That means that forScore’s Documents directory can now be accessed through the “On My iPad” location in the Files app’s sidebar. It makes working with documents easier, allowing you to do things like copy them between forScore and iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or any other third-party app that integrates with the Files app.
Services
Since version 8.1, forScore’s Services panel has allowed you to access iCloud Drive through a system-provided interface. Apple doesn’t provide an API to allow us to communicate with iCloud Drive directly, so this works differently from other services like Dropbox. First, you must choose whether you want to download or upload a file. Once you’ve done that, Apple takes it from there and displays an interface that looks a lot like the iCloud Drive app.
Although iOS 11 makes some big changes, the way you access it through forScore’s Services panel is virtually unchanged. You still choose to download or upload files, but on iOS 11 the interface that comes up looks almost identical to the Files app and gives you access to its powerful new features. It supports downloading or uploading multiple files at once, and it gives you access to any third-party apps on your device that expose their contents to the Files app.
There’s something to be said for Apple’s original approach. The length of this article is proof enough that file systems are complicated, but it’s what you can do with the system that makes it worth having. If you can’t accomplish the same things with a simpler system, or if you can’t do them quickly, then perhaps that complexity is justified.
Last week we explored forScore 10.4’s Musicnotes integration and the concept of “content providers” in addition to the existing “cloud services” that can be accessed through forScore’s Services panel. While Musicnotes is the biggest story here by far, our latest update also includes some nice enhancements for those cloud services as well.
First, we added the ability to specify a starting directory when using Dropbox or Box: open either of these services and navigate to a directory where you store your forScore files, tap the new gear icon in the toolbar, and check the “Start Here” item. Now, any time you return to that service you’ll start in that directory. There’s a grace period, however, so you can close the services panel to check something else and return within a short amount of time without losing your spot.
Next, Dropbox users can now view a thumbnail preview of their files so they can make sure they’ve got the right item before they download it. Just tap the info button to the right of any supported file type including PDFs, CSV files, and many image formats.
We also made some changes to the way forScore integrates with Apple’s own service (called Files on iOS 11, iCloud Drive on iOS 10 and earlier), but there’s more to the story there and we’ll be back next week with a detailed look at that one.
This week we released forScore 10.4 and forScore mini 3.4, bringing some exciting new and updated features for us to explore. We’re starting today with a big one: Musicnotes integration.
While forScore gives you a wide range of capabilities and is designed to be as efficient as possible, the bottom line is that your experience with forScore depends heavily on the quality of your content. The less work you have to do to accommodate crooked scans in large image-based files, the better forScore performs. Digitally-created files are best, providing high-quality representations of music with tiny file sizes. They’re much easier for iOS to display, so pages load faster and use less battery power.
That’s why we were so excited when Musicnotes, the world’s largest distributor of digital sheet music, came to us and proposed allowing forScore users to connect to their Musicnotes accounts and download their purchases as standard PDF files. That’s exactly what we did, and now forScore’s Services panel gives you access to both Cloud Services (things like Dropbox and Box) and Content Providers (Musicnotes). Just tap on the Musicnotes item in the list and sign in to see your purchase history. Tap any item to download it, or tap “edit” and select multiple pieces to download at once or to download and add to any of your setlists.
There are no extra steps, no settings to change, and no additional fees. Whether you’ve already built up a long list of purchases or you’re just starting out, Musicnotes offers hundreds of thousands of arrangements, opening up a whole new world of premium content to our users. Best of all, these are fully licensed and you don’t have to worry about the legal gray areas of copyright law.
We want everyone to have access to great content, and we’re extremely grateful to Musicnotes for taking this big step with us. If you’re looking for something new to play and want to support us and all of the people behind the music, be sure to check out Musicnotes.com.
This week we released forScore 10.4 and forScore mini 3.4, and these updates bring some important changes to our apps that we wanted to take a few minutes to underscore.
In-Place Editing
Throughout most of forScore’s history, sharing files using iOS’ “open in” function has worked one way: it duplicated your file and sent a new copy to the receiving app. Any changes that app made to the file were only reflected within that app, and the original file remained untouched in forScore.
With forScore 10.4 and forScore mini 3.4, that’s changing slightly. With these updates our apps integrate more closely with iOS 11’s Files app which has a few important implications. First, you can now view all of forScore’s documents through the Files app, and any changes you make to forScore’s documents directory within the Files app will be permanently made to forScore (just like they currently are when you use iTunes’ file sharing panel). Next, and more importantly, sharing files with other apps may now give them read/write access to those files.
We’ve put together a page that outlines how all of this works and what you can expect if you use an app that supports in-place editing, so be sure to check it out when you have a few minutes. These changes give you far more flexibility in how you work, and as long as you understand the implications of them they’re incredibly helpful and exciting.
Legacy Features
The best way for new users to learn what forScore can do is for them to add some content and then explore on their own. We encourage this because we design forScore to be as approachable as possible from the start, organizing more complex tools into a clear hierarchy so that more focused, precise capabilities open up to people only once they need them.
Our apps also serve a wide range of musicians, some of whom are new to the latest version on the most powerful hardware, and others who are still relying on their trusty iPad 2 and expect the app to work the way it always has. We know how important it is to be able to rely on a familiar workflow, so we preserve functionality whenever possible while updating for each new version of iOS and each iteration of iPad.
These two goals can sometimes be at odds, however, and new users sometimes learn to rely on these older features instead of taking advantage of their modern replacements. So with forScore 10.4 and forScore mini 3.4 we’re hiding certain features by default and discouraging their use. Things like the original TV Output mode that was designed for the iPad 1, WebDAV and FTP support in the Services panel, and the Bluetooth panel are being retired in favor of iOS-level features like AirPlay screen mirroring, the Files app, and AirDrop.
If you use one of these features, it’s important to know that they aren’t being removed yet (if at all), so if you still rely on them you can use the “Legacy Settings” section of forScore’s settings panel to re-enable them. Our goal is to make forScore more approachable for new users by removing things they generally don’t need.
Each year a new version of iOS brings new capabilities to the iPad and, by extension, apps like ours. These changes always take a little bit of time to get comfortable with (some more than others) but in the end we think they will help move our apps forward and give you the tools you need to work smarter and faster than ever before.