Missing audio files dialogue at edl launch

[AlanH]

Hi Folks,

This has always confused me - perhaps someone can shed a little light on it...

I frequently copy an existing EDL and all its source soundfiles from one drive or PC to another, for ease of editing.

I can understand that the explicit paths and names of the source files are most likely bound into the EDL, so based on the information in the original EDL - unless the exact same drive letter and path is used on the new PC - SAW is bound to say it can't find the files when it starts up from the new location. So far so logical.

But why, when I click the straight "OK" option from the warning dialogue - expecting SAW to look for those files in the new EDL folder - does it always fail to find the soundfiles, even though those files are right there?

I always have to use the Shift-OK option, and of course by the time I realise this, I've missed the first file, so I have to do Ctrl-OK, abandon the EDL and start again.

I think I've read the appropriate manual pages, but maybe I'm missing something.

Just a thought: am I wrong to interpret "In the EDL folder" as "In the folder in which the EDL currently resides", and should I instead take it to mean "In the folder explicitly specified within the contents of the EDL"? But then, if that latter interpretation is correct, isn't the plain "OK" option on the missing files dialogue box a bit redundant?

Suggestions welcomed!

Cheers,

[UpTilDawn]

Clicking OK is just saying that you understand that the file is not where SAW expected it to be...... CTRL/OK being that you don't care that SAW can't locate ANY of the files for the session.

Maybe Bob made Shift/OK be the default for searching/browsing for the new file location based on how he usually uses modifier keys within the program operations, just to be consistent.... I don't know that for sure.....

I could see where a person might hope, or expect that simply clicking OK might open up the browse dialog to search and relocate the session orientation, instead of using the Shift modifier for that.

You could always write to Bob and ask him what his thought process is on this.....

By the way, I don't think clicking OK is redundant, based on your second assumption (which is the correct one when SAW can't find the files), because it's an easy way to just tell SAW, "I don't care about the file you can't locate"..... even though it's right there in the folder with the edl.

[Bob L]

When you move an edl and its files to a different drive/path, and you get the first complaint... if all that is changed is the drive letter and the path is the same, SAW should relocate all the files without trouble.

But... if the path itself has a different architecture... for instance... the original path is D:\Audio\Group\xxx.edl and the new path is E:\Group\xxx.edl, the path structure is different and you will need to use the Shift-OK option to point to the new correct path first.

The original intenet behind the dialog design is that you would most likely be changing everything over to a different drive... but keeping the path structure intact.

Bob L

[Ian Alexander]

I have to agree with Alan. I have taken this message literally on several occasions:

Click OK To Automatically Re-Path To The EDL Drive.

To me, the message means that if I click OK, SS will change the path info in the EDL to point to the current location of the EDL and all will be sunshine and unicorns. Then I remember it doesn't. And I've never understood what it does mean, other than "Yeah, I know the files have moved."

Alan, you don't have to bail out and start over when this happens. Click View in the top menu, then File. That window gives you very powerful options to change the paths and filenames stored in an EDL. But think twice. It also gives you the option to change the paths and the filenames OF THE ACTUAL FILES. You may, on occasion want to do that, but I rarely do.

HTH.

[Ian Alexander]

When you move an edl and its files to a different drive/path, and you get the first complaint... if all that is changed is the drive letter and the path is the same, SAW should relocate all the files without trouble.

But... if the path itself has a different architecture... for instance... the original path is D:\Audio\Group\xxx.edl and the new path is E:\Group\xxx.edl, the path structure is different and you will need to use the Shift-OK option to point to the new correct path first.

The original intenet behind the dialog design is that you would most likely be changing everything over to a different drive... but keeping the path structure intact.

Bob L

Ah, now I get it. I failed to consider the difference between drive and path. Fair enough. I suppose adding path info to that function would be more complex.

[UpTilDawn]

Ah, now I get it. I failed to consider the difference between drive and path. Fair enough. I suppose adding path info to that function would be more complex.

Oh yeah! I understand that a lot better now, also!
I guess it's a rare thing for me to only have the drive letter being changed and so I've never really found clicking just OK to be helpful... except in those instances where I don't expect to need the file in question (as in one I've deleted from the MT, but not removed from the File register) and don't care if it's not accounted for.

I nearly always use Shift/OK to browse for the new location (which is always the folder in which the edl is already located)..... and in that sense, I sometimes wish SAW could simply understand to use the files in the edl folder without my having to redirect it.

[AlanH]

Sorry - have been away and not following the responses.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

I can understand Bob's 'same path' policy, and I'm sure it would work if I were totally rigorous about that across drives and sessions, but I seldom am! And sometimes it's necessary to restructure a path to make it more logical in its new context - am I the only one to have rashly chosen path names during a recording session that I later regret during editing and archiving!

Ian - thanks for the pointer to the File menu, but as you point out, it's very powerful and generally needs too much input from the little grey cells when I'm in a hurry, which is why I end up doing a quick flurry of clicks and re-starting the process!

At least I now understand rationale behind the function, and am prepared for the effects.

Cheers,