StaffPad lost one of my arrangements and won't let me open my previous ones

Hey there - I'll respond to your tickets directly as you sent them, but for anyone else who may come across this issue:

On iPad, all scores are backed up and saved to your iCloud Drive in a folder labelled 'StaffPad'. That error shown says you don't have permission to save to the Documents folder, which is really that StaffPad isn't able to save to the Documents folder - all stf files on iPad must be saved in that StaffPad folder in your iCloud Drive. If you've moved the folder, or moved the files, that would cause the error to appear.
Double-check your connection to your iCloud Drive, and make sure the StaffPad folder is set up properly. Once you've done so, try restarting your iPad; it may take a few minutes for the iCloud backup to complete. Once the backup finishes, you should be able to use StaffPad again.

Hi Eric

Your answer only puzzles me more. I haven't moved anything anywhere. This issue started all by itself and out of the blue. The only thing that changed was that I bought more saving space to Apple to make sure I wouldn't lose anything (which actuallity happened), but I haven't moved any file from any folder.

By the way, once I couldn't find the last arrangement I wrote (which I could never find ever again) I tried restarting the device thinking maybe so much time working on it could have the machine overworked or something. Well, once the iPad was on again, StaffPad denied me access to all of my files, so this happened actually after de restart!
Why?
Can you please help me?
I need my work back

On your iPad, check iCloud settings to make sure you didn’t turn off Staffpad access to iCloud (an update to the iPad could possibly do this).

Hi there

Where am I supposed to find this?
I'm in the iCloud configuration but it doesn't say anything about StaffPad

You have to set it up on your iPad:
Settings- your profile(AppleID, iCloud, Media and purchases- top left corner)- iCloud- show al- Staffpad

StaffPad is enabled in the iCloud settings. I followed your steps and found it in green. You can check the picture

Open the “Files” app.
Click on “iCloud Drive”.
Scroll down to and click on “StaffPad”.
If you have Staffpad scores in iCloud they will show up here.

If you have StaffPad scores showing up, try to open one:
Long press on score.
Select Share.
In Share select StaffPad.
Your score should open in StaffPad.

@Tambor Vivo You have my sympathy. File handling is an inflexible mess on iOS (in my experience). If it weren't for the superiority of the iPad hardware, I would have chosen a Windows tablet. I have used multiple MacOS, Windows and Android devices, and I have never experienced the kinds of permissions roadblocks I face with iOS.

ssnowe said:

Open the “Files” app.
Click on “iCloud Drive”.
Scroll down to and click on “StaffPad”.
If you have Staffpad scores in iCloud they will show up here.

If you have StaffPad scores showing up, try to open one:
Long press on score.
Select Share.
In Share select StaffPad.
Your score should open in StaffPad.

Click to expand...

Hi ssnowe!

Sorry I haven't replied earlier but I had to put this situation behind and move on to keep writing the arrangements in Sibelius because Deadline is coming very soon and I have a company waiting for those charts.

The procedure you are describing is EXACTLY what I did from the very beginning, at least right after StaffPad started mafunctioning last Saturday. First the program lost my last arrangement and then, after I tried exactly what you are saying (checking on the iCloud StaffPad folder and trying opening them from there) the App wouldn't let me open any of my works, not a single one of them.

This situation lasted all weekend. My last try was Monday night, when I was actually successful to open the files this time. Why??? I have no idea, because I did EXACTLY THE SAME THING!! No changes whatsoever!!

It looks like StaffPad is having some serious problems for functioning correctly on my device. Initially it was problems with playing the instruments in the chart (I would write for 9 piece and the the Horns wouldn't sound, for example). I asked for support and then, after several days the issue was solved on its own, out of the blue. Now this happens exactly in the same manner.

Of course, at this point, I can't trust such a serious work I've been hired to do in a platform like this.
My last arrangement was definetly lost, gone with the wind entirely, so I had to start it all over again in Sibelius.

Now I'll keep working on the rest of the arrangements, but I feel deeply dissapointed with the investement I did on this. I bought my Last Gen iPad last year for this App only. At that time I was directing a Band and had to make charts everyday for my musicians so it was faster and easier this way (I was before writing them in paper with my hands, since using Sibelius would have been just too slow for the pace I had to keep up with).
I took the time to learn the program, learn how to use the pencil and to put the charts together in an iPad device. Now I feel that all this money and time is worthless since I have to go back to the good old Sibelius to finish this last work.

Relaibility is by far the most important thing when it comes to Music making. It takes a long work to put charts together.
I can only imagine how hard it is to put an App together, that's of course very serious staff. But we shouldn't forget that clients will trust with their work and intelectual property on this so it shouldn't be treated lightly

I guess we will have to wait some years more until we can safely and effectively write music with our pencil in a screen.

Thanks a lot for your help

Pseudonym said:

@Tambor Vivo You have my sympathy. File handling is an inflexible mess on iOS (in my experience). If it weren't for the superiority of the iPad hardware, I would have chosen a Windows tablet. I have used multiple MacOS, Windows and Android devices, and I have never experienced the kinds of permissions roadblocks I face with iOS.

Click to expand...

Hi Pseudonym

I have no idea who's fault is this
If StaffPad, iCloud, iOS, Apple or the Devil. In any case I just wonder why should I have to care.
At the end of the day I'm just a client that pays for a product that I'm not receiving.
And not cheap by the way!

I was told I could be safe with Apple for just being a user and caring only for my work. I'm sad to discover that's not true

In any case, thanks very much for your sympathy and support

Hey @Tambor Vivo
I understand your concern, and it's frustrating to not have things work as they should. We're looking into this currently on our end, but I did want to assure you that issues like these are usually able to be fully resolved, whether on our end or by the iCloud team. In our experience, when issues like this arise - save errors, loading issues, permissions, etc - it is typically due to a connection issue between StaffPad and iCloud.

One other thing to try -
1. Back up the StaffPad folder
2. Copy all files to a different folder temporarily
3. Clear out the StaffPad folder
4. Try importing a file into StaffPad through the app, not the Files app

One thing that may be happening if you're trying to open stf files from the StaffPad folder in Files, you'll essentially be importing a duplicate, which can cause some issues. Try it with the steps above, and let me know if you continue to have any issues.
I'll update your ticket with this information as well.

Hi @Tambor Vivo - have you tried the steps above? Any success or issues to report?
If you're still having issues, let me know, and we can take another look at things here.

Hi Eric

At this point I'm working full time in Sibelius with my computer to be able to deliver the charts I commited to deliver, I'm already way behind schedule. Once I finish I might open the iPad again to check on that, but for now my time is fully into getting the job done.