You can import data from the names of your digital music files and folders on your hard drive! This feature works closely with Power CD+G Burner or any other program capable of transferring digital music from CD to your hard drive.
This feature is the preferred way to import song book data onto your hard drive but is only a viable option if you (A) have all (or most) of the songs you want in your song book on your hard drive, (B) the song files on your hard drive are named fairly consistently and (C) have all the songs you wish to import organized into a separate folder on your hard drive for each disc in your collection.
Import Instructions
| 1. | On the Import tab (on the ribbon), click the From Files and Folders button. |
| 2. | You will now see the following dialog: |
| 3. | Type the name of the "root" folder from which to begin the file search in the Root Folder for Folder and File Name Import text box. (Or click the Browse button and navigate to the desired folder) |
| 4. | Check Search root folder and ALL subfolders? unless you wish to limit the search to only the root folder selected above. |
| 5. | Ensure the Import Song File Name Template matches the naming convention of the song files you are importing. If not, click the Modify button to determine the correct file name template to ensure it matches your song file names. |
| 6. | Select the File Types to Include in the Search - Simply check the box next to the file types you wish to include in the search. |
| .1. | Karaoke - Check to process file types associated with karaoke (zip, cdg, bin, mcg, etc) |
| .2. | Music - Check to process file types associated with music (mp3, wav, etc) |
| .3. | Video - Check to process file types associated with video (mpeg, avi, etc) |
| .4. | Other - Check to process other file types as configured with the Configure button. |
| .5. | Configure button - When clicked, shows a dialog where you can customize what file extensions are associated with the above four categories. You can also add or delete file types from the list. Using this feature, you can import literally any type of file with this software though it is primarily intended for karaoke, music, or video files. |
| 7. | Specify how you would like to handle the situation when your file name does not match the template specified above. |
| 7.1. | Always prompt - You will receive the "confirm" prompt with EVERY file you import. (not recommended) |
| 7.2. | Prompt on mismatch - You will receive the "confirm" prompt, only when the file does not appear to match the template. |
| 7.3. | Ignore files that do not match - If a file does not match the template, it will be ignored and will not be imported. |
| 8. | Select Import or Merge. |
| 8.1. | Import - All songs and discs imported will be treated as if they are new and do not already exist in the database (even if they do). This option is fine if you are importing into a new song book, or you are importing songs that you know are not already in the database. |
| 8.2. | Merge - During the import, an attempt will be made to combine the new data with the existing data in the song book. Disc records will be matched by the Disc Number and song records will be matched by Disc Number and Track Number. When a match is detected, the new data will be merged with the existing data based on the selected Merge Options: |
| 8.2.1. | Ignore NEW Discs and Songs? - When checked, new data that does not match existing data in the song book will be ignored. |
| 8.2.2. | Prefer NEW ALBUM over current album? - When checked, if both the new data for a disc and the existing disc it matched has a valid album title, then the new album title will be used and the existing one discarded. |
| 8.2.3. | Prefer NEW ARTIST over current artist? - Similar to ALBUM, but with regard to the artist for each song. |
| 8.2.4. | Prefer NEW SONG TITLE over current song title? - Again similar to the above, but with regard to song title for each song. |
| 9. | Click Import (or Merge). |
| 10. | Pilot Song Book Creator will now import data from the file and folder names as you have specified in the above steps. |
| • | For best results with this import, you will want to have your digital song file collection organized by disc. In other words, each song in the same folder should be on the same disc. |
| • | The folder name of a folder that contains digital music will be imported into the song book database as the "Disc Number". For this reason, we recommend naming your folders what you intend the disc number to be in your song book. |
| • | Once you have successfully imported your file names into the database, each song and disc record will retain a "link" to the corresponding file or folder on your hard drive. This is what enables Pilot Song Book Creator to automatically synchronize your song files and folders as you edit them in the with Pilot Song Book Creator. For more information see the Automatic file and folder synchronization feature. |
| • | Each disc in your song database that has a link to a folder on your hard drive will have a  icon to the left of the Disc Number. In addition, the Disc Number tool tip will show you the name of the folder on your hard drive for which the disc is linked. |
| • | Once you've completed this import process, you will want to observe these rules when editing disc numbers in your song book. |
