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[aussie1]

I have been using MC14 for a long time and just installed MC 15. I have a variety of custom fields that are set for "store in file tags."

When MC15 is first installed, it launches the default library, which does not you have any user fields. It also immediately begins running auto-import and scanning all drives for files. It loads the found files into MC, and, since there are not yet any user defined fields, it removes that data from the tags of the files...the data in the custom fields stored in the files is lost.

I was aware that I needed to create a new library and add my user fields before I started importing my files. Unfortunately, MC never gave me a chance. All the processes launched automatically and it started destroying tags from the moment I first launched the program.

I may be able to recover from my MC14 library. Recommendations for the best way to do this?  However it is set to watch folders for changes and to update the library for external changes. So, I'll have to be careful - have a backup of the library first. And I do have a backup of the files as a last resort. But I'm going to waste a lot of time (something I don't have at the moment) fixing this problem.

Also, I have that when I turn off auto-import and then upgrade to a new release of MC (ie. from 15.0.010 to 15.0.023), it turns auto-import back on.

[aussie1]

Looks like it also launches auto-import whenever anew library is created.

Again, this is destructive. This shouldn't be the default. Yes, the user is given a few seconds to cancel the import. But, if the users overlooks this message in the active window, MC automatically starts importing and destroying tags!!!

[JimH]

You probably haven't lost any data.

Backup from MC14.  Restore in MC15.

[rpalmer68]

I backed up my MC14 library, then upgraded to MC15, cancelled the auto import (not that this should really matter but I didn't need it to do it.), then I restored my MC14 library over the default one it had created (selecting to only  restore the user settings).

I then added my existing shared MC14 library in library mamager, loaded it and all my custom fields etc were all there.

So why can't you just open your old MC14 library now in MC15 (back it up first), this should get your custom fields back, then if the file tags really have been lost, just update tags form library and they will get put back.

Richard

[aussie1]

I checked the files and tags really were erased.

But, it was quite easy to recover doing just as you said:
1. Launch MC14 and open the library
2. update the tags from library
3. Back up the MC14 library
4. launch MC 15, create a new library and then restore the backed up MC14 library


But, I am a very experienced MC user. Whenever, I upgrade versions, I also make sure the user fields are there before doing anything else. I caught this problem before many files had been imported.

Others may not be aware of the importance of this step. So, I still recommend that you change the default behavior or give some sort of warning message.

[JimH]

I checked the files and tags really were erased.

The most likely reason is that they were never there.  They were stored in the library (database), but not in the file.

MC's Library Tools can fix that, moving data from the library to the files.  Right click on a few files to try it.

[aussie1]

One last response and then I suppose everyone's time would be better spent on other things. I have been using custom fields stored in tags for many years and through many versions of MC (back before you introduced the concept of list fields). I can guarantee that the fields were in the files. It has long been known that if you import a file containing a custom field into a library that does not have a matching user field, MC removes the field from the file. It is possible that you changed this in a recent version, but it was definitely true in older versions.