Hello Dan,
As you've noticed, MobileSheetsPro isn't really designed around the file system in the sense that you can't have nested folders with a deep heirarchy in the app itself. You can certainly store your files that way if you choose, but you have to go to Settings->Storage and uncheck "Let MobileSheets Manage My Files". You would also need to copy all of your files/folders off Dropbox onto the device first before importing the files (otherwise MobileSheetsPro would just copy those files into its own storage location). The application is designed to work without an active internet connection, so I don't allow links to files on the cloud. The files must exist on the device itself.
So assuming you copy all of your files/folders off Dropbox onto the device, the next step is to import all of the files. You have many ways of going about this, but this would be my recommendation:
1) Use Import->Batch Import to pull in all of the files at once
2) On the Batch Import dialog, Check the "Populate Metadata from Directories" checkbox, and then provide a format string that matches your directory structure. So you could do something like:
%COLLECTION%/%GENRE%/%SOURCE%
That would put each ensemble into a separate collection, and each piece would be stored under Source. You could use the "Custom Group" field and rename it under Settings->Library Settings->Custom Group Name to something different if you prefer that.
3) Uncheck "Auto-crop" pages if you don't want all of your files to be cropped. The import will be much faster if you do this, and you can always crop your files later to remove margins.
4) Tap "Start" at the top righ to begin the import.
Once you've imported the files, all of the metadata fields you selected during the batch import should be populated in the songs that were created. You can go to the collections tab, tap on an Ensemble and see all of the songs under that ensemble. If you want to view Source or Instrument, go to Settings->Library Settings->Tab Order and add that tab to the list of tabs that are displayed. Once you do that, go to that tab, tap on the piece, and you will see the list of songs for that piece. You can also use the search field at the top to search for any keyword (ensemble, genre, piece, song title, etc).
So you might be concerned because you've lost all the layers of heirarchy you had before. You can still accomplish nearly the same level of filtering in MobileSheetsPro by combining filter selections. For example, tap the Collection dropdown, and you can pick one or more ensembles that you want displayed. Now any tab you go to will only show songs from one of those ensembles. Next, you could filter further by picking a genre, instrument, etc from the dropdowns at the top of the library screen. You can tap the circle at the right side of the filter bar to show additional filters if you want to select one that isn't part of the default list.
The reason I don't support deep heirarchies is because they are tedious and slow to navigate through. With MobileSheets, I want users to be able to find their songs as quickly as possible, and having to navigate through folders gets in the way of doing that (otherwise you aren't much better off than just using a file explorer to search through folders, find your files and load them into a viewer). While folders can help with organization, I believe for most users, it's much faster to just filter on a couple fields to find the songs they want. Setting up setlists is really important for this as you can find the songs and group them together beforehand so that they are ready to go when you need to perform. Let me know if you believe the app will work for what you are trying to do. If not, we can discuss potential changes or I'm happy to give you a refund if you don't think the app will work for you.
Mike
As you've noticed, MobileSheetsPro isn't really designed around the file system in the sense that you can't have nested folders with a deep heirarchy in the app itself. You can certainly store your files that way if you choose, but you have to go to Settings->Storage and uncheck "Let MobileSheets Manage My Files". You would also need to copy all of your files/folders off Dropbox onto the device first before importing the files (otherwise MobileSheetsPro would just copy those files into its own storage location). The application is designed to work without an active internet connection, so I don't allow links to files on the cloud. The files must exist on the device itself.
So assuming you copy all of your files/folders off Dropbox onto the device, the next step is to import all of the files. You have many ways of going about this, but this would be my recommendation:
1) Use Import->Batch Import to pull in all of the files at once
2) On the Batch Import dialog, Check the "Populate Metadata from Directories" checkbox, and then provide a format string that matches your directory structure. So you could do something like:
%COLLECTION%/%GENRE%/%SOURCE%
That would put each ensemble into a separate collection, and each piece would be stored under Source. You could use the "Custom Group" field and rename it under Settings->Library Settings->Custom Group Name to something different if you prefer that.
3) Uncheck "Auto-crop" pages if you don't want all of your files to be cropped. The import will be much faster if you do this, and you can always crop your files later to remove margins.
4) Tap "Start" at the top righ to begin the import.
Once you've imported the files, all of the metadata fields you selected during the batch import should be populated in the songs that were created. You can go to the collections tab, tap on an Ensemble and see all of the songs under that ensemble. If you want to view Source or Instrument, go to Settings->Library Settings->Tab Order and add that tab to the list of tabs that are displayed. Once you do that, go to that tab, tap on the piece, and you will see the list of songs for that piece. You can also use the search field at the top to search for any keyword (ensemble, genre, piece, song title, etc).
So you might be concerned because you've lost all the layers of heirarchy you had before. You can still accomplish nearly the same level of filtering in MobileSheetsPro by combining filter selections. For example, tap the Collection dropdown, and you can pick one or more ensembles that you want displayed. Now any tab you go to will only show songs from one of those ensembles. Next, you could filter further by picking a genre, instrument, etc from the dropdowns at the top of the library screen. You can tap the circle at the right side of the filter bar to show additional filters if you want to select one that isn't part of the default list.
The reason I don't support deep heirarchies is because they are tedious and slow to navigate through. With MobileSheets, I want users to be able to find their songs as quickly as possible, and having to navigate through folders gets in the way of doing that (otherwise you aren't much better off than just using a file explorer to search through folders, find your files and load them into a viewer). While folders can help with organization, I believe for most users, it's much faster to just filter on a couple fields to find the songs they want. Setting up setlists is really important for this as you can find the songs and group them together beforehand so that they are ready to go when you need to perform. Let me know if you believe the app will work for what you are trying to do. If not, we can discuss potential changes or I'm happy to give you a refund if you don't think the app will work for you.
Mike