Slicing a COPY of a track still modifies original track

Former Member over 13 years ago

Windows 7
Basecamp 4.01

I have thousands of miles of tracks in a master track list for an area I recreate in frequently. When I want to build new tracks for a new adventure, I create a new list, then copy specific tracks to the new list. I use Copy & Paste for this--I'm creating a copy of the original track. Then in the new list--on the copy--I slice it up to get the parts I need. HOWEVER, I'm finding that the original track in the master list has also been chopped and the parts I deleted from the copy are now also gone from the master.

WHAT?! :mad:

So now I use the duplicate track feature, then cut and paste that into my new list and work with it.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

Yes, duplicate is what you want to do here.

Copying a track into a list, copies the reference of that track, not the track itself. There is still only 1 copy of that track in 'My Collection'. Duplication creates a true copy and you can make changes to that without affecting the original.

I will readily admit that this is not as straight-forward as I would like, but that's how BaseCamp works. Remember that all data in BaseCamp is just one big collection, lists just filter that collection. If you have one track in several lists, it's still just one track, only exposed in several lists. If you make a change to it in one list, it gets updated in all lists.

0 Former Member over 13 years ago

Remember that all data in BaseCamp is just one big collection, lists just filter that collection.

If this is in the documentation somewhere I've not seen it. It should be pop-up every time BC starts up until you dismiss it permanently. It was even worse before list folders were added. One huge pile of jumbled data where before it was in discrete files and folders in the OS file system that could be named and organized based on many criteria. It's very difficult with BC to have any organization that I can reliably count on.

If you have one track in several lists, it's still just one track, only exposed in several lists. If you make a change to it in one list, it gets updated in all lists.

Learning this through trial and error and much frustration has been one of the worst things about making the switch from MS. I thought I was going crazy! Luckily I had my old MS files that I could pull the data back from. I think the developers need to be aware that most users are used to a copy being just that: a separate copy. Most users are not used to the way a database works versus the way file management works.

John