Local Path Mappings

You can find the Local Path Mappings in the Lexicon settings under Backup & Cloud Storage.

Local Path Mappings is an advanced feature that helps you use the same Lexicon database on multiple computers, even if you use both Windows and macOS.

When you create a Lexicon backup and restore it on a different computer, most likely your music will not be found anymore. Maybe you use an external drive for your music or a Dropbox/Drive folder, but chances are there is a difference in the folder structure. With a path mapping, you can tell your secondary Lexicon where to look for your music without having to relocate your tracks.

Procedure

This feature does not automatically sync multiple Lexicons. You still have to back up and restore your Lexicon database manually. If you are on the PRO plan, you can very easily do this through Cloud Database Backup.

Restoring a Lexicon database overwrites your current database, so be careful. It is not possible to merge changes from multiple Lexicons into one. That's why you should always only make changes on one of your Lexicons. After making changes, make a backup and restore it on any other Lexicon that you want to use then.

Primary Lexicon

To use path mappings, you have to designate one of your Lexicon installations as the primary Lexicon. This is your main Lexicon. The folder structures of the primary Lexicon will be saved to your database, even when you save tracks on a secondary Lexicon.

You can have as many secondary Lexicons as you want. Path mappings are local to that Lexicon installation.

You should not set up any path mappings on the primary Lexicon.

Link

A path mapping is a link between two different folder paths. One of these folders is a "remote" path and the other is a "local" path. The remote path exists in your first (primary) Lexicon. The local path exists in your second/third/etc (secondary) Lexicon.

A remote path (primary Lexicon) might be D:/Music/ and a local path (secondary Lexicon) might be G:/Music/. With this path mapping set up, your secondary Lexicon will automatically look for your tracks on G:/Music/ instead of D:/Music/.

See below for more examples.

Adding Music

When you add music to the secondary Lexicon and the music comes from a folder that is affected by a path mapping, Lexicon will save the track as the remote path. So even though you're adding music from the secondary Lexicon, your database will still contain track locations that belong to your primary Lexicon. So if you ever stop using Local Path Mappings and continue on only the primary Lexicon, everything will still work.

Examples

This is a complex feature, so here are a few explained examples to help you understand.

Two Windows PC's with one external drive

Your primary Lexicon is a Windows PC and has music on an external drive at D:/Music/. Your secondary Lexicon is a Windows PC and has the same external drive at G:/Music/.

When you restore your Lexicon database on the secondary Lexicon, your tracks won't be found because Lexicon still looks at D:/Music/.

Now add the following path mapping: Remote D:/Music/ ➡ Local G:/Music/.

Lexicon will be able to find your music because it now knows that it's D: tracks are actually on the G: drive.

Apple MacBook and a Windows PC with Dropbox

Your primary Lexicon is a MacBook and has music on Dropbox at /Users/chris/Dropbox/Music/. Your secondary Lexicon is a Windows PC and has music on the same Dropbox at D:/Dropbox/Music/.

We'll need the following path mapping: Remote /Users/chris/Dropbox/Music/ ➡ Local D:/Dropbox/Music/

Now, Lexicon on your Windows PC will look for your tracks at D:/Dropbox/Music/.