Sharing and opening libraries

Measurements travel between PedalScope libraries as measurement libraries — .pedalscope files. One holds a pedal (or one sweep or one fingerprint group): every measurement bundle, knob photos, calibrations, and a manifest that reassembles the structure on import. Importing is free — a measurement library published for PedalScope opens in full whether or not you have the Measurement Unlock.

Opening a downloaded library

Double-click the .pedalscope file. PedalScope opens and imports it, then reports what arrived — how many measurements, into which pedal. If the download reached you zipped, double-click the zip first; the .pedalscope file inside opens the same way.

Opening a library adds to yours — nothing is replaced or removed, and anything already present is left alone. (Restore, in Settings ▸ Library, is the one that replaces a whole library; it is a different thing.)

The other two routes reach the same importer:

• File ▸ Import Measurements… (⌘O), or the toolbar’s Import button. The picker accepts .pedalscope libraries, plain exported container folders, and CLI-produced measurement or calibration JSON.

• Dragging a .pedalscope file onto the app’s Dock icon.

Importing the same library twice never duplicates anything: measurements already in your library are recognized and skipped, and the report says so (“already in your library — nothing changed”).

What an imported record says about where it came from

An imported record is a real record — every chart, summary, and comparison works on it. But it was not measured on your rig, and it says so permanently: the record header carries an imported chip stating when it was imported and when (and by which PedalScope version) the source library exported it. The chip travels into every exported chart PNG, and a comparison between an imported record and one you measured marks the imported side.

The calibration shown on an imported record is the source rig’s — that is its honest provenance, not a description of your interface. Records imported before this chip existed carry no stamp; absence means “no import recorded”, not “measured here”.

Refusals

A library that is damaged — truncated download, missing files, a payload that doesn’t parse — refuses to import and says which file is at fault. Nothing is half-imported: your library is untouched by a refused import. A library made by a newer PedalScope than yours refuses with exactly that explanation; update the app and import again.

Exporting

Export Pedal… / Export Sweep… / Export Fingerprint… (right-click in the sidebar) write a .pedalscope library; a single measurement’s Export… writes a plain bundle folder. The contents are identical to what earlier versions exported as bare folders — the extension is only the package’s name, and both shapes import.

An export is for sharing; it is not a backup. For that, see Backing up your library.