[ghmerrill]

It appears to me that MobileSheets creates a "MobileSheets" folder and then stores all of its files under that. I understand that in fact this may be something of a virtual folder (not really directly accessible)?

Anyway, I can see that there is a MobileSheets folder, and I don't recall creating it.  There are currently 255 pieces in this folder.  254 of these are pieces, and one is a backup I made.  So I'm assuming that this folder is also the container that backup files are thrown into by default.

I'd like to keep all of my backup files in a single folder and use that as the default for saving and restoring backups.  This is what I do on both the Windows and Chromebook versions of MobileSheets.  What's the easiest way to accomplish this?

I'm confused by the "Backup and Restore" section of the manual.  The documentation says that the dialog displays "the directory you want to make the backup in", but in fact (on the iPad) it displays a generated name of the backup file to be created -- with no directory prefix.  The backup location selection (folder icon) then only displays a choice of "Local File" or "Google Drive", and if you pick "Local File" displays only the file name -- with no directory path prefix.  If you go ahead, it dumps the backup file into the MobileSheets directory along with everything else.

This is quite different from the Chromebook (Android) and Windows where you're provided with a file picker in order to place the backup file where you want it.  The version of MobileSheets on my iPad provides no file picker and appears to insist on putting the backup only in the default folder.  I tried giving that dialog a relative path name of Backups/<backup-file-name>, but got soundly chased away with some rude remarks about trying that.

What have I missed here?

[Zubersoft]

The way iPad apps work is that they have to store all their files under their application folder. The application folder is named after the app. So that's why there is a MobileSheets folder if you look under "On my iPad" using the Files app. It is accessible though, it just depends which app you are trying to use to access it (other apps can't access the files of MobileSheets and vice versa).

You can save backup files wherever you want so long as Apple's file picker is used to pick the destination. You don't have to save backup files under the MobileSheets folder. MobileSheets cannot save the last picked destination and reselect that the next time you try to save though - Apple's SDK doesn't really work for this. The app is trying to do this and if you don't see it, it means the request was ignored by Apple's file picker. If you use a cloud destination, then the last saved path will be correctly saved and used.

As far as the iPad app, due to the way it all works, the backup file has to be generated first, and then it lets you pick the destination to copy it to. I can't let the user pick the destination first - it just doesn't work that way with how Apple handles their file permissions. This is because Apple's file picker is the one copying the file to the destination (as it has permission to do this), not MobileSheets. MobileSheets can't access files itself outside of the application folder (even when you import a file using Apple's file picker, a copy is made and put in the MobileSheets cache folder, and that is actually what MobileSheets gets access to). To correct what you said, it does not just dump the file in the MobileSheets folder. You can pick where the file is saved to after the backup file is generated. You can't just enter a path to where you want the file to go - it has to be picked with Apple's file picker.

There are things I don't have control over, and I have to fit within the frameworks of the platform.

Mike

[ghmerrill]

You can save backup files wherever you want so long as Apple's file picker is used to pick the destination. 

This is the part that isn't working.  The sequence should be:

1. Navigate to Settings > Backup and Restore > Backup Library > Select a Backup Destination
2. Click the folder icon, and in the "Select a backup destination" box, click "Local File"
3. Accept the default file name or provide a new name and tap OK
4. THE iOS FILE PICKER SHOULD APPEAR   <-- this doesn't happen:  I can't get the file picker to appear at any point in this process
...

Looking into this more thoroughly, apparently there have been problems of this sort previously, and there have been some suggestions about how to get around it or trick iOS into displaying it.  But nothing I've tried has worked.  It looks like a goofball iOS bug of some sort somewhere.  I'll live with the workaround of saving to Google Drive and then retrieving that copy to the iPad to have it there as well, in those cases where I may need that. Not such a big deal since I back up to Google drive anyway, so it basically just changes the point at which I put the backup onto the local iPad drive.

[ghmerrill]

So ... sometimes you forget what may be an obvious problem ...

I got up this morning and thought ... "This isn't working.  There's a history of it not working in exactly the way I'm seeing.  But there's also apparently a history of that being fixed. ... Uh ... wait a minute ... am I missing an OS update?"

You go the store and buy a shiny new iPad.  But you don't know how long it's been sitting in the store.  And during that time, Apple may have released updates.  Shouldn't the system check for updates?  Yeah, but ... ???

So I check, and yeah, there's an update available.  It pertains to security.  Hmmm ...  I install the update.  Now I can save my MobileSheets backups to where I want.  The UI that Apple provides as part of this process is a bit arcane and could be a little clearer.  But at least it shows up now.  

It turns out, on closer inspection that there was also ANOTHER update (to iPadOS 26.1) available -- also involving security and UI changes.  But this was not brought explicitly to the user's attention when initially booting up the system.  You have to explicitly look in Settings -> Software Updates to see this.  Seems like a bit of a hole in Apples deployment and update process.

[Zubersoft]

I'm glad to hear you got past the problems after installing the updates.

Mike