How to access Synthesia's fingers.xml file with pictures.

This tutorial is much easier than you would expect. There are no programs required for installation, but one is recommended.

If you are tech savvy, then you only need to know that you should open File Explorer, opt to show hidden files and go to this local address.

C:\Users\yourComputerNameHere\AppData\Roaming\Synthesia

If you are not tech savvy, that is also okay and you can follow these simple steps below.

Step One: Open File Explorer

This can be done by either clicking that icon or opening any folder.

Step Two: Click "This PC"

Step Three: Open Local Disk (C:)

Step Four: Open the folder called "Users"

Step Five: Open the folder your user's folder.

If you named the account on your computer John Smith, then this will say John Smith. If there are multiple accounts on your computer, then select the one in which you use Synthesia. This computer's account is called, "Music Station" and that is the folder we need.

Step Six: Open the AppData Folder

The AppData folder is a hidden folder. If you see it and can open it, then great! Skip to Step Nine. If not, then the next few steps will explain how to make it visible.

Step Seven: Click the View tab.

Step Eight: Put a tic in the box that says Hidden Items.

Now the AppData folder should be viewable and you can open it just like in Step Six.

Step Nine: Open the folder called Roaming.

The Synthesia folder will then be located in this directory as depicted in this next picture. The next step is optional, but highly recommended for convenience.

Step Ten: Right click the Synthesia folder and send a short cut to the Desktop.

Step Eleven: Open that Synthesia Folder

The fingerx.xml will be in this folder.

There are a few ways to edit this file. The first is to right click the file and open it with notepad. It will look like this. The hash will be a midi's unique ID and the fingering will be in fingers=" pasteFingeringHere" Song's will not be listed in this file until you make an edit of finger hints inside Synthesia. You can add random fingering in Synthesia, close it and then paste the actual fingering over the random fingering in this file.

There are no other steps required, but I highly recommend installing Brackets

Step Twelve: Install Brackets from the main website.

Bracket's Website: http://brackets.io/

Step Thirteen: Make Brackets default program for opening fingers.xml

Right click the fingers.xml file, hover over "Open with > " and click "Choose another app," and a dialog box will open.

Step Fourteen: Select Brackets and put a tic in the box that says to always use this app to open .xml files.

If Brackets is not in the list, scroll down and click the More Apps drop down. If it is still not there, click "Look for another app on this PC." It will most likely be located in...

 C:\Program Files (x86)

Step Fifteen: Change the color scheme to Brackets Dark.

Click View from the menu bar in Brackets and click Themes. You can change the theme between Brackets Light and Brackets Dark as well as change the font size. This color scheme is more pleasing to the eyes and makes it easier to see, but is purely personal preference. 

This is the result.

Brackets formats the file, so that all the data can be shown on the same screen. In Notepad, the data runs endlessly to the right. This is why I prefer using a text editor such as Brackets. Others like Visiual Studio Code would also work.

Congratulations

You have successfully located the fingers.xml file. This tutorial will be edited and updated as necessary.

Original Post Date: 01-21-2020

Last Edited: 01-21-2020

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