s.mart Songbook Online Editor - Help

The Online Editor lets you write and edit your smartChord songs on a computer, with a real keyboard and a big screen. You load a song from your phone, edit it in the browser, and send it back - the songbook on your phone updates instantly.

Before you start

Phone and computer both need internet access. Anything else - the same Wi-Fi, a fixed address, a certificate - is not needed.
Use a modern browser: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Opera. Internet Explorer is not supported.
JavaScript must be enabled.

Have you used the online editor before? Then you know the fiddly part: the IP address, both devices in the same Wi-Fi, the certificate warning to click through. All of that is gone. The app shows a code, you type it in here - or scan the QR code and start editing right away.

Editing a song step by step

In the smartChord app, open a song and turn on “Edit song text online” (in the … → Edit menu). The app then shows a session code such as ABCD_1234. Leave this screen open while editing.
Type that code into the field at the top left of the editor. Tapping the code in the app shows it again as a QR code - scanning it opens this editor with the code already filled in, and the share button next to it sends the link to your computer.
Click Get song. The current song appears in the editor. The code is remembered, so next time you only need to click Get song.
Edit the text (see Song format and The toolbar below).
Click Put song. The song is sent back to your phone and the songbook updates. The status line confirms “Song sent to the app.”

“No such session”? The code is only valid while the online-edit switch in the app is on, and a new code is drawn every time it is switched on. Check the code shown in the app and enter it again.

“The app now shows another song”? Another song was opened on the phone. Click Get song to fetch it - or send your text with Put song and confirm on the phone that it really belongs to the song shown there.

The drop-downs below the address bar insert smartChord directives for you, so you don’t have to remember the exact syntax. Pick an entry and it is added at the cursor; the value is selected, ready for you to type over.

Menu	What it inserts
Add info	Song information such as title, artist, key, capo, tempo, comments.
Add control	Playback helpers: scroll breaks, scroll time, MIDI commands.
Add format	Layout directives: background, page break, text color.
Mark block	Wraps the selected lines in a section (e.g. `start_of_chorus` … `end_of_chorus`).
Start / End block	Inserts only the opening or closing marker of a section.

Single-use directives such as title are not added twice - if one already exists, the editor jumps to it instead.

Faster: type-ahead suggestions

Instead of the menus you can just type an opening brace {. A list of all directives pops up; keep typing to filter it (for example {cho narrows to Chorus). Press Enter to insert the selected one.

View options

The icon buttons on the right of the toolbar control the editor’s appearance. Your choices are remembered:

`#`	Show or hide line numbers.
`⏎`	Word wrap - wrap long lines instead of scrolling sideways.
`☾ / ☀`	Switch between light and dark theme.
`⛶`	Fullscreen. A faint round button appears top-right to leave it again (or press `Esc`).

Working with files on your computer

Open file… loads a song file (.sccrd, .txt, ChordPro) from your computer into the editor.
Save file downloads the current text as a .sccrd file, named after the song’s title.

These work entirely offline and are handy for backups - no phone connection needed.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`{`	Show directive suggestions
`Ctrl`+`O`	Get song from phone
`Ctrl`+`S`	Put song to phone
`Ctrl`+`F`	Find & replace
`Ctrl`+`G` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`G`	Next / previous match
`Ctrl`+`Z` / `Ctrl`+`Y`	Undo / redo
`Esc`	Close the search box or suggestions; leave fullscreen

On macOS use Cmd instead of Ctrl.

Song format

smartChord reads plain text and the widespread ChordPro format. Chords go in the line above the lyrics; directives are written in braces, e.g. {title:My Song} or {start_of_chorus}. See our reference.

Lines starting with {x_sccrd_ are extra data managed by smartChord itself (tuning, scroll speed, chord grids, and so on). They are shown in red. Don’t edit them by hand unless you know exactly what they mean — the app maintains them for you.

Example song with the most common directives

Sample Artist - Sample Title

{start_of_tab:Intro}
e|---------13-------------------12------------------10-------|
B|-----------------------------------------------------------|
G|----14-------14---------12-------12--------10---------10---|
D|--0-------------------0-----------------0------------------|
A|-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------------------------------|
{end_of_tab}

{start_of_verse:Verse 1}
A                   C
This is verse 1
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus:Chorus}
A    C      E    F  Fm
This is the chorus
{end_of_chorus}

{comment:This is a comment}
{highlight:This text is highlighted}

{key:A}
{time:4/4}
{tempo:120}
{capo:2}
{title:This is the title of the song}
{artist:This is the name of the artist}

Pause auto-scroll for a number of seconds:
{x_sccrd_sbr:10}

Add a link to a YouTube video by its id:
{x_sccrd_yt:19JVc76ExkY}

Connection won’t work?

Check the session code letter by letter, and that the app still shows it. Switching the mode off and on again draws a new code.
The phone needs internet access too - it is the phone that puts the song on the server. Mobile data is enough.
Leave the app in the foreground while editing. It picks your text up within a few seconds; if the app was in the background, it collects it when you return to it.
Nothing is stored permanently: the session, and with it the song, is dropped on the server as soon as you switch the mode off - and at the latest two hours later.

More help

Full s.mart Songbook help online.
MIDI control directives: smartchord.de/s-mart-songbook#midi-control.