View source for Song Annotations

JustChords lets you mark up any song with your own handwritten notes, typed reminders and attached links or recordings, laid directly on top of the chords or sheet music. These live in a single '''Notes & Drawing''' layer that floats over the song and stays put every time you open it. The layer holds three kinds of content: freehand '''drawing''', typed '''sticky notes''', and '''sticky attachments''' (web links, audio tracks and voice memos).

Your markings are saved together with the song. You can also keep a different set of markings for the same song inside a particular setlist, so a song can look one way in your library and another way in a specific gig.

== Opening Notes & Drawing ==

You enter the annotation mode while a song is on screen in the [[SongViewer|Song Viewer]]. There are three ways in:

* Open the '''⋯''' (more) menu and choose '''Notes & Drawing'''.
* Tap the '''Notes & Drawing''' button in the floating menu (the pencil-and-note icon).
* If you use an '''Apple Pencil''', double-tap the barrel while a song is on screen to jump straight into drawing.

While the layer is open the song stays fully visible underneath, and a toolbar appears with everything you need to draw, add notes and attach items.

=== Leaving the layer ===

* '''Done''' saves your changes and returns to the song.
* The '''back''' arrow closes the layer without saving.

== Drawing ==

Drawing lets you scribble freehand over the song with an Apple Pencil or your finger — circle a tricky bar, mark a repeat, write a cue in your own hand.

=== Choosing a pen or eraser ===

* On '''Mac''', open the colour menu in the toolbar and pick a pen colour. Twelve colours are available: '''red''', '''orange''', '''yellow''', '''green''', '''blue''', '''purple''', '''gray''', '''brown''', '''cyan''', '''indigo''', '''mint''' and '''pink'''. The default pen is red.
* Choose '''Eraser''' from the same menu to rub out strokes.
* On '''iPad''' and '''iPhone''', the standard Apple '''tool picker''' appears, where you can switch pens, colours, width and the eraser directly.

=== Erasing ===

The eraser removes whole strokes rather than scrubbing away part of a line, so a single touch clears the stroke you tap.

=== Long or multi-page songs ===

Drawing works on long, scrolling songs and on multi-page sheet music. Each page keeps its own drawing, and markings you make over '''sheet-music (PDF) pages''' are re-scaled automatically if you later view the page at a different size, so they always line up with the music.

== Sticky notes ==

Sticky notes are small coloured cards of typed text you drop onto the song — a reminder, a lyric change, a count-in.

=== Adding and editing a note ===

* Tap '''Add''' in the toolbar to drop a new note onto the song.
* An empty note shows '''"Double-tap to edit"'''. Double-tap it to type.
* '''Single-tap''' a note to select it; '''double-tap''' to edit its text.

=== Moving and resizing ===

* Drag the body of a note to '''move''' it anywhere on the page.
* When a note is selected, drag any of the four corner '''handles''' to '''resize''' it.

=== Colour ===

Selecting a note reveals a colour picker offering six sticky-note colours: '''pink''', '''cyan''', '''green''', '''yellow''', '''orange''' and '''red'''. Notes are drawn semi-transparent so the song underneath still shows through.

=== MIDI actions (advanced) ===

If MIDI is enabled in Settings, a selected sticky note also offers an '''action''' menu. You can bind a MIDI message from your library to a note so that '''tapping''' or '''double-tapping''' it sends that message during a performance — for example to switch a patch or trigger a backing device. Notes with an action attached show a small button indicator.

== Sticky attachments ==

Sticky attachments are cards that carry something to open or play rather than text. Add one from the toolbar's '''Add attachment''' menu, which offers three kinds:

=== Web link ===

* Holds a web address. Tap the '''pencil''' button to type or edit the URL (JustChords adds '''https://''' for you if you leave off the prefix).
* Tap the link icon to '''open''' the page in your browser.

=== Audio track ===

* Plays a track from '''Apple Music''', '''Spotify''', '''YouTube''', a '''local file''', a '''URL''', or an '''audio unit'''.
* Tap the '''music''' button to choose the source, then tap '''play''' on the card to hear it. Track titles are filled in automatically where available.

=== Voice memo ===

* Records a short note in your own voice, stored with the song.
* Tap the '''microphone''' to record, then '''play''' to hear it back. Once recorded, tap the '''pencil''' to rename it.

Like sticky notes, attachments can be '''dragged''' to reposition and '''resized''' with their corner handles when selected. Attachments are interactive tools for on-screen use, so they do '''not''' appear when a song is printed or exported to PDF.

== Deleting ==

* To remove a single item, select the note or attachment and use '''Delete'''.
* With nothing selected, '''Delete''' opens a menu to clear content in bulk: '''Delete all Notes & Drawings''', '''Delete all Notes''', '''Delete all Drawings''' or '''Delete all Attachments''' (only the options that apply are shown).

== Showing, hiding and where markings are saved ==

* Your markings save automatically when you tap '''Done''', and reappear whenever you open the song.
* Use the '''Show''' toggle for Notes & Drawing in the song's display preferences to hide the layer temporarily without deleting anything. This can be set for all songs or overridden per song.
* Markings are stored with the '''song''' in your library. When a setlist keeps separate settings for a song, that setlist can hold its own independent markings, leaving the library copy untouched.

== Printing ==

Drawings and sticky notes are included when you '''print''' or export a song to PDF (unless the layer is hidden), and are scaled to fit the printed page. Sticky attachments are left out, since links, audio and voice memos have no meaning on paper.

== See also ==

* [[SongViewer|Song Viewer]]
* [[Setlists]]