Song Editor

The Song Editor is the heart of JustChords. It is where your ideas turn into clear, performance‑ready charts. Whether you are quickly sketching a new song, cleaning up chords you copied from the web, or preparing a polished lead sheet for a full band, the editor gives you a flexible but tidy workspace to do it.

This page walks you through the main parts of the Song Editor and shows how they work together.

Opening and creating songs

You typically arrive at the Song Editor in one of these ways:

By creating a new song from your library (for example via a “+” or “New Song” button).
By selecting an existing song from your library and choosing “Edit”.
By importing a song (from text, ChordPro, PDF, or other supported formats) and then opening it in the editor to refine it.

Once the editor is open, you see your song text in the main area and a set of tools around it.

Main editor layout

The editor is centered around a large text area and a compact toolbar:

Text area – where you type or paste lyrics, chords, and section labels.
Toolbar and controls – context‑sensitive actions such as formatting, undo/redo, or switching views.
Song information (depending on device/layout) – title, key, and other metadata.

The editor works with plain text plus lightweight chord markup. This keeps your songs:

Easy to edit on any device.
Portable between apps and formats.
Robust against formatting issues that often appear in rich‑text editors.

Writing lyrics and chords

You can enter your song directly into the text area:

Type or paste your lyrics.
Add chords where you want them to appear.
Use line breaks to control how the song is structured visually.

Common ways to combine chords and lyrics:

Chords above the lyrics

 Chords on one line, lyrics on the next:
 ```text
 C        G        Am       F
 You are the light that shines in the dark

Chords inline with ChordPro‑style notation Chords in square brackets inside the lyric line: [C]You are the [G]light that [Am]shines in the [F]dark

You can freely mix and adjust these approaches to fit the song and your reading preference. The viewer will interpret both styles and keep chords aligned as you transpose or change settings.

Structuring songs into sections

Clear structure makes songs easier to read and easier to reuse.

Typical sections include:

Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3
Chorus
Bridge
Intro, Interlude, Instrumental, Outro

Use simple, consistent labels and spacing:

Add a label line such as Verse 1 or Chorus before the relevant lines.
Separate sections with a blank line to make them visually distinct.
Keep naming consistent (for example always Verse 1, not sometimes Verse I and sometimes Verse 1).

Well‑structured sections make it much easier to:

Rearrange songs in different setlists.
Build arrangements that reference “Verse 1” or “Chorus” explicitly.
Quickly see where you are during rehearsal or performance.

Supported song formats and markup

The Song Editor is designed to be flexible with different ways of writing songs, including:

Plain text with chords on separate lines.
ChordPro‑style inline chords using square brackets, for example:

 * `[C]`, `[G]`, `[F#m]`, etc.

Simple comments or metadata lines (for example using curly braces, depending on your workflow).

Guidelines for readable and robust songs:

Keep your chord symbols simple and consistent (for example `C`, `Cmaj7`, `F#m`, not many different variants for the same chord).
Avoid using unusual symbols in place of standard chord notation.
Let the viewer handle visual styling (font, size, colors); keep the text itself clean.

Editing workflow: cleanup and refinement

After you paste or import a song, it often needs a bit of cleanup. Common editing steps:

Remove extra spaces at the end of lines.
Fix inconsistent spacing between chords so they line up better above words.
Normalize section names (always Verse 1, Verse 2, Chorus, etc.).
Combine duplicated or redundant lines if you pasted from a website with ads, headers, or line numbers.

The Song Editor lets you make these changes quickly, while still keeping everything as plain text so nothing gets “stuck” in a proprietary format.

Saving, viewing, and checking your song

Once you are happy with your edits:

Save the song (for example by tapping a checkmark or a Done / Save button).
Open the song in the viewer to see how it looks in performance mode.

When checking the song, look for:

Line breaks that might be too long for your device.
Chords that may have shifted away from the correct syllables.
Sections that could benefit from clearer separation.

From the viewer you can:

Transpose the song to different keys.
Apply a capo and see how the chords are rewritten.
Adjust font size and layout for better readability.

If you spot issues, return to the Song Editor, make your adjustments, and save again.

Tips for performance‑ready charts

A few practical tips drawn from real stage use:

Keep lines short – leaving some margin on the right side makes charts easier to read quickly.
Group lines into clear sections; avoid one long block of uninterrupted text.
Insert line breaks at musically logical points (end of phrases) instead of purely visual ones.
Avoid putting more chords than necessary into a single line – clarity is more helpful than perfectly exact timing notation.
Test the chart on the actual device and distance you will use on stage.

Growing with your workflow

The Song Editor is designed to grow with your needs:

Start simple: a few chords and lyrics.
Later, introduce clearer section labels, more detailed chords, or extra verses.
Over time, refine your library into clean, consistent charts that can be reused across bands, services, and events.

SongEditor