Stagehand
Guide topics

Guide

Backup and restore

A backup is a file you keep. Restore previews the difference against this device and writes only after you confirm. Deleting the app deletes the library if you have not exported a backup.

Make a backup

  1. Open the gear menu and tap Backup.
  2. Choose libraries. All libraries is there, and you can include a single library.
  3. Choose configuration parts, only the ones you want in the file: Chords, Format, Document, Projector and Appearance. Each row says what it contains. You can back up charts without imposing your fonts on the next device, or the reverse.
  4. Read the summary: library count, song count and an estimate of the size. Include audio files is off. The row shows how large the pads and tracks are. Leave it off and the backup still keeps which file is assigned to which key and which song. Turn it on when the other device should have the audio too.
  5. Tap Back Up. The button reads Preparing… while the file is written. The button stays disabled until you have selected a library or a settings group.

The file name looks like Stagehand-Backup- plus the date, with the extension .shand.

Share it

The system share sheet opens so you can save the file to Files, send it by Mail, or AirDrop it. AirDrop from inside the app sends a .zip copy of the same bytes, because AirDrop does not offer the custom .shand type. Opening that zip in Stagehand still offers Restore, because the archive contains a manifest.

Store the file somewhere that is not only inside the app. The app’s own documents disappear if you delete Stagehand.

Restore

  1. Gear menu → Restore.
  2. Pick a .shand file, or an older .zip backup.
  3. Read the plan. A library in the archive that this device does not have is created. A library that matches one already here asks you to Merge or Replace.
  4. Merge adds new charts and can update charts whose contents differ. Identical files are left alone. Replace can remove charts that are on the device but not in the archive. The plan counts those removals before you confirm.
  5. Choose which settings groups to bring back. You only see groups the backup actually contains. Restoring someone else’s chord notation does not have to restore their colours.
  6. Confirm. Files are staged and then swapped in. You see the result rather than a silent overwrite.
Replace deletes charts that are not in the backup Use Replace when this device should become the archive. Use Merge when you want to add what the file has and keep what you have added since.

You can also open a .shand or backup zip from the Files app or AirDrop. Stagehand treats that as a restore, not as one more chart.

A backup that left the audio files out restores the assignments and marks each missing file File missing. The chart is still there. Re-add file points the assignment at a file you pick. Nothing is deleted because the bytes were absent.

When to do this

There is no automatic cloud backup. If you want one, put the .shand file in iCloud Drive or another drive yourself, using the share sheet.