StagehandGuide
Format and layout
Tap Chords to open Chords & Layout. Document is the page. Format is the type on that page. Both start as a change to the song you are reading.
This song, then everyone
There is no Song / System switch to notice before every edit. You change the song in front of you. That is the common case.
The three-dot menu at the top right of the panel has the rare case:
- Apply format to all songs
- Apply document layout to all songs
- Apply projector settings to all songs
Confirm once. The dialog tells you how many songs use the current default and will change, and, when it matters, how many already have their own setting and will keep it.
A song stores only the fields you actually changed. If you set only the chord colour on one song, a later change to the default type size still reaches that song. The reset on a row clears that one override and returns it to the default.
Reset at the bottom of the panel clears the overrides on the tab you are looking at, for this song.
Format tab
Five elements: Header, Metadata, Lyrics, Section Labels and Chords.
- Tap the element you want to change. The selected row is marked.
- Drag its size slider. The point size is shown on the slider.
- Use Font Style for the colour swatch, bold and italic. Those apply to the selected element.
- Use Highlight Color for a highlight behind that element. The last swatch is none.
Section Labels also has Section Colours: five badge fills, for verse, chorus, bridge, instrumental and bookend. Size and weight stay on the Section Labels row. The badge fill is the role colour. Factory fills use dark ink for verse and bookend, violet for chorus, amber for bridge, and grey for instrumental.
Line spacing is not on this tab. It is on Document, because it belongs to the page rather than to one element.
Document tab
| Group | What you set |
|---|---|
| Tint Mode | Paper, Dim, Sepia or Sky. This is the paper colour of the chart, plus a contrast control. |
| Font Family | A face for the chart, chosen from samples. |
| Line Spacing | The gap between lines of the chart. |
| Section Spacing | The gaps between sections, from 0 to 2. 1 is the spacing the chart is designed with. It scales the space above and below a section heading and the blank lines before it. It can be this song only, or applied with the rest of the document layout. There is no picture of the slider. |
| Layout | One or two columns, and the gutter when two columns fit. Two columns are offered only when the page is wide enough. iPhone stays one column, and the control says why. With two columns, Start the second column at is A section or Any line. A section keeps every section whole. Any line fills the first column to the bottom of the page, then flows the rest into the second. |
| Margins | Top, bottom, leading and trailing. Each can be linked to the others. The range is wide so a chart can sit in a narrow column. |
| Paper | Page size and portrait or landscape. Stored, and disabled. Export is not in this version, so these do not change what you see. |
While you drag margins, the chart previews the inset.
Presets
The Document tab includes theme presets for the chart. Pick one to apply that combination. Save current as preset… stores the look you have now under a name you choose. You can delete a preset you saved. A built-in look is a starting point, not a lock.
Appearance and chrome
Appearance is separate from tint. Tint is the paper. Appearance is the chrome around it: System, Light or Dark. A sepia chart inside a dark interface is a normal combination.
Set appearance from the wrench in the panel header, or from the gear menu’s Settings. That same Settings page has chrome colours, which restyle the menus and do not recolour the chart. Chart colours stay on the Format tab.
The wrench’s note is accurate: chart formatting lives in the sliders panel on each song.
File formatting is different
A line in the file can be bold, italic, coloured or highlighted with a prefix. That choice travels with the file. The Format tab is your default for lines that do not say otherwise. A red line in the file stays red. Everything else on that line still follows the panel. Details are in Chart files.