Can I import photos into OnSong?

Can I import photos into OnSong?

OnSong can import a variety of files, but we have found that importing and viewing just images  can be problematic and limiting. For instance, images can only have one page and may not zoom consistently.  OnSong works best with text-based chord charts:

If you are importing content from websites, please consider using the Add To OnSong Safari extension in the Add To OnSong Video Tutorial.

There is a quick way you can use to import pictures from your photos library.  Go into the Photos app and select the images that comprise a song in page order using the Select button.  Next, tap on the icon that looks like a square with an up arrow to open the activities menu.  Choose the Print option.  While you don't need to print these image, this process create a PDF file which work well in OnSong.  Then, pinch the page preview under the print settings as if you were zooming into the page using two fingers.  This opens a full screen preview with another activities menu icon.  Tap on this button to open the Activities menu then and choose the Copy Into OnSong icon in the row of colored icons.  This will export the photos as a song in a single PDF file and open OnSong.  You'll then be prompted to import the song into your library.

When you import this image, it may appear in the Songs List with the title, "Photo".  You may want to change the title or add more information about the song. To do this, tap on the pencil icon in the Menubar to open the Song Editor.  Next, tap on the "info" icon in the Song Editor Menubar to open the Metadata Editor.  Here you can type in the song title, artist, key, etc.  When you are done, close the menu to have those changes applied to the text of the song in the Text Editor and tap Done.  Your song title should now be updated in the song list.

If you have scanned document or images of printed chord charts or lyrics, you may be able to convert these into text for best us in OnSong.  To do this, tap on the pencil icon in the Menubar to open the Song Editor.  Before tapping into the text editor, locate the Extract Text button in the Conversion Toolbar at the bottom of the screen.  Tap on this to submit the document to be processed using OCR (optical character recognition).  The results of this process may vary depending on the quality of the source images.  If you don't like what you see, you can always cancel editing.  Otherwise, use the Text Editor to make the necessary changes and tap Done.  Your song will then be in a text-based format that allows you to change formatting and, if properly delineated, detect and transpose chords.


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