Import songs, chords and setlists from another app

The import lives where you add any new song. Open the menu, tap + and choose New song, then look below the search: Stage Friend lists the apps and files it imports from, with SongbookPro, BandHelper and Setlist Helper as cards of their own and Spotify playlist, A list in Excel or Google Sheets, ChordPro or text files and Write a list yourself next to them. If your library is still empty, the Add song button in the middle of the screen opens the same place. The cards only show while the search is empty, so clear anything you've typed if you don't see them.

Each card first shows how to get your songs out of that app, with a short demo, and then a box for the file. On a computer you drag the file onto the box; on a phone or tablet you tap the box and pick the file from Files, Google Drive or wherever you saved it. Coming from OnSong? Choose ChordPro or text files, as the OnSong page explains.

Nothing is added until you've seen what was found. Every song starts out selected, and you uncheck the ones you don't want. Songs typed or pasted as a list are matched against Spotify, and if one picked the wrong version or the wrong artist, Swap lets you choose another. A line with no match is still added, as a plain song with its own title, while a link that couldn't be fetched stays unchecked and says why.

If your old app had sets, or you pasted a playlist, the review offers to also create the setlists, with the songs in the same order, and that box starts out ticked. On the free plan, which has room for three setlists, the box shows when all the sets in the import fit next to the setlists you already have; when they don't, the songs come in on their own and you build the setlists you want from them. Then add the songs and watch each one get a green tick. You can tap Cancel halfway, and the songs added so far stay. The summary at the end tells you how many songs came in and which setlists were made.

From a file or a backup, each song arrives with its title, artist, lyrics and chords, its key, and its length where the file has one. The chords stay over the words they belonged to, so you can transpose a song or fix a chord in the chord editor straight away. The length also sets the pace of autoscroll. Sets come over from SongbookPro and Setlist Helper backups, and a Spotify playlist can become a setlist too.

Some things stay behind. Tempo and capo are read but not kept, so set the tempo in the metronome, which remembers it for each song, and use transpose instead of a capo. PDFs, recordings, pen drawings and folders are not imported at all. Songs from a Spotify playlist or a list come over without lyrics: the first time you open one, Stage Friend helps you find its chords and lyrics.

Each batch of files you drop or pick takes up to 1000 songs and 50 MB, with no single song over 2 MB, which covers most libraries. Anything past that is listed as skipped, and loose files or extra zips can go into the same import as a second batch. There's no limit on how many songs you keep, on any plan.

Songs from files never count against the free plan's web imports, so moving your library is free. Looking up chords later for a song that came from a playlist or a list does count. On the free plan your songs are on the device you use; Solo Pro and Stage Pro sync them to every device you sign in on, see Plans.

To see your own songs in Stage Friend before you make an account, drop your backup or files at go.stagefriend.app/try. It reads them right there on your device and shows your library and setlists, and you can pick a song to see it as it will look in the app. When you like what you see, tap Create a free account and keep everything, or I already have an account to log in, and once you're in, the songs land in your library and every set becomes a setlist. Do that in the same browser within a week, since that's where the preview waits for you.

Once your songs are in, open a setlist and swipe through it the way you would on stage, see Play a setlist. Then set up a page turner pedal, and if you play with others, invite your band on Solo Pro or Stage Pro so everyone has the same songs.