FAQ and reference

Google Doc formatting

Lay out Google Docs and Sheets so the import picks up every title, chart and link.

You can import songs from a Google Doc, a Google Sheet, or a list of Google Docs (one song each). This page explains how to lay them out so the import picks up every title and chart. To start an import, see Adding songs.

Share it first

We can only read documents shared as Anyone with the link can view:

  1. Open the doc or sheet and click Share (top right).
  2. Under General access, change Restricted to Anyone with the link, with the role Viewer.
  3. Click Done, then copy the link from your browser's address bar.

Only people with the link can see it, and nobody can edit it except you and the people you've added.

It has to be a real Google Doc or Sheet. A Word or Excel file stored in Google Drive won't import: open it and choose File → Save as Google Docs (or Save as Google Sheets), then use the new file's link.

One document, many songs

Each song is a title followed by its chart (chords, lyrics, notes, whatever you like). What comes after the title becomes that song's chart, formatting included.

How titles are found

We look for titles in this order and use the first style that appears in the doc:

  1. Headings. Put each title in Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3 (Format → Paragraph styles). This is the most reliable option. Without page breaks, each heading starts a new song; with page breaks, put one title per page. Don't put a bigger heading above your songs (such as a Heading 1 document title over Heading 2 song titles), or that bigger heading is taken as the title style.
  2. Centered titles. Titles that are centered (ideally bold, or bold and underlined) and on a line by themselves.
  3. Page breaks. If there are no headings or centered titles, put a page break between songs (Ctrl+Enter, or ⌘+Enter on a Mac). The first line with text on each page is the title.

Use one style for every title in the doc. To check your page breaks, turn on View → Show non-printing characters; each one shows as a Page break line.

Keeping titles clean

When titles come from page breaks, the title stops at the first thing that looks like extra information: a parenthesis, a [, Chords by, Key:, Capo:, Tuning:, or a chord name such as G or Asus2. So Wonderwall (Live) Capo 2 imports as Wonderwall. Heading and centered titles are used as written.

Skipped sections

Pages with no text are skipped, and so are sections where no title can be found. The confirm page shows how many sections we found and how many were skipped. If a lot were skipped, check for empty pages and make sure every song starts with a title.

Example

Wonderwall                   ← Heading 2
G   D   Em  C
Today is gonna be the day...

Hotel California             ← Heading 2
Am          E7
On a dark desert highway...

A Google Sheet

Put one song per row, with column names in the first row. The names are matched loosely (upper or lower case, and a name only has to contain the word), so Song Title counts as a song column.

Column Names we recognize
Song title (required) Song, Title, Name, Track
Artist Artist, Band, Performer, Composer, Origin
Vocalist Vocalist, Singer, Vocals
BPM BPM, Tempo, Speed
Duration Duration, Time, Length, Minutes
Key Key, Tonality
Genre Genre, Style, Category, Type
Chords Chords, Chord sheet
Lyrics Lyrics, Words
Link Link, URL, Sheet, Tab, PDF, Doc, Cheat
  • Chords and Lyrics cells become the song's chart. A cell can hold several lines; press Ctrl+Enter (⌘+Enter on a Mac) inside a cell for a new line.
  • Links in any column are added to the song, and YouTube and Spotify links are recognized.
  • No column names? Then the first column is read as the title and the second as the artist.
  • Rows without a title are skipped.
  • Only the first tab of the sheet is imported. Put your songs there, or in a sheet of their own.

When you import into a band, we also look at the links. Links to chord sites such as Ultimate Guitar, E-Chords, Chordie and Chordify are kept as links. For other links (especially ones in a Chords, Tab or Sheet column), we open the page and, if it looks like a chord chart, use it as the song's chart. Imports into your profile or the library only add the links.

Example

Song               | Artist  | Key | BPM | Link
Wonderwall         | Oasis   | Em  | 87  | https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/...
Hotel California   | Eagles  | Bm  | 74  | https://example.com/hotel-california-chords

One song per document

Already have a separate Google Doc for each song? Use the One song per document tab and paste one link per line.

  • The title comes from the first heading (or centered title) in the doc. If there isn't one, the doc's name is used.
  • The chart is the doc itself. Choose Keep Google Docs as source of truth to keep it linked (edits you make in Google Docs show up here), or Import into The Band Plan to copy it in and edit it here from then on.

Every doc in the list must be shared as Anyone with the link can view.