SLM 3.4 update formatting issues

[doglegleftmusic]

Arlo,
I had downloaded SLM sometime ago and only have recently really begun to dig into it.  My need was to simply manage my reams of sheet music into an easy program.  I spent a solid week playing by building a database of about 30 songs of varying formats in my iPad while on vacation.  I mostly was able to answer every question I could come up by just playing and learning with my songs (with your videos and on line instructions as guides).  At this point, I have never been so amazed at what ANY app could do for me.  Just managing songs, shows, etc only touches what your app can do for a playing musician (my wife was less excited all the times I showed her what ELSE this can do!). 

Ok, to my point- After having the confidence to begin building the app to use for my shows, I came home to load up Word docs, Pdfs, etc. from my PC -> iTunes -> SLM.  I had been mostly copying my tabs into the lyrics section.  I find it lets me edit and format things the best, especially in Perform mode to maximize text size, scrolling, etc.  But attaching all my pre-formatted docs will save me hours of time.  I use several "types" of lyric/chord charting including chordpro style (ex: This old [G#] man, he played [F] two, etc.) and lyrics with the chords prior to lyrics line and also lyrics with chords on top (my least favorite).  I was able to easily attach docs and at about the same time I ALSO updated to 3.4 and am having several problems:
- the majority of my Word docs are coming up as "Unable to Read Document".  I think that problem is on my end with old Word 95 docs and am ok with having to copy and paste the originals into the "Lyrics" section, but.....
- With the new update, all of my chordpro type entries have reverted to the chords on top of the words and the document body is double spaced.  It's really weird because if I pinch the screen to shrink to fit, I see the chordpro version until I let go and it reverts back in both Song & Perform view.  Is there a toggle somewhere?

Thank you for the amazing App and hopefully I can get this rather big problem diagnosed.  Than onto figuring out how to "use" midi and my Alesis I/O dock & drum machine, and other toys to use with this! 

[arlo]

I'm really glad you like the app.

For the "Unable to read document," is this a new issue or has it always been a problem for a given document? I'm using system frameworks to display Word documents so I can't control that, but I don't think anything has changed recently. If you have a newer version of Word, can you open these files and resave them with a newer format, or go one more step and save them as PDFs, which will display more accurately on your device?

For the ChordPro formatting, taking the [G] chords and positioning them at the corresponding spots above your lyrics is the main purpose of that format. So it sounds like you're used to seeing the "raw" ChordPro text and the app is now reading that formatting and using it to actually position the chords. I didn't anticipate that anyone would be using the bracket style and not want that to happen. I could add an option to turn that off, but the app already has so many settings and options that I try not to add more unless it's a common request. As an alternative, I suppose you could change all the square brackets to parentheses or pipe characters (parens would be easier to type on an iPad keyboard). Obviously it would be tedious to convert all your existing lyrics, but if you're using the database sync feature, you could email me your sync name and I could convert them all for you using my developer tools.

[doglegleftmusic]

Thanks for the quick and quite informative response.  Before following up, I played around some more so hopefully my comments/questions are on mark.  My first issue regarding "Unable to Read Document" is on my end.  It is multiple versions of Word and the ones that wouldn't open in SLM were saved in "Protected View".  I can fix that.

Sadly, over the years I have edited the vast majority of my song sheets into what you have now taught me is the "raw" ChordPro style.  I didn't know how that worked until now, but I see the brackets kick the chord up over the lyric sentence.  I gravitated to this layout for the simple reason of efficiency of space.  I am able to format one song per page in even rows without having to sacrifice font size making it simple for a quick glance.  After 15 years of reading this style I don't even notice the [Am7].  When I saw you programmed the chords could be a different color, I was ecstatic as they pop out digitally and give the page a seamless clarity (if that makes sense?).  I set up my initial database, formatted (usually from the "Lyrics" section) and once I got the hang of it I could quickly make new additions.  Currently I have minimal autoscroll and would not wish to double that.  With the new update reading this style as ChordPro, it will change every page layout I have.  Even if I change the bracket to a parens as you suggest, the program is still double spacing the lyric lines (in essence nearly doubling my page length and the chord color option is gone as well.

Realizing this may be a unique case, is there a way for me to undo the SLM 3.4 update?  I suspect this may not be as unique as you think as over the years when I get together with other people and someone grabs chords/lyrics off the web, often times it is the "raw" ChordPro print.

Again, thank you for the thought and time you put into this app and into your support as well.  There is nothing out there that compares!
Jim

[arlo]

With the new update reading this style as ChordPro, it will change every page layout I have.  Even if I change the bracket to a parens as you suggest, the program is still double spacing the lyric lines (in essence nearly doubling my page length and the chord color option is gone as well.

There shouldn't be any change to the line spacing or the chord color option if you're not using square brackets around chords. It sounds like you have at least one pair of brackets somewhere in the lyrics you're viewing. If you would like more detailed help, please use the Settings > General Settings > Troubleshooting > Request Tech Support button in the app, and then I can view your setup.

Realizing this may be a unique case, is there a way for me to undo the SLM 3.4 update?

Unfortunately the App Store doesn't support rolling back to an earlier version of an app. The only way you could do this is to restore your device from an iTunes or iCloud backup. Besides rolling back the app version, this will also roll the data for all your apps back to the time of the backup.