Install Supplemental

The Songbook developers have a separate help page for each hardware OS it supports. The supported platforms are: iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows PCs, Windows Tablets, and macOS PCs. This blog page provides supplemental information and concepts for using Songbook on a Windows PC and Android tablet not included on the Songbook help pages. New users should read the official help page for the platform(s) the software is installed on.

Windows PC Installs

On a Windows PC the program and chord libraries are installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\LinkeSOFT\SongBook. The directory contains 24 files, totaling 7.67 MB. During installation Songbook also creates a folder for storing user data, i.e., the song sheets and other user-specific information. A default location is provided during first time setup, or you can choose a different name and/or location instead. While the folder location can be changed at any time after setup, it is best to set it just once, after some considerations.

Selecting a location for the data files depends on how you intend to use the program. If the intent is to install the program on one device only then go with the default recommended location. However, if the intent is to be able to use the same user data on multiple platforms, then create the folder in Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive.

Songbook will store the following file types in the user data folder:

• Song file (.txt) – This is a plain text file containing lyrics in ChordPro format, directives, and references.
• Playlist file (.lst) – This is a plain text file created by Songbook that contains a set list of songs selected by the user. The file is in plain text, which means it can be edited with Notepad.
• Music file (.mp3) – As noted in the official help file, the user can add mp3 formatted music files to this folder and reference them using a songbook-specific directive.
• Print file (.pdf) – Users can also add songs in PDF format to this folder. However, Adobe Acrobat will need to be installed on the device for Songbook to display it. Unfortunately, no directives can be added to the PDF, limiting its usefulness.
• ChordPro file (.pro) – Using the Import feature or duplicating a text file in Songbook will create a Songbook-specific formatted file with the same name as the original file that can only be read and edited within Songbook.
• Category folders – Assigning a song to a category moves it from the user data folder to a user-defined sub-folder.

For the remainder of this topic the user data folder is called a Songbook Collection and the collection is a stored at Dropbox, in a folder called “Songbook”.