Chordle can keep your songs and set lists in sync with a folder on your computer. Each song is saved as a plain ChordPro text file, so you can open and edit your songs with other tools, and Chordle picks up your changes and new songs automatically.

Why sync with a local folder?

• Edit songs with your own tools. Open a song in any text editor, or run scripts that convert or tidy up your songs. Your changes appear in Chordle without importing anything.
• Use any sync service. Point Chordle at a folder that a service like Dropbox or Syncthing keeps in sync, and your songs follow you to your other computers through that service.
• Keep your own backup. Your songs are ordinary files on your own disk, readable by any ChordPro-aware app, so they’re never locked away.
• Sync without the internet. A local folder keeps syncing while you’re offline.

You can sync with a local folder on its own, or alongside Chordle Drive, OneDrive or Google Drive. Chordle keeps them all in step.

Setting it up

1. Open the sync panel and choose Set up syncing.
2. Pick Local folder.
3. Choose the folder to sync with. An empty folder works well, or a new folder inside your Dropbox folder if you want to sync between computers.

Chordle creates two folders inside the one you chose:

• Songs holds one .chordpro file per song, named after the song’s title, for example Amazing Grace.chordpro. If two songs share a title, the second gets a number, such as Amazing Grace (2).chordpro.
• SetLists holds one .cdlset file per set list.

Your library is written to the folder straight away, and the folder is shown with its location at the top of the sync panel.

Editing songs outside Chordle

Open any file in the Songs folder in a text editor, make your changes, and save it. While Chordle is running, it notices the change within a few seconds and updates the song. If Chordle is closed, the change is picked up the next time it syncs.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Keep the {x_chordle_id: ...} line. It’s how Chordle knows which song a file belongs to.
• File names follow song titles. You can rename a file and Chordle still recognizes it, but the next time the song changes in Chordle, the file goes back to being named after the song’s title. To rename a song, change its title.
• Don’t copy song files in the folder. A copy carries the same {x_chordle_id: ...} as the original, so Chordle can’t always tell which file is the original. It gives one of them a new id and adds it as a separate song, and if it picks the wrong one, your set lists end up pointing at the copy instead of the song they were made with. To start a new arrangement, save a new file and paste in the song’s text without the {x_chordle_id: ...} line. Chordle adds it as a new song with its own id. “Conflicted copy” files made by some sync services are handled the same way, so check your set lists if one appears.
• You don’t need to change the {x_chordle_date_modified: ...} line. Chordle uses the file’s own saved time to tell that it changed.
• If a song is changed in two places, for example in a text editor and in Chordle on another device, the most recent change wins.
• Set list files are written for Chordle to read rather than for editing by hand. Change set lists in Chordle.

Adding new songs

To add a song, save a new ChordPro file in the Songs folder, written by hand or by a script that converts your songs. Chordle adds it to your library on its next sync.

• Files ending in .chordpro, .cho, .chopro, .pro, .chord or .crd are added.
• The song’s title comes from its {title: ...} line. If there isn’t one, the file name is used.
• Chordle adds an {x_chordle_id: ...} line to the top of the file so it recognizes the song from then on. The rest of the file is left exactly as you wrote it.
• Save files as UTF-8 text, which most editors do by default.
• If Chordle can’t read a file, for example because it’s empty or saved in another encoding, it’s listed as an error in the sync panel and left untouched. Fix the file and save it, and Chordle tries again.
• If Chordle can’t add its id line, for example because the file is read only, that’s listed as an error too and the file isn’t added. Make the file writable and save it, and Chordle tries again.
• Files in other formats, such as .txt notes, are ignored. Changing them doesn’t start a sync.

Syncing between computers

If the folder is kept in sync by a service such as Dropbox or Syncthing, set up local folder syncing on each computer and point it at that service’s copy of the folder. Changes made on one computer reach the others through the service, and Chordle picks them up there.

To sync with OneDrive or Google Drive, use Chordle’s built-in syncing instead. It signs in to your account directly and works on all your devices, including Android.

Some sync services touch files without changing them. Chordle checks for this, so those files aren’t treated as edits.

Deleting songs

Delete songs and set lists in Chordle. Chordle then renames the file with .deleted in its name, for example Amazing Grace.deleted.chordpro, which tells your other devices to delete it too. Once files tracked as .deleted are removed from all devices syncing with the folder, you can delete them yourself if you want to free up space.

Deleting a song’s file yourself does not delete the song: Chordle writes the file again on its next sync.

Limitations

• Local folder syncing is available in the Windows app.
• Only ChordPro files are added automatically. To bring in songs in other formats, such as Word documents, import them instead.
• Songs you add by hand in a format other than .chordpro, such as .cho, are renamed to .chordpro the next time the song changes in Chordle.
• Deleting or renaming files outside Chordle doesn’t delete or rename songs. See Deleting songs and Editing songs outside Chordle.
• If the folder can’t be found, for example because it’s on a drive that’s unplugged, the sync panel shows an error and skips the folder. Your other sync services carry on syncing as normal, and the folder syncs again once it’s back. If you’ve moved or renamed the folder, remove it from the sync panel and set it up again with its new location.

Turning it off

Tap the red delete button next to the folder in the sync panel. Your files stay where they are, so if you turn syncing back on with the same folder later, it picks up where it left off.