Search

The “Search” section of forScore’s Settings panel allows you to adjust the number of recent items shown, which kinds of results are shown (and in which order), and lets you enable or disable PDF text searching when creating bookmarks.

When you’re looking for something specific, the Search panel is the fastest way to find it. Unlike the search bar in many of forScore’s menus, which only allows you to narrow down the list of items displayed within that menu, the Search panel draws from many different sources.

Type in a phrase and you’ll see any scores, bookmarks, or setlists whose title contains that text, as well as any category names (composers, genres, tags, or labels), and actions (like “annotate,” “share,” or “settings”).

Tap a score or bookmark to open it, select a setlist to view it in the Setlist menu, and tap any metadata category to open it in the Score menu. If you choose the wrong thing, just reopen the search panel—the text you enter in is preserved if you return within a short amount of time.

Recent Items

When you open Search (before you’ve entered any text into the search bar) you’ll see the scores and bookmarks you’ve viewed most recently. By default, forScore shows the last five items you opened, but this can be customized in the Search section of forScore’s settings panel. Below that, you’ll see all of the scores and bookmarks in the current library. Once you start typing, recent items disappear and you’ll see only relevant search results instead.

Text Annotations and Notes

Not only can you find scores and bookmarks by their title or metadata, but you can also find individual pages whose text annotations or page notes contain the text you’ve entered in. Each result will show the score or bookmark’s name, the page number your text was found on, and a sample of the text with your highlighted result in context (so you can be sure you’ve got the right spot).

PDF Document Text

If the PDF document that you’re currently viewing is text-based instead of image-based, forScore can look for instances of your search query within the contents of the file itself. Like text annotations and page notes, results are shown with the title of the score, the page number, and your search text with surrounding text to provide some context.

Settings

The Search submenu in forScore’s settings panel allows you to customize the search experience to better suit your needs. Specify how many (if any) recent items you want to see when you first open the search panel, enable or disable certain kinds of results and reorder them so that some of them appear higher in the list than others. You can also use this panel to enable or disable automatic PDF text searching in the Bookmarks menu.

Accessibility

forScore includes several Accessibility options in the settings panel that can help you get more out of the app.

Reflow

Although forScore can’t interpret the notes in a PDF file, it can detect where important information is generally on each page. With Reflow, forScore takes that information, magnifies and redraws it, then lays it out end-to-end so you can read your music in one long line—like a horizontal teleprompter. Reflow gets you most of the way there with its smart detection, and if it gets something wrong you can correct it quickly and never worry about it again.

Reflow is available by default on iPhone but on other devices it must first be enabled for use through the ‘Accessibility’ section of forScore’s settings panel. To activate it, select the Reflow (zig-zag arrow) icon from the Display Options overlay.

Reflow mode features several buttons along the top of the screen: Edit, zoom, navigation mode, and an exit button. Learn about each of their functions below.

Editing Zones:

The Edit button allows you to adjust Reflow’s zones if needed. You’ll see them as gray rectangles—tap once to see its resize controls, and tap again to show the delete option. Drag the green control at the top of each rectangle to downward to split it horizontally into two new areas.

You’ll see a control bar along the bottom of the screen: use the + button at the bottom of the screen to create a new zone, use the arrows to move between pages, and drag the set of three lines on either end of the control bar to drag it up or down and out of your way. If you’d like forScore to reset all zones and re-scan the page, tap the Reset button.

Zoom:

Zoom in or out to find the best magnification for you—up to three times as large as the original page.

Navigation:

Choose to page or scroll through your music. In Page mode, tapping on either side of the screen will shift the music over by half of your screen’s width. In Scroll mode, your music will scroll by continuously: tap the left side of the screen repeatedly to slow it down or the right side to speed it up. Tap in the center of the screen to pause or resume scrolling.

More

Other Accessibility settings allow you to disable Drag & Drop and Contextual Menu gestures, change the metronome’s sounds, adjust the default size of links and buttons, or use full-screen menus.

forScore Pro

Features

forScore Pro is an optional, auto-renewing subscription that allows us to offer more detailed, priority customer support whenever possible, ensures we can be ready for the latest devices, accessories, and software updates on day one, and gives you access to certain features and benefits like the ones described below (the exact list is subject to change; for the most current information visit forScore.co/pro).

Priority Support:

We’re always happy to answer basic questions or point you to the right article on our knowledge base, but some people want a little more personalized help. By subscribing to forScore Pro, you allow us to spend more time with you so you can learn how to use the app to its fullest and get quicker answers to any questions that might come up.

Face Gestures:

If your device supports face tracking, you can use facial gestures to turn pages—by turning your head, by winking, or by moving your lips to the left or right. Choose whichever mode works best for you and adjust its sensitivity in the forScore Pro section of forScore’s settings panel, if needed. For best results, ensure that there’s sufficient lighting and, if using mouth movements, take advantage of the automatic calibration method for easy setup.

Pop-up Menus:

The six primary buttons in forScore’s title bar feature pop-up menus to let you quickly perform common tasks related to each of them. Use one continuous gesture to activate and use the menu: touch the button and drag your finger downward to see the list of shortcuts, keep dragging your finger until it’s hovering over the item you need, then let go to use it. If your device supports it, you can also use 3D Touch to activate these menus.

While in annotation mode, use pop-up menus to switch between layers, change the selection tool’s mode (freeform or rectangular) or adjust the size of any drawing preset as well as the stamps, shapes, and eraser tools.

Note: when using a mouse or trackpad, right clicking any of these buttons will immediately present its pop-up menu. You can also click and drag downward to show the menu, but due to conflicts in the way iPadOS and macOS handle Drag and Drop this will not work for buttons that also support rearranging (annotation drawing presets).

Page Copy & Paste:

Each page has a single annotation layer by default, but forScore Pro subscribers will also see an additional “PDF” layer at the top of the Layers list for every page of a score. This layer works much like other layers do, but with one important distinction: when you use the selection tool’s Copy or Cut actions, forScore copies any annotations on that layer as well as the contents of the page itself. This allows you to move measures around or copy and paste them between pages to better suit your needs. Learn more about the selection tool in the Annotation section of this guide, or see this knowledge base article for step-by-step instructions.

If you’re a forScore Pro subscriber and you make structural edits to a document, you can share those changes with colleagues—either send an annotated PDF file with permanently embedded annotations, or share a 4SC file (the receiver can show, hide, or clear the PDF layer but can not make any changes of their own).

Note: forScore cannot copy vector information stored within a PDF file, it can only copy a high-resolution image of the selected portion of a page. If you’re working with vector-based files (which can be enlarged without limit), changes made using Page Copy & Paste will appear pixelated at higher zoom levels. Whenever possible, permanent or archival changes should be made using the same source material and application that was used to create the original PDF file in the first place.

Stamps & Symbols:

Swipe left and right in the Stamps palette to access six additional stamp sets (almost 400 additional symbols) and use them as is or copy any of them to your personal collection to edit or reorder them. Pro users can also create stamps using Apple’s SF Symbols library—just find a symbol using the SF Symbols app and type in its name to add it to your stamp collection. That gives you access to over 6,000 symbols as of iOS 18 and any that are added with future OS updates.

SF Symbols can be used for more than just stamps: open the metadata panel and tap a metadata category to customize it. In addition to the symbols offered there by default, Pro users can add any other SF Symbol by name to perfectly personalize their organizational system.

Apple Pencil:

On supported devices, while holding Apple Pencil near the screen, you can use customizable pinch, swipe, and tap gestures to resize or cycle through presets, undo or redo drawings, or show a rotary preset picker that makes accessing your presets faster and easier than ever. With Apple Pencil Pro, you can even configure the squeeze gesture to show this rotary picker for instant access with one hand.

Profiles:

Create multiple settings profiles for separate forScore users or customize your forScore experience for any situation. When you switch back and forth between profiles they’re updated and restored automatically.

Sharing:

When sharing scores, bookmarks, or setlists, an additional “automation” option allows you to easily copy the relevant URL so you can save it wherever you like.

App Icons:

Customize your home screen by choosing from additional app icon options.

Subscribing

Choose Settings from forScore’s tools menu and select “forScore Pro” to learn more, subscribe, access settings for subscriber-only features, and restore or manage an existing subscription.

Note: if you’re currently subscribed to forScore Pro and you start using forScore on a new device, you may need to use the Restore button found within this panel to start using your membership on that device—your original device(s) will still be able to use forScore Pro.

If you choose to become a forScore Pro subscriber, you’ll not only be getting the benefits outlined above: you’ll also be supporting us and making sure we can keep releasing updates for years to come. After the first year, Apple takes a smaller cut so more of your money goes directly to supporting our app.

And if you’re perfectly happy with forScore just the way it is, there’s no pressure to become a subscriber. No existing features require any further payment, so you can use them forever. If your needs grow, we’ll be ready to serve them.

Complete terms of service are available at forScore.co/terms-of-service and our privacy policy can be found at forScore.co/privacy.

forScore Pro Pass

With forScore 14 we introduced a forScore Pro 30-day pass that unlocks all forScore Pro features for 30 days with no auto-renewal. Although a forScore Pro subscription is more cost-effective, this pass gives you an opportunity to try these features so you can decide if subscribing is right for you.

Store

It can be hard to find high-quality scores online that don’t force you into using proprietary systems or limited formats, which is why we created forScore’s in-app purchase storefront. It’s a great place to find and download PDF sheet music that has been perfectly optimized for iOS.

Choose “store” from the tools menu to view the storefront. You’ll find both free and paid scores and collections, articles on a variety of topics, news, some of our other apps, and links to a few of our favorite accessories.

Purchasing and Downloading

Your Apple ID is your gateway to purchasing digital content, so you don’t need to worry about entering your credit card information directly into the app. Tap any product to learn more and purchase or re-download it.

Content begins downloading immediately once your transaction has finished processing. You can monitor its progress from the product page or by tapping “My Purchases” in the top left-hand corner of the main store view.

Purchase History

Tap “My Purchases” in the main store view or choose “in-app purchases” from forScore’s settings panel to view all of your past purchases. Tap any item to re-download it, even if it’s no longer available for sale.

If items aren’t appearing in the list, tap “Restore” (and sign in with your account if prompted) to refresh your purchase history.

Tap the list icon to sort your purchases by date or title, and tap the download button in the toolbar to download all of your purchases at once.

Migration

Although we no longer sell third-party content through our storefront, items you previously purchased can still be downloaded if needed. Some of these items may have used copy protection to limit how you can use or share them. If you’re migrating to a new device, these items may be inaccessible until you re-download them using forScore’s purchase history panel.

All of the content we currently sell directly to our customers is DRM-free and can be migrated from one device to another without any limitations.

The Files App

On iOS and iPadOS devices, Apple provides a standard system interface that any app can use to help you work with documents, also available through the standalone “Files” app. It lets you access and work with your documents whether they’re stored in iCloud Drive, third party cloud storage services, or within apps like forScore that choose to make their documents available in this way.

File Providers

The Files interface lets you access documents stored in iCloud Drive, other apps, or dozens of third-party cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox. Learn more about configuring the Files interface to work with your favorite cloud storage provider at forscore.co/files.

Importing Files

Use the Import button in the main menu to copy files to your forScore library. Tap a single file or use the Select button (only available in the Browse tab) to import multiple files at once. Use the Locations sidebar to switch between cloud storage providers, including iCloud Drive, or to view files stored locally on your device.

Sharing Files

Any time you share files from forScore, you’ll see iOS’ native sharing interface appear which includes an option called “Save to Files.” Use this action to copy your files to other apps or upload them to any of the cloud storage services you’ve configured.

On iPads, Drag and Drop gestures make importing and sharing content even easier, especially when using iOS’ multitasking modes. Learn more about these gestures in the Drag and Drop section at the end of this guide.

The Services Panel

If you prefer, you can also access the Files interface using forScore’s Services panel. If it’s not already shown in the list of Services, tap the + button to select it, then tap it to view the splash screen and choose to either upload or download content.

forScore’s Documents

Every app has its own Documents directory where they can store a user’s information. This is where forScore stores all of your PDF files; if you’ve ever used the File Sharing interface, this is the directory you were working with.

forScore’s Documents directory can also be accessed directly through the Files interface and standalone app. Choose “On My iPad” (or iPhone) from the Locations list in the app’s sidebar to see app folders for forScore and any other apps on your device that store data in their own Documents directories.

Working within forScore’s Documents directory through the Files app carries the same implications as working within the File Sharing interface does—delete files here and they’ll be permanently removed from forScore. We do not recommend renaming PDF files through this interface as doing so will remove that file’s metadata, annotations, and more.

Note: If you want to rename PDF files stored in forScore’s Documents directory, use the metadata panel to change its title instead and the filename will be updated to match it as closely as possible.