Cue

Our remote control system, Cue, allows you connect multiple devices together wirelessly to coordinate your page turns and program changes. It uses both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to discover and communicate with nearby devices, and performance may vary based on environmental factors.

Note: Although Wi-Fi must be enabled for the app to discover nearby devices, an internet connection is not required when using Cue.

Roles

In order to properly coordinate your actions, Cue requires you to pick a role when initiating or joining a session. A “Leader” is responsible for turning pages and navigating between different scores or bookmarks in their library. A “Follower” lets their device follow along automatically, either by responding to page turns, program changes, or both.

Note: A Program Change is how we refer to navigation between songs. When a leader opens a new score or bookmark from their library or flips from the end of one piece to the beginning of the next, that’s a Program Change.

Tap the Cue icon in the tools menu to choose your role: “Lead,” “Follow Page Turns,” “Follow Program Changes,” “Follow Both,” or pick “Dual Page mode” (discussed later in this section). Tap this icon a second time to open the Cue connection panel which lists available and connected devices and lets you change your role or disconnect from the current session.

Device-Specific Considerations

Page turns work differently depending on your device’s orientation and settings. If a leader is using their device in landscape orientation, forScore will send page up and down messages but only other landscape-oriented devices will respond. Similarly, half-page turn messages can be sent by a leader who uses them, and only the connected devices who are using portrait mode and who have half-page turns enabled will see the effect.

Dual Page Mode

When using forScore on one device and the standalone Cue app on another, a special Dual Page mode lets you view two full pages side-by-side. One page appears on the primary device, and Cue displays the next page wirelessly. Tap or swipe on either screen to advance, two pages at a time. Links and buttons are also supported on either screen, so you don’t have to worry about which device you need to tap.

The standalone Cue app is currently available on the App Store worldwide.

Cue 2

With forScore 14.4 we introduced a new version of the Cue remote control protocol called Cue 2 which uses Apple’s modern networking frameworks to provide faster and more reliable connections. Cue 2 is compatible with forScore 14.4 or later and the standalone Cue app (version 2.4 or later). You can switch back to the original Cue 1 protocol if needed to connect to devices running older versions of either app: tap the circled ellipsis button in the top left-hand corner of the Cue panel to switch between protocol versions.

Table of Contents

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.

Backups

Every app on your device has a standard set of folders that it uses to store information. This ‘Documents’ directory is used to store user content, like documents you add to (or create within) an app. Other data like app settings, which are designed to be changed through the app’s interface and not edited directly, are stored in a number of private app directories instead.

4SB Backups

In forScore’s Backups panel you can create a forScore Backup (4SB file) that packages all of forScore’s private information into a single document that is saved alongside the rest of your files in forScore’s Documents directory. Copy all of the files in this directory (including the 4SB file) to a safe location and you’ll be able to restore forScore back to its current state without affecting any other apps. As a safeguard, forScore creates an automatic 4SB backup when you launch the app. It keeps the most recent copy and a copy from the last calendar day you used it.

A backup file can not be used on its own. It only contains forScore’s information about your documents, not copies of your documents themselves. Backups are a good choice when copying all of your files to a computer using File Sharing.

4SB Archives

You can also use the Backups panel to create a forScore Archive which is similar to a backup (it also uses the 4SB file extension) but it includes a copy of every file in forScore’s Documents directory as well. This means that in order to create an archive you need to have significantly more free space available on your device, but it can be used to restore your library or migrate to a new device by copying the single archive file.

An archive file can be used on its own to recover or migrate your forScore library to a new device. They’re great for uploading your library to a cloud storage service for safe keeping.

forScore Backup Utility

Mac users running macOS 10.14 or later can use the forScore Backup Utility to archive their iOS device’s forScore library directly to their computer via a USB cable. This can be useful if you want to create a 4SB Archive but don’t have enough free space on your device. Visit forScore.co/backup-utility for more information.

Apple Backups

In most cases, whole-device backups to iCloud or iTunes (depending on your settings) are sufficient to get you back up and running if something happens to your device. The backup techniques described in the sections above are intended to provide an additional layer of security, not to replace this essential part of protecting your data.

Recently Deleted Files

When you delete a score or setlist using forScore’s delete functions, it is moved to the Recently Deleted section of the Backups panel. You can recover it for up to seven days or permanently erase it, if needed.

CSV Metadata Import/Export

Tap the scrolled page icon in the top left-hand corner of the Backups panel to import or export your forScore metadata using standard CSV (comma-separated value) text files. These files are exported using UTF-8 encoding by default, but this can be adjusted to UTF-16 if needed under Settings › Advanced options › CSV export.

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.