When Apple unveiled iOS 11 and its new Drag and Drop system, we were incredibly energized and embraced it as fully as we could. We thought (and continue to think) that these gestures help make common tasks far easier, quicker, and more natural.
For some, though, Drag and Drop can get in the way. Users with mobility issues and others who simply find the gestures to be uncomfortable may prefer to disable them entirely. While iOS offers no help in this regard, our latest updates include a new accessibility setting that prevents forScore from offering drag targets in most views. You can still drop things like PDF files into forScore to import them, but other interactions will be more like they were in iOS 10 and earlier.
The most notable of these interactions is setlist reordering: with Drag and Drop disabled, tapping the “Edit” button in many list views shows the reorder controls on the right-hand side of each item (the three horizontal lines). Drag these up or down to reposition an item, no need to tap and hold.
One other big change caused by the introduction of Drag and Drop pertains to Quick Peek, the ability to preview items in many of forScore’s menus before you select them. With Drag and Drop enabled you’ll need to tap and hold with two fingers to see the preview; with it disabled you only need to use one finger. (Swiping from left to right over the item still shows the “Peek” option which is unaffected by this accessibility setting.)
We think Drag and Drop is amazing and helps a lot of people, and we also know it’s not for everyone. It’s surprising that Apple hasn’t included a system-wide option to disable them, but until they do we think this will really help.
When using forScore’s Rearrange tool, you can insert additional pages by selecting an existing item in your library or by choosing a template and specifying how many pages you need. It’s a great way to merge PDFs when you need fine-grained control over where each page ends up.
With our latest forScore updates we added the ability to use iOS 11’s Drag and Drop gestures to insert pages from any PDF file, even if it hasn’t already been imported into your library. To use this feature, drag a PDF file from another app—like the Files app—and drop it into the Rearrange panel. Once you do, the file’s pages are added to your workspace and you can duplicate, arrange, or delete them as needed. When you’re done, save your results and you’ll have just what you need and no extra files to go find and delete.
September 28, 2018
Feature of the Week
With forScore 10.0 we introduced the ability to rotate pages slightly while cropping to correct for crooked scans. The de-skew slider in the cropping toolbar lets you adjust a page by up to 20° clockwise or counter-clockwise.
As of forScore 10.4.7, dragging this slider now shows a helpful grid overlay so you can better judge when your page is straight. Let go of the slider and the grid fades away to you can continue to make adjustments and save them when you’re finished. It’s just one more added touch that helps you get to playing your music as quickly as possible.
September 21, 2018
Feature of the Week
If you connect your device to iTunes or open the Files app you’ll be able to see the documents you’ve added to forScore, but that’s only half of the story. Other information, like your setlists, annotations, metadata, settings, and more, are stored in other locations that you can’t access directly. Instead, you use the app to make edits and forScore manages that data internally.
Early on in forScore’s development we added the Backup panel which allows users to create a snapshot of this internal data so you can revert to a previous state if needed. Backups use the custom 4SB file format and they’re saved to the same folder where all of your PDFs and other documents are stored so you can access them and copy them to a safe location.
This works well as an added layer of protection: if you accidentally delete a folder full of setlists, for instance, restoring from the latest automatic backup is usually enough to get you back up and running. It also helps you back up your entire library to your computer by ensuring that forScore’s information about your PDF files isn’t lost: create a 4SB backup in forScore, open iTunes on your computer and access the File Sharing panel, then copy everything there to a safe location.
More and more people rely on cloud storage providers, though, and backing up using a service like Dropbox by uploading every one of your documents is tenuous. If one file doesn’t make it, you might never know and end up with an incomplete backup. Copying data through iTunes and a USB cable is simply more reliable than uploading it to a server.
That’s why we introduced 4SB Archives with our latest updates. Archives are single files that contain your entire forScore library, documents and all. You can upload one to Dropbox and, if the upload is successful, you know the backup is complete. Archives require more storage space than backups, since they include all of your documents, but they’re a helpful new tool in the right situation.
Today is release day for iOS 12, and we’ve been working hard all summer long to get our apps ready. On Friday we rolled out a bunch of minor updates for most of our apps, adding support for all of the latest iPhones, and today we’re finishing up with some nice upgrades to forScore and forScore mini. If you’re thinking about updating, here’s the latest word regarding forScore’s iOS 12 compatibility:
We aren’t currently aware of any issues when running recent versions of any of our apps on devices with the final iOS beta installed. The version Apple releases to the public today may be different than what we’ve had access to in testing, however, so things can always change at the last minute. As usual, our advice is to hold off on installing major updates like these for a few weeks if you rely on forScore professionally. Otherwise, make sure you manually back up your forScore library and feel free to upgrade when you’re ready.