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+--- Thread: import text onto pdf/png sheet music (/thread-15327.html)
import text onto pdf/png sheet music - Gretch - 06-09-2026
I'm in a massive rush right now.
I have lots of instructions on how to play tunes - beginnings, endings, who solos, etc.
I am manually copying text, formatting text from a PDF into text document (one text document per song) and then dropping to Google Drive.
From my Android MobileSheets application I edit the sheet music using the text icon (large T). I am able to manually copy from the text file stored on Google Drive and then paste into the sheet music.
HOWEVER - there are no carriage returns. *sigh*
But, since I'm here asking questions - is the above workflow the only way to do this. I understand that you can add text using only the android tablet within MobileSheets. But I can't use an Android keypad - too hard to manipulate - I need a desktop computer to manipulate text.
My other option might be to create screen shots and import a tiny image onto the sheet music.
Anyway thanks for any advice and what not.
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - Zubersoft - 06-09-2026
It's not clear exactly why you need to be doing what you are doing, as I'm not entirely sure what the end goal is here, or why you need to convert from PDF to a .txt file unless you are only wanting to cut out specific text from it. If I just assume that this is necessary for what you are trying to do, you should be able to extract the text from the PDF on your PC first using an application like notepad++, then when you are done, save the .txt file, transfer it to the Android tablet and use Import->Local File (or upload to a cloud service and import directly from that cloud service). That would let you do the modifications on your PC and just import the end result into MobileSheets on your tablet.
The other thing you can do is use MobileSheets on your PC, set everything up and then synchronize your library over to your Android tablet (the Windows version is sold separately from the Android version though).
Mike
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - the - 06-09-2026
Not clearly understood what is you aim. If you just want to export all text annotations from MS, it may be useful, for automation, to export the mobilesheets database (.db file) and on a PC perform the query with sqlite3
sqlite3 "mobilesheets.db" ".headers on" ".mode list" "SELECT Songs.Id, Songs.Title, AnnotationsBase.Page+1 AS Page, TextboxAnnotations.Text FROM TextboxAnnotations JOIN AnnotationsBase ON TextboxAnnotations.BaseId = AnnotationsBase.Id JOIN Songs ON AnnotationsBase.SongId = Songs.Id ORDER BY Songs.Title, Page;"
you will hopefully get the formatted output (separator "|" that you can import into a spreadsheet) containing all TextboxAnnotations (on columns Id|Title|Page|Text ) of all scores
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - BRX - 06-09-2026
Without understanding your goal or your workflow: Do you have a desktop computer? (PC or Mac?).
If so, why not invest in another licencse (for Windows oder iOS, it's really not expensive, I own licenses for all three OS) sync it and edit your songs with the comfort from a desktop computer with a keyboard.
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - Gretch - 06-10-2026
I was copying text from a PDF to sheet music located in Mobile sheets. I was not copying an entire PDF document - just excerpts. You know, stuff such as: who sings what, who solos when, how intros go, how endings go. Example
Intro
1st time Jim Sings
2nd time Sax Solo
3rd time Bass & Drums 4s
4th time David Solo 2 As (at top) then sing out from bridge
Ending before bar 32 tag bars 30 & 31 - 3 times and then hit 32
I'd copy text as you see it above - but once inside mobile sheets and adding text by pasting the copied text above - all carriage returns were missing. So, then I had to manually edit the text to include carriage returns.
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - Gretch - 06-10-2026
Database files? I'm a musician Jim not a coder!
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - Gretch - 06-10-2026
I have a Mac. I recently bought an Android tablet primarily for MobileSheets.
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - Zubersoft - 06-10-2026
MobileSheets is available available on MacOS (it's the iOS version but it also runs on MacOS). So you could do all the editing on your Mac device and then synchronize the changes over to your Android tablet. Alternatively, use an application like Sublime Text to paste your text into, save the file, then transfer it to a cloud service or to your Android tablet, and then import it. You can also do the editing on your Mac and use the free companion application (https://www.zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/companion/) to import the .txt file and it will be transferred over WiFi to your Android tablet. If you don't want to purchase MobileSheets for iOS/MacOS, I would recommend trying out the companion app. You can even create new text documents in the companion app (in the song editor) and paste in the text directly there, but there are basically no advanced editing features when doing this in the companion app. If you are just copying and pasting text in though, that may be fine.
Mike
RE: import text onto pdf/png sheet music - RoSong - 06-11-2026
Have you tried pasting directly from the pdf into the MS pdf? Are you typing up notes from printed papers that you or someone added instructions to, or is your original pdf already in digital form with the instructions already on it?
I don't know if the text on the original pdf is typed or handwritten? If it's already typed and can be selected and copied as is, try pasting it directly onto your pdf in the annotation screen in MS. Trying pasting into the Notes window and see if that's any different.
I do all of this directly on both my ipad and my android tablets: I regularly select text from any number of internet sites, like wikipedia and from pdfs downloaded from the internet onto my tablets, and have copied and pasted into MS and have never had a problem with carriage returns of lines not being obeyed. I do the same from various text editor and notes apps on both tablets. In MS, I've pasted that text into both the notes section and into the text boxes in the annotation window, and lines and paragraphs always show just as they should.
I believe the breakdown may either be the text editor you are using or something with google drive, if you are copying directly from its text editor. One of them may be stripping out the carriage lines behind the scenes. Maybe try some different apps and see if that helps?