smartChord supports the synchronization between your Android devices and the synchronization of songs and set lists as files via your cloud. There are currently two types of synchronization. Database synchronization to keep your Android devices in sync. File synchronization to exchange songs or set lists with your friends, bandmates or students.

Please note that settings are device-specific and are not synchronized. As a workaround, you can back up your data and settings on one device and then restore them to the other device.

Database synchronization

With database synchronization, the entries of the smartChord local database can be synchronized between different Android devices. This includes:

✅ Categories
✅ Chord pads
✅ Chord progressions
✅ Custom chords
✅ Drum kits
✅ Drum machine patterns
✅ Exercises
✅ Favorite fingerings
✅ Favorite patterns
✅ Favorite scales
✅ Fretboard trainer exercises
✅ Metronome sets
✅ Notes
✅ Patterns
✅ Set lists
✅ Songs
✅ Tone generator sets

The principle of synchronization: During the first synchronization, the local contents of smartChord are stored as a file in a directory in your cloud (default setting is ‘/smartChord/sync’ automatically). When syncing a second Android device, the device fetches this data and compares the entries based on their names and last modification time. All newer entries or changes are accepted. If the second Android device has detected missing or out-of-date items on the first Android device, the newer data will be backed up in the cloud, ready for the next sync.
Please note: The time comparison is done with a tolerance of one minute.

Our video describes the database synchronization in detail:

File synchronization

With file synchronization, you can store your saved entries (songs and set lists) in the cloud (e.g. Google Drive or DropBox) in the form of text files and keep them synchronized.

So you can:

• Synchronize content between multiple Android devices from you and your bandmates or friends
• Edit text files conveniently from your (non-Android) desktop or notebook
  

How to synchronize:

• Choose a folder in your cloud
• Start the comparison
• Check which entries are to be synchronized
• Start the synchronization. It will create files for your songs or set lists on the device. And it will create songs or set lists for files in the folder, which are new or newer than the items on the device
• Start the synchronization on the other devices
• Please note: If a device updates files in the cloud or creates new files, the synchronization must be restarted on the other devices so that they also receive the new changes
  

Please note the following points:

• Files and entries are synchronized if they share the same name
• The decisive factor for the synchronization of a file is its date/time stamp. File contents are not compared. The time comparison is carried out with a tolerance of 1 minute
• When files created or modified in the cloud are synchronized with an Android device, their last-modified attributes are set to the date and time of synchronization
• smartChord saves the last synchronization date. Older dated files are ignored during synchronization
• The songs are saved as files with the file extension ‘.sccrd’. Only the files with this extension are synchronized
• The set lists are saved as files with the file extension ‘.scstl’. Only the files with this extension are synchronized
• The files are created using the UTF-8 character set. For editing on a non-Android desktop or notebook computer, an editor must be used that can handle the UTF-8 character set.

Shared folders

Dropbox

Please see How to share a Dropbox file or folder.

Google

Please see Share folders in Google Drive.

Sharing folders was possible in the past, but Google changed the behavior of shared folders. Please see: https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/04/10/google-completely-ruined-shared-folders-in-drive/

As an alternative, you could …

• create a new Google account just for sharing. You and your friend use both this new account.
• upgrade Google Drive to ‘Basic’ It allows sharing up to 5 persons: https://one.google.com/u/1/storage?i=m#upgrade
• use Google Workspace. It allows also shared folders.
• use Dropbox.

Troubleshooting

Login

Endless loop when logging in

It is strongly recommended to use Chrome for the login. Other browsers may fail. Please use Chrome and check if it is an browser issue. If you have been logged in in the past, please try to logout and retry login.

Logging fails on Chromebook

For us it seems that a Chromebook is still not ready for all Android apps. They are still working on it. Please check if you have the latest version installed: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/177889

If it does not work, Use this workaround. Please install “Chrome for Android (BETA)” from the Play Store and use this for login.