# Autoscroll

Autoscroll moves the chart down the screen while you play, so you can keep both hands on your instrument. Songstead can pace it to the length of the song, or you can set a speed yourself.

## Start and stop

On a song page, select the autoscroll button, the double arrow in the toolbar at the bottom of the chart. Select it again to pause. The same control is in the **Display** card, with a play button and the speed.

While autoscroll runs, a shaded band shows the part of the chart you should be reading, and moves down the song.

![Analog Heart on a computer with autoscroll running. A shaded band sits over the Intro at the top of the chart, with a small label reading 0:06 / 4:14 at its right end. In the Display card on the right, the Autoscroll row shows a pause button, and the autoscroll button in the toolbar at the bottom of the chart is lit.](https://songstead.app/docs/autoscroll/running.webp "desktop")

If you fall behind or want to skip ahead, scroll the chart yourself. Autoscroll carries on from wherever you leave it.

![Autoscroll running partway through Analog Heart on a computer, sped up. The shaded band sits over the Chorus, and the chart moves up the screen through Verse 2, another Chorus and into the Bridge.](https://songstead.app/docs/autoscroll/scrolling.webp "desktop")

## In time with the song

If a song has a **Duration**, autoscroll paces itself so the chart ends when the song does. The label on the band shows how far through the song you are, like **0:06 / 4:14**. There's no speed to choose, so the speed shows a dash.

You can set a song's duration when you edit it. See [Songs](https://songstead.app/docs/songs.md).

## At your own speed

If a song has no duration, autoscroll goes at the speed in the **Display** card. Use the **−** and **+** buttons beside **Autoscroll** to make it slower or faster. Your speed is used for every song without a duration, on all your devices.

## Count-in

When a song has a tempo and a time signature, autoscroll counts you in for one bar before it starts to move.

## In Live Mode

[Live Mode](https://songstead.app/docs/live-mode.md) has autoscroll when **Scroll Direction** is set to **Vertical** in [Settings](https://songstead.app/docs/settings.md), on the **Live** tab. A play button appears in the top bar; select it to start and pause.

In a set, each song scrolls at its own pace, and the songs run on one after another.

A foot pedal's play button, the space bar, or Enter starts and pauses autoscroll in Live Mode. See [Foot pedals and shortcuts](https://songstead.app/docs/foot-pedals.md).

[Use autoscroll](https://songstead.app/docs/tutorial/autoscroll) in the tutorials walks through it with a video.