# Files and storage

You can attach files to a song: a PDF of a lead sheet, a photo of a handwritten chart, a Word document from your music director, or a practice recording. A PDF or a photo can also be the chart you play from.

> [!PLAN] Backstage
> Attaching files needs a plan that includes file storage. Backstage and Harmony each include 5GB.

## Attach a file

Every song page has a **Files** card. Select **Upload** and choose a file from your device. On a tablet or phone, the card is in the **Settings & Tools** panel, which opens from the button at the bottom right of the chart.

![The Files card on a song page, listing volume-down.pdf with a PDF icon and a menu button beside it. An Upload button is underneath.](https://songstead.app/docs/files/files-card.webp)

| Kind of file | What you can do with it |
| --- | --- |
| PDF | Play from it as a chart, search the words in it, and download it. |
| Photo or image | Play from it as a chart, and download it. |
| Word document | Play from it as a chart once Songstead has turned it into a PDF, search the words in it, and download either the original or the PDF. |
| Audio | Play it from the **Files** card, and download it. |

The menu beside a file has **Download**, **Rename** and **Delete**. A Word document's menu has **Download Original** and **Download PDF** instead of **Download**.

## Play from a PDF or photo

To play from a PDF or a photo, add it as a chart. Select the pencil on the song page, select the **+** beside the chart tabs, choose **File**, pick the file, and select **Create**. Then select the save button. See [Charts](https://songstead.app/docs/charts.md) for the details.

The file becomes a tab beside the song's other charts, and Songstead shows its pages as they are.

![Volume Down by Broken Remote on a tablet, with two chart tabs: ChordPro and volume-down. The volume-down tab is open, showing the PDF lead sheet with its title, the line "Broken Remote, Key of G, 110 bpm", and chords above the lyrics in a typewriter font. The page has been recolored to light gray text on a dark background to match the app.](https://songstead.app/docs/files/file-chart.webp "tablet")

You can [annotate](https://songstead.app/docs/annotations.md) a PDF or photo chart the same way as a text chart, and play it in [Live Mode](https://songstead.app/docs/live-mode.md). Songstead can't transpose it or change its text, because it doesn't read the chords in a file.

### Colors for dark screens

A white page is glaring on a dark screen, so Songstead recolors file charts to match your theme. You can choose how under **Files** in [Appearance](https://songstead.app/docs/appearance.md):

| Style | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Original | Shows the pages exactly as they are. |
| Match Theme | Recolors the pages to the theme's own colors. This is the default, and it's what the picture above shows. |
| Invert | Swaps light and dark, so white paper turns black. |
| Invert, Keep Hue | Swaps light and dark, but keeps colors the same, so red ink stays red. |

## Search inside files

Songstead reads the words in every PDF and Word document you attach, including scanned pages. To search them, turn on **Files** in the search options on **Songs**. See [Search, filter and sort](https://songstead.app/docs/search.md).

A Word document waiting to be turned into a PDF shows **Queued for Conversion** in the **Files** card. If it can't be converted, it shows **Couldn't Convert**.

## How much storage you've used

The **Quota** tab in **Library** shows how much of your storage you've used. These count against it:

- Files on songs in your **Personal** group.
- Files on songs in groups you own.
- Audio notes on your own annotations, and on the annotation layers of groups you own.

Files on songs in someone else's group count against that group owner's storage, not yours.

## Delete a file

**Delete** in a file's menu removes it from the song. A chart made from that file goes with it.