Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Notenarchiv is a web app for the digital management of sheet music for music clubs, bands, dance bands, orchestras and ensembles. All pieces, parts and books are managed centrally – accessible through the browser and the iOS and Android apps.

No. The web app runs entirely in the browser and can also be used on your smartphone. In addition there are native apps for iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play).

Yes! You can be a member of as many organisations as you like. After logging in you choose which organisation you want to use, and can switch at any time.

Signing in works without a password – via Magic Link (an email with a login link) or via passkey (fingerprint, Face ID, device PIN). There are deliberately no passwords. How to set up a passkey – on Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows – is explained in the guide Setting up a passkey.

• Check your spam or junk folder
• Make sure you are using the correct email address
• The login link is only valid for 15 minutes – request a new one if needed
• Contact your admin if the problem persists

It depends on what you want to do:

• Do you want to introduce Notenarchiv to your ensemble? Then you register your organisation yourself at app.notenarchiv.com/register and start the 60-day trial right away. Whoever creates the organisation automatically becomes its admin.
• Does your ensemble already use Notenarchiv? Then an admin or librarian creates your account and you receive an email with your access details. Individual members do not register themselves, so that nobody ends up in the wrong organisation by accident.

As a member you only see the parts for your assigned instruments. Go to Profile > My instruments and make sure the correct instruments are selected.

• Combined PDF – All your parts in a single PDF, with bookmarks per instrument
• ZIP – Each part as its own PDF file in a ZIP archive

Yes. The Combined PDF button is a split button: the arrow beside it opens Copies per part, where you set a number per instrument – four first clarinets, two trumpets, one bass. The number 0 leaves a part out entirely, and up to 20 copies per part are possible. Copies sit directly after one another and carry bookmarks such as “Trumpet 1 (1/2)”.

Frequently used instrumentations can be saved for the whole ensemble under Settings > Combined PDF configurations. Details are in the guide Downloading parts: combined PDF, ZIP or single part.

Yes! Go to Books, select the book and your instrument, and click download. You receive a ZIP file with all parts of that instrument from the entire book.

Librarians can share individual pieces via a time-limited link with externals – e.g. deputies. Recipients need no account and can view the sheet music and download it as a ZIP. Links are valid for 14 days.

Yes. YouTube links can be stored on every piece – your own concert recording, a reference performance or the original. Several recordings per piece are possible, each with its own label.

In the browser the player only starts once you click and runs via youtube-nocookie.com; before that, no request reaches Google. In the app a tap opens the video in the YouTube app. Librarians and admins maintain the links, all members can watch – and so can anyone who receives a share link.

Exclusively as a PDF. Other formats are not supported.

Yes! Simply select multiple files during upload. A progress bar shows the status.

It goes to your organisation’s recycle bin and can be fully restored for 30 days – with page assignment, annotations, cropping and book numbers. The same applies to whole pieces. Only after that is it deleted permanently.

Only librarians and admins can delete permanently or empty the recycle bin. Files in the recycle bin still count towards your storage.

• Unassigned – PDFs that are not yet assigned to any piece
• No instrument – PDFs that are assigned to a piece but do not yet have an instrument

The combined PDF can be broken up directly in the browser: open the file, assign the instrument to every page on which a new part begins, then click Split by instruments. Pages without an assignment of their own automatically inherit the instrument of the previous page – for a four-page trombone part you therefore only mark page 1.

A3 sheets read sideways are detected automatically and split into 2× A4 at the press of a button. The full procedure is in the guide Splitting combined PDFs and A3 pages.

Yes. In the Notenarchiv app there is a scan button in the header of the music list (for everyone who may also upload). It opens your device's document scanner – with edge detection and perspective correction, and the corners can be adjusted by hand.

In the review screen you choose greyscale (the default), black and white or colour; the app removes shadows, lifts the contrast and turns the result into a multi-page PDF that is then assigned like any other upload. Without a connection the scan waits on the device and is uploaded later.

For the bulk of your collection a sheet-fed scanner is still the better choice – the guide Scanning sheet music explains why.

Yes. After an upload, Notenarchiv checks every page – without AI, purely by calculation – and reports blank pages, duplicate pages and A3 spreads scanned sideways. Blank pages are measured against the paper white of the scan rather than absolute white, so yellowed paper does not trigger a false alarm.

The decision stays yours: the notice suggests, it never deletes anything by itself. A3 sheets can be rotated and split into 2× A4 in one step.

Yes. The import assistant in the browser takes over a score list from Excel or CSV, whole music folders via folder selection, drag & drop or as a ZIP, and your member list. The folder structure assigns books, pieces and parts, and duplicates are matched against your library.

Every step shows beforehand what will happen and keeps a log. Members receive no emails until you invite them explicitly, and an imported score list can be undone for 14 days.

The detailed step-by-step guide is in Bringing your existing sheet music archive.

Yes. In the paper archive every set gets a storage location (room, cabinet, shelf) and an archive number; members see both below the piece’s sheets. This is available in all plans, and your admin switches it on in the organisation settings.

The Premium plan adds labels with QR code, stocktaking by app scan – even without a connection in the basement – and optionally purchase and licence details.

Recognition works well with clearly printed instrument names. Handwriting, very small text or poor scans can lead to errors. Always review the suggestions before you apply them.

AI recognition has a monthly page limit per organisation. Contact your admin to raise the limit, or wait for the next month.

• Mark the area as precisely as possible around the instrument name
• Maintain aliases for the instruments (e.g. "Clarinet 1", "Kl 1", "Bb Clar.")
• Use clearly legible, straight-scanned PDFs

Yes. Event planning brings rehearsals, performances, meetings and anything else into the same app as the sheet music. An event is addressed to the whole organisation, to groups (e.g. youth band, committee) or to individual sections – anyone not included does not see it. Creating events is for librarians and admins.

Event planning is available in all organisation plans; your admin switches it on in the organisation settings. The event insights – attendance and statistics, staffing traffic light, performance history and the GEMA/AKM/SUISA music report – are part of the Premium plan.

With one tap in the app or one click in the browser: yes, no and – if the event allows it – maybe. Each event can have a deadline; after that, replies are closed. Anyone who says nothing shows up as open in the list.

Organisers see attendance by section – seven of nine clarinets, percussion complete – and can enter a reply on someone's behalf, for instance when a member phones in. Reminders go out as a push notification, on the Premium plan also by email, with a lead time you choose.

Yes. Besides the reply beforehand, you can record actual attendance – in the app with one tap per person, in the browser optionally pre-filled from the replies. This produces statistics per member, section, group and month, with a ranking for awards and export to Excel or CSV.

Because this creates data about people, tracking is optional: your admin switches it on in the organisation settings. Each member only sees their own attendance in their profile, without comparison to others. Attendance is part of the event insights in the Premium plan.

Yes. Notenarchiv provides a personal calendar link (ICS) that Apple Calendar, Google Calendar and Outlook can subscribe to. New and changed events follow along on their own.

In the app a single event can additionally be added to the device calendar – with location and notes.

Yes. With the homepage widget, released events appear on your website – as an iframe or script, for example in WordPress, Jimdo or Wix, plus a public calendar subscription for visitors. Changes are online within a few minutes.

Only the title, date, time, place, a public note and, if you wish, the programme are public – no participants, no replies. The widget is part of event planning and available in all organisation plans.

The app's stage view. You assemble the set list beforehand – with book numbers and placeholders for programme items without sheet music such as "welcome" or "interval" – and open a session on stage. The app broadcasts it over Bluetooth to every device nearby – even without Wi-Fi or a network, for example in a marquee or on the march. All other devices join with a tap.

The conductor calls the change of piece, each player turns pages in their own part and sees on the indicator where the programme stands. With prepare offline for the performance the whole programme sits on the device beforehand – in a marquee without a network it works just the same.

Stage Mode is part of the Premium plan and released as beta; your admin switches it on in the organisation settings.

Yes, on devices running Android – for example from Onyx Boox, Tolino or PocketBook, Android 7.0 or later. The app recognises them and switches to e-paper mode: black and white, no animations, zoom in steps. For devices without the Play Store there is an APK at app.notenarchiv.com/android.

Ideal for marching: readable in the sun, long battery life, march mode locks the page against your thumb – and in Stage Mode the change of piece arrives over Bluetooth, even without a network. More in the guide Marching with an e-ink tablet.

It is usually down to the Android version. On Android 6 to 11 an app may only scan for nearby devices over Bluetooth while location is switched on – Android requires it. This mainly affects e-paper tablets and older devices, which often still run these versions. The app neither reads nor stores your location.

1. Switch on location in your device settings – depending on the device under “Location”, “Security & location” or in the quick settings.
2. Check under Settings → Apps → Notenarchiv → Permissions that the app has the “Location” permission.
3. Close the app completely (swipe it out of the recent apps list) and open it again.
4. Open the Stage tab – the running session now appears.

None of this is needed on iPhone, iPad or Android 12 and later. With an internet connection the app also finds running sessions via the server, without Bluetooth – offline, for example on the march or in a marquee, Bluetooth is the only way.

Yes. Billing is per group, not per head – a six-piece dance band pays the same as any other small group. In Stage Mode (Premium plan) the bandleader rearranges the set list in the middle of the gig and everyone jumps to the new piece. Stand-ins get their music via a share link without an account, and if you also play in the brass band, you simply switch organisation after logging in. More under sheet music management for bands and dance music.

Yes, in the app on iPhone, iPad and Android – with an Apple Pencil, S Pen or your finger, including pressure sensitivity and palm rejection. On top of that there are ready-made stamps (fermata, segno, coda, breath marks, accidentals, dynamics from pp to ff, cresc., rit., tempo, solo/tutti, D.C., D.S., Fine, tacet) and labelled text notes.

Everyone has their own layer per part and shares it with the organisation only on request. The markings look the same on every device, work offline and are shown in the web view too – but drawing happens in the app only.

Markings are included in every plan.

No. Cropping trims the white margins for the display only – in the reader, in the page images and in the preview. Download, printing and the forScore export still deliver the full page, and the file itself is untouched.

The app detects the margins at the press of a button; the frame can be dragged and applied to every page of the part. If you do want the crop written into the file permanently, you can say so explicitly – that step cannot be undone.

Yes. After the performance, the event’s programme becomes the music report for GEMA, AKM or SUISA – as a PDF laid out like the collecting society’s form and as CSV/Excel to transfer into the online portal. A gap report shows missing details such as composer, lyricist or work number.

Nothing is reported automatically – you export and submit yourselves. The music report is part of the event insights in the Premium plan and is switched on by the admin.

Yes – the Notenarchiv app is available on the App Store and on Google Play. The web app is additionally mobile-optimised and can be used on any smartphone in the browser – including a PDF viewer and forScore handover.

Notenarchiv supports the import of forScore files – simply upload them like PDFs, and all metadata is taken over automatically. On export you can download parts either as a PDF or forScore file, including title, composer and category. On iOS, parts can additionally be handed over directly to forScore. If forScore is not installed, the normal share menu opens.

Yes. In the app, open your music book, tap Share voice, pick your instrument and choose forScore in the share menu – the whole batch is imported in a single pass, composer and category included via the PDF metadata.

If only one file used to arrive: iOS offers forScore in two places, and the destination “Copy to forScore” is always handed exactly one file by the system. The app now hides that destination whenever more than one file is shared. Alternatively you can import from within forScore via + > Import and the Notenarchiv location. The full walkthrough is in the guide Importing several scores into forScore at once.

Yes. PDFs you have opened stay on the device automatically. Beyond that you can hold individual pieces via Available offline, or set up a rule in your profile under Offline synchronisation – for example “Trumpet 1 from the main folder and the march book”. Everything matching the rule is kept permanently, including newly added pieces.

Without a connection the music list shows only synchronised pieces; profile settings still need internet. More on this in the guide Sheet music offline.

Before rehearsals and performances the app also downloads your parts for all pieces in the programme automatically – 3 to 30 days ahead and depending on your reply. After the event the space is freed again.

Yes. In your profile you choose normal, night mode (light notes on a dark background), sepia or like app design for the music. It applies to all pieces, in Stage Mode too, and can be toggled with a page-turner pedal. The whole app also comes in a dark design – on iOS, Android and in the browser.

Night mode only affects the display: PDFs and annotations stay unchanged.

Yes. Pedals such as AirTurn, PageFlip, Donner or iRig BlueTurn turn pages in the app’s reader and in Stage Mode without you having to set the pedal’s mode – all common keys are assigned out of the box. In your profile under “page-turner pedal & keyboard” you teach and test your own assignments.

In the browser the music viewer turns pages with a keyboard’s arrow keys.

Yes, with jump links in the app: you link the jump sign to its target, one tap jumps there, and a back pill takes you back. With a defined order you play through the whole piece with the foot pedal.

Jump links are personal, work offline and in Stage Mode and can be shared with the organisation. In the browser they are displayed.

The application and your files are hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH in data centres in Germany and Finland, and therefore inside the EU. A data processing agreement per Art. 28 GDPR is in place with Hetzner. Your sheet music never leaves European jurisdiction.

Yes. In practice that means:

• Encrypted transmission via HTTPS/TLS
• Tenant separation – every organisation is strictly isolated from the others
• Role-based access control instead of blanket permissions
• Phishing-resistant sign-in via WebAuthn/passkeys
• Access, erasure and data portability per Art. 15, 17 and 20 GDPR

Only if you want it to be. AI instrument recognition is switched off by default. Only once it is enabled are individual page images sent to the OpenAI API for analysis – on the basis of standard contractual clauses per Art. 46 GDPR. You can turn the feature off again at any time in the settings. Without AI recognition enabled, your sheet music never leaves the servers in the EU.

Cookies: none – neither in the web app nor in the mobile app. The browser only holds your sign-in token and the selected organisation, both technically necessary.

Audience measurement: In the web app we count page views with the self-hosted software Umami – cookieless, with no link to an account or organisation, with page paths without identifiers, and not at all when “Do Not Track” is on. The mobile app is not measured. Technical errors go to Sentry as a report without personal details.

On this marketing website we use Google Ads to measure our advertising. Those tags load only after your explicit consent; without it they stay disabled. Details are in the privacy policy.

Billing is per organisation, tiered by active users of the last 90 days: Basis (up to 40) costs €12.90 per month, Premium (up to 40) €24.90, Premium L (up to 80) €34.90 and Premium XL (unlimited) €49.90, all including VAT. Paying annually saves two months.

Basis includes the library, the app with markings & cropping and event planning with 50 GB. Premium adds 100, 150 or 200 GB, AI instrument recognition, Stage Mode, event insights, email notifications to members and labels and stocktaking in the paper archive. For a sense of scale: 1 GB holds around 350 pieces or 2,000 song sheets – the 50 GB in Basis alone is enough for around 17,500 pieces. Premium already suits medium-sized bands, L large and XL very large ones. The full comparison is on the pricing page.

Active means having used Notenarchiv in the browser or the app during the last 90 days – plus new members during their first 90 days. Registered members who never look in, stand-ins and recipients of share links do not count. Anyone taking a break, for parental leave or an injury, drops out of the count automatically after 90 days without use – no need to remove them, and their account and settings are kept. Nobody is ever locked out.

Details on the pricing page

60 days with the full feature set and no credit card. The trial ends automatically – there is no automatic payment obligation and nothing to cancel.

Yes. After the contract ends your data stays available for download for 30 days, after which it is deleted irrevocably. The sheet music is stored as unchanged PDFs – there is no proprietary format and therefore no lock-in.