Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Notenarchiv is a web app for the digital management of sheet music for music clubs, 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.

• 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.

Exclusively as a PDF. Other formats are not supported.

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

The file is permanently deleted. There is no recycle bin. Only delete PDFs if you are sure.

• 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.

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 – 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.

The application and your files are hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany – in the Nuremberg and Falkenstein data centres, 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 German servers.

Not in the Notenarchiv app: there are no tracking cookies and no advertising cookies there. The browser only stores your sign-in token and the selected organisation, both technically necessary for the service to work.

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The Basis plan costs €9.90 a month (80 GB), Premium costs €19.90 a month (200 GB including AI instrument recognition), both including VAT. Billing is per organisation, not per member – the number of members is unlimited. Paying yearly saves two months.

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.