This is the complete guide to Laudanza: it covers in detail everything you can do, from creating your account to writing chords, transposing, building programs and sharing with your group with fine-grained permissions. Read it all the way through, or jump to what you need from the index on the left, which follows you as you scroll.
1What is Laudanza?
Laudanza is a web and mobile app —a PWA: it runs in the browser and you can install it as an app— to create, organize, play and share songbooks with lyrics and chords. It works for a church repertoire, a band's rehearsals or your personal songbook alike.
The concepts that underpin everything
- Song — the lyrics with chords placed right over the syllable where they land. It has an owner, metadata (key, author, time signature…) and can appear in several songbooks at once.
- Variant — an alternative version of a song's lyrics (a different verse, another arrangement) without touching the original.
- Songbook — an ordered collection of songs. It defines each song's order, code, category, key and capo, the typography and how it prints.
- Program — a song list (a setlist) for a specific event, drawn from a songbook, ready to play, project or print.
- Snapshot — a downloadable copy of a songbook, to take it offline, share it or open it without an account.
Laudanza is offline-first and multi-device: your content syncs to your account and, once opened, works with no connection — perfect for rehearsals and gigs with no signal.
2Getting started
Create an account
Sign up with your email and a password or straight in with Google. If you sign up by email, you'll get a verification message; until you confirm the link, the account stays pending. If someone had invited you to a songbook at that email before you had an account, the invitation activates automatically when you register.
Sign in
Log in with email and password or with Google. If you have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, after the password you'll be asked for the 6-digit code from your authenticator app (or a recovery code).
Install the app (PWA)
Laudanza runs in any browser, but it's worth installing as an app:
- Android / Chrome: browser menu → "Install app" or "Add to Home Screen".
- iPhone / Safari: Share button → "Add to Home Screen".
- Desktop (Chrome/Edge): the install icon in the address bar.
Once installed, it opens full-screen and keeps your songbooks for offline use.
The dashboard
When you sign in you land on your dashboard: a greeting, the number of songs, songbooks and programs, shortcuts to create content, your upcoming programs and —importantly— everything pending: songbook invitations, incoming transfers, unreviewed imports and suggestions to accept.
3Your account and security
From My profile you manage your whole account in one place.
Profile
- Display name and avatar (from Gravatar, based on your email).
- Default chord notation — Anglo-Saxon (C, D, E…) or Latin (Do, Re, Mi…); it's your default when viewing any song.
- Interface language (Spanish or English), from the switcher in the top bar.
Password and Google sign-in
Change your password whenever you like (it asks for the current one). If you signed up with Google only, you can add a password to also log in by email; and you can link or unlink your Google account. Changing your password closes all your open sessions.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
Enable it with any TOTP app (Google Authenticator, Aegis, 1Password…):
- Laudanza shows a QR code (and the key as text in case you'd rather type it). Scan it with your app.
- Confirm with the 6-digit code the app generates.
- Save the recovery codes that appear: they're your way in if you lose your phone. You can regenerate them or disable 2FA anytime.
Write down your recovery codes when you enable 2FA. Without them and without your phone, you won't be able to get in.
Forgot your password?
From the sign-in screen, request a reset link; it arrives by email. Setting the new password closes all previous sessions.
Delete your account
You can delete your account from the profile itself (it asks you to confirm by typing your email). Your sessions are closed and you won't be able to log back in.
4Adding songs
There are several ways to get songs into Laudanza. They all end in a song of yours that you can edit.
Create it blank
Give it a title (and optionally author and key) and start writing the lyrics and chords in the editor.
Import a file
Laudanza ingests PDF, DOC, DOCX and ODT and automatically detects where the chords are, splitting one song from the next. It recognizes two-column songbooks, titles with codes (e.g. "A 1", "Ñ 12"), bold choruses and capo cues ("Capo 3"). If the PDF is a scan, it runs OCR automatically.
Import from a public website
If the song is published on a chord website, paste its address (URL): Laudanza downloads it, detects the chords and creates a draft ready to review. It recognizes sites like Pastoral de Música or CifraClub and, in general, any page that shows the lyrics with chords as text (preformatted text blocks).
Paste text
If a site won't allow automatic downloading, copy the song (lyrics with chords above them), paste it into Laudanza with a title and author, and it's processed just like an import.
Import from other projection software
You can upload OpenLyrics or OpenSong files (individual XML or a ZIP with several songs): they come in through the same review flow as a PDF. This is how you bring into Laudanza whatever you already have in OpenLP, OpenSong, Quelea or Praisenter (see Interop with projection software).
The import keeps the bold text from the original document (for example, choruses highlighted in the source Word file).
5Reviewing an import
Imports from files, URLs, OpenLyrics/OpenSong and so on are processed as an ingestion job that you can review before anything is saved. The job moves through several states (uploaded → extracting → parsing → awaiting review) and, when it's ready, you open it to review.
What you review
- The list of detected songs, each with its sections (verses, choruses) and the chords already placed.
- The recognized metadata (title, author, key, capo…), which you can fix right there.
- Which songbook to add the songs to (or none), and which to discard.
Duplicate detection
Before creating anything, Laudanza compares each song with the ones you already have access to (by title and by how similar the lyrics are) and warns you if it looks like a duplicate. For each match you can:
- Link — create nothing new; use the existing song (for example, to add it to the destination songbook).
- Update — overwrite the existing song with the imported one. Laudanza shows you which fields change and a line-by-line lyric diff to compare before you decide.
Duplicates are searched only within what you can see: you're never suggested to reuse other people's songs that you don't have access to.
6The song editor
The editor brings together a song's metadata and its content (sections with lyrics and chords).
Metadata
You can set: title, aliases (other titles it's known by), author, key, capo, time signature (e.g. 4/4), tempo (slow/moderate/fast), tags, notes, copyright and CCLI number (for projection licensing).
Media links
Add links to the song and Laudanza embeds them automatically when you view it: YouTube videos, Spotify tracks or Canción Católica. Other links show up as references. Handy for keeping the reference version at hand.
Song status
Each song is a draft, active or archived. Drafts and archived stay private to you (and to anyone with edit permission); only active songs are shared through a songbook or the public catalog.
Sections and lines
Lyrics are organized into sections with a type (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, interlude, outro) and a free label ("Verse 1"). Each section can be edited two ways:
- Visual mode — each line with its chord strip above; the comfortable way to place chords (see the next section).
- Text mode — you type chords and lyrics on alternating lines, handy for pasting or fast typing.
While typing lyrics, Enter splits the line at the cursor and Backspace at the start merges it with the line above; the arrows move focus between lines. You can reorder lines by dragging.
Original document
If the song was imported from a file, you can open the original document (PDF/DOC/ODT) at the exact page it came from, to check the transcription against the source.
7Writing and placing chords
Placing a chord is as simple as saying "this chord goes here".
Add a chord
- On the chord strip (above the lyrics), click right over the syllable where the chord lands.
- The radial picker opens: choose the root (the 12 notes arranged in a circle of fifths) and then the quality (major, minor or 7th in the basic ring; and a whole advanced menu with maj7, m7, sus2/sus4, dim, aug, add9, ninths, sixths, power chords "5", etc.).
- If you want a slash chord (a bass note, e.g. G/B), pick the bass note too. And if you need something that isn't there, "Other…" lets you type any chord.
As you choose, the chord plays so you can confirm by ear. The picker respects your notation (Anglo or Latin). Esc steps back.
Move, change or delete
- Change: click a chord already placed and pick again.
- Move: drag it, use the arrows, or the context menu (right-click) to shift it one or several positions.
- Delete: from that same menu or the picker's delete button.
- You can even drag a chord from one line to another.
The chord pad
A helper panel with a grid of chords: tap any to hear it. It edits nothing; it's there to "think" chords by ear while you write.
Import handwritten chords
If you have the song on paper with the chords written by hand, upload a photo or PDF and Laudanza recognizes the chords and their position, dropping them into the editor so you just have to review.
8Viewing and playing a song
When you open a song you have everything to play it at hand. Two controls worth not confusing:
Transposition and capo: not the same thing
- Transposition (by semitones, ↑/↓) — changes both the chord you read and the sound. To sing in another key.
- Capo — changes only the sound; the chord you read doesn't change. It lets you play easier shapes that sound higher.
Laudanza always shows which key the combination sounds in ("sounds in G"). A reset button returns to the original key.
Easy capo
The easy capo button automatically finds the combination of transposition and capo that sounds the same but uses the simplest shapes (more open chords).
Simplify chords
If there are "hard" chords, the simplify option reduces them to the basic triads (major, minor or 7th): sixths, ninths, sus, dim, aug or maj7 become their base chord. Ideal for beginners.
Other views and helpers
- Notation Anglo/Latin on the fly, and text zoom.
- Lyrics only — hide the chords to project or sing.
- Audio — tap any chord (in the lyrics or in the "chords used" list) to hear it.
- Diagrams — the song lists the chords it uses with their guitar diagram.
- Media — if the song has YouTube/Spotify links, they show embedded alongside.
9Chords: notation, diagrams and sound
Notation
Laudanza uses canonical Anglo-Saxon notation (C, D, E…) and can display it in Latin (Do, Re, Mi…) per your preference. It respects sharps and flats and supports a wide range of qualities: majors, minors, sevenths (7, maj7, m7, m7b5, dim7…), sixths, ninths, add9, sus2/sus4, dim, aug, power chords (5) and slash chords (a bass note, e.g. G/B).
Guitar diagrams
Each chord shows a fretboard diagram with the usual notation: x muted
string, o open string, dots for fingers, the barre line and the fret
number when the shape doesn't start at the nut. There are open shapes for the common
chords and movable templates (E-shape and A-shape barres) for the rest; slash chords
derive their shape automatically.
Sound
The audio is a synthetic plucked-string sound (not recorded samples): it plays the diagram's shape, or the chord's notes if there's no diagram. The capo is applied to the sound too.
The chord reference
The chord reference (public, no account) has diagrams for every chord, with filters by category (basic, sevenths, extended, suspended, altered, power and slash), zoom, finger numbers, Anglo/Latin switch and A4 printing. Perfect for looking up a shape you can't remember.
10Lyric variants
A single song can have variants: alternative versions of the lyrics (a different verse, your own arrangement, another language) that you create without touching the canonical version.
- Each variant is yours and private by default: only you and the song's owner see it.
- If you publish it, everyone who can already see the song will see it.
- In each songbook you choose, song by song, which variant to use (or the canonical one). So two songbooks can show different lyrics for the same song.
11History and revert
Every edit of a song saves a snapshot of the previous state (lyrics, chords and metadata) and notes which fields changed. From the history you see the timeline of changes —who and when— and you can revert to an earlier version.
Reverting is reserved to the song's owner, and the revert itself is recorded as one more change (you never lose the trail).
12Finding and merging duplicates
Over time it's easy to end up with the same song twice (imported from two PDFs, pasted and then imported again…). The duplicates tool scans your whole library and groups songs that look alike by title and by lyrics, showing the similarity percentage.
For each group you can:
- Compare the lyrics side by side.
- Merge two songs into one: you choose which one stays and with what final title.
- Delete one of the copies, optionally keeping its title as an alias of the one that stays.
- Mark them as intentionally different so they don't show up as a duplicate again (undoable).
You can adjust the similarity threshold (from 50% to 95%) to find looser or stricter matches.
13Songbooks
A songbook organizes your songs and defines how they're presented.
Create and configure
- Name and description.
- Typeface — any Google Font or the classic Microsoft ones (Arial, Verdana, Times, Comic Sans…), with a preview.
- Default alignment — left or centered (centered only applies in "lyrics only" mode).
- Single-column printing and the songbook's own notation (Anglo or Latin): the latter overrides your global preference when viewing and printing it.
- Copyright / CCLI notice for the songbook, for printing.
- Public or private (making it public requires a platform admin role; see Public catalog).
The three tabs
The songbook list separates them into My songbooks, Shared with me and Public.
Viewing a songbook
When you open it you can search by title, author or code, filter by category (with each one's count), turn on searching within the lyrics, and show or hide unpublished songs. Each entry shows code, title, author and the songbook's own key/capo settings.
Make a copy (fork)
You can copy a songbook —yours or a public one— to have it in your account and change it without affecting the original.
14Organizing a songbook
Within a songbook, each song can carry its own settings without affecting the canonical version or other songbooks.
Per-song settings
- Code — free-form (e.g. "A 1", "Ñ 12"), unique within the songbook. Editable right in the list.
- Category — a functional label to group by (Entrance, Communion, Advent, Weddings…).
- Own key and capo for the songbook.
- Title alias — a different title only in this songbook.
- Variant — which version of the lyrics to use here.
- Rhythm marks — annotations that mark, from a given line, a change of rhythm; they show as a small banner above the lyrics. Edited per line, with reusable labels.
You can reorder the songs freely and repeat the same song with different codes.
Bulk operations
Selecting several songs you can reassign the category, publish drafts or remove them from the songbook all at once.
15Programs and setlists
A program is the song list for a specific event: Sunday mass, a concert, a rehearsal.
Create a program
A program can be bound to a songbook (pick from its songs) or free (from any song you can see). You give it a title, occasion, date and notes, and add songs by searching them by code, title or author. Only published songs can be added.
Per-entry settings
Each song in the program can carry its own label (e.g. "chorus only"), transposition, capo and variant, and is reordered by dragging.
Share a program
Generate a public link so anyone can view, print and export it to Word without an account. You can set the expiry (7, 30, 90 days or never), copy the link or show a QR code, and revoke it whenever you want. The WhatsApp/Telegram preview shows the program's correct title.
The public view
Whoever opens the link sees the program with a floating panel to adjust text size and width, toggle "lyrics only", show diagrams, transpose or ask for an easy capo, and tap chords to hear them. They can also export it to Word (DOCX).
16Printing and PDF export
Laudanza renders printing on your own device and computes the pagination automatically (columns, page breaks, indexes), so a songbook or a program come out ready to print or save as PDF with your browser's print dialog.
Print options
- Lyrics only — no chords, to sing or project.
- Chord diagrams — none, only the uncommon ones, or all.
- Columns — 1, 2 or 3.
- Font size and alignment.
The layout avoids splitting songs mid-page whenever it can, groups by category and includes the logo and a running header on each page. The chord reference prints on A4 too.
17Interop with projection software
Laudanza speaks the standard projection formats, both ways.
Import
Upload OpenLyrics or OpenSong files (individual XML or a ZIP): they come in through the normal review flow (see Reviewing an import). This is how you bring into Laudanza whatever you already have in OpenLP, OpenSong, Quelea or Praisenter.
Export
Export a song or a whole songbook (as a ZIP) to OpenLyrics or OpenSong, with the option to include the chords or not. That way you can project your Laudanza songbooks in any of those programs: lyrics only for the projector, or with chords for the musicians.
18Working offline and snapshots
Laudanza is built to work offline. Once you open your songbooks and programs while online, they're cached on the device and stay available even if you lose signal at the rehearsal or the gig.
Snapshots
From a songbook you can generate a snapshot: a copy with all its content, which gives you two things:
- a downloadable JSON file (a backup, or to take it to another device), which you can also save to Google Drive; and
- a link that opens the songbook without an account.
Importing a snapshot
From Import snapshot you upload a JSON file or paste a link (including a Google Drive one). Signed in, it imports into your account; signed out, it's shown in memory for you to consult right away.
22Suggestions and transfers
Edit suggestions
Whoever has permission to suggest (but not edit) on your songs can propose changes from the editor. You see pending proposals on your dashboard and in the editor, and decide: on accept, the change is applied to the song and kept in the history; on reject, you can add a note.
Transfer a song
You can hand over ownership of a song to another person. They have 7 days to accept; when they do, the former owner is automatically granted delegated editing, so they don't lose access to something they prepared. From a songbook you can transfer several songs at once.
Transfer a songbook
You can also transfer a whole songbook. The request expires after 7 days; on acceptance, the former owner becomes a manager and keeps full control except ownership.
24Public catalog
The public catalog gathers songs and songbooks their owners have made public. Anyone can browse and search it, and from a public songbook you can make a copy in your account to use and modify as you like.
Publishing content to the catalog (marking it public) is reserved to platform administrators. As a user, you can always share privately with permissions, or via links and snapshots.
25Frequently asked questions
How much does Laudanza cost?
You can create your account and manage your songbooks for free, from the browser or by installing the app.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Download your songbooks and programs to your device and use them without internet — ideal for rehearsals and gigs.
Can I import songs from PDF, Word or a website?
Yes. Laudanza ingests PDF, DOC, DOCX and ODT and automatically detects the chords. You can also import by pasting the address (URL) of a chord website, pasting its text, or uploading OpenLyrics/OpenSong files.
What's the difference between transposing and using a capo?
Transposing changes the chord you read and the sound (to sing in another key). A capo changes only the sound: you read the same chord but it sounds higher, so you can play easier shapes.
Can I share with my group?
Yes. Share each songbook with fine-grained permissions (reader, annotator, collaborator, editor or manager), share your whole library or catalog, or generate a public link to view it without an account.
Does it work with OpenLP, OpenSong, Quelea or Praisenter?
Yes. Laudanza exports and imports OpenLyrics and OpenSong, with or without chords, so you can project your songbooks in any of those programs and bring in the ones you already have.
Does it show ads?
The service may show ads to sustain itself. Advertising is configured by the platform administrators.
Ready to start?
Create your free account and build your first songbook in minutes.
23Comments
Within a songbook you can comment on a song, and even anchor the comment to a specific line of the lyrics. They allow one level of replies, editing and deleting your own, and marking them resolved or reopening them (with a filter to hide resolved ones).
They're great for coordinating arrangements with your group: "we go up a semitone here", "just the lead voice sings this verse", "repeat the chorus". Commenting requires the comment permission (annotator role or above).