Need suggestions - move Word-based lyrics/chords to specialized software

[billyg]

I have for years tended to create my notebooks of lyrics and chords by hand in Word. I have created many compilations over the years including specialized ones for Christmas and other occasions. I try and share them with friends I play tunes with.
Every so often, however, font changes or something starts to mess with the chord placement; I want to make changes; or just lose track of what version of the compilation I am working with. I want to improve my system.
So, I am wondering what recommendations are out there for lyrics with chords above them that 1) can be indexed; 2) can be printed / made into PDFs; 3) will do a pretty good job of lining up chords/bars to lyrics; and 4) might not be too difficult for me to start and complete the transition process.
I have read partial threads on this before; I start my own software research, and run aground. I'm trying again and would appreciate recommendations.
I am fine paying for software as long as the price is reasonable. I write a few songs here and there, but I don't create complicated sheets. I can read music.
I have almost downloaded Band-in-a-Box about 11 times, but am not sure it will do what I need in terms of getting my sheets converted and possibly printed. I work on Macs..
Thanks for any suggestions.

[billyg]

As an example, here is what one of my current Word-produced sheets looks like.

GoodAfterBad.jpg

[ssjk]

I recently converted to SongBook by linkesoft. Previously created all my song files in word with PDFs for display.

Works for Mac and for iPad. And I think there is a version for Android. Conversion process pretty direct, although not without some manual steps:

Save file as .txt
Import to songbook
Convert from text to chord pro format (just pick a menu option)
make sure the conversion put the chords where you wanted them.
Save

Repeat for each song

In Word you approximate chord locations via spaces and tabs. With the chordPro convention you place them exactly where you want them (like in the middle of a word) and the software then places them for you. Wish I had done that long ago.

ps. I had over 500 files to convert, so I’m glad I bought the Mac version as well as the iPad version. Much easier with a mouse and a big screen.

[Misifus]

I have been able to avoid shifting chord placement by using tabs to place the chord symbols, rather than simply spacing to place them.

[Twitch]

To avoid having to approximate the chord locations, use a 'fixed pitch' font so that each character consumes the same width, no matter what the character is. This forces strict column alignment across the page.

All of my song sheets were originally generated in MS Word using the 'Lucinda Console' font, which works well for this purpose. The Courier fonts are fixed pitch too but I personally like the Lucinda one better.

[billyg]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

[valleyguy]

Of course the chordpro format is best for actually positioning a chord in the proper location relative to the lyric. However, actually reading it that way on a piece of paper is not very useful. Apps like Onsong and Songbook use the chordpro format ,but display the chord above the lyric. I use Onsong so I regularly use chordpro formatted files. You can import a chordpro formatted file and it will display the chord above the lyric. If you import a file with chord over lyric, Onsong can convert it to chordpro format in the edit window so that any editing will retain the chord in the proper place when displayed on the screen. Onsong does import pdf file also.

There are two free programs that convert from chord over lyric to chordpro format and vice versa. They are chordsmith and songpress. I prefer Songpress.

I see you are wanting to stay with the printed sheets, not use a tablet to display them, which after many years of notebooks, I would highly recommend an iPad with Onsong. The simple answer is to use Courier as suggested above, but you still run into a problem if you add or delete a word. the line above with the chords does not adjust for the change in length of the sentence below it. You just have to edit both lines.

Try Songpress. You can copy the word file into it and it will display the chordpro format. Edit the chordpro file and it automatically update the file with the chord over lyric. This might be more than you're really trying to do. It will not index your files.

Hope this helps...