Export your library

Your charts stay yours, in portable ChordPro. Three ways to get them back out.

Export all songs (per band)

Open the ` or F2 menu and choose Export all songs in (your band name).... Pick a folder, and BandBinder writes one file per song in that band - Title - Artist.cho for a text/ChordPro chart, or the original .pdf for a PDF chart, byte for byte.

This exports the currently open band only, not every band on your device. If you belong to more than one band, switch to the band you want first (the band chip in the header, or Ctrl+B).

Export a single chart

From Chart View, open the ` or F2 menu and choose Export as ChordPro... (or Export PDF... for a PDF chart) to write that one song to a location you pick.

Backup library vs. export

Band Hub's Backup library... is a different thing: a single .sqlite snapshot of your entire local database - every band, song, setlist and note on this device, not just one band's charts. It exists for disaster recovery (Restore library from backup... on the same menu), not for reading or sharing individual charts. For files you can open elsewhere, use the exports above.

See also cloud backup and recovery, free for signed-in accounts.

Move songs to another device, without an account

Export and import is the no-account way to get your songs onto a second device - no sign-in, no internet, no subscription. It's the same two commands documented above and in import formats, used as a round trip.

1. On the device that has the songs, choose Export all songs in (your band)... and pick a folder. You get one file per song - .cho for text charts, the original .pdf byte for byte for PDF charts.
2. Copy that folder to the other device however you like - USB stick, network share, whatever you already use.
3. On the receiving device, open the Songs list menu, choose Import folder of songs..., pick the folder, and review the list before committing.

It merges, it doesn't replace. Songs already in the band are matched by title and left unchecked, so re-running the round trip later only picks up what's missing. That's what makes it repeatable rather than a one-time move.

What travels: the chart itself - lyrics, chords, key and tempo. What doesn't: setlists, practice notes, Spotify and YouTube links, and album art, because none of those live in a chart file. Add them on the receiving device afterwards.

Exporting per band. Both commands work on the currently open band, so if you belong to more than one, repeat the round trip per band.

If you want both devices to stay in step automatically instead, that's what signing in and the band library sync are for - see join your band.

Cloning a whole device instead

Band Hub's Backup library... / Restore library from backup... is the other option, and a different tool: a single .sqlite file carrying everything on the device - every band, song, setlist, note, PDF chart and cover.

Use it to replace a device, not to share songs between two. Restore replaces the receiving device's library rather than merging into it, so anything already there is overwritten (a pre-restore safety copy is written beside the database first). Each device still keeps its own cloud backup slot: restoring a backup file does not make the receiving device take over the backup of the device that wrote it.