PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Print Options and Section Text

A question about what I think is a "missing feature" for Section Text in Print Options...

My chosen settings allow me to see JUST the bar lines, chords in between, and bar lyrics underneath the chords when in the LEAD SHEET window.

It took me awhile to sort out the settings of what controls what.

In the MAIN WINDOW, under the Chord Display button, I can choose to show Bar-based Lyrics and/or Section Text. (I'm using Section Text to remind myself where I've added or muted instruments, alerts for a key change, or any other details I want to easily see while working on the song. It's a great feature!)

Checking or unchecking the Bar Lyrics and/or Section Text in this sub-menu controls both of the on-screen views of the main chord chart window and the the notation window.

However, if I want to see / or not see the Bar-based lyrics in the Lead Sheet View, this is controlled only from the Print Options. I can choose one of 4 options: No bar-based Lyrics, Above, Below, and Separate.

For my use-case, I choose "Bar-based Lyrics Below" with a position of 1. I can see the Lyrics under the chords in both in the Lead Sheet View and the "OK generate preview" from the Print Options. If I choose "No bar-based Lyrics" in the Print Options, then the lyrics disappear from the Lead Sheet View.

My problem: I found out Section Text can not be turned on or off the way bar lyrics can. It shows all the time.

I recently worked on a song where I added a lot of Section Text throughout the song. It's very helpful on the main screen when working on the song, but this is not any information I need to see on the lead sheet view or a printed lead sheet. Does anyone know a work-around to this? The Layers sub-menu has no relevance to the lead sheet view and the printed document.

I hope that a control can be added in the Print Options to turn it on or off, just like the setting for the bar based lyrics. I realize this is an individual use-case, but maybe I'm not the only one. It would be nice to have the option to show or not show it.

I think more global options for section text need to be included, as well. I'm going to save a new version of this song without the text, so I can print my lead sheet. It looks like I will have to go through and delete the text measure by measure. It'd be nice to have a sub-menu for Section Text under "Edit" like there is for Lyrics (with options like "Erase Bar-Based Lyrics").

Kudos to all the BIAB staff for the hard work they do to continually update the program. I originally bought it in 2018, then upgraded in 2020, and although I tried numerous times to get going with it, it was just too daunting and didn't seem to do what I wanted. However, after reading about some of the amazing additions from 2021 to present, I decided to upgrade to 2023.

I am now absolutely loving it. The new features that have been added since 2020 are what I'm using the most. I had started dabbling with Reaper last year, so that has helped so much, to understand BIAB better in working with tracks, midi, etc. I'm finally somewhat successfully making some backing tracks, although it took 5 years to get started!

That is a good point. There should be a separate option for section text. A work-around I found is to Copy the track to a Utility track - the text is not copied (for better or for worse) - then you can print that track.

Hi Andrew - thanks for replying. Hopefully, you can work in options for section text similar to bar lyrics. That would be great.

I played around with the info you posted as a work-around and I'm baffled. I'm not seeing any way to *NOT* see the section text on the Lead Sheet. I tried copying, I see the text showing on the Lead Sheet on ALL utility tracks, whether they are empty or have been copied into. What am I missing?

Just to clarify, I created a fake song (to avoid any copyright issues ) and attached some pics.

1 - Shows my chord chart with bar lyrics and section text turned on and text entered. Shows the lead sheet view in the same pic and the clashing text. The bar lyrics have an adjustment in the Print options. Where you see the lyrics sit in relation to the chords is at a 1. For lyrics below the chords 1 is the only option that works. That's as close to the chords as it will go.

2 - The Print Preview, showing the same thing. (The lead sheet view and the Print Preview are never exactly alike, but they both consistently have the clashing text.)

3 - Print option box showing that I deleted the Title, since for my purpose, it takes up way to much space, and makes all the chords and lyrics that much smaller to read on my ipad.

4 - Chord Chart after I went in and manually deleted the section text one measure at a time. I couldn't find any options to delete all section text, like there are with bar lyrics. Also, notice that the Song Title has disappeared!

5 - After removing section text on the main chord chart, and removing the Title, I can get a pdf to my liking. Then I have to remember to type the title back in.


Ideally, the section text could be adjustable with a number scale, just like the bar lyrics, so that each could be adjusted to be in their own lane and not clash, AND to turn OFF for those, like me, who don't want to see it.

It would also be great if there were some controls to determine how much or little space the title would take up (font size) and for it to not eliminate the main title, if we don't want it to print.

I'm having a few other print issues, but will save it for another post.

Thanks for looking into this.