Special Features
Search
The search bar at the top of the screen provides you with three different ways to search through your project. You can toggle through these options using the dropdown menu on the right side of the navigation bar.
Your first option is searching Cues. This will search both the individual cue titles (often listed as cue numbers) and any information you have included in the label. The second option is searching Text. This will search for any text notes that have been added to the project. In both cases, your search will include every layer in the project, regardless of whether you have edit permissions or have hidden the layer from view. So, your results may turn up entries that are not immediately visible in your project without changing your viewing preferences. Clicking on any search result will immediately take you to that page of your PDF.
The third option allows you to search the Script or text of your uploaded PDF. This search only works if your PDF is formatted in such a way as to include OCR (optical character recognition). Optical character recognition is usually included in any document initially developed by a word processing program and saved as a PDF. Scanned images or PDFs made from a photocopier will rarely have OCR built into the document, and thus, you may find that they do not provide any script search results unless you are able to run them through a separate OCR program. In a similar fashion to both Cue and Text searches, you may click on any result to jump to that page of your project immediately.
Bookmarks
Creating Bookmarks
Unlike structure, which everyone on the project shares, bookmarks are private to you. You can bookmark any page of your project by clicking on the bookmark icon in the upper right-hand corner of the PDF. Clicking again on the icon at any point will remove the bookmark. Your bookmarks are collected under the My Bookmarks tab of the Navigation panel. While new bookmarks will initially be labeled with their page number, you can edit and customize those labels by double-clicking on the text. Clicking once on a bookmark label will take you to that PDF page in your project.
Importing Bookmarks
Because the bookmarks in your project are user-specific, they will not automatically be shared with your collaborators. However, if you click on the Import Bookmarks button at the top of the My Bookmarks tab, you will be given the option to merge any other collaborator’s bookmarks with your own. In the instances where both you and your collaborator have bookmarks set on the same page, this option will overwrite your existing bookmark label with that of your collaborator. You cannot undo this merge, so proceed with caution.
Dark Mode
Please note the toggle switch labeled Dark Mode in the blue navigation bar at the top of the screen. You can flip this anytime you would like to put Cuelist in a low-light-friendly color scheme.
Work Notes
Adding Work Notes
One of the attributes located inside every cue is a Work Note. This attribute allows you to attach an easily reference-able note to any cue where you have edit permissions. If a cue has a work note attached to it, you will see a star marker inside the cue on the right-hand side.
There are two ways to trigger a work note on a cue. First, in an expanded cue, you will see a field labeled Work Note. Once you add any text in that field and hit return, you will see a work note icon appear in the cue, and your note will be cataloged in the comprehensive work note list. For quicker entry, if you right-click the layer name on the left side of the cue, it will expand the cue and immediately focus you on the work note field. Alternatively, you can also add a work note on any cue in the list view. This will also trigger the work note icon.
Accessing Work Notes
To access the list of work notes, click on the work note icon in the navigation bar just to the left of the search feature. This list will allow you to choose which layers of your work notes are visible by checking the appropriate boxes at the top of the list. Each work note will have a timestamp related to when the note was created or last edited. Clicking on the work note will bring you to the PDF page with that cue, and clicking on the archive icon will remove the work note from the cue and send it to the work note archive list.
You can access the archived work notes in two ways. First, at the top of the work note list, you will find the text “View Work Note Archive.” Clicking that text will take you to the comprehensive archived work note list. Alternatively, in any individual cue, you can click on the “View Archived Work Notes” text at the bottom of the expanded cue box. Clicking on this will show you the archived notes specifically for that cue.
Every archived note can be restored as an active note by clicking on the restore icon. This will delete any note currently associated with the cue, so be careful. You can also delete a work note by either clicking on the delete icon in the archived list or by unchecking the work note box in the expanded cue or list view. In all cases, this will permanently delete the note, and it will not be restorable.
Exporting Work Notes
To export your work notes as a CSV file, select the visible layers you want exported and press the Export button at the top of the comprehensive Work Note List. This will only export active work notes.
Show Sync
What Show Sync does
Cuelist works alongside The Notes List, a companion app for taking, sorting, and distributing notes during the rehearsal process. Show Sync is the connection between the two. Once you connect a Cuelist project to a Notes List production, your script structure carries across automatically and writing a note against any cue is one click away.
Connecting a project is free. Syncing and note writing are enabled by a dual Cuelist and Notes List subscription, which you can find on our pricing page. For help with The Notes List itself, see The Notes List documentation.
Connecting your accounts
Before you can connect any project, you need to introduce your two accounts to each other. This is done once, from your Account Settings page, and you will not have to do it again. Each project you want to sync is then connected on its own, which is the step after this one.
On the Account Settings page, find The Notes List section and click Connect account. You will be asked to sign in to The Notes List and approve the connection. When it succeeds, the section shows a Connected badge. You can undo this at any time with Disconnect account.
Connecting your accounts does not by itself sync anything. It gives Cuelist permission to see the productions in your Notes List account, which is what makes the next step possible.
Connecting a project
Show Sync is set up project by project, and only the project owner can set it up. Open the Project Settings menu and look for the Show Sync section. If you are a collaborator rather than the owner, that section will not appear.
If you are new to The Notes List, you will most likely have built your Cuelist project first and have nothing waiting on the other side. In that case click Create production, and Cuelist will make a new production for you in The Notes List and connect this project to it.
If you have already created a Notes List for this production, then choose it from the list of unconnected productions and click Connect.
Once the project is connected, the Show Sync section shows which production it is connected to, the date it was connected, and the time of the last sync, along with any sync errors.
What changes once a project is connected
Your script structure travels. Acts, scenes, and songs added in Cuelist are pushed to the connected production automatically, so notes written in The Notes List land against the right part of the script. This is the reason to add structure before your first rehearsal rather than after it.
Every cue also gains a Notes List icon. Clicking it opens The Notes List in a new tab with a note already started against that cue and labeled with it, so you do not have to find your place again on the other side.
Any work notes you had already written in Cuelist before Show Sync stay visible on their cues and can still be archived. However, all new notes are automatically written in The Notes List. The Work Note List icon in the toolbar is also replaced with a link directly to your Notes List production.
Re-syncing and disconnecting
The Re-sync button in the Show Sync section pushes your current script structure to the connected production again. Use it if you have changed your acts, scenes, or songs and The Notes List looks out of date, or if the Show Sync section is reporting a sync error.
Disconnect stops the sync between this project and the production it is connected to. Notes already written in The Notes List are not deleted.
History
Saving Versions
While Cuelist will always keep the most recent version of your work securely saved on the cloud, you can also save a version of your project at any point when creating and sharing your cues. This version includes all the details about cues, notes, and layers for every page. It also saves the PDF script as it stood at the moment the version was saved. It does not include information about collaborators or collaborator permissions.
To save a version of your project, go into the menu and click on the History option. At the top of the menu, you can assign a name to your version. It is important to note that all versions will be saved chronologically and grouped by date, so you don’t have to have that information in your name if you don’t want to. You can also rename a version at any time after saving it. In the History list, click on the version’s name, type the new one, and press Enter or click the check icon to save it. Renaming is available to the project owner and to whoever created that particular version, so collaborators can tidy up their own saved versions without being able to relabel anyone else’s.
Utilizing Versions
As soon as you save the new version, you will see today’s date appear below with an expansion arrow. If you click on the expansion arrow, you will see the name of your saved version appear along with some icons on the right. If you are the project creator, you will see three icons. If you are any other user on a project, you will only see one icon. The icon visible to all users is the Show Version icon. As soon as you click on it, your script will temporarily be restored to the point where you saved the version.
You will notice that after the name of your project on the top bar on your screen the words ‘Live Edit’ will be replaced by the name of your saved version in red. This is important for two reasons. The first is that any user can reference any version of the project at any point, so to avoid confusion, every user must know what version they are looking at on their screen. The second reason is that you can continue to adjust information in a saved project version as a collaborator or project owner. You might want to do this for a few reasons, but regardless, you must be aware of what version you are changing before making adjustments. For most applications, it is probably best to avoid confusion and use the saved versions merely as reference points and to make your changes on the Live Edit version.
As mentioned above, if you are the project owner, you will have two other options with every saved version. The first option is to delete the saved version. This will delete the version and all the information stored in it. Once you confirm this change, you cannot undo it.
The other option is to make the saved version live. This will restore the saved version to the current live version. Doing so will delete your old live version and all the information with it. Be sure you want to do this because there is no way to undo it.
Locking Versions
There is an additional feature unique to the project owner that, while not in the History menu, can be used in conjunction with those functions. If you are the project owner, you will notice a toggle switch below the name of your project in the main menu. This switch, for project owners only, is called the Project Lock Switch.
Once you toggle the project lock switch, collaborators will not be able to create or move cues and notes. They also won’t be able to change the title on any previously created cue. Collaborators will, however, still be able to alter the notes inside a cue. The project lock switch works on a version-by-version basis. So the project owner can lock any individual version while leaving the live project unlocked.
Because the project lock switch works on a version-by-version basis, this can be a particularly effective tool in conjunction with the History feature. If the project owner saves a version of the project and locks it, they can work with a script where they feel comfortable knowing the cues can’t change while calling the show. Meanwhile, collaborators can continue to make tweaks and adjustments to the live version. After the performance, users can all return to the live version and discuss any changes with their collaborators. Please see the Work Notes feature for a quick and efficient way to mark changed cues.
Duplication
Making a copy of your project
If allowed by the project owner, users have the ability to make a copy of any project in which they are a collaborator. The collaborator who duplicates the project will become the sole owner of the duplication and all the layers within. Project settings, layer information, structure marks, and all cues and notes will be duplicated. Collaborators and project history will not be duplicated.
Users can duplicate the project from either the dashboard or the Project Settings menu. On the dashboard, the duplication icon is located at the bottom of each individual project thumbnail. In the Project Settings menu, the duplication button is located at the bottom. If you do not see the option to duplicate a project, it is because the owner has turned off the duplication option.
Locking duplication
The owner of any project can prevent a project from being duplicated by turning on the duplication lock. This lock is available at the bottom of the Project Settings menu. If the project duplication lock is turned on, then only the owner can duplicate the project, and all other users won’t be able to see the duplication options. When you create a new project, the lock will be on by default.
Duplicating legacy projects
Collaborators also have the ability to duplicate legacy projects (as a reminder, legacy projects are any project created before our version 2 update and use the original Cuelist software). A duplication of a legacy project will automatically load as an updated project with all the latest features. Because the feature set from our legacy version to the updated software is not exactly the same, it is possible that there could be errors during the duplication process. Please double-check all annotations on your new project to confirm their accuracy and completeness.
The original version of the project will not be altered during this process and will still be available for use after duplication.