ScoreSort

A powerful macOS application for managing music PDFs with four tools for musicians and music librarians: PDF combining with smart copy management, automatic file renaming and bulk part renaming, PDF splitting with smart instrument naming, and page rotation.

Features

📎 PDF Combiner

Combine multiple PDF files into a single document with flexible copying and page management.

• Drag-and-drop or browse to add PDF files or images (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, BMP, GIF); multi-frame TIFFs appear as a single entry with the correct page count
• Add blank pages — insert a blank A4 page at any position in the list
• Specify copies for each file (great for printing multiple parts)
• Collate groups — select files and press C to create a group whose copies are printed interleaved: 4 copies of [Perc 1, Perc 2, Timpani] → P1, P2, T, P1, P2, T, … ready to hand out by player
• Reorder files with Move Up/Down buttons; groups always move as a unit
• Ensemble Presets — save named instrument lists (Wind Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra, or your own) with per-part copy counts; drag in files, click "Apply to Files" and copy counts are set automatically
• Smart preset matching — handles roman-numeral filenames (Violin I/II → matches Violin 1/2 preset parts) and single-file consolidation (one Flute.pdf against Flute 1 + Flute 2 in preset → summed copies)
• Smart blank pages — automatically add blank sheets after odd-page files for double-sided printing
• Automatic table of contents — the combined PDF includes bookmarks for each file, visible in Preview's sidebar; multiple copies are labelled "Filename 1/3", "Filename 2/3", etc.
• Open in Preview — opens combined PDF in Preview for quick printing (⌘P)
• Or save to file — create a permanent combined PDF document
• Selection tools — Select All, Select None, Remove selected files
• Live preview — see total file and page counts as you build

📁 Sheet Music Renamer

Two tools in one tab for organising sheet music filenames.

Score Order Sorter (drag a folder onto the left side)

• Automatic instrument detection from existing filenames
• Sequential numbering (Score = 00, instruments start at 01)
• Three ensemble presets: Wind Band, Jazz Band, and Orchestra
• Customisable instrument order — edit, reorder, add, or remove instruments in Preferences
• Manual override for files that can't be auto-detected
• Error checking — rescan already-numbered files to find and fix mistakes
• Smart detection — handles "bass clarinet" vs "clarinet" correctly
• Live preview — see all changes before executing

Bulk Part Renamer (drag a folder onto the right side)

• Rename files from scratch — ideal for downloads from IMSLP or scan batches with unhelpful names
• Set a base name shared across all files (e.g. Beethoven Symphony 5)
• Smart instrument autocomplete — suggestions ordered by likely ensemble position, with cross-instrument and numbered progression
• Page crop preview — zoomed view of each file's first page with a minimap so you can see exactly where you're looking on the page
• Optional score-order prefix — toggle to apply sequential numbering in one extra step

✂️ PDF Splitter

Split a large PDF — for example a complete scan of all parts bound together — into separate instrument files.

• Visual page preview with keyboard navigation (including first/last page jumps)
• Click-to-toggle split points directly on the page strip
• Auto-split by stride — split every N pages with a single click
• Bookmark-aware loading — if the PDF was produced by ScoreSort's combiner, split points and file names are pre-populated automatically from the embedded table of contents
• Three-step workflow — Step 1: mark split points; Step 2: name each output file; Step 3 (optional): apply score-order prefix numbering
• Smart naming stage — zoomed-in crop of each file's first page shows the instrument name corner, with a minimap overlay so you can orient yourself on the page
• Instrument name autocomplete — suggestions drawn from all ensemble presets, ordered by what's most likely to come next; automatically advances to the next instrument family (e.g. "Oboe 1" after "Flute 2")
• Arrow-key dropdown navigation — ↓/↑ moves through suggestions without leaving the keyboard; Return accepts, Escape dismisses
• Filename validation — illegal characters (/ : \) flagged inline before saving
• Base filename shared across all output files; per-file suffix appended automatically
• Skip pages or whole files — press Delete (or the Skip button) to exclude individual pages or entire output files from the saved result; toggle between page-skip and file-skip mode with the segmented control
• Swap with Next — rearrange adjacent output files without changing split markers
• A3 landscape splitting — if ScoreSort detects an A3 landscape scan on load, it offers to split each page into left and right halves automatically (choose which half comes first). Works correctly whether the page is stored as native landscape or as portrait with a rotation flag (e.g. after using the Rotate tab). If auto-detection doesn't fire, use Split as A3… in the toolbar
• Fix Booklet Order — if your scan is a saddle-stitched booklet scanned sheet-by-sheet (cover first or inner-first), ScoreSort can automatically reorder the pages into reading order. Once a file segment has a page count divisible by 4, click Fix Booklet Order in the toolbar (or the stack icon on a file card). Large page thumbnails let you choose the correct reordering; a custom drag-to-reorder fallback is also available. After applying, the Redo button (⬚▶) on any matching file card applies the same order instantly

🔄 Page Rotator

Rotate PDF pages with flexible options for whole-document and per-page corrections.

• Base rotation for all pages (90°, 180°, 270°)
• Additional rotation for odd or even pages only — useful for double-sided scans with alternating orientations
• Individual page rotation — rotate just the current page left or right without affecting others
• Before/after preview for each page
• Perfect for fixing scanned documents with mixed or incorrect orientations

Screenshots

Quickly create arbitrary copies of a number of files ready for printing

Automatic sheet music file renaming with instrument detection

Split PDFs with visual preview and custom naming

Rotate pages with before/after preview

Installation

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later

Download from the App Store

(Coming soon)

Download from GitHub

1. Download the latest ScoreSort.zip from the Releases page
2. Unzip it and move ScoreSort.app to your Applications folder
3. Double-click to open — macOS will show "ScoreSort cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer"
4. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway
5. Confirm in the dialog that appears — you'll only need to do this once

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/benperche/ScoreSort.git

2. Open ScoreSort.xcodeproj in Xcode 16 or later

3. Press ⌘R to build and run

Usage

PDF Combiner

1. Add files

   • Drag and drop PDFs or images (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, BMP, GIF) onto the window
   • Or click "Add Files" to browse
   • Click "Add Blank Page" to insert a blank A4 page after the selected file

2. Set copy counts for each file

   • Use + / − buttons, or double-click the number to type directly
   • The status bar at the bottom shows running totals

3. Reorder files (optional)

   • Select files and use "Move Up" / "Move Down" buttons, or ⌘↑ / ⌘↓
   • Files will be combined in the order shown

4. Create collate groups (optional — for interleaved multi-part printing)

   • Select 2 or more files and click Collate or press C
   • A group header row appears showing the shared copy count for the whole set
   • When combining, the group repeats N times interleaved — e.g. 4 copies of [Perc 1, Perc 2, Timpani] produces Perc 1, Perc 2, Timp, Perc 1, Perc 2, Timp, … ready to hand out one stack per player
   • Double-click the copy count to type it directly
   • Click the ↗ button on the header to dissolve the group back to individual files

5. Apply an Ensemble Preset (optional — auto-sets copy counts for each part)

   • Click the Presets button or press P to open the preset sidebar
   • Choose a preset from the dropdown (Wind Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra, or any you've saved)
   • Click Apply to Files — copy counts are matched to the preset's parts automatically
   • Files with no matching preset part are highlighted in orange
   • Preset parts with no matching file are also highlighted in orange in the sidebar
   • Create and edit presets in Preferences (⌘,) → Combiner tab

6. Configure double-sided printing (optional)

   • Check "Add blank sheet to the end of files with an odd number of pages"
   • Ensures each new file starts on the front of a sheet when printing double-sided

7. Output your combined PDF

   • Click "Open in Preview" to create a temporary PDF and open it in Preview (press ⌘P to print)
   • Or click "Create PDF" to save as a permanent file

Keyboard Shortcuts (Combiner)

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Select previous / next file
⇧↑ / ⇧↓	Extend selection up / down
⌘A	Select all files
⌫	Remove selected files
⌘↑ / ⌘↓	Move selected files up / down
C	Group selected files into a collate set
P	Toggle Presets panel
⌘Z / ⌘⇧Z	Undo / Redo

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Sheet Music Renamer

Score Order Sorter

1. Drag a folder onto the left side of the Rename Files tab
2. Choose your ensemble type (Band, Jazz, or Orchestra)
3. Review the preview
   • Green items will be renamed
   • Orange items need correction (rescan mode)
   • Blue items were manually assigned
   • Grey items will be skipped or are already correct
4. Handle undetected files (optional) — double-click any file to manually assign a number
5. Click "Rename Files" to execute

Bulk Part Renamer

1. Drag a folder onto the right side of the Rename Files tab
2. Enter a base name shared across all files (e.g. Beethoven Symphony 5)
3. Type a suffix for each file — the page crop preview shows the top-left corner of each file so you can identify the instrument at a glance
   • Autocomplete suggestions appear as you type; use ↓/↑ to navigate, Return to accept
   • After naming "Flute 1", the next field immediately suggests "Flute 2"; after the last expected part it suggests the next instrument family
   • Press Tab to advance between fields
4. Optionally toggle "Prefix score order" to also apply sequential numbering, then click Next to confirm the ordering
5. Click "Save" and choose an output folder

Keyboard Shortcuts (Renamer)

Key	Action
⌘,	Open Preferences
Click column header	Sort by that column (click again to reverse)
Tab	Advance to next name field (Bulk Renamer)

Example — Score Order Sorter

Before:

Flute.pdf
Bb Clarinet 1.pdf
Alto Sax.pdf
Trumpet 1.pdf
Score.pdf

After:

00 - Score.pdf
01 - Flute.pdf
02 - Bb Clarinet 1.pdf
03 - Alto Sax.pdf
04 - Trumpet 1.pdf

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PDF Splitter

Step 1 — Mark split points

1. Load a PDF (drag & drop or click "Choose PDF")
2. Navigate pages with ← / →, or ⌘← / ⌘→ to jump to the first or last page
3. Add split points:
   • Click any page in the strip to toggle a split at that page
   • Press Space to toggle a split on the current page
   • Or use Auto-Split — choose a stride (every N pages) and click "Apply"
4. Review the output file cards in the right panel (each shows its page range)
5. Set the base filename in the right panel
6. Click "Name Files →" to proceed to Step 2

Step 2 — Name each output file

1. Each file gets its own row with a zoomed-in crop of the first page's top-left corner and a minimap showing where that crop sits on the full page
2. Type a suffix for each file — e.g. base name "As Winds Dance" + suffix "Flute" → As Winds Dance - Flute.pdf
   • Leave blank for automatic numbering
3. Use autocomplete to fill in instrument names quickly:
   • Suggestions appear as you type, ordered by likely ensemble position
   • Numbered suggestions advance automatically — "Flute 2" after "Flute 1", then "Oboe 1" once the expected part count for that instrument is reached
   • Press ↓ / ↑ to navigate the dropdown; Return to accept; Escape to dismiss
   • Press Tab to advance to the next field

Step 3 — Prefix score order (optional)

1. Toggle "Prefix score order" in the bottom bar of Step 2 and choose your ensemble type
2. Click "Next: Prefix Order" — a reorderable list appears with each file's proposed name
3. Drag or use the arrow buttons to adjust the order, then click "Save Split Files"
   • Files are saved as 01 - basename - Flute.pdf, 02 - basename - Oboe.pdf, etc.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Splitter — Step 1)

Key	Action
Space	Toggle split point on current page
← / →	Navigate between pages
⌘← / ⌘→	Jump to first / last page
↑ / ↓	Jump to start of previous / next output file
S	Swap current output file with the next one
⌫	Skip / unskip current page or file (see Skip Mode toggle)

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Page Rotator

1. Load a PDF (drag & drop or click "Choose PDF")
2. Set base rotation — applied to all pages (None, 90°, 180°, 270°)
3. Set additional rotation (optional) — applied to odd or even pages only, useful for double-sided scans
4. Rotate individual pages if needed — use , / . to rotate the current page left or right without affecting others
5. Preview the result using ← / → to navigate, ⌘← / ⌘→ to jump to first/last
6. Click "Save Rotated PDF" and choose where to save

Keyboard Shortcuts (Rotator)

Key	Action
← / →	Navigate between pages
⌘← / ⌘→	Jump to first / last page
,	Rotate current page 90° left
.	Rotate current page 90° right

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Technical Details

Built With

• SwiftUI — Modern declarative UI framework
• PDFKit — Native PDF handling
• AppKit — macOS-specific functionality

Architecture

• MVVM pattern with ObservableObject view models
• Type-safe enums for rotation angles and operation types
• Reactive updates using Combine framework

Instrument Detection Algorithm

1. Sorts instruments by length (longest first) to match specific names before generic ones
   • Example: "bass clarinet" matches before "clarinet"
2. Performs case-insensitive substring matching
3. Returns the first match found, preserving original position in instrument order

Default Instrument Orders

The app includes three carefully curated preset orders:

Wind Band: Score, Woodwinds (Piccolo → Saxophones), Brass (Cornet → Tuba), Rhythm Section, Percussion, Strings

Jazz Band: Score, Vocals, Solos, Saxophones, Brass, Rhythm Section, Auxiliary Percussion

Orchestra: Score, Woodwinds, Brass, Timpani/Percussion, Keyboard/Harp, Strings

All orders are fully customisable in Preferences → Renamer.

Known Issues & Limitations

• File naming: Uses substring matching — very similar instrument names may occasionally need manual override

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Development Setup

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Code Style

• Follow Swift API Design Guidelines
• Use meaningful variable names
• Comment complex logic
• Keep functions focused and small

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Originally inspired by a Python-based sheet music renamer
• Built for musicians, by musicians
• Thanks to the macOS developer community for excellent SwiftUI resources

Support

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions:

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Check existing issues for solutions
• Provide detailed steps to reproduce any bugs

Author

Ben Perche, developed with Claude Additional contributions from Lachlan Hamilton

Project Link: https://github.com/benperche/ScoreSort

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Made with ♪ for musicians