Add a song and use it on Sunday

This guide takes one song all the way through: adding it to Plan > Songs, choosing the arrangement and key, putting it in a plan's Order, and showing the words in Present. Each step works on the web app and in Tech Manager.

Step 1: Add the song

1. Go to Plan > Songs and search for the song first; it may already be there. Public-domain hymns are included for every church.
2. If it is not there, click + Add a song.
3. Either stay on Paste lyrics, fill in Title (and CCLI # if you know it), paste the words and click Add song, or click Import file and pick a ChordPro, SongSelect (.usr), OpenLyrics, OpenSong or ProPresenter file.
4. If you see a message that the song already exists, click Open existing rather than making a copy.

The song's page opens when it is created.

Step 2: Check the words, chords and sections

1. On the song's page, look at the preview on the right of the editor. Each section (Verse 1, Chorus, Bridge) should start with its own heading.
2. Fix anything in the editor. Put chords in square brackets before the syllable, for example [G]Amazing [C]grace.
3. Click Set order if the song repeats sections (for example Chorus after every verse). Drag sections into the order, or click them to add them at the end.
4. Click Save.

If the song has no key yet, click Edit, fill in Original key and click Save. Without it, the key list and charts can't transpose.

Step 3: Add the key your team plays

1. On the song's page, in the Keys row, click + Add key.
2. Pick the key, type a Description if it helps (for example "Brooke's"), and add capos if your guitarists use them.
3. Click Add.

A chord chart for that key is made under Files once the song has an original key. If your team sings it two different ways, click + Arrangement to make a second arrangement with its own order and keys.

Step 4: Put the song in a plan's Order

1. Go to Plan > Services and open the plan (for example this Sunday's).
2. Make sure you are on the Order tab.
3. Click + Item to add a new row, or click the row that should hold the song (for example a "Worship" item). The row's details open on the right.
4. Under Song, click + Link a song.
5. Type the song's name in "Search songs…" and click it. Resting on a result shows a few lines of its lyrics, so you pick the right one.
6. Choose the Arrangement. The default one is marked "(default)".
7. Choose the Key, or No specific key. If the key you need is missing, choose + Add a key…, fill it in and click Add key. The new key is added to the song too.
8. Click Link song.

The row is renamed to the song's title and shows the arrangement and key. To swap songs later, click Change; to remove the song from the row, click Unlink.

Step 5: Show it in Present

1. In the plan's Order tab, click Present in the toolbar.
2. On the web app, Present opens in a new browser tab. In Tech Manager, the app switches to the Present page.
3. Present builds a playlist for this plan from the songs and media linked in its Order, in the same order. Click the song and use its slides as usual.

You can also bring a song into Present without a plan:

• In Present's left rail, click Library under Presentations. Every song in Plan > Songs is listed; click one to open it as a presentation.
• Or click the search button (Search the church library) at the top of the rail, stay on Songs, search, and click the song. Songs already brought in are marked In Present.

A song is only ever brought into Present once. Adding it again, or using it in another plan, reuses the same presentation, so edits you make to its slides carry over.

Step 6: After the service

1. Go to Plan > Songs and click Usage report.
2. Pick the dates and click Download CSV for your CCLI or CCS licence return.

Troubleshooting

The song search in the plan says "No songs match"

The song isn't in Plan > Songs yet, or the spelling differs. Add it there first (Step 1), then link it again.

The Present button is greyed out

The plan's Order has no items yet. Add at least one item, then try again.

I changed the words but Present still shows the old slides

Make sure you clicked Save on the song's page. Present picks up saved changes by itself for the song you have open and the songs in the playlist you are looking at; clicking back into the Present window also checks for changes. If that song is on the screen at the moment, the slide showing keeps its words until you move off it, and Present tells you "A song on screen was changed in Songs".

The key I picked in the plan didn't change the slides

The key on a plan item is for your musicians: it names the key to play and goes into Present with the song. Lyrics on the audience screen look the same in any key. Musicians can open the song's page and pick that key in View in to see the chart.

Good to know

• The song list, plans and Present all read the same song, so there is one copy to keep up to date.
• Importing songs from Planning Center is not available yet; use Import file or Paste lyrics.