Songs

Plan > Songs is your church's song list: every song your team sings, with its lyrics, chords, keys and files. Songs you add here can be put into a plan's Order and shown in Present.

Where to find it

Open Plan > Songs in the menu. It works the same on the web app and in Tech Manager. The page shows how many songs you have, a search box, a Usage report button and a + Add a song button.

Each row shows Title, Artist, BPM, Keys, Last scheduled and Added. Click any row to open that song's page (see the Song article).

Find a song

1. Go to Plan > Songs.
2. Type in the search box ("Search songs, authors, CCLI…"). It matches the title, alternate title, artist, authors, CCLI number and themes.
3. To sort, click a column heading: Title, Artist, BPM, Last scheduled or Added. Click it again to reverse the order.
4. Click the song's row to open it.

If nothing matches you will see No matches and "Try a different search."

Add a song by pasting lyrics

Use this when you have the words (and maybe chords) in front of you, for example copied from SongSelect or ProPresenter.

1. Go to Plan > Songs and click + Add a song.
2. In the Add a song window, stay on the Paste lyrics tab.
3. Fill in Title (required). Optionally fill Authors (comma-separated), CCLI # and Key.
4. Paste the words into Lyrics (paste from SongSelect, ProPresenter, etc.). Put a section name such as "Verse 1" or "Chorus" on its own line before each section.
5. Click Add song.

The song is created and its page opens, so you can check the sections and add chords.

Import a song from a file

1. Go to Plan > Songs and click + Add a song.
2. Click the Import file tab.
3. Drag the file onto the box, or click Choose file and pick it.

These files are understood:

• ChordPro (.cho, .crd, .chopro, .chord). A .txt file with chords in [square brackets] is read as ChordPro too.
• OpenLyrics or OpenSong (.xml).
• SongSelect lyrics files (.usr).
• ProPresenter (.pro, including ProPresenter 7, and .pro4, .pro5, .pro6, .xml).
• Plain text (.txt).

Chords in the file are kept, so they show up in the song's chord editor. One file makes one song. A song imported from a SongSelect file shows a small SongSelect badge next to its title.

When the song is already in your list

Before adding, WorshipMetrics checks for a song with the same CCLI number, or the same title. If it finds one you will see a message such as "A song with CCLI 6016351 already exists".

• Click Open existing to go to the song you already have.
• Click Add anyway to create a second copy.
• Click Cancel to go back to the form.

Use the public-domain hymns

Your song list includes a set of public-domain hymns provided by WorshipMetrics, with chords and a traditional key. They appear in Plan > Songs like any other song and can be put into plans and shown in Present.

1. Go to Plan > Songs and search for the hymn.
2. Open it. The top of the page shows a Public domain badge instead of Edit and Delete.

Hymns are shared with every church, so they are read-only: you can view the chords, change the key you view them in, and download a chart, but you cannot edit the words, add keys or attach files.

Run a CCLI usage report

The usage report lists every song your church used in a date range, with its CCLI number, for your CCLI or CCS licence return.

1. Go to Plan > Songs and click Usage report.
2. In Song usage report, set From and To. It starts on the last twelve months.
3. Optional: turn on Only uses a live run confirmed to count only songs that were actually run from a plan's Live tab. Leave it off to report from what was planned.
4. Check the totals at the top: Songs used, Total uses, Sung live and Under copyright.
5. Click Download CSV to save the report. Click Close when you are done.

A song with no CCLI number is marked No CCLI number so you can fix it before you file. Open the song, click Edit and fill in CCLI #.

Turn a Present presentation into a song

If you typed a song straight into Present, you can add it to your song list from there.

1. Open Present > Present.
2. Right-click the presentation in the left rail.
3. Choose Make this a song.

Its words become a new song in Plan > Songs. If a song with the same name already exists, Present asks before adding a second one.

Troubleshooting

The Planning Center tab says "Soon"

Importing songs from Planning Center is not built yet, so that tab has nothing to connect to. Use Import file or Paste lyrics instead.

I get "No lyrics found" when I import a file

The file was opened but no song words were found in it. Check that it is a complete song export (not a playlist or an empty file), then try again. If it still fails, open the file, copy the words and use Paste lyrics.

My imported song has no chords

Only a file that contains chords brings chords in; many lyrics exports and plain-text files carry words only. Open the song and type the chords into its chord editor in [square brackets], then click Save.

The page says "Couldn't load songs"

The song list could not be reached. Click Retry. If it keeps failing, check the computer's internet connection.

The usage report says "Usage isn't available here"

That copy of Tech Manager cannot reach the report. Open Plan > Songs in the web app, or update Tech Manager.

I can't edit a hymn

Hymns with the Public domain badge are shared by every church and cannot be changed. If you need different words, add the song yourself with + Add a song and edit your copy.

Good to know

• Songs are stored online, so the same song list shows on the web app and in every copy of Tech Manager your church signs in to. In Tech Manager the song opens inside the same page; on the web it has its own address.
• Last scheduled shows the most recent plan the song is on. "Never" means it has not been put in a plan yet.
• A badge such as Planning Center or SongSelect next to a title shows where the song came from. Songs you add yourself have no badge.
• To put a song in a service, open the plan's Order and link the song to a plan item. See "Add a song and use it on Sunday".