Lyrics Designer

Lyrics Designer creates and maintains reusable songs and Bible passages. Open it with ⌘2 / Ctrl+2; return to Deck Builder with ⌘1 / Ctrl+1.

Song format

The first block is the song header. Every following block, separated by a blank line, becomes one stanza or slide. A bracketed section name is a label and is not projected.

The label applies to following blocks until the next bracketed section name. In the example below, both blocks under [Verse 1] are named Verse 1, each on its own slide. Blocks before the first section label keep their numbered stanza labels.

Song title
Author

[Verse 1]
First lyric line
Second lyric line

Next part of the same verse
Final line of the verse

[Chorus]
First chorus line
Second chorus line

© Copyright and licence details

The title must be on the first line before a new song can be saved. Trailing blocks containing © or (c) are treated as copyright information rather than lyric slides.

Create or edit a song

  1. Select Lyrics, then use the plus button for New song.
  2. Paste or type the title, author, and stanza blocks. Rich paste preserves paragraph and line breaks when possible.
  3. Check the parsed stanza cards and the lyric-only output preview on the right.
  4. Select Save or press ⌘S / Ctrl+S. Existing songs also auto-save after edits; wait for Auto-saved before closing.
  5. Use Add to deck when a deck is open, or drag the saved song from Deck Builder → Lyrics.

Escape clears a search or closes a temporary panel first. While editing and not presenting, it deliberately stays in Lyrics Designer; use ⌘1 / Ctrl+1 to return to Deck Builder. Presenter warns before abandoning an unsaved new song.

Add chords safely

Select Add chords and choose one of the supported forms:

  • Inline ChordPro: [C]Every eye on [F]him
  • Chord-only row: C G Am F or || C | G | Am | F ||

After valid chord notation exists, Show chords and Hide chords control chord visibility in the text editors and stanza cards in Lyrics Designer. Hiding chords does not remove the saved notation; ordinary lyric edits preserve the surrounding chords. The output preview, projectors, normal Controller/Viewer previews, search results, and presentation logs remain lyric-only by design. Chords are available in WorshipAssist in Connect or through paired Remote.

To send newly added chords to Connect, save the song and run Connections → Connect → Sync songs with Connect. Connect's Chords filter recognises valid inline/chord-row notation and saved Chord Assistant charts.

Bible passages

  1. Select Bibles and search for a reference and translation, or create a new passage.
  2. Review the fetched or pasted text. Blank lines define verse groups or slides.
  3. Save the passage so it appears in both Lyrics Designer and Deck Builder → Bibles.

If a source is unavailable, open Settings → Bibles to download an offline translation, import a permitted USFM/USX translation, configure YouVersion, or use the manual bible.com paste flow.

Pair a second language

  1. Save and select the primary song or passage.
  2. Open Add second language.
  3. Drag a saved secondary item into the translation area, or use Use in the database list.
  4. Keep the same stanza order and number of stanza groups in both items. Resolve any mismatch warning before presenting.
  5. In Deck Builder, select the cue and enable Show linked translation or Show linked passage.

You can also use Pair translation… or Unlink translation beside the song in the Library. Pairing stores the relationship; it does not automatically enable the second language on every existing cue.

To recover earlier saved song text, open the Time Machine clock in Lyrics Designer, preview a version, and use Restore this version… while stopped. Presenter preserves the current work before restoring. See Return to earlier work for the difference between workspace navigation, Undo and saved history.