ProPresenter library sharing over the Internet

In this short overview I’ll be sharing how we (The Carrickfergus Baptist Church AV team) solved our problem of using the excellent ProPresenter 4 software from Renewed Vision on multiple computers while sharing the same song library. It’s such a great solution I’m sure other have done it before us.

Firstly why do we need ProPresenter on multiple computer when we only really use it on the iMac in the church? Well there’s a couple of reasons:

1. It’s cold in the church meeting room during the week and our church administrator needs to be in constant tropical heat. Remote access to the library allows her to stay in her office.
2. Often Elia or I have to set make sure the songs are there and then add any missing songs needed for this week so it’s nice to do this from home.
3. We sometimes use Laptop computers outside of the main church building.

The plan still has it’s flaws as we need the PC version to be released to allow for Tracy (church administrator) to do this on her PC but hopefully it will be out soon and before the end of the summer, when it’s gets so cold in the church building even I would need to wear a long sleeved shirt and full length trousers.

Anyway it’s actually quite simple, first of you need ProPresenter (if you’re not using this then why waste your time reading this) and secondly you need Dropbox (it’s free).

Setting up Dropbox

You might be wondering what Dropbox is, so here’s my explanation. Dropbox is a little taste of “cloud computing”, that is it stores files you have on your computer on another computer (server) that you can access from anywhere on the Internet. Obviously it’s all protected by encryption and passwords so it’s a safe way to do this. But more than this is you have the same account on multiple computers, Dropbox will automatically synchronise the files from you’re other computer via the Internet on to the the computer you’re now on. To some it’s sounds a little like magic and to be honest I think it’s pretty awesome (you can even access files on your iPhone). You can also watch the videos to get a clearer picture.

As to how to install Dropbox please see their own instruction on the download page. I would suggest that you use a Dropbox account for each person involved and another one for the main shared computer. The raseon for this is some people will already be using Dropbox and any others will want to use as soon as they start using it. Dropbox allows you to share folders between users and therefore can give everyone access to the sync library area without giving access to other files you might use Dropbox.

Setting up a shared folder in Dropbox

1. Create a new folder in your Dropbox folder on your computer.
2. Right click on the folder and select Dropbox > Sharing options … (this opens up your web browser)
   
3. Add the eMail addresses of the people you want to to have access to the folder. The person at the other end will need to accept the invitation.
   

Setting up library sync in ProPresenter

The great think about syncing the libraries is that they don’t overwrite the actually files you use with out giving permission. It’s really very simple and is covered on the Renewed Vision tutorials.

The libraries only sync when you tell them to by clicking on the “sync” button in the “sync” tab in preferences control in ProPresenter, (ProPresenter > Preferences).

So to repeat in clearer English the files don’t actually change in your ProPresenter library until after you have clicked “Sync Files” and even then until after you have selected the files you want to allow to update. The “server” is the Dropbox folder and the “local drive” is the computer you are using’s own ProPresenter library.

Making it all work

So with all the technical things in place you need a standard practise to ensure people don’t overwrite the wrong files, however thanks to Dropbox allowing you access to older versions of files this isn’t that big a problem. I would suggest that everyone get’s trained and given the same set of standards i.e. how to name the songs & how to format them.

For this we name the songs with their first line (and sometime put a title in brackets) and the songs are split up with max 6 lines per screen (preferable 4). We have colour coding for verses 1 – verse 4, chorus, bridge, pre-chorus, endings and each of the verse 1-4 and the chorus have a continuation lable. The colours are hideous but effective.

After each service, it is advisable to save all changes and then sync the library before shutting down (to ensure any changes you made spelling fixes etc. are updated). Also before you go in to edit any songs do a sync to make sure you are working on the latest versions of all song.

Any questions just leave a message below.

Tags: DropBox, ProPresenter