The four rules
It never goes backwards
It only ever moves forward. previous is yours alone.
It never goes past the end
It will not run off the end of a song.
It waits when it is not sure
If it is not confident it does nothing and lets the slide stand. A late
slide, not a wrong one.
You always win
Anything you do in ProPresenter takes over immediately.
What that means on a Sunday
Nobody needs to sit watching it. It is not something to supervise. When it is unsure it stops moving, and a slide sitting still is something you would notice anyway. You can take over at any moment, without stopping it and without warning it. Press next in ProPresenter and it comes with you. Stopping it never stops ProPresenter. Press Stop and you are back to running the service by hand, exactly as before. Sometimes you will press next yourself, usually when the band goes round a chorus again. That is it choosing to wait rather than guess.Song changes
ScreenShepherd follows any song change you make in ProPresenter, straight away. It can also change song by itself, when a song finishes or when the band starts a different one. When it does, a Go back to button appears in the ScreenShepherd window for a short while. Press it and it goes back, and it will leave that song alone for a while afterwards. Choosing the right song in ProPresenter yourself does the same job. It can only choose from songs in your playlist or your library. It cannot invent one, and it cannot follow a song that is in neither.Long instrumentals
During a long stretch with no singing, the words come off the screen. They come back as soon as someone sings again. Nothing to do.Bible passages
If a bible reference is read out loud during the talk, ScreenShepherd can put that passage on the screen and take it away again afterwards. There is nothing to set up. The passages come from the Berean Standard Bible, which is public domain and ships inside the app. Your own licensed translation cannot travel with software, but the reference on screen is the same in any bible. While a passage is up, the ScreenShepherd window shows Showing and the reference, with Previous and Next for a long one and Clear to take it off. If it says it heard a reference but could not show it, ProPresenter has gone. See ProPresenter.What it cannot do
- It cannot tell apart two songs that share the same chorus.
- It cannot follow a song that is in neither your playlist nor your library.
- It cannot hear a congregation. It listens to the vocal channels you gave it, so when every leader is off their microphone it holds and leaves it to you.