What's New in Version 2

SlideGen version 2 has a number of new features when compared with version 1. If you are upgrading from version 1, please review the list below, which will summarise the new features, and provide links to the help pages that explain each feature in detail.

New Features

External Folders - this new feature supplements the already existing feature from version 1 where you could import an XML file containing song lyrics. This general import feature is still available. In adition to this, the External Folders tab provides an easy way to import XML Files that SlideGen officially publishes or makes available to SlideGen users. This includes an updated version of the Collection of Public Domain Hymns that were available in version 1, plus it also makes available the lyrics for the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, for users who represent a Seventh-day Adventist church or other entity.
Audio Collections - this new feature introduces the ability to associate one or more audio tracks with a song in the Song Catalogue. These audio tracks can be played back on an ad-hoc basis within the main window of SlideGen, or may be played as part of a presentation. This allows churches and other communities to play musical accompaniment for congregational singing, when live musicians are not available. When played from within SlideGen as part of a SlideGen Viewer Presentation, SlideGen will even advance the slides for you automatically! (some limitations apply)
Title Slides in Presentations - version 2 introduces the ability to generate a "title slide" as part of a presentation, to be shown before the first slide of each song. See the Building Slides page for more details.
CCLI specific features - version 2 introduces specific knowledge about licenses from CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) in a number of places. Firstly, your CCLI license details can be specified in Setup Options. Once set up, labels like "CCLI Song Number" will be used in various places, like on the main window and in the Edit Song dialog. A new menu option on the main window called "File | New Song from CCLI" will allow you to paste lyrics that you have copied from CCLI's SongSelect website. And finally, a new CCLI-specific Copyright Report layout is available that uses the latest CCLI terminology, for easy reporting via CCLI's online reporting service - see CCLI Reporting for details.
SlideGen Viewer presentations - the internal SlideGen Viewer presentation engine has been significantly overhauled, to improve it's performance. Cross-fades between slides are a new feature (which can be turned off in the Presentation Options if desired). Issues with screen-refresh artefacts that some users experienced in version 1 have now been eliminated in version 2. And, as detailed above in Audio Collections, the musical accompaniment can be played automatically from within a SlideGen Viewer presentation, including the auto advancing of the slides in sync with the music (auto advance not available for custom audio files).