The most important habit in Worship Manager is treating Preview and Program as two different stages. Preview is where you prepare. Program is what the congregation sees when Present is running.
If you have used broadcast or live production tools, this will feel familiar. If not, this post will save you from accidental live mistakes.
At the top of the control window:
Below that are your selectors: Pinned, Songs, Bible, Media, and History.
When you click a song lyric, a Bible verse, or a media file, Worship Manager updates Preview first. That lets you:
Nothing in Preview has to be live yet. Use it as your “next up” space.
Program mirrors the actual display output. When Present is on, this is effectively what is on the projector or NDI feed.
From the Program area you can:
Use this loop every time:
For songs and Bible, clicking a lyric or verse updates the overlay on the live output. For media, selecting from Preview / Program is how you commit a background or slide. Practice once so you know exactly when something becomes live.
Two clears cover most “oh no” moments:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| CLEAR OVERLAY | Removes song/scripture text; background media stays |
| CLEAR DISPLAY | Clears both media and overlay |
There are also keybinds for clear overlay, clear display, and toggle Present — see the keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet.
In Settings → Display, you can enable Fade transitions when switching content. When that is on, Worship Manager fades between overlays and media instead of hard-cutting. Useful for worship; turn it off if you need snappy announcement slides.
Together with Preview/Program, those tabs keep the service calm even when the order changes.
Master Preview vs Program once, and every other feature becomes easier to trust live.