How to Import CCLI to PowerPoint

CCLI and PowerPoint allow your church's music to be digital and copyright-protected at the same time.

Christian Copyright License International (CCLI) offers a one-stop license for churches to be able to legally use copyrighted material. CCLI maintains a database of thousands of copyrighted works, primarily songs, that churches are free to use when they acquire a license from CCLI --- with the requirement that the church's unique CCLI number accompany any copyrighted material in printed or projected format. When projecting CCLI copyrighted songs with PowerPoint, it is essential that the CCLI number be included with each song.

Instructions

1. Browse to the CCLI website (CCLI.com) and enter your user name and password. You will receive a user name and password when you purchase a license that includes SongSelect (minimum of $46 per year as of September 2010).

2. Click on the SongSelect link to launch the SongSelect utility. From here you can search for a song or browse through the list of songs by popularity or category. Select the song you wish to import into PowerPoint.

3. Click on the "Lyrics" link in the upper right of the song page. Then click on "Copy or Save" to save a text (.txt) file to your computer. Browse to the folder where you wish to save the song and click "OK."

4. Open the text file (notice it has your church's CCLI number already included). Open PowerPoint and create a new presentation. Select the formatting you desire for your song text and background first.

5. Copy the title of the song and the first section from the text file. Paste that section into your first PowerPoint slide. While in PowerPoint, press "Ctrl+M" on your keyboard to create a new slide. Go back to the text file and select the next section and copy it into the new slide in PowerPoint.

6. Repeat these steps for each section in the song. Make sure that at the end of the song you include the copyright information exactly as it appears in the text file you downloaded. That has been formatted specifically for your church's license.

7. Save the PowerPoint presentation. Select any other songs that you wish to include in your PowerPoint and repeat this process.

Tips & Warnings

• It can be helpful to save each song as a separate PowerPoint file once you've imported the text. If you are doing this, don't add any special formatting to the individual files. Then when you create a presentation for a worship service with several songs, you can import the PowerPoint files directly and apply the formatting after all the songs are inserted in the presentation.

References

• CCLI: Why CCLI?
• CCLI: SongSelect