OpenLP 2.4.6 How to use chords?

joe · October 2017

Hi, I am using OpenLP 2.6 and I would like to use chords, but there is a big problem:

In the whole program i cannot find any reference to chords, nor in the help. I have no clue how to use them. The example song to me appears on the slide with the chords and the brackets in the middle of the text.
Could anyone who knows how to use them, put an updat into the Wiki, the help section and/or here?

Thank you very much.

tgc · October 2017

Hi Joe,

Chords functionality is not available in openlp 2.4. It will be in the next release though.
There exists a "hack" which you can find by searching the forum. Note that this "hack" is not officially supported.

joe · October 2017

Uh, that explains a lot. Thanks. Any prognostics when the next release is going to launch? Weeks? monts? years?

raoul · October 2017

Nope. We all work in our spare time, so it's released when it's ready. All I can say is probably within a year from now.

tomasss · November 2017

You can try it - https://github.com/tomasss1024/openlp_chords
Discussion on this forum - https://forums.openlp.org/discussion/2544/chords-in-openlp

RevPaulWebb · November 2017

What about saving your lyrics with chords as a pdf and then inserting them as a presentation? I have just tried this and it works.

Bill_P · October 2019

I've just started looking at OpenLP, and would like to use chords in the stage view but cannot get it to work.

I'm confused by the references to 'stage' and 'stages' and tried both. With the openlp data folder has a folder named stage I get the stage view, but pointing at stage/chords I get 'Sorry, an error occurred'.

This is with the current version on github installed in but renamed to stage, with stages I get page doesn't exist.

Any suggestions what to try next?

Bill_P · October 2019

Finally got something - it comes up with 'Transpose - + (Capo)' but nothing else.

Bill_P · October 2019

Sorry I didn't see the other thread. Back to the drawing board.

JohnM · October 2019

Chords do work on version 2.4.6 They are just a bit more work then they will be on the next version.
On version 2.4.6 you have to create Formatting tags and then create special Stage files.
Last you have to manually edit the songs to apply the Formatting tags to the chords....A lot of steps, but the results work for the Stage screen.

If you don't want to wait for the next revision of OpenLP, I may be able to help walk you through the process on 2.4.6

Bill_P · October 2019

I've tried inserting chords into a song:

Be [D]still and know that [A]I am God, ...

but they appear on the main output as well as the stage/chords view. I also tried putting them

into an open lyrics file and importing that, but they disappear. Do I need to add something to

the above to get it to work?

JohnM · October 2019

First you have to create a Formatting tag that makes them only show up on the stage view.
Second you have to modify the stage screens to display the Formatting tag.
Third there is special HTML file you need to pass the song txt file through that modifies it to use the new Formatting tag.

I'll try to find the link to where this is explained and provides the files needed....

JohnM · October 2019

OK I found the issue I created for documenting chords in 2.4.6 and the location of the files you need. The HTML file is needed also!

The readme file on the location of files site gives a good overview of how to set up your environment to work with cords.

This process includes: Setup:

creating two new formatting tags
creating one or two modified stage displays On-Going:
using the text to OpenLP HTML to structure new songs with chords
modifying existing songs to add chords

Bill_P · October 2019

Thanks John, that seems to be working now. By adding the tags etc. by hand I've got one verse that works.

At one point I saw a screen shot which suggests there ought to be a Transpose facility, but it isn't on my stage view. Is this something planned for future (or in 2.5 which hasn't percolated this far yet.) Also I tried adding capo chords like [B&(A)] but they seem to get filtered out.

JohnM · October 2019

Transpose is being "built in" on the next version....just can't wait!

tgc · October 2019

Please note that this "hackish" way of adding chord support to OpenLP 2.4.6 might not be fully compatible with the built-in chord support in the upcoming 3.0... So you might need to do some manually clean up when migrating to 3.0...

eprostko · November 2020

Does anyone have a better way to insert the chords, besides the tedious editting of each verse separately? Newer "praise and worship" style songs aren't too bad with their repetitive patterns, but the old hymns with the chords changing every beat are killer!

Fabster · January 2021

https://forums.openlp.org/discussion/comment/12841#Comment_12841

Thanks... so I will wait before I begin to edit my songs! ????

Fabster · January 2021

Does this mean OpenLP 3.0 will be compatible with the ChordPro format? ????

ninjakiwi · January 2021

@Fabster Yes, OpenLP 3.0 supports the ChordPro format.

OpenLP 2.4.6 How to use chords?

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