Today’s top tip is all about getting the most out of the Browser in Visual Liturgy. For those of you that have been on one of our Visual Liturgy training days, you will know just how much importance we put on the Browser feature by making it the first thing we talk about.
The Browser has so many useful features so understanding what you can do with it is key to getting as much out of Visual Liturgy as possible.
You can locate the Browser in a number of different ways. The main method is to click on the binoculars icon along the Tool bar.
You can also access the Browser directly from within a service. By clicking on any of the yellow icons on the left hand side of the service views, you will always bring up the Browser. If you click on an item with a star, the Browser will have some pre-selected choices. Items without a star don’t have such pre-selections but you can still use the Browser to choose something else if you wish.
By bringing up the Browser via a service, you will notice an extra button at the bottom of the Browser window called ‘Select item’. Clicking this button allows you to select that item and slot it into your service.
Alternatively, you can simply highlight any item in the browser by clicking on it once and then clicking it again to drag and drop that item into your service. You will know if you have successfully dragged that item if your mouse has a plus sign appear when you move over to the service list.
One thing to note with dragging and dropping is that it will replace the item that you hover the mouse over when you release the mouse button. If you want to add an extra item and not replace something in your service, hold down SHIFT on your keyboard when you drag and drop and you’ll create an extra item in your service.
Dragging and dropping is especially handy if you are working with the Services planner. You can see all your services at once and using the Browser, quickly search for items and drag and drop them into place. The change is made as soon as you click away from the box onto something else.
One last Browser tip for today is that if you enjoy the Browser, you can set an option to keep the Browser open all the time even after you have selected an item in a service. Go to Edit in the menu bar and click Preferences. When the dialog appears, choose the Services folder on the left hand side of the window and then simply tick the box to ‘keep Browse window open after selecting items’.
Next week, we’ll talk about the Browser a little more and discuss how you can copy material directly from the Browser and some useful tips for searching for material.