Easyslides v5.2 Release Candidate 4 is available for download
19th October 2023 – v5.2 RC4
Version 5.2 RC4 is now available for download. See the changelog below for more details.
As this is a release candidate software please test out the functions you would normally use before you use it in a live environment. This software will auto-check for any further release candidate update or final version update and will prompt you to update if there is an update available. Please report any issues at the Easyslides forum as soon as possible so that the issues can be fixed for the final release.
System Requirements:
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- Windows 7 SP1, 8.1, 10, 11
- 4 GB memory minimum
- Sold State Drive for the Windows operation system is essential when using multiple monitors, dual regions or slideshows
Download and Install Easyslides 5.2 RC4:
If you have a PC with easislides v4 or have never used easyslides before, please read the Notes section below first.
- If easyslides 5 is running on your PC, close it.
- Click here to download easyslides v5.2 RC4.
- You may get a security warning about downloading the installation file. Please be rest assured that easyslides does not contain any harmful code.
- Once the file is downloaded, run it to install easyslides 5. You don’t have to uninstall previous versions of easyslides, and no stored easyslides data is deleted.
- If Windows gives a security warning, click on ‘More info’ and then ‘Run anyway’.
- When installation finishes, easyslides 5 will start.
- If you have any major issues with this release, you can download the previous v5.2 RC3 here.
Notes:
1. If you have a PC with easislides v4 and want to migrate its data to easyslides v5 on another PC:
- Before downloading and installing easyslides v5, do the following first.
- At the first PC which has easislides v4, copy the folder c:\easislides to a USB stick.
- Plug the USB stick into the second PC (which you want to run easyslides 5) and copy the “easislides” folder from the USB stick to c:\easislides on the second PC.
- At the second PC (which you want to install easyslides v5), follow the instructions above under “Download and Install Easyslides 5”.
2. If you have easislides v4 on your PC:
- When easyslides 5 first starts, it will inform you that easislides v4 data will be converted to v5 format and that a new EasySlidesData folder will be created in My Documents.
- Click OK to proceed.
- Easyslides 5 will start to convert your easislides v4 database and Bibles into easyslides v5 format. Your existing easislides v4 will be kept intact.
- Depending on the spec of your computer, the number of bibles and the amount of lyrics in v4, the conversion will take from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete.
- When the conversion completes, easyslides 5 main window will open and you can start using it right away.
3. If you didn’t have easislides v4 on your PC:
- Easyslides 5 comes with some public domain lyrics and Bibles which you can use straight away when easyslides 5 opens.
4. If you want to re-run the easislides v4 to easyslides v5 conversion:
- If so wished, you can re-run the conversion from v4 to v5 again so long as you haven’t deleted the original easislides v4 folder at c:\easislides.
- To do so, close easyslides 5 first.
- Delete or rename the folder EasySlidesData in My Documents to something else.
- Start easyslides 5 and you will be given a number of options.
- Choose convert easislides v4 to Easyslides 5.
- Click OK and easyslides will start the conversion.
5. Name/Concept Changes in easyslides v5 compared to easislides v4
- Lyrics folder is now known as database
- A particular song in the folder is now called an item
- Worship List is now known as Schedule
- Praisebook is now known as Booklet
- Lyrics Monitor/Confidence Monitor is now known as Stage Display
19th October 2023 – Changelog since v5.1
Issues and Resolutions:
- Selected database item did not update on preview after edited changes are saved – Fixed in v5.2Beta1
- Extra blank slides at the end when using dual regions and there are mulit-lines in region 2 – Fixed in v5.2Beta1
- Left-Right layout font and subtitle font sizes are sometimes very small when there is space for larger font size – Fixed in v5.2Beta1
- Bible items with applied template can not have individual settings – Fixed in v5.2Beta1
- Some myBible Bibles could not be imported properly – Fixed in v5.2Beta1
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- Quick Message Font Settings did not function correctly – Fixed in v5.2Beta2
- Font on stage monitor not set to same as Live Screen – Fixed in v5.2Beta2
- When generating a large number of webpages, easyslides crashed with out of memory error – Fixed in v5.2Beta2
- F5 – Restart Current Item option unticks the rotate option – Fixed in v5.2Beta2
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- Migrating data from adhoc easislidesv4 folder on a new machine did not run – Fixed in v5.2RC1
- Interlace display with Notations did not display properly – Fixed in v5.2RC1
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- Left and Right aligned Prefix and General Alerts did not display properly when text spanned multiple lines – Fixed in v5.2RC3
- In Single Monitor Mode, the arrow keys did not function after moving to a new item – Fixed in v5.2RC3
- Region 2 as Region 1 format did not function for the last line in certain circumstances – Fixed in v5.2RC3
- On a rare occasion, infoscreens won’t display on the output pane – fixed in v5.2RC4
- Formatting for an image item on a schedule is not carried through to output or Live – fixed in v5.2RC4
New and Amended Features:
In v5.2 RC4 – 19th October 2023
- Auto Start function enhanced.
- SongSelect Lyrics conversion updated to reflect recent changes to the format of downloaded SongSelect Lyrics sheets.
- Export Schedule option now lets you save to a location of your choice.
In v5.2 RC3 – 21st September 2023
- Improved Export/Import Schedule functionality
- Quick Message (Full Screen) is now called Full Screen Message.
- Prefix Alert is now called Prefix Message and has been enhanced with more vertical options and continuous duration (using value of 0).
- General Alert is now called General Message and has been enhanced with more vertical options and continuous duration (using value of 0).
- Option to display Schedule Numbering of items on the schedule.
- Option to disable display of Data Panel based on title/filename prefix.
- Option to Auto Start items on the schedule at their own individually set time:-
- Any items on the schedule can be given an Auto Start time – use the blue clock icon at the schedule or via Menu->Manage->Set Auto Start
- One hour before an Auto Start item goes live, a countdown clock will appear on the Easyslides Main Window.
- If easyslides is not live when the countdown reaches zero, easyslides will start a live show with the item.
- If easyslides is live when the countdown reaches zero, the current live item will stop and the Auto Start item will go live.
- Each item can only have one Auto Start time.
- The maximum number of Auto Start items on a schedule is 200.
- Export Schedules Packages will store Auto Start data (if any) and will therefore be available on another system after the Package is imported.
- Easyslides regularly polls for Auto Start item times and therefore system performance may be impacted if you have set a large number of Auto Start items.
In v5.2 RC2 – 7th August 2023
- For import/export of schedules there is now an option to convert infoscreens which have Bible passages back to Bible items during import.
- How to export and import a schedule:
- On your first computer create your schedule with all the items you require, eg. database items, Bible passages, slideshow, etc.
- Use the export schedule option to generate an export zip file which contains all the necessary items to run a live show on a second computer with easyslides 5.2.
- Copy the generated zip file to the second computer which has easyslides 5.2.
- In easyslides 5.2 on your second computer use the import schedule option (or use drag and drop) to import in the zip file.
- You will be prompted to confirm the import with an option to convert any Infoscreens with Bible passages back to Bible items.
- On confirmation of import, a new schedule will be created which is a replica of the schedule and all items from your first computer.
- You can now run your live show on your second computer.
- Please note the following when using the export/import schedule function:
- Database items and Bible passages on the schedule on the first computer are copied to the export zip files as infoscreens.
- During import, if you had selected the option to convert Infoscreens with Bible passages back to Bible items, the names of the Bibles referenced in the infoscreens must exist on the import computer.
- For example, if you had a passage from a Bible named “RSV”, the import computer must also have a Bible named “RSV”. If the named Bible is not present, the Infoscreen is not converted, and will remain as an Infoscreen on the schedule after import.
- Exported schedules and imported items are stored in the folder EasyslidesData\Documents\Packages.
- There might be slight layout differences on the second computer due to items being converted to infoscreens.
- All items including media files, images, slide shows, etc referenced in the schedule on the first computer are copied to the export zip file. If you have a lot of large files, the export zip file can get very large and may take time to get generated.
- Settings such as gap items, display panel, installed fonts, etc. are specific to each computer and therefore you will need to ensure the first and second computer have the same easyslides settings if you want to replicate the live show exactly.
In v5.2 RC1
- Headings for Source, Preview and Output panes which can be switched off if not required.
- Other general user interface changes
- Option to show Data Panel for Subtitle Screens
In v5.2 Beta2
- New option to display Data Panel on stage screens
- Selected Clock recalled on startup
- New Item restart button and a new Media repeat checkbox in output pane
- Import and Export of Schedules functionalities enhanced since v5.2beta1
- The import and export schedule packages have changed since v5.2beta1 and therefore schedule packages generated in v5.2beta1 is NOT compatible with v5.2beta2.
- Exported schedules and imported items are stored in the folder EasyslidesData\Documents\Packages.
- New clock options:-
- 12 and 24 hours option for the three clocks in the output pane
- Use the following in your text contents in the database or infoscreens, examples:-
- [time] <– display the current time in 24 hour format
- [time12] <– display the current time in 12 hour format
- [time 19:00] <– display a countdown to the time 7:00 pm in the evening
- [time 19:00 00:10] <– display a countdown to the time 7:00 pm in the evening and the countdown time will disappear after 10 seconds
- [time 19:00 00:30 20:00] <– display a countdown to the time 7:00 pm in the evening and the countdown time will disappear after 30 seconds, and restart the countdown to the next 7pm after 20 minutes
- [time 19:00] <– display a countdown to the time 7:pm in the evening. Default for display off is 10 seconds and display restart is 15 minutes.
- Infoscreen examples demonstrating the new time options and formatting are available via Menu->Tools->Install Infoscreen Examples
- If you are using multicast, the second computer receiving mulitcast must also run v5.2beta2 to be compatible with the new features.
In v5.2 Beta1
- Max images for Slide Show increased to 500. Max can be changed in Settings. There may be resource limitations on your particular version of Windows and therefore test thoroughly before putting many slides on.
- Bible passages in Region 1 and 2 on the Schedule can be swapped with each other
- Dual region Bible passages now display title from both regions
- Stage Monitor in subtitle mode now has option to use a particular font
- Option to delete language from languages list
- Additional Generate document features:
- Repeating chorus can be listed in full instead of just the first line
- Index page can be set at the beginning or end of the document, or have no index page at all
- Option to export and import a schedule:
- On your first computer create your schedule with all the items you require, eg. database items, Bible passages, slideshow, etc.
- Use the export schedule option to generate an export zip file which contains all the necessary items to run a live show on a second computer with easyslides 5.2.
- Copy the generated export zip file to the second computer which has easyslides 5.2.
- In easyslides 5.2 on your second computer use the import schedule option (or drag and drop) to import in the export zip file.
- A new schedule will be created automatically which is a replica of the schedule and all items from your first computer.
- You can now run your live show on your second computer.
- Please note the following when using the imported schedule:
- Database items and Bible verses on the schedule on the first computer are copied to the export zip files as infoscreens.
- As Bible verses are converted to infoscreen, you will not be able to use the arrow keys to progress beyond the verses stored in the infoscreen.
- There might be slight layout differences on the second computer due to items being converted to infoscreens.
- All media files, images, slide shows and other items such as powerpoint on the first computer schedule are copied to the export zip file. If you have a lot of large files, the export zip file can get very large and may take time to get generated.
- Settings such as gap items, display panel, installed fonts, etc. are specific to each computer and therefore you will need to ensure the first and second computer have the same easyslides settings if you want to replicate the live show exactly.