How to Dump PowerPoint and Keynote for Worship Presentation
When I switched from Windows to Mac a couple of years ago, I installed Windows in Bootcamp mode because I still needed it for some church preparation, mainly announcement and sermon graphics. We also still used EasyWorship for our projection software, so the PowerPoint import was pretty smooth.
When we switched to ProPresenter for worship projection that changed. I found that I had to have the latest version of Office for Mac PowerPoint in order to import. So I considered using Keynote (Mac’s answer to PowerPoint.) There were limitations to using both these programs that I didn’t like.
I found myself creating static graphics exported as .jpgs from Keynote and then dragging those pictures onto slides in ProPresenter. That was okay for some things, but what about a last-minute edit of the sermon or an announcement? I didn’t want to have to fire up an external program (which were not installed on the presentation Mac), re-do the slide, then replace it in ProP.
Then one day a light bulb went off. Duh, why not just create it all in ProP? The process is a little different for the sermon than the announcements. For the latter there is still some external graphic development, but it is usually re-using graphics I have designed in Photoshop or Fireworks for the website or something else.
Many of the slides are a static graphic with text added inside ProPresenter making them easily editable right up to sermon time. Of course we prefer not to have to do that, but it does happen occasionally. ProP also has slide timing and loop settings for creating an announcement loop for pre-service.
For sermons, our Pastor does his outline in Word which is saved in Dropbox so I can easily access it from where ever. Since ProP allows file imports from Word, I simply import the outline and open the edit (reflow) section of the import window, select the template I’ve set up for it, then reflow the text just like with imported song lyrics.
Once the text is broken up on separate slides appropriately, I save the import and go to the slide editor. Here I add the background graphics that have been designed for the series and make any formatting tweaks. The process is certainly as easy as using PowerPoint or Keynote, plus I can use the bullet point and fill in the blank animations in ProPresenter, and all the text is completely editable within ProP.
If you’re still using an external presentation software to build graphics for ProPresenter, consider simplifying things with this process. You may find yourself dumping them and doing your work in ProP too.
from my notebook 
this is really helpful. i help with slides at my church and we’re using propresenter (although we’re new at it). thanks for posting!