ProPresenter's Stage Display is extremely versatile. And it does a lot too!
When the stage display was first introduced in ProPresenter 4 it was able to show the current and next slide, slides notes for each slide, countdown timers, and a message. In ProPresenter 5, we added the ability to show PDF files and a few other small changes, including the ability to only show things on the Stage Display and not to your audience. In ProPresenter 6, we added video to the Stage Display and the ability to assign Stage Display cues to slides.
Below is a screenshot of the default layout for the ProPresenter 6 Stage Display shown in the Stage Display Editor. You can add or remove elements using the settings panel on the right. To move items around, simply move your mouse over each box and your cursor will change to a hand. Click and drag the elements where you want them on the display. You can also resize everything just like normal windows by moving your mouse to the edge of a box until it turns into the double-ended arrow.
Displaying Chord Charts
Edit your layout to include the Chord Chart and any other elements you want. In the example below, only the Current Slide, Next Slide, and Chord Chart are shown. This is what the people on stage would also see on their display.
Chord charts can be added to the entire document or to specific slides. If you have a single page chord chart, you'll want to attach it to the document so that it shows up right away with the song. If you have a muti-page chord chart, you'll want to attach the pages to specific slides so that they show at the correct time.
To add a chord chart to the document, click the info button next to the song title and add your chord chart. To add the chord chart to a slide, open the Editor, go to the Slide Properties tab and click the chord chart button. Both methods are then identical. Select your file and attach it to the presentation. If it's multiple pages, you'll be able to select which page you want shown with a certain slide.
Stage Display Preview
ProPresenter 6 now allows you to quickly preview the Stage Display inside the main program. To toggle this, press Command-3. If your display is attached and turned on, you can also mouse of the preview window and click the button that appears to toggle the display. Press Command-3 again to switch back to your main output preview.
Live Slides on Stage Display
This feature is brand new to ProPresenter 6. Rather than having to physically swap inputs on your display for people on stage to see the video being played, you can now enable a Live Slide for the Current Slide. All you have to do is simply change the Current Slide setting to Live Slide and click on your slide.
The animation below shows the Live Slide running inside the Stage Display Preview. This preview can be seen by pressing Command-3 or by clicking on Stage Display Preview in the Window menu. The playback controls are left visible to show you that this is actually a video being played by ProPresenter on a slide.
Stage Display Only mode
This feature was added in ProPresenter 6. It allows you to show content to the people on stage without your audience seeing it. For example, if you have a lyric video for a song, you may want your audience to see that but the band still needs lyrics and chord charts. You can enable this mode by pressing Command-0, going to the View menu, or with the Stage Display Cues (covered next). All you need to do is start your video then enable this mode and you can go through your slides without them being shown to your audience. All they will see if the video being played. The animation shows you what this looks like. It starts with showing the normal output, then shows the Stage Display only mode being enabled.
Stage Display Cues
You can use Slide Cues to change your stage display layouts and clocks on the stage display. There are two ways to assign these cues. The first is with the Add Cue menu. Right-click on the slide you want to add a cue to, then go to Add Cue and either Stage Display Layout or Countdown Timer to add the options to make changes. You can also use the Cue Palette option. When you use the Cue Palette, you will need to drag your Cue option, either Stage or Timers" to the slide you want to add the cue to. You may want to use the Cue Palette if you are adding multiple cues to a presentation so that you don't have to keep right-clicking on slides. The Cue Palette will stay open until you close it.
The Cue Palette "Stage Display" cue option allows for you to suppress and enable slides as well. This is the equivalent of toggling on and off the "Stage Display Only" Mode that is discussed above. If you choose to Suppress the Slide on Output, this will mean that this slide and any after it will only show to your Stage Display. If you choose to Enable the Slide on Output, this will bring the slides back once this slide is clicked on including the slide you click on. This can be especially helpful if you don't want the words of the verses to show on your screen, but do want the Chorus.