Importing Your OpenLP Song Library

The single biggest reason churches stay on projection software they've outgrown is the song library. Three hundred songs, entered by hand over eight years, with the verse and chorus breaks in the right places. Nobody is retyping that, and nobody should have to.

If your library is in OpenLP, you don't. It moves in one upload, with structure intact.

What imports, and what it keeps

Ekkli reads two formats directly:

• OpenLP's native .sqlite database file — the whole library in a single file, exactly as OpenLP stores it on disk.
• OpenLyrics XML — the open interchange format OpenLP and several other tools can export to.

What survives the move is the part that took the time: the lyrics themselves, and the section structure. Verses, choruses, bridges and pre-choruses come across as labelled sections rather than one undifferentiated block of text, which is what makes a song usable on Sunday rather than merely present in a database.

Titles, authors and any CCLI numbers you'd recorded come with them. Once imported, the whole library is full-text searchable — so the practical test, finding a song from a half-remembered line in the second verse while the band is waiting, works from day one.

How to do it

1. Find your OpenLP data file. On Windows it's usually under AppDataRoamingopenlpdatasongs; on macOS and Linux it's in the equivalent OpenLP data directory. The file you want is the songs database, ending .sqlite.
2. Or export to OpenLyrics instead. If you'd rather not hand over the whole database file, OpenLP can export selected songs as OpenLyrics XML. Both routes land in the same place.
3. Upload it once. The import runs against your church's own song library and reports what it read.
4. Spot-check ten songs — ideally your most-used ones. Check the section labels rather than the spelling; that's where format differences show up.

Do this before your first Sunday on the platform, not on the morning of it. Not because it's fragile, but because the sensible order is: import, check, build one service set, then run it live.

What doesn't come across

Worth stating plainly so nothing surprises you mid-migration:

• Themes and backgrounds. OpenLP themes don't transfer. Ekkli has its own display themes and 24 bundled backgrounds, plus your own uploads — but the look is rebuilt, not imported.
• Service files. Saved OpenLP service plans don't import. Once the songs are in, rebuilding a service is quick, and going forward the service plan and the projection playlist are the same object.
• Other formats. Only OpenLP .sqlite and OpenLyrics XML import today. Libraries in other presentation software need re-entry unless that software can export OpenLyrics — worth checking before you plan the switch.
• Embedded media. Videos and images inside a song file don't come through; they're re-attached in the new theme.

The licensing part, briefly

Importing a library doesn't change your licensing position. Your CCLI or equivalent licence covers the reproduction, and that's your responsibility on any platform — exactly as it was in OpenLP. What Ekkli adds for UK and Ireland churches is a Copy Activity report built from your real display history, which flags any song still missing its CCLI number so you can complete it before you self-report at reporting.ccli.com. It isn't a CCLI integration and it doesn't submit anything for you.

Why churches move a library at all

OpenLP is genuinely good software and free, and if it's working for you there's no argument here for changing. The reasons churches do move are usually these: it's installed on one machine, so the person who owns that laptop has to be there; updates and backups are somebody's job; and it does projection only, so the website, rotas and member records live somewhere else entirely.

Browser-based means any laptop, Chromebook or borrowed machine becomes the output with nothing to install. And for the Sunday the connection fails, a whole slide set exports as one self-contained HTML file — fonts and images included — that runs from a USB stick with no network at all.

Frequently asked questions

Will the verse and chorus structure survive?

Yes — labelled sections are preserved, which is the part that matters for actually running a service. Spot-check your ten most-used songs after importing.

Can I import from ProPresenter, EasyWorship or OpenSong?

Not directly. Only OpenLP .sqlite and OpenLyrics XML are supported today. If your software can export OpenLyrics, that route works; otherwise the library needs re-entry.

What happens if I run the import twice?

Import into a test church first if you're unsure. Check the result before pointing a live congregation at it.

Does importing songs mean Ekkli has rights over them?

No. Your library stays private to your church, and your licence position is unchanged. A full export of everything, songs included, is available to you at any time.

How long does it take?

The upload itself is quick even for large libraries. Budget your time for the spot-check rather than the import.