Collections
A collection is an organized set of songs — could be a traditional hymnal, a selection of standalones, or a themed list. In Salterium, collections come in two types: global (shared across all churches) and local (private to your church).
Global × Local
Global collections contain only public domain songs — traditional hymns, old scores, content free of copyright restriction. You can use them freely in any church.
| Feature | Global | Local | |---|---|---| | Visibility | All churches on Salterium | Only your church | | Editing | Maintained by the Salterium team | Your church edits freely | | Copyright | Public domain only | Your responsibility | | Typical use | Canonical hymnal, classical repertoire | Own library, translations, originals |
Your church can create local collections with any song for internal liturgical use. What's not allowed is distributing copyrighted songs via export to third parties — lyrics and melody copyright are each church's responsibility, under applicable law.
Importing from the global catalog
The most common way to start is pulling songs from the global catalog into a local collection of your church:
the original
import.
The original song stays in the global catalog, unchanged — you get an editable copy inside your collection. You can change lyrics, adjust execution order, link translation, add YouTube video. None of that affects the original.
Step by step
Go to Library → Salterium catalog in the sidebar.
Find the song you want to add (search by title, number, or first line). Click on it to open.
In the song's panel, click + Add to one of my collections and pick which. If you don't have a collection yet, create one on the spot.
Done. The song now appears in your local collection, editable.
Creating a local collection
In Library → My collections → + New collection:
Name — how your church will call it (e.g., "Hymns of 2026").
Main language — defines the songs' default language. It doesn't lock out other languages — bilingual songs still work, but search prioritizes this one.
Description (optional) — for the team to know when to use it.
After created, add songs one by one (from the global catalog, manually via editor, or by importing an external file).
Import and export formats
Salterium accepts several ways to bring and take collections:
Native formats (full round-trip)
.salterium— music pack (collections + songs + translation links). Signed binary, preserves 100% of fields..salcanvas— notices pack. Same codec, visual distinction in Finder/file manager.
Both are round-trip: what you export comes back whole. Use for backup, migration between instances, or to move library between machines.
External formats (import only)
- OpenLP (.xml / .osz) — classic format for OpenLP-using churches. Automatic conversion preserves titles, numbers, and chorus markers.
- OpenSong (.xml) — common format in North American churches.
- Hymnal PDF — automatic reading recognizes structure, numbers, markers. Has imported ~1,600 songs without failure.
These are read only — Salterium imports but doesn't export back to
them. For backup, use the native .salterium format.
Backup with .salterium
Backup is just exporting a collection (or several) to a .salterium
file and keeping it in a safe place:
Exporting
In My collections, open the collection you want to export.
Click 📦 Export at the top.
Modal shows preview: how many songs, translation links, etc. Confirm
and download the .salterium file.
Keep the file wherever: Drive, USB stick, your own e-mail. No proprietary cloud format — you own the file.
Importing (restoring)
In My collections, click 🔄 Import .salterium.
Drag the .salterium file or click to pick.
Preview shows what will enter. If there are duplicate songs (same title + language), you choose: skip, overwrite, or create as new. By default, create as new.
Confirm. The collections, songs, and links enter the active church's library.
Back up periodically — once a month is a good cadence. Before migrations or major changes, export everything. The file is small (even large collections rarely exceed 1 MB).
Sharing notices with .salcanvas
Notices also have a native export format — .salcanvas. The difference
from .salterium is purely visual (different extension so you can
distinguish in Finder), the codec is the same.
Why share notices
The Salterium community can exchange notice layouts between churches:
- Welcome countdown with modern visual identity
- Prayer call vignette with careful typography
- Streaming countdown timer
- Monthly birthdays board
When you create a beautiful notice, export .salcanvas, share with
other churches. They import, adjust the texts, and use — without
reinventing the design.
Exporting / Importing notices
Works just like collections, but in Library → My notices:
- 📦 Export — pick one or several notices, generates
.salcanvas - 🔄 Import — accepts
.salteriumor.salcanvas. Imports directly
Deleting a collection
Deleting a collection removes all songs from it in your church. Songs that came from the global catalog stay available there — only the local copy disappears.
To delete, click 🗑 Delete inside the collection's page. The system asks for a special confirmation: type a 4-digit code shown on screen to confirm it's intentional. Without that code, the Delete button doesn't activate.
Same protection applies to deleting notices.
Next steps
- Song editor — after creating the collection, how to edit the songs inside it
- Projectable notices — create notices you can later export and share
- Building the service — use the collections to build the execution list