HymnWrite

Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a list of frequently asked questions about HymnWrite.

Does your software allow high quality picture files to be made when printing songs? I want to use these picture files in Word or Powerpoint.

Yes. Both Word and PowerPoint allow you to insert PDFs into them. So first print the music to a pdf (see the 2 questions after this question for how to do this.) Then follow the instructions below, depending on the brand of your computer.

WORD: Open the Word document you want to insert the PDF in. Click Insert > Object > Create from file. Browse for the PDF you want and select OK.

POWERPOINT: In PowerPoint, select the slide that you want to add the file to, and then select Insert > Object. In the Insert Object box, select Create from file, and then enter the PDF file location; or select Browse, find the PDF file, and then select OK.

How can I print to a pdf under Windows?

Go to print your document as you normally would, and select Microsoft Print to PDF as your printer.

How can I print to a pdf on a Mac?

Go to print your document as you normally would, and select PDF (generally at the bottom left of the Print dialog).

I write in Spanish as well as English. So, I am interested in finding a music word processor that will support accent marks, tildes, etc.

HymnWrite supports unicode. So as long as you have a font that provides characters with these marks on your computer, you can use it for verses and other text.

Is this product primarily for working church musicians or more for composers/arrangers?

HymnWrite would be beneficial to both. Of course a composer can use it to quickly create a hymn by entering the verses, and then easily experiment with/playing different tunes (assuming the hymn meter is one of the more popular meters) until a good fit to the text is found.

If a hymn is not under copyright and uses a tune included in HymnWrite (currently over 5,000 tunes), the hymn text could fairly quickly be entered into HymnWrite. Then it could be modified to provide a solution to either of the following:

1) Church music directors/musicians often want to transpose music for their singers/soloists or musicians. They may also want to make the music larger (i.e., "Large Print") for better viewing by using a larger font for lyrics, or by enlarging both music and text (HymnWrite provides its "cast off & justify" functionality to re-determine system breaks and justify the resulting systems to fit the margins in cases when the music becomes too wide.)

2) Another beneficiary could be the minister who might want to modernize the verses of an old hymn or make them gender neutral.

Would your company have any claim on the music produced using your software? Would the creators of new settings of text/tune using the software be able to copyright the engravings?

All music used by HymnWrite is public domain. We do not have any claim to hymns produced by it. We do not believe the engravings would be copyrightable. And in particular, no CCLI license is required.