Bulletin Builder Tutorials
Creating a Bulletin Template
A Bulletin Template in SancytuarySync is nothing more than a copy of your church's normal bulletin that is saved as a Google Document and tweaked to include a special type of text called merge fields (more on this later). To create a new SanctuarySync Bulletin Template from your church's current bulletin:
Creating a new Google Document from your Current Bulletin
If your current bulletin is a Google Document:
Open your current bulletin
Select File -> Make a copy
Hurray, we have a copy! The last step is to give the new document a descriptive name.
If your current bulletin is a Word Document:
Open Google Drive
Select New -> File upload
In the file selection menu, select your bulletin document, and then select Open
This will save the Word Document to your Google Drive
From inside your Google Drive, Open the file you just uploaded
Select Open with -> Google Docs
Select File -> Save as Google Doc
Adding Merge Fields
Merge fields are for the parts of your bulletin that change from week to week. Instead of listing a specific volunteer, hymn, sermon title, etc on your Bulletin Template, you'll want to add a merge field in that spot. To create a merge field, simply choose a unique label (completely up to you) and surround it with double curly brackets. For example:
{{Sermon Title}}
{{Worship Leader}}
{{Nursery Volunteer #1}}
An example of what these look like in a completed Bulletin Template is shown to the right.
Adding the Bulletin Template to SanctuarySync
Once your Bulletin Template is finished, it's time to add it to the SanctuarySync Bulletin Tool:
Copy the Document URL of your Bulletin Template
Open SanctuarySync
Open the Bulletin Builder Tool
Under the 'Select Bulletin Template(s)' section, select Manage Bulletin Templates
On the menu that pops up, within the 'Add a Bulletin Template: Option 2' section, paste your Document URL in the text box and select Add Template
Creating a Planning Sheet
Planning Sheets in SanctuarySync are Google Sheets built to store details for upcoming services or emails. They can be created automatically with the SanctuarySync tool following the directions below.
If instead, you would like to create an entirely custom Planning Sheet, you can do so by creating a Google Sheet where:
The first row must contain dates and
The first column contains merge field labels.
For a Planning Sheet to work with a particular Bulletin or Email Template, the merge field labels in the first column of the Planning Sheet must match the merge field labels found on the Bulletin or Email Template exactly.
Did you know you can create multiple Planning Sheets?! Want to keep your volunteer schedule separate from your liturgy plans? No problem, you can create a Planning Sheet for each to keep your church organized, just make sure each merge field label is only listed on one Planning Sheet.
Let SanctuarySync Create a Planning Sheet for You
Open SanctuarySync
Open the Bulletin Builder Tool
Under the 'Select Planning(s)' section, select Manage Planning Sheets
With the 'Bulletin Template' dropdown found in the 'Add a Planning Sheet/Option 1:' section select either...
A Bulletin Template that you would like this planning sheet to be built to match
None: This creates a blank Planning sheet for you
Select Create Sheet
Using the Bulletin Builder
Once you have at least one Bulletin template and one Planning Sheet added to SanctuarySync you are ready to create your first bulletin! To ensure your new bulletin is complete, be sure to completely fill out the column on your Planning Sheet (or sheets if you have multiple) that corresponds with the day you are making the bulletin for. Once you're ready:
Building a Bulletin
For this to work, you must have at least one Bulletin Template added to SanctuarySync
Open SanctuarySync
Open the Bulletin Builder Tool
Select a Date for the Service. This date will be used to gather information from your Planning Sheets.
Select at least one Bulletin Template (you can select up to 5)
Select at least one Planning Sheet (you can select up to 10)
Select Build
