Right now, in service
- Don't panic-click. Give the app 5 seconds — a spinning wheel isn't always a crash.
- If it's frozen, switch the stage/confidence output to a black or logo slide from the backup system first (see below), then deal with the crash off the live feed.
- Force-quit and relaunch:
Cmd+Option+Escon Mac, select ProPresenter, Force Quit. Reopen the app — it auto-loads the last playlist in most versions. - Reconnect your output display in ProPresenter's Preferences → Displays if the stage/audience screen doesn't come back automatically.
Why it crashes
- Corrupt media in the playlist — a video file that got interrupted mid-copy or a bad codec is the single most common cause. It usually crashes at the same slide every time.
- Low disk space or memory — large video backgrounds on an older machine with little free RAM/storage.
- A macOS/software update mid-week that changed something ProPresenter depended on. Avoid running system updates the same week as a service if you can help it.
Have a backup running before it happens
The teams that never have a "dead air" moment run a second, simpler backup system in parallel:
- A second laptop with ProPresenter (or even a PDF of slides) mirroring the same playlist, switchable in seconds via the video switcher.
- At minimum, a static "please stand by" slide on a spare input you can punch to instantly while you restart the main system.
After service
If it crashed at the same slide, isolate that media file and re-export or replace it before next week — don't just hope it doesn't happen again.