Try this in your Bible reading

When you come across a verse that is hard to understand, don’t go straight to a commentary. I know, this may sound like a strange suggestion from someone who makes Bible Software, but just give this a try and see what happens. I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with reading commentaries — that’s not what this is about.

Try to make a habit of cross-referencing before you do anything else in SwordSearcher. Before you read your favorite commentators or start clicking on links in the Bible margin for topical references, check out some cross-references first. If you already do this regularly then you already know how satisfying this is during Bible study. If you never really did it this way before, give it a shot using the KJV-TSK in SwordSearcher [video tutorial]. It will help you with copious cross-references. Another helpful tool is the Find Related Verses function [video tutorial], which helps you do Bible searches based on the words in a verse you are studying.

-Brandon

Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Understanding the Verse List Bar Graph

When you do a Bible search, the results are displayed in a Verse List panel. At the top of the panel is a Match Frequency Bar Graph that helps you quickly survey the use of the words over the whole Bible.

Match Frequency Bar Graph
Match Frequency Bar Graph

Using this graph you can instantly see where the most and fewest verses are, as well as quickly navigate in the search results.

  • The bars are color-coded for sections of the Bible (Law, Gospels, etc).
  • Hold the mouse pointer over a bar to see the book name and how many verses matched in that book.
  • Click to instantly scroll to the first match from the book.

Just experiment! In no time you’ll see how fast and helpful the bar graph is.

And here are some pro tips:

  • The toolbar in the verse list panel has a toggle button for the bar graph:
Bar graph toggle button
Bar graph toggle button
  • By default, Bible search results show the bar graph, but you can hide it by clicking the toggle button.
  • Other types of verse lists don’t show the bar graph by default. But any verse list actually can display a bar graph, even KJV-TSK reference lists. Just click the toggle button to make it appear.
  • There are even more graphs you can view. Click the Info and Search Statistics button 2017-04-28_13-16-49 on the toolbar for more!
  • If you decide you don’t like seeing the bar graph by default, you can turn it off in preferences. Go to File, Preferences and Settings, Bible and Verse Panels, Verse List Defaults. It’s the setting called Show Bar Graph.

Not seeing the bar graph? It was added in version 8. Please see the upgrade FAQ to learn about upgrading SwordSearcher.

Quick tip: Switch to Concordance View in search results

SwordSearcher 8 has two view modes for Bible search results. The default mode, called full view, shows complete verses with search results highlighted. This is usually exactly what you want, but there is another way of viewing search results that you may want to use on occasion, called Concordance View.

Concordance View screen shot
Verse List showing Bible search results in Concordance View mode.

To switch to Concordance View, just click the Concordance View toggle button in the toolbar.

The layout of Concordance View is similar to a printed Bible concordance, with each match from the search shown on a single line.

Although the normal Full View mode shows more, Concordance View has some advantages:

  • It is easier to locate a single verse out of a large set of results, if you think you will recognize it just by its placement in the verse.
  • All matches are shown in a single page.
  • Each match in a verse is shown on its own line (see the asterisk lines in the above picture).
  • Complex search results with overlapping matches can be easier to understand in Concordance View.

Holding the mouse pointer over a line will present a pop-up preview of the entire verse. Clicking the line will open the verse in the Bible panel. Concordance View has mostly the same options on the right-click pop-up menu as Full View mode.

Verse Widgets are visible in Concordance View. If you would like to turn them off to have more space for the search results, you can do so in File, Preferences under Verse List Defaults.

Quick tip: Assign a keyboard shortcut to your favorite module

Get to your favorite modules fast in SwordSearcher 8 by assigning them keyboard shortcuts. It’s easy to do!

Go to File, Preferences and Settings, and click Module Shortcuts.

The Module Shortcuts configuration window in SwordSearcher
The Module Shortcuts configuration window in SwordSearcher

From here, all you need to do is click “New Shortcut” to select a module and create a keyboard shortcut for the module.

Adding a module shortcut
Adding a module shortcut

So, what can you do with module shortcuts?

  • From the main window, you can type your shortcut to instantly make the module active and focused, regardless of what modules were visible.
  • You can use the shortcut to select the module from any of the “drop-down module selectors” throughout SwordSearcher.
  • Pretty much anywhere the module shortcut “makes sense” it can be used.

This is just one more way you can customize the SwordSearcher experience to make it faster to do what you want to get done.

SwordSearcher 8 Released

I am very happy to be able to announce a major new release. SwordSearcher 8 is the result of a significant effort and it’s great to finally be able to present it to you. Please see below for a summary of the new features and be sure to watch the short video demonstrating a few of them.

All of your upgrade questions are answered here.

What’s New in SwordSearcher 8

New Modules:

  • KJV-TSK: The King James Bible with integrated in-line cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
    • The extremely useful Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (expanded, with over 800,000 cross-references) is now available in an integrated form in this new Bible panel tab.
    • Hundreds of thousands of cross-references are now presented in-line from notation in the Bible text. It is no longer necessary to go to a separate commentary panel to use the cross-references.
  • Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary 1913 [Web1913]
    • A very complete dictionary from the early 20th century. This digital edition organizes identical headwords under a single entry. Not counting plurals or multiple word forms, there are over 120,000 words defined in over 98,000 entries, with over 48,000 cross-linked entries and over 4,300 linked references to Scripture.
    • This does not replace the 1828 Wester’s module — both are included.

New Features:

  • Integrated Bar Graph for Bible search result verse lists.
  • Concordance View mode for Bible search results in Verse List Panels.
  • New KJVSL (and SRVSL) layout: Reverse interlinear.
  • Comprehensive support for high-DPI and 4K+ displays.
  • Assign your own hotkeys to your favorite modules with custom module shortcuts.

And LOTS more.

Current users click here for upgrade info.
Not yet a SwordSearcher user? Order here.

New video quick-tip: Custom Search Ranges

Normally, a whole-Bible search will find what you are looking for in a snap.

But sometimes, you’ll want to narrow things down a bit.

This video shows how you can use the Search Bible window to specify any arbitrary portion of Scripture as your search range, so you can limit the search results to any section or sections of the Bible you choose.

Watch the video here.

Navigation tip: Back History in Panels

A customer asks via email: “How can I go back to a verse I was viewing in the Bible panel before I clicked another one?”

Each of the SwordSearcher reading panels (Bible, Book, and Commentary) has a pair of navigation buttons for navigating back and forward through your view history. Separating the navigation history by panel type means that you can navigate independently in each type of library resource.

Also, as shown in the image below, if you right-click a back or forward button, a history of your locations will appear, from which you can select. This example shows my back history list in the Bible panel:

Image of Bible panel back menu
Back menu in Bible panel

The navigation back menu is updated each time you explicitly set the location for a panel, such as by clicking a Bible verse link or typing the reference into the main search bar. The forward history is updated each time you use the back menu, in case you want to return to what you were viewing before using the back menu.

Version 7.2 Hotfix 4 available

A small, free “hotfix” update is available for SwordSearcher 7.2. This update includes the fixes from the previous hotfix updates, so there is no need to install the previous hotfixes if you haven’t already done so.

This update is recommended for all SwordSearcher 7.2 users.

Open SwordSearcher 7, click the Help menu, and select “Check for updates.” Click the link in the page that loads to download the update and install it. That’s all.​

After running the update, your SwordSearcher version will be 7.2.1.6.

If you are running a version older than 7.2, please go to the Upgrade FAQ page instead.


What is a hotfix?

A hotfix is a small update that fixes specific bugs found after the software was released.

What is fixed in this update?

This free bug fix update addresses the following issues that were discovered after 7.2 was released:

  • Fixed a condition where corrupt module file data on the hard drive could prevent SwordSearcher from starting.

Included from the previous hotfix updates:

  • Fixed bug that could cause SwordSearcher to crash when saving a user module entry.
  • Fixed up/down keys not scrolling text on some systems.
  • Fixed rare crash bugs relating to live spell checking in editor.
  • A few subtle corrections to rendering borders in some windows.
  • Fixed condition where program could freeze when deleting user module.
  • Fixed incorrect daily reading time division for custom reading plans based on daily time desired with certain types of reading segments.
  • Fixed some rare potential crash bugs.

How do I get the Hotfix?

2015-05-01_14-17-50

Open SwordSearcher 7, click the Help menu, and select “Check for updates.” Click the link in the page that loads to download the update and install it. That’s all.​

After installing the update, your version number will read 7.2.1.6.

Again, This hotfix update is for users of 7.2 only. Thank you!

Tips for Using SwordSearcher with Multiple Monitors

I am often asked how SwordSearcher can be used with multiple monitors. The most common question is whether or not the individual panels can be moved to separate monitors.

Yes!

20150811-11-15-41-001

SwordSearcher’s layout system is very powerful and highly configurable.

The secret is to enable layout customization on the View menu (or on the layout toolbar drop-down menu). Doing that will put your SwordSearcher layout into a true power-user mode, where you can move the panels around your screen, change where they are docked, and even put panels on different monitors. Then, you can use the save layout function to save your new layout to make it easy to go right back to it any time.

The Customizing the Layout Video demonstrates the details. Take a look!

If you are really adventurous, you may want to experiment with an advanced feature called “auto hide,” which will slide panels off to the edge when you are not using them. It’s disabled by default, and I only recommend this for advanced users. You can read how to use it in the help file here. Have fun!