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Questions From a New User


Victoruto

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Hi all,

 

I am a new user of Accordance. I have four questions. Any help with any of them would be much appreciated.

 

(1) If you do a word search and, say, six verses pop up with results, how do you examine one of the verses in its context? I'm used to a free Bible program I had where you just click on the verse and it takes you to that book.

 

(2) Original language searches: I know how to search with a key number, but is there also a way to search using the Greek or Hebrew word itself? The "Go to" in the "Enter Key Numbers" search box does not seem to be working for me. I have to scroll through every word to find the one I am looking for and then get the key number.

 

(3) Is there a "back" button. I feel like I am missing something obvious here, but not having the ability to go back has been bugging me.

 

(4) Can you set up a custom workspace that pops up every time Accordance opens?

 

Thanks,

 

Victor

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I'll start with number (4). You can set up many custom workspaces in Accordance. You can set how you want Accordance to initially display via the preferences, under the 'Accordance' menu.

under startup you can set 'last session' (i.e. what you were doing when you last closed Accordance) or a specific default session.

 

For (1) if you have done a search and you want to see context there is a slider just above the text on the left. This can be moved to display varying amounts of context.

If you always want context shown that can be set in the preferences. This time under 'search tabs'. If you click the 'search for words' radio button then you can change the 'add context' option.

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Hello, Victor, and welcome to Accordance! Let me answer your questions in order:

 

1) This is very easy, just slide the Context Slider from 0 (zero) to A (all), and you'll see the verses in full context. You can then navigate your results using the Mk buttons at the bottom. There are a few other ways, too, but this is the fastest.

 

2) This is, unfortunately, not as straightforward as question 1. For actual original language texts, like the HMT or GNT, you can search them directly by Greek or Hebrew word. For a keyed text, such as the ESVS, you'll need to search by key number. The easiest way to do this is to find the word you want to search for in the text (such as "beginning" (b'reshit) in Gen 1:1), right click and do Search for Key Number. There are a lot of other ways to search for a word's Key number, but again, thats probably the most straightforward.

 

3) What is it specifically you want to go back to? If you have jumped to another part of the text, you can use the Left/Right buttons at the bottom. If you have run a new search, your old searches are in the History, in the Magnifying Glass menu to the left of your search terms (we call the "Entry Box"). If you've opened a new dictionary, just close the tab or zone, as your starting tab is still there.

 

4) Sure, this is easy! Accordance defaults to startup with "Last Session", which opens whatever workspace you had open as you quit. You can change this in Preferences -> General. Under the Startup area, you can choose either Default Search Tab, Default Session, Daily Reading, or the Last Session. Default Search Tab opens a plain text window of your preferred bible. Daily Reading opens up the reading for the day in your default devotional tool. Default Session, what you probably want, will open a specific workspace every time. Just build the workspace you want, select Default Session, and click "Set Default Session" to save it.

 

Feel free to post any more questions or followups.

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Victor,

 

I would recommend the podcasts as a great way to learn the basics of Accordance. When I first started using Accordance (after years on another program), I watched a lot of the podcasts to help me get the basics down. You can get them off of the website, or just subscribe in iTunes. they are worth your time.

 

In Christ,

 

Bret

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Hey, Victoruto - Another very simple thing you can do is to save a workspace with a name (Accordance>File>Save As . . . no keyboard shortcut for this in Accordance).

 

I have one for my daily devotional time. Each tab has three Bibles, the ESV Study Bible, Bible Knowledge Commentary and Expositor's Bible Commentary, Outlines or some other context-help tool, the NASB Notes, my own notes, etc. Having set up one tab the way I wanted it, I duplicated (Cmd-D) the tab and then modified the new tab for NT reading. Each tab can be duplicated, named (Opt-Cmd-N) to give you a custom-designed daily reading workspace. I resave it each day to make sure I get all tabs at the same location the next day.

 

You can follow the same procedure and create a workspace for textual studies, Greek or Hebrew Studies, a workspace with all your Greek lexicons or grammars, etc. Accordance enables the user to set things up in a way that works perfectly for their own needs. That's why I'm addicted.

 

I usually have two or three windows open at once, including the Journal I use for prayer. Expose enables me to get to them all easily when using only a laptop screen.

 

P.S. I tried to attach a screen shot but kept getting the "This file was too big to upload" message.

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Thanks for the advice, Bronze and Gold. I have been watching the podcasts and they have been really helpful.

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