18 replies to this topic

[Helen Brown]

A user e-mailed me recently to say that she had accidentally discovered that you could use a period instead of a colon when entering verse references. Obviously, in the wider panoply of Accordance features, this is a relatively minor one, but she was quite excited about no longer having to use the Shift key to enter references. For those among you who appreciate the little things, here are a few more tips about entering verse references.

• Rather than having a set list of book abbreviations, Accordance only requires that you enter enough of a book name to uniquely identify it. Thus, "1p" is all you need to identify 1Peter, while 1Corinthians would require "1Co" (to distinguish it from 1Chronicles).
  This ability was recently beefed up in Accordance 6 to account for an even wider variety of abbreviations. Thus, "Luk", "Lu", and "Lk" will all find the book of Luke. "Mat", "Mt," "Mw," Maw", "Matw", "Mtt", and other combinations will all find Matthew. Basically, as long as you get close, you're likely to find the book you're looking for.
• When dealing with book names beginning with a number, you can have a space between the number and the book name ONLY when it is the first reference in the entry box.
  Thus, you could have "1 Peter 3:1; Matthew 5; 1Sam 17" and it would work. But if you have "1 Peter 3:1; Matthew 5; 1 Sam 17", that space between the "1" and the "Sam" will cause Accordance to protest.
  Why does that space cause so many problems? Because Accordance has no way to tell whether the "1" is part of the preceding reference (i.e.: "Matthew 5; 1") or part of the reference which follows ("1 Sam 17"). This ambiguity doesn't apply when a numbered book name begins an entry, so the space is permissible there.
  
• You can use "f" or "ff" (an abbreviation which means "and following") after a reference to see all the following verses/chapters. Thus, "1p 2:8f" will show you all the verses from 1Peter 2:8 through the end of the chapter. "1p 2f" will show you all the chapters from 1 Peter 2 through the end of the book. Finally, "1p f" will show you all the books from 1 Peter through Revelation. It's a lot quicker than trying to enter a range with an ending book, chapter, or verse.

I know as tips go, these are pretty basic, but hopefully they'll be of help to some of you.

David Lang

[Dennis M Callies]

Double check your # 3,because what is the diffrence between ff and f.

[Helen Brown]

There is no difference between f and ff, the results depend on whether it follows a verse or chapter number or a book.

[Chris Regas]

BIG HELP! No tip too small for me! Thank you!

Chris

[Roger]

I discovered a search tip that I'd like to share.

Although it is esential to compare certain verses together within a chapter, sometimes scrolling back and forth can be a pain. That's when a search string like "Psalm 119:1, 10, 36-41" come in handy, because just those verses show up on the screen.

[Joel Brown]

I discovered a search tip that I'd like to share.

Although it is esential to compare certain verses together within a chapter, sometimes scrolling back and forth can be a pain. That's when a search string like "Psalm 119:1, 10, 36-41" come in handy, because just those verses show up on the screen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll add my 2 cents to that. I often use Accordance for taking notes and following in a Bible study. At times, they'll rattle off 5 verses in a row, sometimes out of order. Accordance still handle's these brilliantly. For instance, I could go:

"Josh 3:4; gal 4:2,5; 1cor 3:1-3; job 5:3"

And it lists them all, in that exact order. Very convenient and fast, especially when I can look at them all in the different translations at the same time. Note, those references were entirely random, any coincidences are accidental.

[jpkang]

There is no difference between f and ff, the results depend on whether it follows a verse or chapter number or a book.

I think what Dennis is getting at is that in print, f. means a single following entity (verse, chapter, page, etc.), whereas ff. means all such entities up to the end of the logical section. Thus, in print, Gen. 1.1f normally means Gen. 1.1-2, Psa. 22f refers to Psa. 22-23, Psa. 139.19ff refers to Psa. 139.19-24, Gen. 39ff refers to Gen. 39.1–50.26, etc. (cf. Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., 17.131, which actually discourages this usage, preferring explicit versification/pagination/sectioning!).

I suppose it is most problematic if someone copies a list of citations from a tool like the Anchor Bible Dictionary which distinguishes the usage of f. and ff. Under the headword ELIHU, you find "2. The fourth opponent of Job (Job 32:2, 4; 5f; 34:1; 35:1; 36:1)." In this case, the preceding semicolon is probably a typo, but either way, Accordance is currently confused by the sequence (even if the semicolon is changed into a comma) and displays a "There are extra characters after the end of the verse reference" error pane. If it were to display all the rest of the verses in chapter (vv. 6-22), that's quite a bit more than intended. Indeed, only the expression "Job 32:2, 4ff, 34:1; 35:1; 36:1" gives any result while "Job 32:2, 4f, 34:1; 35:1; 36:1" gives the error. Hmm!

[Kevin Soars]

If I may Chris, I would like to copy your own: "BIG HELP! No tip too small for me! Thank you!" and say, that is exactly how I feel.

Kevin (Soars).

[Ron Bailey]

Thanks, the 'f' tip will be very useful to me.
This is probably the dumbest question you have received but is there a quick keystroke to switch to the entry window to enter a verse, and another to enter a word. I find it frustrating to be told there is no such book as 'nose'! (For the curious, I was doing some research on 'sweet saviour offerings!) and it is marginally time consuming to hit that radio button.

Edited by Helen Brown, 26 October 2005 - 01:04 PM.

[Ron Webber]

Hello Ron,

Typing Command-Semicolon will toggle the radio buttons in the search pane between "Words" and "Verses." It's very useful and don't worry, it's not "a dumb question."

Best regards,

Ron Webber

[Ron Bailey]

Thanks Ron and Helen (who I met today at the London MaxExpo)
this was just what I needed. It is in the many keyboard shortcuts but I just kept missing it.
It not only toggles between 'words' and 'verses' but put the cursor on the line so that you can just type away. I shall use it even when I am in the right search window, but command-semicolon TWICE. This will save my fingers leaving the keyboard and having to reach for the mouse!

I think we should all make our own contribution to 'energy saving'.
His/yours
Ron

[David Lang]

Ron,

If I understand you right, you're saying that when you're in Word search mode and you want to enter a new argument, you'll hit command-semicolon twice to toggle from Words to Verses and back to Words. That way, the argument entry box will be selected and you can just start typing your new search. If that's the case, here's another tip for you: Just hit the Tab key once. That will select the argument entry box without changing the search mode. Even better, it requires one finger rather than two!

By the way, if you hit the Tab key twice, the Reference box in the lower right will be selected.

Hope this helps.

[wesped]

Wow…thanks guys for the toggle command>semicolon tip. I know that I will use this.
Wesley Miller

[treyj]

Hello Ron,

Typing Command-Semicolon will toggle the radio buttons in the search pane between "Words" and "Verses." It's very useful and don't worry, it's not "a dumb question."

Best regards,

Ron Webber

thank you!! I too was frustrated by having to re-position my hands while typing a document.

[Sean R.]

There is no difference between f and ff, the results depend on whether it follows a verse or chapter number or a book.

I'm noticing a difference between f and ff. For example, when I enter Rom 8:6f, Accordance displays Rom. 8:6-7. When I enter Rom 8:6ff, however, Accordance displays Rom. 8:6-39 (through to the end of the chapter). Thus, "f" instructs Accordance to display only the next verse following the reference entered while "ff" displays through the end of the chapter.

Edited by Sean R., 13 November 2010 - 06:45 PM.

[Tony Pyles]

I'm noticing a difference between f and ff. When I enter Rom 8:6f, Accordance displays Rom. 8:6-7. When I enter Rom 8:6ff, Accordance displays Rom. 8:6-39 (through to the end of the chapter). Thus, "f" instructs Accordance to display only the next verse following the reference entered while "ff" displays through the end of the chapter.

This was fixed with 8.2. It also works with chapters, or books. (E.g., Gen 37f gets 37-38, Gen 37ff gets Gen 37-50; Gen f gets Gen-Exod, Matt ff gets the whole NT.) Pretty cool, huh? :-)

[John F. Hart]

Helen's tips were very helpful. I would like to add a great tip on searching references in tools that someone at Accordance shared with me some time ago.

When searching tools or journals for a specific reference like John 3:16, typing that reference into the search box also finds all verse and chapter ranges that contains that verse. In other words, a search definition of "John 3:16" brings up hits that include John, John 1-15, John 3, John 3:1-17, John 3:15–19, etc., etc. To limit the search to find only John 3:16, the formula is "John 3:16 <NOT> (John 3:15 <OR> John 3:17)" [don't enter the quote marks]. I found this extremely helpful, so I have saved the formula elsewhere on my computer so that I don't forget it.

[Helen Brown]

We now have the ability to add the equal sign before the verse reference, so =John 3:16 finds only that verse.

[John F. Hart]

That's the benefit of this forum—keeping up-to-date on tips and ideas. That sure is a shortcut to the old formula! I didn't think of that.
Thanks.