7 replies to this topic

[Chairsteleios]

I have been using Accordance for about 4 months now and I'm fairly happy with it but there are a few simple conveniences it lacks that if developed would truly be the only software a student of the bible could ever need (short of an internet browser and word processor).

1.) I would love to be able to edit the verse reference for my bible notes to incorporate a range of verses rather than 1 verse at a time. The chapter and verse references aren't always where they should be so sometimes a note needs to stretch over several verses. More over, in narratives it is very common to comment on an entire section rather than verse by verse.

2.) The diagramming tool is coming along but there is no convenient way to store my diagrams. One of the first things I do in studying an epistle is to diagram and then arc each verse. The save option is very inconvenient. I think the best option would be for diagrams to work exactly as user notes do. That way each diagram would be linked to the referenced verses and would have a little icon (as with user notes) next to the verse(s). As with the above suggestion, the chapter/verses are not perfect so one should be able to link a diagram to multiple verses.

3.) Might we be able to paste/insert a photo into our notes? It would be wonderful to be able to scan in and insert a picture of hand written/drawn diagrams (among other things). No matter how friendly the user interface becomes with diagramming, for many of us we'll still prefer to work it out with pen and paper. This would allow us to store and organize our hand written diagrams within Accordance.

4.) We're able to sync our mobile devices with a computer of our choice but what about for those of us who have a desktop and laptop? In the future I would love to be able to sync notes between computers. One possible way would be through a "cloud." I believe Logos already has this.

5.) Finally, and this one should be fairly simple, might we soon be able to read epub and pdf files with accordance? There are so many useful Christian books and resources in electronic format now it would be wonderful to be able to import/store these books within the Accordance suite itself and for there to be a simple tool that automatically searches for and links any scripture references within the text (theWord - a free bible software for PC has this tool. It works brilliantly!)?

Thanks Accordance Team!
Matt

[Steve King]

Just a comment on your first point. If you mean you want user notes to refer to more than one verse you can edit the note reference so that it refers to a range of verses. You can still have another note for the individual verse.

[Chairsteleios]

Steve, do you mean simply by changing the reference at the top and clicking "make link"?  That's simple enough.  I do wish that there was some sort of icon displaying that it was over multiple verses.  As it is, only the verse it begun with will have a dot next to it.  If I'm missing something let me know.  

[Steve King]

There is no indication that there is a multi-verse note. Suppose some sort of indication would be nice but how that would work if there were a note for a single verse as well I do not know, and especially if there were multiple notes against a verse.

[thegoodfight]

I second 2-4. Especially storing the diagrams. It would also be nice to be able to diagram via iPad app!

[Battlesman]

+1 for diagramming location upgrade.

[Outis]

4.) We're able to sync our mobile devices with a computer of our choice but what about for those of us who have a desktop and laptop? In the future I would love to be able to sync notes between computers. One possible way would be through a "cloud." I believe Logos already has this.

 

 

 

Hello Matt,

 

Since this has been brought up several times I thought I might reply to it.

 

There is a way to sync your computers through dropbox.  I posted directions for this a couple of years ago: http://www.accordanc...utis#entry26686

What has changed is that the iOS now supports dropbox.  So now it is possible to sync everything (computers and iOS devices) over dropbox.  What follows is my modified instructions as to how to accomplish this:

 

1)  You need to download and install Dropbox on your computer. (http://db.tt/dCj5543)

 

3)  You need to enable Dropbox in Accordance on your iOS device (In the library window, it's the circle with the winding arrows.  Follow the directions to enable syncing through dropbox).  Now, if you look on your computer in the Dropbox folder you should find this heirarchy:  "Apps/Accordance/."

 

4)  Download MacDropAny. (http://www.zibity.com/macdropany) This nifty little utility creates a symbolic link between the folders which contain your Accordance stuff on your computer and your dropbox folder.

 

5) Copy the folders you would like to sync to your desktop.  This is not part of the process really.  It's just a failsafe to make sure that if something goes wrong you will not have lost your Accordance files.  Just option-drag the files from your Accordance folder on your mac (~/Documents/Accordance Files/) to your desktop.  If you have done this correctly then you should have the Accordance files COPIED to the desktop.  I.E., if you do not have the Accordance files in your Documents folder you have not copied them.  Instead, you have moved them. This is bad.  Move them back and try again.

 

6)  Turn off dropbox on all of your computers!

 

7)  Open up MacDropAny and follow the directions.  You will have to do this three times:  first for Highlights, second for User Notes, third for User Tools.  The process is this:  Follow the directions in MacDropAny choosing the folder in your Documents folder on your mac (~/Documents/Accordance Files/Highlights/). Then within MacDropAny choose the next folder to sync to (Dropbox/Apps/Highlights/).  If the "Highlights", "User Notes" and "User Tools" folders don't exist already, you need to create them.  Make sure they are spelled the same as the first folders with the same capitalization.

 

8)  Turn on Dropbox again on all your computers.

 

You should now be able to sync your stuff between all your computers and iOS devices.  If you have an internet connection your computers will sync automatically.  However, on your iOS device you'll have to have it sync manually.

 

Final warning:  I strongly suggest having only one app open at a time.  Dropbox relies on the modify dates to find the newest version to sync.  If it has muliple versions of new files it gets confused really quickly and as a result your files get messed up really quickly.

Edited by Outis, 25 February 2013 - 10:43 AM.

[Rick Bennett]

There is a way to sync your computers through dropbox.  I posted directions for this a couple of years ago: http://www.accordanc...utis#entry26686

What has changed is that the iOS now supports dropbox.  So now it is possible to sync everything (computers and iOS devices) over dropbox.  What follows is my modified instructions as to how to accomplish this...

 

Final warning:  I strongly suggest having only one app open at a time.  Dropbox relies on the modify dates to find the newest version to sync.  If it has muliple versions of new files it gets confused really quickly and as a result your files get messed up really quickly.

 

Note that while this works we don't officially support it, which means you're on your own if you encounter any issues. I've done basically the same thing personally but created the symlinks without an app. It has worked for me as well, but there were some issue with bad User files that were hidden on my Mac that disrupted syncing on dropbox. 

 

More importantly, Accordance 10.2 will be a native dropbox client and will make this unnecessary. So, if you can hold out, that might be the best option.