Commentary Content Indication

[Cole]

For basic Bible study, I have a Bible open and three other windows used for different commentaries. I have Word, Hermeneia, NAC, NIVAC. But when I go to select one of them it shows me in some cases 8 different modules of Hermeneia. This is confusing when two of them are Hermeneia OT, and Hermeneia OT2.

 

Helen told me through email that it wouldn't be possible to put all of these sets in one Hermeneia module. That is fine. But it would be nice if there was some kind of indicator (maybe a dot) beside the name of a resource in the drop-down-menu that let you know information regarding the current passage was available in one of your resources.

 

I just want to be able to pick a Bible and search my commentaries without having to memorize which books are in which module of that commentary set. When you jump around the Bible in your study, it can become frustrating. I almost need a study tool just to tell me what books are in what module of each commentary set - not very user friendly.

 

I do appreciate all the resources that are at my disposal and value the work that has been done. I don't want to sound unappreciative, but I expected my Bible study experience to be "easy." That's not my experience thus far.

[Joel Brown]

What about utilizing the new Search All combined with My Groups?

 

I just made a test Group called Hermeneia, that contains all Hermeneia modules. I then take any verse reference and amplify to that group. It instantly comes up with the search all window containing all results across my entire Hermeneia collection. You can then read and work through the results from that window, or double click on the appropriate Hermeneia on the left and keep working with a standard Tool window.

 

See example screenshot:

 

 

[Cole]

What about utilizing the new Search All combined with My Groups?

 

I just made a test Group called Hermeneia, that contains all Hermeneia modules. I then take any verse reference and amplify to that group. It instantly comes up with the search all window containing all results across my entire Hermeneia collection. You can then read and work through the results from that window, or double click on the appropriate Hermeneia on the left and keep working with a standard Tool window.

 

See example screenshot:

 

 

 

 

Hey Joel,

 

Can you walk me through that. I tried to set it up but can't seem to get anywhere...

[Joel Brown]

Sure thing. Actually, Dr. J is recording for this week a podcast on User Groups that will help explain them better, but I'll give step by step instructions now. By the way, before starting, the improved Search All, My Groups, and the zones you see in the screenshot are all new features in Accordance 9. I of course highly recommend the upgrade, but we can try to get a similar result using a Favorite Workspace or Tool Set in Accordance 8, if thats what you still have and don't plan to upgrade.

 

Here are the instructions for Accordance 9:

1) Open your Library, scroll to the bottom to the new My Groups Section.

2) Select 'My Groups' and either type Shift-Command-N or select New Folder from the Action/Gear popup at the bottom.

3) Name your new folder something appropriate, such as Hermeneia.

4) Now, scroll up in your Library to the Reference Tools section, disclosing it and navigating to your Hermeneia tools.

5) Select all of your Hermeneia modules and drag them down into your newly created folder within My Groups.

6) Click Update, and thats it!

 

Now, to use it simply click in or select the verse you wish to amplify. You can amplify 3 ways:

•Right click on your selection or verse and do Search All -> Hermeneia (or whatever your new folder is called).

•Click the Search icon in the Resource palette and select Hermeneia (or whatever your new folder is called).

•Click the Amplify menu on the menu bar, navigate down to Search, then select Hermeneia (or whatever your new folder is called).

 

Any of those steps should instantly search all of your Hermeneia modules for the reference and combine the results into your new Search All zone.

 

If you don't have Accordance 9, I can give you instructions on working with a Tool Set or Favorite Workspace. The result isn't as elegant, but is still fairly functional. Just let me know if you'd rather do that.

[DanG]

I think what he initially asked for was some way of indicating what commentaries had notes on a particular verse. For instance, I'm in James 4:7 and I open a menu which contains an indication next to the names of each commentary that has notes for James 4:7 (This is the way the Online Bible did it years ago, and still does. They also have a command key to go from each commentary to the next while skipping those commentaries that don't contain notes for the verse you are at.). The other way would be to pull up a menu that only contained the commentaries that had notes on James 4:7, but not the commentaries that don't contain any notes on James 4:7 (This is the way Logos4 does it).

 

Myself and others have requested this before. It would definitely make research faster.

[Joel Brown]

I definitely agree that it is a good idea. I'm not sure where its priority is on the new features list, as we have so many other fantastic things planned and requested, though. I hope the solution I offered works well in the meantime.

[Timothy Jenney]

One of the advantages of using "Search All" for a group of commentaries is that it literally searches the entire contents of every commentary. That means it will find every paragraph that mentions, for instance, "James 4:7," whether or not the commentary itself is actually on James.

 

Greg Ward held a session on this technique at the Users Conference. He called these passages "hidden gems," as they are impossible to find without a sophisticated search engine like Accordance. As an example, suppose an author is writing about the difference between the theologies of Paul and James. The commentary is on Romans, but he uses James 4:7 as an example. "Search All" will find that paragraph.

 

Happy hunting!

[DanG]

Sure thing. Actually, Dr. J is recording for this week a podcast on User Groups that will help explain them better, but I'll give step by step instructions now. By the way, before starting, the improved Search All, My Groups, and the zones you see in the screenshot are all new features in Accordance 9. I of course highly recommend the upgrade, but we can try to get a similar result using a Favorite Workspace or Tool Set in Accordance 8, if thats what you still have and don't plan to upgrade.

 

Here are the instructions for Accordance 9:

1) Open your Library, scroll to the bottom to the new My Groups Section.

2) Select 'My Groups' and either type Shift-Command-N or select New Folder from the Action/Gear popup at the bottom.

3) Name your new folder something appropriate, such as Hermeneia.

4) Now, scroll up in your Library to the Reference Tools section, disclosing it and navigating to your Hermeneia tools.

5) Select all of your Hermeneia modules and drag them down into your newly created folder within My Groups.

6) Click Update, and thats it!

 

Now, to use it simply click in or select the verse you wish to amplify. You can amplify 3 ways:

•Right click on your selection or verse and do Search All -> Hermeneia (or whatever your new folder is called).

•Click the Search icon in the Resource palette and select Hermeneia (or whatever your new folder is called).

•Click the Amplify menu on the menu bar, navigate down to Search, then select Hermeneia (or whatever your new folder is called).

 

Any of those steps should instantly search all of your Hermeneia modules for the reference and combine the results into your new Search All zone.

 

If you don't have Accordance 9, I can give you instructions on working with a Tool Set or Favorite Workspace. The result isn't as elegant, but is still fairly functional. Just let me know if you'd rather do that.

 

Help me here. Am I missing something?

 

When I do a Search All for Jericho (for instance) I get several articles, photos, etc. BUT I can't select anything!! So if I want to copy that picture into Keynote I have to open the resource and do a find in that particular resource for what I already found in the search all??? Is that true?? Is there a better way?? That just doesn't seem very efficient or user friendly. Surely, I'm missing something really simple!! But I can't figure it out! Any help????

 

The Dictionary (Entry) hits only show the heading. You can't read the article in Search All window and there's no way to open the article it found. How can that be?

[Helen Brown]

We have plans to provide instant details, hyperlinks, copy ability etc., in a future update. It's no simple matter already to display the text from disparate texts and tools all in one pane. Making that text active will be even more difficult, but it's on the list.

[Joel Brown]

Recall that you double-click or option-click on the item in the Search All browser to open the module to that point and select or copy.