Some Beginner Questions--Musings

[DoosanMan]

I just purchased Accordance a couple weeks ago and I thank everyone that has helped me on the forum I really appreciate it.    I am going to leave some of my impressions here or things that are holding me back and maybe someone can help.   I am using it with a couple of Windows computers I have.   One of them is just a few months old and is a big machine as I used it for some engineering software I have.

 

Things I Really Really Like

• Syncing Across Mobile Devices.  
• Doing my Daily Bible reading with at least 3 Bibles Open
• Having Halley's Bible Handbook available.  I really like that little book and its a bonus that Accordance has it.
• The whole layout with tabs.   I can have a bunch of things open and it's not cluttered.

 

Things I'm Struggling With

• When opening screen flashes and wants to revert back to last session.   About 1 out of 6 times during start up Accordance freezes up.
• Finding Bible references.   I wish there as a pull down menu like some of the free programs have, and I did not have to key in every reference in the search bar
• No Spell check in user notes
• User Notes and User Tools.   In this I mean editing, formatting, copying and pasting.   On my other Bible softwares that are nearly as advance as Accordance it seems they are much more robust when it comes to this.   I wish I could highlight in a user note and tool.   I wish I could use bullets and numbers.   I wish I could do a format paint.  My user notes end up being all kinds of formats in Accordance.   Inserting hyperlinks to scripture references and links to dictionaries and commentaries is quite cumbersome.  On my other software I can right click and insert hyper link to user note.  It's really simple.   I could insert line dividers in user tools.  Much of what I am referring to is the the sermon notes I like to make.   I have looked into the "Pages" and it could be that they would be better suited for what I am doing.  I do wish for more robust formatting tools in the user notes and tools though.

 

Thank you!  I'm enthused I found Accordance.   The first point I make of it syncing my notes and content across mobile devices has made it worth it for me.  I like the layout.   Perhaps a Mac computer would help me with some of my problems also.  I have been looking at MacBooks.  Just haven't made my mind up yet.

 

 

 

[ukfraser]

Things I'm Struggling With

• [*]When opening screen flashes and wants to revert back to last session. About 1 out of 6 times during start up Accordance freezes up.

[*]Finding Bible references. I wish there as a pull down menu like some of the free programs have, and I did not have to key in every reference in the search bar

.

Not on my mac but in preferences you can specify open last session or a default one. I suggest you go through your preferences and think about how you want it to display. There is a podcast (113 I think) and under help, documentation there is a training manual.

 

http://www.accordancefiles1.com/products/Accordance11Manual-print.pdf

 

References, I think there is a window which shows you the passage, bottom right on a mac, and you can select bible passage from that as there is a drop down arrow next to it. Again how you select is under preferences.

 

I only use search bar when pasting in lectionary passages.

 

I don’t use notes, started using stacks but do most of my sermon prep by coping and pasting into word or notes.

Edited April 7, 2018 by ukfraser

[Helen Brown]

 

 

Finding Bible references

 

Two options that may help:

1. Use the GoTo box at the bottom right to jump to a reverence. The little menu lists all the "Books" in the text you are displaying.
2. If you have Preferences/Appearance/Quick Entry enabled, then typing one letter in the main Entry box will list the books starting with that letter.

[Michael Hunt]

I just purchased Accordance a couple weeks ago and I thank everyone that has helped me on the forum I really appreciate it.    I am going to leave some of my impressions here or things that are holding me back and maybe someone can help.   I am using it with a couple of Windows computers I have.   One of them is just a few months old and is a big machine as I used it for some engineering software I have.

 

Things I Really Really Like

 

...

 

Things I'm Struggling With

• When opening screen flashes and wants to revert back to last session.   About 1 out of 6 times during start up Accordance freezes up.
• Finding Bible references.   I wish there as a pull down menu like some of the free programs have, and I did not have to key in every reference in the search bar
• No Spell check in user notes
• User Notes and User Tools.   In this I mean editing, formatting, copying and pasting.   On my other Bible softwares that are nearly as advance as Accordance it seems they are much more robust when it comes to this.   I wish I could highlight in a user note and tool.   I wish I could use bullets and numbers.   I wish I could do a format paint.  My user notes end up being all kinds of formats in Accordance.   Inserting hyperlinks to scripture references and links to dictionaries and commentaries is quite cumbersome.  On my other software I can right click and insert hyper link to user note.  It's really simple.   I could insert line dividers in user tools.  Much of what I am referring to is the the sermon notes I like to make.   I have looked into the "Pages" and it could be that they would be better suited for what I am doing.  I do wish for more robust formatting tools in the user notes and tools though.

 

Thank you!  I'm enthused I found Accordance.   The first point I make of it syncing my notes and content across mobile devices has made it worth it for me.  I like the layout.   Perhaps a Mac computer would help me with some of my problems also.  I have been looking at MacBooks.  Just haven't made my mind up yet.

 

1. I tend to find these kinds of issues are related to sync with dropbox. Maybe try running the Sync with Dropbox option from the Accordance menu

 

2. Check out the following discussion and my notes about finding bible references using a mouse only here

 

https://www.accordancebible.com/forums/topic/23313-bible-navigation-for-people-in-recliners/?p=114031

(Summary: what Helen mentioned plus one other tip)

 

3 & 4. I believe there are a number of Accordance users who wish user tools and notes were more "robust". Some people love them and others use third-party tools to create, store & edit their notes (Evernote anyone?). For sermon notes, I would suggest that "Pages" is the better tool. User notes/tools are designed to integrate with your study workflow and are useful for creating a resource that you can refer back to later. A downside to pages is that they can't (yet) be synced to a mobile device.

[Solly]

I sync iWorks files among my iOS and macOS devices through the Apple iCloud storage. The key is to choose which files to share and make sure they get saved to the iCloud folder when saved the first time [old method to insure file location: 1. Open new project, 2. create file name, 3. immediately save the empty project to the appropriate space, 4. now begin the real work on the file, 5. force a manual save about every 15 minutes (never ever trust the automatic save system to do its job), and 6. do a manual save before exiting the program (again, never completely trust the automatic system).]

 

The new Files App on iOS makes access to the shared iWorks files pretty simple compared to what was necessary before and the iWorks tools work pretty well  sharing the files with mobile devices and computers.

 

—Joseph

[Michael Hunt]

I'm to tied into Word to try switching my sermon workflow to something that can sync between devices (not that I couldn't setup syncing using OneDrive).

 

I'm also old fashioned when it comes to my sermon notes in that I still print them out alongside or service sheets.

 

Truth be told I preach mostly without notes and just use the paper copy as a prompt to stick to my outline.