Important PocketBible Concepts
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Instructions for each PocketBible Dialog Box
This online documentation for Laridian® PocketBible® software contains the important facts without many extra frills. This is intentional, because we know that you want to learn the essentials as quickly as you can. As a result, we hope that you'll take a few minutes to read through this information. It will help you use your new purchase to its maximum advantage.
If you're in a hurry start with the Quick Start page. But don't think you know everything about PocketBible after reading just that page! After you've had some time to enjoy the program for a while come back and read through this document one page at a time. It will only take a few minutes and you may discover something useful to your study of the Bible.
If you have questions while using PocketBible just select Help from the Start menu while PocketBible is running. Or press the ? button on the toolbar, or one of the ? mark buttons that appear throughout the PocketBible's dialogs.
Laridian PocketBible Software and Documentation Copyright © 1998-2008 by Craig Rairdin and Jeff Wheeler. All Rights Reserved. Distributed under license by Laridian, Inc..
"Laridian" and "PocketBible" are registered trademarks of Laridian, Inc. Other marks are the property of their respective owners.
It doesn't take very long to read through this help file, but we know some of you won't take the time. So here is the short version:
Important PocketBible Concepts
We think PocketBible is very intuitive but we've found that it helps to understand some of the concepts that we as the creators of the program may take for granted. This section will explain those concepts. It's not our intent to explain how to do everything mentioned here, but rather to define terminology and explain the range of operations that can be done. To find out how to do some of the operations described here, refer to the rest of this help document.
When you open a book (we refer to Bibles, reference books, and devotionals as "books") in PocketBible, it is opened in a window. If you have more than one window open, the current window or active window has a blue border. Some functions, like searching, listing bookmarks, and listing highlights, apply to the book in the active window.
When you want to open a new book you can either select Change Book, which will replace the contents of the active window with the book you select, or you can choose Add Book to open a new window to contain the contents of the book you select.
You can maximize a window, causing it to take up the entire available area of the screen. Your other windows are still open; you just can't see them.
When we say reference or Bible reference we mean the book, chapter and verse that identifies a particular Bible verse, like "John 3:16".
When we say search or find we're refering to searching the text of a book for a word or phrase, not searching for a particular Bible verse by its reference. We'll say go to to refer to going to a particular verse by entering its reference. When we say lookup we're refering to looking up a word in a dictionary, not looking up a verse in the Bible.
Navigating can refer to scrolling the text up or down in the local vicinity of a verse, or going to an entirely different verse.
The toolbar is the row of buttons (also called icons) at the bottom of the screen just above the menu. The buttons on the toolbar provide quick shortcuts to the operations that you would normally have to access through the menus.
PocketBible has three toolbars. The Reading Toolbar is activated by tapping the Reading Toolbar button (looks like a lamp and a book) and is deactivated the same way. The Auto-Scroll Toolbar is activated by selecting Auto-Scroll from the View menu. It can be deactivated in the same way or by tapping the close button on the Auto-Scroll Toolbar itself.
PocketBible toolbars are customizable. Sometimes we'll refer to the toolbars as simply the "first", "second", and "third" toolbars because you may change what buttons are on the toolbars so that the "Reading Bar" no longer contains devotional reading functions and the "Auto-Scroll Bar" no longer contains scrolling controls.
Above the toolbar is the status bar. The status bar always displays the position of the text in the active window.
The current position, as displayed on the status bar for a given window is always the position of the topmost line in that window. This line may only be partially visible. For Bibles, if a line contains two or more verses, the verse containing the last word on the first displayed line is considered the current position of that Bible.
PocketBible will automatically synchronize your Bibles and commentaries to the Bible in the active window. As you scroll the Bible in the active window with synchronization mode turned on, all your other Bibles and commentaries (including those that aren't visible on the screen) will move to the current verse in the active Bible. Remember the current verse is the one on the top line of the window, so while you may be reading a verse in the middle of the window, thinking that is the "current" verse, the commentary or Bible in the other window will be synchronized to the verse on the top line of the active window.
PocketBible offers three parallel views that allow you to view (a) one verse in each of your Bibles; (b) an excerpt of commentary from each of your commentaries on a particular verse; or (c) an excerpt from a dictionary article on a particular word from each of your dictionaries. These views provide a means of navigating to another related book when you're studying a particular verse or word. They are not displayed in a book window, but rather in their own dialog box.
Many PocketBible functions are activated through the context menu. To display the context menu, tap-and-hold on screen. To perform the tap-and-hold action, press the stylus in one place and hold it there until the the context menu appears.
The directional buttons or d-pad are buttons on your device, usually below the screen, that control directional movement.
PocketBible can be configured to auto-scroll the text for hands-off reading. In this mode the text is slowly scrolled at a speed that you determine using controls in the Auto-Scroll Toolbar.
The List Window is a window that appears when needed to display search results or the various lists (bookmarks, highlights, notes). Operations that display results in the List Window always operate on the book in the active window. You can change which book from which the List Window results are drawn by doing a Change Book operation on the List Window itself. So if you've searched for all your KJV highlights, you can find all your NIV highlights by selecting Change Book from the View menu while the List Window is active and selecting the NIV.
When you select a Bible link in a reference book or in the List Window, all of your Bibles (including those that are not open) will be asked to go to that verse. If link highlighting is turned on, the verse or verses you linked to will be highlighted in a special highlight color. This highlight is temporary. It will go away when you link to another Bible verse. It is not listed in your list of all highlighted verses. This feature can be disabled if desired.
When linking to a Bible verse from a reference book or the List Window, PocketBible makes sure that at least one of the currently open Bibles displays the verse. If none of the open Bibles contain the verse, or if there are no Bibles open, the preferred Bible is opened in a new window. If the preferred Bible does not contain the verse, then another Bible is chosen and is opened in a new window.
Bookmarks mark places in the text to which you may want to return. Bookmarks on Bible verses are shared between all Bibles. You can't set a bookmark on John 3:16 in the KJV and have it not operate in the NIV as well. Bookmarks can be placed in categories you define so that you can organize your work. A bookmark can be placed in several categories, or it can be placed in no category. When you delete a bookmark from a category, the bookmark is not deleted from any other categories it belongs to. When you delete an entire category, you're only deleting the category, not the bookmarks in it. Those bookmarks will show up as being uncategorized in the "no category" category. If a bookmark that is moved in this manner is the same as another bookmark, then one of them is deleted so there is only one bookmark on any particular passage in the category (or in "no category") at any one time.
Notes are created by the user and are attached to a Bible verse or a section of a reference book. Notes on Bible verses are shared among all Bibles. If you delete a note while looking at the KJV, it will be gone in the NIV as well.
You can highlight a verse or a range of words in one of several colors or styles defined by the program. There are two highlighting modes: Word highlighting (the default mode) and verse highlighting. When in word highlighting mode, your highlights are always specific to the book or Bible in which they were created. If you highlight the first three words of Genesis 1:1 in the NIV, you'll find that Genesis 1:1 in the KJV is unaffected.
When in verse highlighting mode, you can only highlight entire verses, and all your Bibles are affected. If you highlight Genesis 1:1 in the NIV, then Genesis 1:1 in all your Bibles will be highlighted. Verse highlights are stored in a different database than word highlights, so you can switch between the two modes whenever you like.
Devotional books or daily reading books are books that are organized by date. PocketBible treats these books in a special way. These books have an article or daily reading associated with each day of the year (assuming the book has enough articles for a full year -- some are published monthly or quarterly and could have fewer readings).
Devotional books have a starting date, which is the date you associate with the first article or entry in the book. This date can be changed by the user. PocketBible allows you to track your reading progress. To do so, check the Reading Complete toolbar button on the Reading Toolbar. This button marks the current reading as complete. Remember the current reading is not necessarily the one you're looking at, but rather the one at the top of the window. Check the status bar to be sure you've selected the right one.
An unreading reading is an article in a daily reading book that has not been marked complete. Functions exist to go to the first unread reading, or to always go to the first unread reading when a devotional book is opened.
The preferred devotional is the daily reading book selected by the user as the one he or she wants to display when the Open Devotional button on the Reading Toolbar is selected.
Some Bibles contain Strongs numbers. These numbers identify the Hebrew or Greek word from which the English word in the Bible was translated. Viewing of these numbers can be turned on and off. Since only some Bibles and reference books contain Strongs numbers, the option to turn them on is not available for every book.
Dictionaries support the lookup function. When you ask the program to lookup the definition of a word, it will ask all dictionaries you own (even those that are not open) to look up the word. If at least one of the dictionaries contains an entry for the word, it will be opened in a new window if none of the already-open dictionaries have an entry for the word. If more than one dictionary contains an entry and none are already open, then the preferred dictionary will be opened in a new window and its definition of the word will be displayed. If the preferred dictionary doesn't contain an entry for the word, another dictionary that does contain a definition will be opened.
Normal Windows clipboard copy functionality is available on the Edit menu. The Copy Passage function allows you to enter a Bible passage you want copied to the clipboard. It is frequently better to use Copy Passage as opposed to Edit | Copy because it allows more options as to how the verse is rendered into the clipboard.
All notes, highlights, bookmarks, categories, and reading progress is stored in a database called "Laridian Data.db". This file can be copied to your desktop PC for backup or to another device if you want to see your notes, etc. on that device.
The current screen layout, the Back/Forward history information, and the lists of the last few searches and go-to operations you've performed are stored in a file called "PocketBible.lwc". You can save and restore your own named screen layouts at any time, allowing you to have various configurations of PocketBible that you use for different purposes, such as word studies, devotional reading, and sermon notes.
Use screen gestures and buttons to scroll through the text
Basic navigation in PocketBible involves screen taps, screen "flicks", and use of the d-pad or directional buttons on your device, Most of these interactions can be customized to meet your specific needs.
By default, tap the screen in the direction you want to go to scroll the text in that direction. Tap near the top to scroll the text down one line (revealing more text above). Tap near the bottom to scroll the text up (revealing more text below). Tap near the left or right to go to the previous or next page of text (i.e. the next screen of text).
An alternative to tapping is to use flick gestures. Flick gestures are quick top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top, right-to-left, or left-to-right movements of the stylus. If you attempt a flick gesture and you see text on the screen being selected, you're flicking too slow. If you're trying to select text and instead the page turns, you're selecting too fast and it's being interpreted as a flick.
To scroll up or down by a page, flick down or up. Imagine grabbing the text and throwing it in the direction you want it to go. So starting at the top and flicking down will push the text down, causing more text to be revealed above (same as a previous page gesture -- a tap on the left side of the screen).
Use the d-pad or directional arrows on your device to move up or down by a line (down or up arrows) and to move to the previous or next page (left or right arrows). By default these are the same actions as screen taps. These can be customized using options settings.
The last flick gesture is left-to-right and right-to-left. Use right and left flick gestures to rotate through your open books while in maximized mode. When you have more than one book open and the current book is maximized, you can flick left or right to cause the next or previous book to be displayed.
To customize the behavior of screen taps and d-pad buttons see: Navigation Options.
Find a passage when I know a few words
The format of the List Window and the way in which results are indicated in the text are affected by settings in Options Find. Select View | Options | More Options then select the Find tab to change these settings.
You can perform very sophisticated searches with PocketBible. See the help for the Find Dialog for more information.
You can hide the List Window with the button on the toolbar that looks like a magnifying glass in front of a list.
Make the window bigger so I can see more text
When you have more than one window open (either two books or a book and the List Window), you can tap and hold in one of the windows and select Maximize from the context menu to cause that window to be expanded to take the full screen. You can also maximize a window by first selecting the window you want to maximize then selecting View | Maximize.
Once the window is maximized, you can navigate as usual within the book. There are two differences, though. First, a flick of your stylus from left to right (or right to left) will cause the previous (or next) book from your original set of open books (before maximizing) to be scrolled into view. The List Window, if it was originally open, will be included in the rotation. However, to quickly get to the List Window you can tap the Show List button on the toolbar. If the List Window is already open, tapping this button will hide it and take it out of the rotation of windows.
The second difference in behavior when the window is maximized relates to the "Add Book" and "Change Book" functions. When you select View | Add Book, the book you select will be added to the rotation of open books just as if the window was not maximized. However, if you choose to add a book that is already open (but perhaps not visible because another book is maximized), then you will not get a second copy of the book open (as you would if the window was not maximized) but instead you will be shown the existing window for the book.
Similarly, when you select View | Change Book while a book window is maximized, instead of replacing the book you are currently viewing, the book will be added to your rotation or (if it is already open) it will be shown to you from an existing window. In other words, "Add Book" and "Change Book" do exactly the same thing when you're viewing a maximized window. They will either show you the selected book in its existing window (if it is already open) or they will cause the book to be opened and shown to you (if it is not already open). In the latter case when you go back to the normal, non-maximized view of your books, you'll see that there is now another window open containing the book you selected.
Remember that "Change Book" from the List Window causes the currently displayed search to be performed on the book you select. So if the List Window is currently displayed, choosing "Change Book" will not cause that book to be displayed but rather will cause it to be searched and the search results displayed. If you subsequently select a link from the search results, the searched book will then be opened if it is not already open.
To switch out of the maximized view, tap and hold and select Maximize or select View | Maximize.
See also: See what books are open when the view is maximized.
See what books are open when the view is maximized.
If you think about it for a minute, there's no reason you need to know what books are "open" when you are in maximized mode. For example, if you're looking at the KJV and want to see the NIV, it doesn't matter if the NIV is already open in a window somewhere or not. Simply use the Add Book or Change Book function to select the NIV from your list of Bibles. If the NIV isn't already open, it will be opened and displayed. If it is already open but simply hidden because the KJV is currently maximized, then the KJV will be hidden and the NIV maximized. Either way, you're looking at the NIV.
If you really, really want to see a list of what is already open for some reason, use the Go To button to bring up the Go To dialog. Your list of open books will be shown in tabs across the bottom of the Go To dialog. Tap the tab for the book you want to see then tap OK. Or tap the tab for the book you want and use the controls on the Go To dialog to go to the place in the book you want to see, then tap OK.
If you get a lot of books open you may find yourself flicking through the books looking for a particular one and wishing you could just see a list and choose from it. You have two options at that point: Either use one of the methods above to get to the book you want, or start closing books you no longer care about as you flick through them. You'll eventually get to where you have just the few books open that you normally use.
Get rid of the search results so I can see more text
Tap the Show List icon on the toolbar (magnifying glass in front of a list) to hide the List Window.
Tap the Show List icon again to show the List Window again.
You can also show and hide various types of lists in the List Window by using View | List and choosing the list you want to see. If you choose a list that is already displayed, it will be hidden.
View Strong's numbers in translations that include them
While viewing the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance or other Bibles that include Strong's numbers, select View | Options | Show Strong's Numbers. When this menu item is selected, the Bible switches into a mode in which each English word is followed by its associated Strong's word number. Tap a word number to see its definition from the Hebrew or Greek dictionary.
You can get the same results by tapping and holding the stylus on the word number and selecting Lookup. You can search for all occurrences of this particular word number by tapping and holding and selecting Find.
You can choose which dictionary is used for looking up definitions of Strong's word numbers by changing Preferred Book Options.
Find everywhere a particular Strong's word number occurs
Open the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance or another Bible that contains Strong's word numbers. Select Edit | Find | Find to activate the Find dialog (more information on the Find Dialog).
You can search for a Greek word by entering G followed by the word number in the "Find" box. For example, to search for Greek word number 26, enter G26 and tap OK. Similarly, you can search for Hebrew words by entering H and the word number.
Greek and Hebrew word numbers can be combined using AND, OR, and other Boolean operators just like any other search. They can also be combined into phrases and mixed with English words in phrases.
To find a particular English word only when it's translated from a specific Greek or Hebrew word, use the following format:
To find a particular English word only when it's not translated from a specific Greek or Hebrew word, use the following format:
To find a particular Greek or Hebrew word only when it's not translated as a particular English word, use the following format:
Go to a specific verse or passage in a book
Using Quick Bible Navigation
When you are looking at a Bible, you may write a Bible verse to immediately jump to that verse. Write on the screen with Transcriber, use the built-in software keyboard or block recognizer, an external keyboard, or the thumb keyboard (if you device includes a keyboard). For more information on this unique and quick navigation method, see Quick Bible Navigation.
Using Go To
The entry field at the top of either the single-page or 3-tap dialog is a drop-down list of recently visited verses. To quickly get back to a verse you've recently visited, tap the arrow next to this field and select the verse from the list.
More information on the Go To dialog:
PocketBible uses Quick Bible Navigation to allow you to a shortcut method to change the displayed verse in a Bible. Using your keyboard or handwriting recognition software, simply write the new verse that you'd like to see, and PocketBible will scroll to that location.
Just type a reference to go there. Use Transcriber, your keyboard, or the recognizer functions to enter any of the following:
As you write, PocketBible will show what you've entered in the Book Status Bar.
PocketBible will automatically respond to what you've written after a short (2-second) delay. So, you can write your new location (such as "John 3") and, rather than press the Enter key, just wait a few moments for PocketBible to respond.
If you make an error while writing, simply use the backspace key or backspace stroke to delete the previous character.
View the same verse in all my Bibles
It's often helpful to see how another translator handled the verse you're studying. PocketBible makes it easy to view a verse in all your installed Bibles at one time. Simply tap and hold on the verse number to bring up the context menu. Select View in All Bibles. You'll then see a window containing the selected verse as it appears in each of your Bibles.
The currently active Bible is listed first, followed by all your remaining Bibles in alphabetical order by their abbreviation. If you tap on one of the abbreviations, that Bible will be opened to the verse so you can see it in context.
Tap here for instructions on viewing all the commentary for a particular verse.
Tap here for instructions on viewing all dictionary definitions of a selected word.
Quickly find all commentary on a verse
If you have more than a couple commentaries installed it becomes tedious to open each one to discover if it has anything to say about the verse you're studying. PocketBible makes it easy to find only those commentaries that have material regarding the current verse. Simply tap and hold on the verse number to bring up the context menu. Select View in All Commentaries. You'll then see a window containing an excerpt from each of your commentaries on that verse.
Commentaries are in alphabetical order by their name. Select the link on the name of the commentary to open that commentary and view the full article about your verse.
Because of the way some commentaries are organized, it's sometimes difficult for PocketBible to know how long the excerpt should be. You may find some commentaries that only show a very brief excerpt. You'll have to select those to see more of the article.
Tap here for instructions on viewing a verse in all of your Bibles.
Tap here for instructions on viewing all dictionary definitions of a selected word.
Look up a word in a dictionary
If you have a dictionary or a dictionary-style reference book (that is, one that is organized by words) you can quickly look up the entry for a word.
Or,
In either case, if PocketBible finds any books that have an entry for the word you've selected, one of them will be displayed.
Instead of selecting a word on the screen, you can just tap the Dictionary Look Up icon and enter the word into the Look Up Dialog.
Tap here for more information on using Strong's dictionaries to look up definitions of Greek and Hebrew words.
Quickly find a word in all my dictionaries
If you have more than a couple dictionaries installed it becomes tedious to open each one to discover if it has anything to say about the word or topic you're studying. PocketBible makes it easy to find only those dictionaries that have material regarding the selected word. Simply tap and hold on a word to bring up the context menu. Select View in All Dictionaries. You'll then see a window containing an excerpt from each of your dictionaries that contains an article on that word.
Dictionaries are in alphabetical order by their name. Select the link on the name of the dictionary to open that dictionary and view the full article about your word.
Because of the way some dictionaries are organized, it's sometimes difficult for PocketBible to know how long the excerpt should be. You may find some dictionaries that only show a very brief excerpt. You'll have to select those to see more of the article.
Tap here for instructions on viewing all the commentary for a particular verse.
Tap here for instructions on viewing a verse in all of your Bibles.
Look up the definition of a Strong's word number
Tap a Strong's number in the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance or any other Bible containing Strong's numbers to automatically display the definition of the word.
More information on working with Strong's numbers.
If you know the Strong's number or the transliterated spelling for the word you're looking for, you can tap the Dictionary Look Up icon or select Find | Look Up, then enter the word number or the transliterated spelling to find the entry for that word. Remember to put a G before Greek word numbers (eg. "G26") and an H before Hebrew word numbers (eg. "H3068"). To enter transliterated spellings, ignore any diacritical marks and just enter the letters in the word. So to find Greek word 26 by its spelling, just enter agape, ignoring the macron over the e.
You can also view definitions by selecting a Hebrew or Greek word from the Go To dialog for either the Hebrew or Greek dictionary. Open the dictionary, then select Find | Go To to open the Go To dialog. Select the word you're interested in and tap OK.
Each Bible containing Strong's numbers specifies a particular dictionary to use when looking up the definitions of Strong's word numbers from that Bible. If you want to always use a particular dictionary for this purpose regardless of what is specified in the Bible, you can change Preferred Book Options.
Set a bookmark; go to a bookmark
To set a bookmark in a Bible:
To set a bookmark in a book other than a Bible
To go to a previously saved bookmark:
OR...
By default, bookmarks are uncategorized. You can create categories in which your bookmarks reside. This allows you to organize bookmarks.
To create or edit bookmark categories, select Edit | Categories.
For more information, see Bookmark Categories.
Searching notes takes longer than searching Bibles or other reference books in PocketBible, because notes are not fully indexed.
More information on searching notes.
More information on searching notes.
More information on creating/editing notes.
Highlight text or an entire verse
There are two highlighting modes: Word highlighting and verse highlighting. Word highlighting is the default. In this mode you can highlight individual words or entire verses. You can highlight words in reference books and devotionals. When highlighting entire verses, only the particular Bible in which you did the highlighting is affected.
Verse highlighting mode is a simpler highlighting style that has two main advantages. First, highlights made in one Bible affect the same verse in all your Bibles. Second, this mode is supported across more Laridian software platforms, so if you synchronize your highlight data between the desktop and Windows Mobile version of PocketBible, your verse highlight information is more likely to be supported than word highlights. In verse highlighting mode, only Bibles may be highlighted, and only entire verses (not individual words).
The highlighting mode is selected in View > Options > More Options > Advanced. For more information see Advanced Options.
Word Highlighting Mode (Default)
To highlight a passage in any book:
To highlight an entire verse:
To erase highlighting, select the text or verse as above, and select Erase from the bottom of the list of colors
Verse Highlighting Mode
To highlight a verse:
To highlight several verses in the same color:
Note
The Strike and Underline Strike highlight styles are not intended to imply that it's a good idea to strike text from the Bible, but rather simply provide a method to mark text that does not depend on color for those who might have difficulty discerning different colors or reading text on a colored background.
More information on changine highlight modes..
More information on listing highlighted verses.
More information on searching highlighted text.
See a list of all highlighted passages, or all passages highlighted with a certain color
To see a list of all passages that have highlights of any kind, select View | List | All Highlights.
To see a list of all passages that contain words highlighted in a particular color, select View | List | Color, then select the color. The result will be a list of verses or passages that contain at least one word highlighted in that color. That is, the entire verse does not need to be in that color in order for it to be included on the list.
You can also search for specific words or phrases that are highlighted in a particular color. See Find Dialog.
More information highlighting.
Stop PocketBible from highlighting the verses I link to
Whenever you tap on a hyperlink to a Bible verse, PocketBible will highlight the verse or verses you link to. This is to help you identify the beginning and end of the passage when it contains more than one verse. This is especially helpful when using a reading plan or other devotional that links to a long passage -- you can close the devotional book after selecting the link, then read the passage to the end of the highlight.
This highlight is not permanent. It will be cleared when you go to another verse. Verses highlighted in this manner will not be included in your list of highlighted verses. You cannot use the "erase" highlight to get rid of these.
To disable this feature, go to View | Options | More Options | Display and uncheck the option to highlight linked verses.
Track my progress in a devotional or Bible reading plan
When you are reading a devotional book (any book in which the readings are organized by dates) or a Bible reading plan, you may want to track your reading progress. If so:
You may also indicate that you have completed the reading by checking Edit | Reading Complete in the menu. If you choose this option, you do not need to show the Reading Bar.
To get to the first unread reading, to change the start date of your devotional book, or to "catch up" with your reading plan, see Start Over, Catch Up.
When you are reading a devotional book (any book in which the readings are organized by dates) or a Bible reading plan, you may want to show the Reading Bar. The Reading Bar is a toolbar that contains buttons used with devotional books and Bible reading plans.
To show the Reading Bar, either:
The Reading Bar contains the following buttons:
Set a starting date for a devotional or reading plan, or catch up with my daily readings
When you decide to start reading through a devotional or reading plan, or when you've completed reading through one and want to start over, use View | Daily Reading | Start Over, Catch Up... to set a new starting date. This dialog is also known as "Book Options".
If you get behind in your readings you can use the Book Options dialog to catch up with one press of a button.
More information:
Copy text from PocketBible into Pocket Word and other applications
You can use the standard select and copy operations to copy to the clipboard.
To copy a longer passage:
More information on Copy Passage.
Copy search results from PocketBible into Pocket Word and other applications
You can use the normal clipboard functions to copy from the List Window. Select the text you want to copy, tap and hold on the screen, then select Copy.
If you want to copy the entire list to the clipboard, tap and hold in the List Window and select Copy All. This will cause the entire contents of the List Window to be copied to the clipboard. Be advised that this could take some time, and the program may not appear to be doing anything while this is going on.
Compare books or passages in the same book
PocketBible allows you to open any number of books at the same time, though your screen will quickly become unreadable if you have more than 4 or 5 books open.
To open another window containing a different book:
To change the contents of an already-open window to another book:
The blue Select Book button on the toolbar can be configured to either change the book or add a new book. Tap this button to either change or add a book, based on your settings.
More information on changing or adding books
More information on configuring the Select Book button
Synchronize Bibles and commentaries so they scroll together
PocketBible's synchronize mode can be used to keep all your Bibles and commentaries in sync with the Bible through which you're scrolling.
When you tap a Bible reference in book that isn't itself a Bible, all of your Bibles will be positioned to that verse, and one of your Bibles will be displayed to show the verse.
Using a Bible and commentary or study Bible notes together
If you have a particular commentary (or set of study Bible notes like the NIV Study Bible Notes or Life Application Study Bible Notes, which we'll refer to here as a commentary) you want to frequently reference along with your favorite Bible, you can open both the Bible and the commentary on the screen at the same time using View | Add Book. See Compare two passages or books for instructions on opening two books at the same time.
Once you have both the Bible and commentary open, and synchronize mode enabled, the commentary will move to the passage that discusses the verse you're looking at, if such a passage exists. Any Bible links in the commentary will be displayed in the Bible window, making it easy to move around in both books simultaneously.
NOTE: When synchronization is enabled, PocketBible must interact with all of your other installed books as you navigate in your primary book. You may notice that scrolling and navigation is a bit slower when synchronization is enabled, especially as you install more and more PocketBible books and Bibles.
Scroll maps and other large images that don't fit on the screen
Normal vertical and horizontal scrolling works with large images, but you might find it easier to use your stylus to drag the image around the screen. If an image is too large to fit on the screen, just put your stylus down on the image and drag it. You need to start moving before the context menu appears, otherwise your action will be interpreted as a tap-and-hold event.
The way the program is currently written, this gesture is the same action you use to select text for copying or highlighting. The difference is that since images can't be copied to the clipboard and can't be highlighted, the program interprets a drag that starts in an image as being a scroll request rather than a selection request. To select a range of text that includes an image you should start selecting before or after the image.
Automatically scroll the Bible text for hands-off reading
When reading aloud or even reading to yourself you might find it convenient to let PocketBible scroll the text for you. To enable this feature, select View | Auto-scroll to turn on the auto-scroll toolbar.
The toolbar contains VCR-style buttons. The first two control the speed, which is a number that starts at 1 and goes up to around 60. Low numbers make the text scroll slower; high numbers make it scroll faster. If you have the status bar turned on (more information on toolbars) you'll see the auto-scroll speed displayed there.
The triangular "play" button causes the current window to start scrolling. It's usually best to have the window maximized so you have a better chance of keeping up as your natural reading speed varies. The square "stop" button will stop auto-scrolling. The red X in a box will stop the scrolling and close the auto-scroll toolbar.
You can adjust the speed by using the plus and minus buttons while the window is scrolling, or you can first stop the scrolling, then adjust the speed, then restart it with the "play" button.
Some of your power-saving options are disabled during auto-scrolling. Since you're not interacting with your device during auto-scrolling, it will try to shut down the backlight and shut down the entire device at intervals you define on the Control Panel. Since it's undesirable to have the power or backlight shut off while you're reading, PocketBible takes steps to keep the backlight on and keep the device running at full power. As a result, you want to be careful not to leave autoscroll running while you're not using it, or it will run down your battery. Also remember if you leave PocketBible and go off to make a phone call, use another application, or any other activity on your device, PocketBible is still running and if it's auto-scrolling it's keeping your system from shutting off. Always exit PocketBible with Edit > Exit (not the close button "X" icon in the upper right, which just "hides" PocketBible) or stop auto-scrolling when you're done.
Auto-scrolling is not implemented in the List Window.
Using "flick" gestures to control auto-scrolling
While the text is scrolling, an upward flick will cause it to scroll faster. A downward flick will cause it to scroll slower.
Get rid of the toolbar so I can see more text
PocketBible includes three optional toolbars and one book status bar. The toolbars contain buttons of frequently accessed features. The primary toolbar is simply called the Toolbar. The second toolbar is called the Reading Bar, because it contains buttons related to daily readings. The third is the Auto-Scroll Toolbar and is used (as its name suggests) to control automatic scrolling of the text.
The book status bar indicates the active book and its current location.
You may hide any or all of these bars to make more room for the text. To show one of the bars, select View | Options then check the bar that you'd like to see. If the bar is already checked, then select it to remove the check and hide the bar. Simply check it again to show it.
Everything you can do with the Toolbar and the Reading Bar can also be done with the menus if you don't mind a couple of extra taps. The Auto-Scroll Toolbar is the only place where automatic scrolling can be controlled, so it must be displayed during auto-scrolling but can be hidden otherwise.
Save the current screen layout so I can re-load it later
First, an important note: PocketBible always remembers what it was doing when you exit the program or turn the power off so that it can start up right where you left off. There's no need to save your screen layout just to get this behavior.
This feature is for those people who want to have a different combination of books open for different contexts. You might have one screen layout you like while listening to a sermon, another while doing your devotional reading, and a third for when you're doing word studies. PocketBible lets you create each of these layouts, give each of them a name, then restore the screen from the saved layout any time you want.
Simply organize the screen the way you would like it saved, then choose View | Save Layout. Give the layout a name and select where you want the file stored. It might be easiest to leave it in the default location so you can find it more easily later.
Saving a layout creates an LWC file with the name you entered. To restore a saved layout select View | Restore Layout and choose the layout file you want to restore. Your screen will be put back into the configuration it was when you last saved the layout.
Note that saved layouts only capture the state of the display at the time they were saved. If you make additional changes you must re-save the layout in order for those changes to be captured. Similarly, restoring a screen layout doesn't "open" the layout file for subsequent changes, but rather simply restores the screen state to what it was when you last saved the layout. If you want to save the changes you make to a particular layout, you need to save the layout again.
On a related note, since saving and restoring screen layouts doesn't cause the layout file to be "open" beyond the point of saving or restoring, this feature doesn't interfere with the normal saving of the screen layout when you exit the program. PocketBible will still save its screen state into its default "PocketBible.lwc" file when you exit, and will still restore the layout from that file when you launch the program the next time.
There are a number of things that are captured when you save the layout. These include:
Get help on a particular feature
PocketBible supports the standard Pocket PC help method. When viewing PocketBible, access the Windows start menu. (This is usually done by tapping the title of the program in the upper left corner of the screen.) From the resulting menu, select Help.
In addition to this standard method, PocketBible also provides two additional ways to access the help information.
Backup my notes, bookmarks, and highlights
Your notes, bookmarks, highlights and reading progress are stored in a database file called "Laridian Data.db". This file is located in \My Documents\Laridian Books on your device.
Backup
To make a backup of this important data:
The database file contains a binary representation of your notes, bookmarks, highlights, and reading progress. It cannot be viewed with a word processor; in fact, you may corrupt the data if you attempt to open it with a program.
Restore
If you ever need to restore your data from a backup, follow these steps.
NOTE: Any notes, bookmarks, or highlights that you have added since you copied the database to your PC will be erased and replaced with those in the file.
NOTE: You can also use the Backup feature of ActiveSync to make a full backup of your device. We recommend that you make regular full backups using ActiveSync and make the individual backup above in order to minimize your risk of losing your valuable data.
NOTE: PocketBible may be running even if you are not looking at it. If you're not sure whether or not PocketBible is running, make sure that is not running before the backup or restore. Click here for more details.
Move my notes, bookmarks, and highlights to a new Windows Mobile device
Your notes, bookmarks, highlights and reading progress are stored in a database file called "Laridian Data.db". This file is located in \My Documents\Laridian Books on your device.
To move this data to another Windows Mobile device, simply exit PocketBible and then copy this file to the \My Documents\Laridian Books folder on the second device. It will replace your user data (note, bookmarks, highlights, reading progress) that you have on the second device.
You can use the Explore button in ActiveSync to copy the file to your PC, then connect the second device and do the operation in reverse to copy the file to your second device. Or you can "beam" the file directly from one device to another using the IR or Bluetooth capabilities of your devices.
NOTE: PocketBible may be running even if you are not looking at it. If you're not sure whether or not PocketBible is running, make sure that is not running before the backup or restore. Tap here for more details.
Change which buttons are on the toolbar
PocketBible has a total of six toolbars (three normal-sized and three large-sized) that can all be customized to meet your needs. To customize the toolbars select View | Options | More Options | Toolbars.
See Toolbar Options for more details.
Operate PocketBible with a keyboard
Many PocketBible commands have equivalent keyboard commands. Under normal operation (i.e. using the stylus for input) it's easier to choose commands from the menus or toolbars. However, if you have an add-on keyboard or your handheld includes a built in keyboard, you can use the following keystrokes:
| Keystroke | Command |
| Ctrl+A | Add Book |
| Ctrl+B | Change Book |
| Ctrl+C | Copy selected text to the clipboard |
| Ctrl+D | Open Devotional |
| Ctrl+F | Find |
| Ctrl+G | Go To |
| Ctrl+I | Open Preferred Dictionary |
| Ctrl+L | Lookup |
| Ctrl+M | Maximize |
| Ctrl+N | Find in Notes |
| Ctrl+O | Open Preferred Bible |
| Ctrl+P | Copy Passage |
| Ctrl+Q | Exit (Quit) |
| Ctrl+R | Toggle List Window |
| Ctrl+S | Stop Scrolling |
| Ctrl+T | Today's Reading |
| Ctrl+X | Close Window |
| Ctrl+Left | Find Previous |
| Ctrl+Right | Find Next |
| Alt+A | Toggle the Book Status Bar |
| Alt+B | Back |
| Alt+C | Change Book |
| Alt+D | Toggle the Reading Bar |
| Alt+F | Forward |
| Alt+G | Start Scrolling (Go) |
| Alt+H | Toggle Highlight Find Hits |
| Alt+L | Lookup In All Dictionaries |
| Alt+N | Toggle Strong's Numbers |
| Alt+O | Options |
| Alt+Q | Exit (Quit) |
| Alt+R | Toggle Reading Complete |
| Alt+S | Toggle Synchronize |
| Alt+T | Toggle the Toolbar |
| Alt+X | Close Other Windows |
To install a PocketBible update or a PocketBible upgrade, refer to the installation instructions included with your update or upgrade. In general, you will follow these steps:
NOTE: PocketBible may be running on your handheld even if you see another program running on your screen. In order for a new version of PocketBible to be successfully installed, you must first exit PocketBible. Tap here for instructions.
Notes on upgrading from PocketBible 3 to PocketBible 4
PocketBible 3 and 4 use the same book format, the same personal data format (highlights, bookmarks, notes, devotional reading progress, etc.), the same option settings storage, and the same screen layout file format.
You may see books and Bibles referred to as being for PocketBible 3. You can use those books and Bibles with PocketBible 4. The format is exactly the same.
As a result, upgrading from version 3 to 4 is easy. Just install version 4 and start using it.
If you have not been using one of the very latest editions of version 3, PocketBible 4 may need to update your highlights and maybe some other data to add some new information used in PocketBible 4. It will do this once the first time you run the program and shouldn't need to do it again.
Notes on upgrading from PocketBible 2 to PocketBible 4
Since you're reading this, if you are upgrading from a previous version of PocketBible, you've probably already completed the upgrade. However, the following information is provided "just in case."
The PocketBible 4 setup program will automatically handle upgrading PocketBible from a previous version. The installation program will:
If PocketBible 4 says you have no books installed or you can't find one of your books after upgrading, make sure you've downloaded and installed the PocketBible 4 versions of all your Bibles and reference books.
Your PocketBible 2 notes, bookmarks and categories are stored in a CE database file named either My Documents \ Laridian Books \ Laridian Data.ldb or My Documents \ Laridian Books \ Laridian Data.cdb. These files are stored in a Windows CE database.
In order to provide additional features and compatibility with future devices, PocketBible 4 stores this data, plus your user highlights and reading progress, in an SQL database. One additional advantage of this change is that the database format is not dependent upon the Windows CE operating system. This allows you to more easily backup and restore your data.
The PocketBible setup program will automatically convert your PocketBible 2 data if:
Your PocketBible 2 data is not erased after the conversion.
In the unlikely event that you ever need to reconvert your data, you must:
Since this process will erase any notes, highlights, bookmarks, categories, and reading progress that you have added since upgrading to PocketBible 4, you should take this step only if your data is corrupted and you do not have an adequate backup of your new data, stored in Laridian Data.db.
Find out what version of PocketBible I'm using
Select View | About | About PocketBible to view PocketBible's about box. The about box shows two important version numbers related to PocketBible.
PocketBible Version indicates the program version. It includes a major version number and the revision number. For instance, if the PocketBible version is 3.038, the major version is 3 and the revision number is 038.
Book Reader Engine indicates the version of the engine used to read Laridian books. This engine is used in many Laridian products, such as Memorize! and MyBible®. Like the program version, the book reader engine version number includes both a major version number and the revision number. For instance, if the book reader engine version number is 1.056, the major version is 1 and the revision number is 056.
Some Laridian books may require a specific book reader engine.
Microsoft recommends that you let Windows Mobile control what programs are active or inactive in memory. They even require that Windows Mobile applications do not provide a way for the user to truly exit a program. (Tapping the X in the upper right corner of the application merely hides it.)
Some people aren't comfortable with letting the operating system make the decision about what's running and what isn't. And sometimes, you need to exit PocketBible in order to install an update, and upgrade, or backup your important user data.
So, when you need or want to exit PocketBible:
Use the Copy Passage dialog to copy a large collection of Bible verses or a section of a book into the clipboard, or simply to copy a short passage with more formatting options preserved than provided by Edit | Copy.
Each type of book supported by PocketBible has its own type of Copy Passage dialog. Most are self-explanatory. For Bibles, enter the reference you want to copy using standard Bible reference citation formats like:
You can combine ranges of references using commas and semicolons, as in:
The chapter number and verse number in a reference can be separated by a colon (:), a period (.) or a space ( ). So the following are all equivalent:
Large passages take quite a while to copy into the clipboard. Also note the copyright on the material you're copying and make sure your use falls within the "Permission to Quote" limitations, which you'll find in the text of the book itself.
When you use Copy Passage, footnotes referenced in the copied passage may be copied. You can control this and other properties of copied text using options on the Options dialog.
Some Bibles like the NIV have "missing verses". These are verses omitted by the translators because, in the opinion of the translators, they have insufficient textual support in the available manuscripts to include them in the Bible. You'll get an error message if try to copy one of these verses or if you begin or end a range of verses on one of these verses.
Paraphrases like The Message often blend the contents of two or more verses into one verse and label it as "1-3" or "45,46". You may not get what you expect if you try to copy a verse that's been blended into another. For example, Numbers 1:45 and 46 are blended into one verse, the following will be true:
This can be doubly confusing because the copyright owner of The Message requests that we not display verse numbers in their Bible. If you are experiencing unusual behavior when copying verses from The Message or another Bible in which verse numbers are suppressed, try turning them on using View | Options | More Options.
The Note Editor dialog lets you create notes that can be attached to Bible verses or any passage in a Laridian book. Notes can be as simple as a few sentences or as complex as several paragraphs encoded in HTML containing tables and images.
This help page contains basic information on the Note Editor. Detailed information can be found by selecting the links that follow.
While notes are permitted to contain HTML tags, you don't have to know HTML to write a note in PocketBible. Just type your note in the text entry box on this dialog and tap OK and the note will be attached to the passage you previously specified.
If you enter a Bible reference in a note, it will be automatically linked to the appropriate passage when you save the note. You can use most any abbreviation for books of the Bible that is normally used in Bible reference books. The only caveat is that you don't use a period after the book abbreviation (as in "Rom. 5:8"). Just leave the period off ("Rom 5:8").
You can use Ctrl+Z to "undo" an edit.
The simplest HTML enhancements to notes can be accessed using the buttons to the right of the text entry area. To make a word or phrase bold, select the text by dragging through it with your stylus, then tap the Bold button. Similarly, you can italicize and underline using the Ital and Und buttons.
When you use these buttons, you will not see the style applied in the text entry window. Instead, you'll see the selected text surrounded by what are called HTML tags that instruct the program to display the enclosed text in a new style. Each HTML tag has a start tag and a stop tag. Generally the two tags are similar, with the stop tag containing the forward slash character.
All tags start with a less-than sign ("<") and end with a greater-than sign (">"). For example the start and stop tags for bold are <b> and </b>. All text between these two tags will be displayed in bold type.
Because HTML uses the less-than sign to indicate the start of a tag, if you want to display a less-than sign in your note you must encode it as a "character entity". To do this, type < in your note instead of just <.
Because HTML uses the ampersand sign ("&") for character entities, if you want to use the ampersand in your notes you must encode it as a character entity. To do this, type & in your note instead of just &.
The Cut, Copy and Paste do just what you'd expect: They cut selected text from the text entry window, copy the selected text, and paste previously cut or copied text, respectively.
NOTE: When inserting tags or cutting and pasting text you must be careful not to interupt any tag sequences. For example, if you cut the opening <b> before bold text you'll get an error message when you try to save the note. All HTML tags must be properly started and stopped or you'll get an error message when you exit the Note Editor. You must find and correct the improper sequence before you save the note.
NOTE: Related to the comments above, it's important not to overlap the ranges of a style incorrectly. The following tag sequence is the correct way to make the enclosed words bold italic:
<b><i>bold italic</i></b>
Note that since the italic text starts within the bold text that it must be stopped before bold can be stopped. The following is the wrong way to do the same thing:
<b><i>bold italic</b></i>
Note that in this example the stop bold tag comes before the stop italic tag. We say that HTML tags must be properly nested in PocketBible.
Similarly, you can't overlap tagged areas. In the following example, the user is trying to say bold bold italic just italic. The following is the incorrect way to do this:
<b>bold <i>bold italic</b> just italic</i>
Note that the bold text starts before the italic text, but ends before the italic text ends. These tags are improperly nested. The correct way to do this is either of the following:
<b>bold <i>bold italic</i></b> <i>just italic</i>
<b>bold</b> <b><i>bold italic</i></b> <i>just italic</i>
More complex tags can be inserted using the HTML Tag Helpers drop-down list box at the top of the Note Editor dialog. When you select an item from this list, the HTML tags for the selected item are inserted surrounding the current cursor position or selected text.
For example, if you want to have multiple paragraphs of text in your note you'll need to add paragraph tags. Select the entire paragraph in the text entry window, then pull down the HTML Tag Helpers list and select Paragraph. The selected text will be surrounded by <p> and </p>
NOTE: If you know HTML you may be accustomed to starting or stopping a paragraph with <p>. You know that most browsers don't expect the proper start and stop tags for paragraphs but instead will accept one or the other appearing between two paragraphs. If you use paragraph tags in PocketBible, though, it's important that include both the start and stop tags.
(The other place you may see stop tags where you're not used to them is in list items, which have to be terminated by </li>.)
To view your note with all its formatting, select the View button. To return to editing your note, select Edit.
More information on HTML Tag Helpers
Detailed information on acceptable HTML tags
In each case, the HTML Tag Helpers insert text before and after the current cursor position or selection. You can use this fact to change the attributes of selected text. For example, to change the font of a word, select the word by dragging through it with your stylus, then select Font from the HTML Tag Helpers. This will put a "start font" tag before your word and a "stop font" tag after your word.
For detailed instructions on the use of HTML tags, consult an HTML book. Only the basic tag attributes are discussed here.
In each section below, the notation [selection] marks the location of either the cursor or the selected text.
Font is used to change the font face, size or color of text. It inserts the following:
<font face="Tahoma" color="black" size="3">[selection]</font>
You can change the face attribute to any other font you have installed. color can be any of the normal HTML color values like blue, red, green, etc. or an HTML RGB value in the format #rrggbb where rr is the hexadecimal value for the red component of the desired color, gg is the green component, and bb is the blue component. size is a relative value from 1 (small) to 7 (large). You can also enter size in points, from 8 to 40 points. Format is: <font size="20pt">.
Image is used to insert a bitmap image into your note. It inserts the following:
<img src="" alt="Image" align="center" border="0">[selection]
Note that the img tag does not insert anything after the selected text.
You must supply a file name in the quotes after the src attribute. This file will be displayed in place of the img tag in your note. The text following the alt attribute will be displayed in place of the image if it cannot be found. align controls the position of the image with respect to the text in the current paragraph; left, right and center (among others) are valid values. border controls the width of the border around the image; a width of 0 is "no border."
For Pocket PC 2003 and other devices running Windows CE 4.20 or later, you must include the full path to your image files and include the prefix file: on the name. So if your images are in \My Documents\Laridian Books, you would say:
<img src="file:\My Documents\Laridian Books\filename.bmp">
For devices running versions of Windows CE prior to 4.20, file names are relative to the directory that contains your HTML file. So if both your HTML file and your images are in \My Documents\Laridian Books, you can just use:
<img src="filename.bmp">
List (Numbered) is used to create a numbered (ordered) list. It inserts the following:
<ol>
<li>[selection]</li>
</ol>
In other words, the selected text is turned into the first item in the list (or the cursor is positioned to enter the first item on the list.
To insert additional list items, see List Item, below.
There are a few attributes that can be added to the <ol> and <li> tags. Consult an HTML book for more information.
List (Bulleted) is used to create a bulleted (unordered) list. It inserts the following:
<ul>
<li>[selection]</li>
</ol>
In other words, the selected text is turned into the first item in the list (or the cursor is positioned to enter the first item on the list.
To insert additional list items, see List Item, below.
There are a few attributes that can be added to the <ol> and <li> tags. Consult an HTML book for more information.
List Item is used to create a new list item in a Numbered or Bulleted List. Position the cursor at start of the line below the previous list item (or, to insert a new first item, at the start of the line below the <ol> or <ul> tag). Then select List Item from the HTML Tag Helpers list. The following is inserted:
<li>[selection]</li>
Paragraph inserts start and stop paragraph tags around the selected text. Unlike normal text where the Enter key ends a line and starts a new one, HTML treats end-of-line like a "white space" or space character. To end a paragraph and start a new one you must surround each paragraph with paragraph tags. The following tags are inserted when you select Paragraph:
<p>[selection]</p>
If you've ever created a Web page you may have gotten into the habit of not surrounding your paragraphs, but instead just inserting a <p> or </p> tag either at the beginning or the end of each paragraph. For simplicity, PocketBible enforces the strict requirement that paragraphs include both start and stop tags. (This is a good habit to get into anyway.)
Table is used to create a table and place the selected text in the first (upper left) cell. The follwing is inserted:
<table border="0">
<tr><td>[selection]</td></tr>
</table>
Tables use three main tag pairs:
There are a few attributes that can be added to each of these tags. Consult an HTML book for more information.
It is important that all text within a table be located in a cell (that is, surrounded by <td> ... </td> tags, which are in turn within <tr> ... </tr> tags, which are enclosed by the <table> ... </table> tags). For example, don't put any text between the <table> tag and the initial <tr> tag.
See the descriptions of the Table Row and Table Cell HTML Tag Helpers, below, for more information on tables.
Table Row is used to add a new row to a table. Position the cursor at the start of the line below the previous </tr> tag and select Table Row. The following is inserted:
<tr>[selection]</tr>
Note this only inserts the row tags. It does not add any <td< tags to start a new cell. So generally the first thing you do after creating a new row is select Table Cell to create a new cell in that row.
Table Cell creates a new cell within an existing row. The following is inserted:
<td>[selection]</td>
Tables are simple once you understand them, but they can be very powerful if you know what you're doing. Consult an HTML reference book for more information.
General information on the Note Editor
Detailed information on acceptable HTML tags
The following tags are recognized by the HTML Note Editor. Other tags will be stripped from your notes when they are saved. Only the start tags are shown. The end tags (if they exist) for each of these are allowed also. An asterisk ("*") indicates that there are attributes for this tag that are also allowed.
Note that not all allowed attributes are supported.
There is more information available for selected items. If an item below is hyperlinked, select the item for detailed usage instructions.
Content Presentation and Flow
Links
Tables
Lists
Font
Images and image maps
Physical Tags
Content-Based Tags
Most HTML character entities, like © for the circle-c copyright (©) symbol, are recognized. See the Laridian Web site at www.laridian.com for a complete list of supported character entities.
General information on the Note Editor
More information on HTML Tag Helpers
The <a> (anchor) tag is used to create links and to name targets of links. PocketBible only supports linking to named anchors within one note. PocketBible won't load a different note in response to a link.
The comments above would also apply to HTML image maps, if they were supported in this version of PocketBible.
If you enter a Bible reference in a note, it will be automatically linked to the appropriate passage when you save the note. If you want to link arbitrary text to a Bible passage, you can use the following format:
In the <a href="bible:Matt 5:1">Sermon on the Mount</a>, Jesus teaches...
Detailed information on acceptable HTML tags
PocketBible supports the display of Windows .bmp bitmap files.
Detailed information on acceptable HTML tags
The best way to understand how to enter basic searches is by example:
Use Edit | Find | Find to find words, phrases and combinations of words anywhere in your PocketBible books. Matching words will be highlighted on the screen as long as View | Options | Highlight Find Hits is checked.
Results will be displayed in the "List Window." You can toggle the results on and off using View | List | Find Results. By default, the program leaves found words highlighted even when the results list is off. You can change this behavior by modifying settings on the Options dialog, which is accessed by selecting View | Options | More Options.
PocketBible has an Autotype feature that tries to complete the word you're typing in order to minimize keystrokes. This comes in handy for hard-to-spell words but it does slow input down a little bit. If you find it annoying you can shut it off with the checkbox on the Find dialog.
Detailed Information on Searching
To find a word or phrase, just enter it in the Find dialog box. Examples:
Note that capitalization is ignored, as is punctuation.
To repeat a search you've done previously, tap the arrow to the right of the field to pull down a list of recent searches.
Detailed Information on Searching
Find Using AND, NEAR, OR, NOT and XOR
PocketBible supports AND, NEAR, OR, NOT and XOR (exclusive OR) searches, as described below. Note that you can substitute phrases for any of the words used in the examples below.
AND (&)
To find all the verses in which the words "love" and "husband" appear, enter:
It's important to type AND in all uppercase. If you type "love and husband" PocketBible will look for the phrase "love and husband." You can substitute the ampersand character (&) for AND.
NEAR (~)
To find verses containing "love" or "husband" that are near other verses containing "love" or "husband", type:
Again, make sure NEAR is in uppercase. You can substitute the tilde (~) character for NEAR.
This type of search only works in Bibles. In all other books it is treated like AND. The width of a NEAR search is controlled by a setting in the Find Options dialog. This allows you to control just how close together the words must be in order to be found.
OR (+)
To find all the verses in which either "love", "husband" or both appear, type:
Again, make sure OR is in uppercase. You can substitute the plus character (+) for OR.
XOR (^)
To find all the verses in which either "love" or "husband" but not both appear, type:
You can substitute the caret character (^) for XOR.
NOT (#)
To find all the verses in which "love" appears but not "husband", type:
You can substitute the number sign (or 'pound' or 'sharp') character (#) for NOT. Note that you cannot do a "unary NOT" operation (as in "NOT love" to find all verses that do not contain "love").
Complex Boolean Searches
AND, OR, XOR and NOT can be combined in one search. They are evaluated left to right. Example:
In this case, every verse containing "Jesus" or "Christ" is found, then those verses are searched for those that contain the word "spirit".
Parenthesis
Parenthesis can be used to change the order of evaluation:
This search finds all verses containing the word "Jesus" or both the words "Christ" and "spirit". In the non-parenthesized version of this search, every resulting verse must contain the word "spirit" but in by adding the parenthesis it's possible that some verses containing "Jesus" will not contain "spirit".
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Wildcard Searches with * and ?
An asterisk (*) can be used anywhere in a word to match any number of letters. So:
A question mark (?) matches any single character. So:
Wildcard words can be used anywhere a word is used in any search, including within phrases.
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Mixing Phrases, Wildcards and Boolean Operators
Some programs require quotation marks around the phrase or entering a special "phrase search" mode; PocketBible does not. You can uses phrases (any sequence of words) anywhere without any special punctuation. You can use wild card characters in phrases.
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Limiting Searches to Specific Passages
You can limit searches to a simple or complex range of verses by entering references in the In verses box on the Find dialog. Search limits can be as simple as "John" to find your word(s) or phrase(s) in the Gospel of John or as complex as "Mat 5-7;John 15,16" to search only these five chapters in Matthew and John. For more examples of complex references, see the discussion of Copy Passage.
Note that Bibles published for PocketBible contain the full "Front Matter" and "Back Matter" that are included in printed Bibles (such as a preface or introduction from the translators). Your searches will include these sections of the Bible unless you explicitly exclude them (generally by limiting your searches to "Gen-Rev").
Predefined Limits
For simplicity of searching, certain verse ranges are predefined in every Bible. The Predefined field lists "OT" (Old Testament), "NT" (New Testament) and "Bible" (entire Bible, excluding Front Matter and Back Matter). Some Bibles may give you other predefined search limit options. To choose one of these options just tap the arrow button to the right of the field and select the appropriate item.
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