Tips from Rick Meyers ("R.M."), Developer of e-Sword, and e-Sword Users

• Layout/Views
• Hot Keys for v9
• Using Commentaries
• New Features v9.5
• Reinstalling Resources in v.9
• Bible Book Navigation
• Accessing Modules
• Version 9 Tips
• Using Study/Topic Notes
• Adding Colors
• Accessing the Apocrypha
• Copying Verses
• Multilingual Interface
• Using Dictionaries
• Finding Strong's Numbers
• Using Split View
• Using Gospel Harmony
• Comparing Translations
• Using Cross References
• Finding Missing Resources
• Deleting a Module
• Mac Users
• Training/How to Use e-Sword

Stories and Ideas from e-Sword Users

• Bible School
• International Students
• Comparing Translations - Missions
• "Everyday" Mom
• Bible Study - Missions

Articles

• Articles

Reviews

• Product Review

Tips from Rick Meyers ("R.M."), Developer of e-Sword, and e-Sword Users

Layout/Views
Tip #1: You can reposition the four different views by dragging them by their "titlebar". Left-click on the titlebar and hold down the mouse button. Now when you move the mouse you will see a docking image appear which changes to show you how the view would dock in relation to the other views you are positioning it to. There are hundreds of possibilities, so just keep experimenting until you get what you like.

Tip #2: The "splitter bar" can be used to resize the views in relation to each other. As with dragging the views, just hold down the left mouse button and slide the splitter bar until you get the desired size.

Tip #3: You can remove a view from display by clicking on the little "pushpin" icon on the view's titlebar. The view will slide off to the left of the other views and a "tab" will be displayed instead. You can click on this tab to slide out the view whenever you want to access it. To replace the view back with the others, just "re-pin" it by clicking on the pushpin icon again.



Hot Keys for v9
e-Sword Hot Keys

F2 Lookup Reference (dialog) F3 Next Search Result F4 Copy ToolTip F5 Previous Bible Chapter F6 Activate Editor F7 Spell Check Editors only F8 Next Bible Chapter F9 Previous Bible Verse F11 Paste As Formatted Editors only F12 Next Bible Verse ALT+1 Bookmark 1 ALT+2 Bookmark 2 ALT+3 Bookmark 3 ALT+4 Bookmark 4 ALT+5 Bookmark 5 ALT+6 Bookmark 6 ALT+7 Bookmark 7 ALT+8 Bookmark 8 ALT+9 Bookmark 9 ALT+0 Bookmark 10 CTRL+A Select All CTRL+B Bold Editors only CTRL+C Copy CTRL+D Font Editors only

CTRL+E Center Editors only CTRL+F Find Editors only CTRL+G Graphics Viewer CTRL+H Highlight Scripture CTRL+I Italic Editors only CTRL+J Format Scripture ToolTip Editors only CTRL+L Lookup Reference (combobox) CTRL+M Mark Scripture CTRL+R Replace Editors only CTRL+S Search Bible CTRL+T Dictionary Topics (On/Off) CTRL+U Underline Editors only CTRL+V Paste Editors only CTRL+X Cut Editors only CTRL+Y Redo Editors only CTRL+Z Undo Editors only CTRL+F1 Show All Windows CTRL+F2 Bible Maximized CTRL+F3 Commentary Maximized CTRL+F4 Dictionary Maximized SHIFT+F3 Previous Search Result SHIFT+F7 Thesaurus Editors only CTRL+SHIFT+C Copy Formatted Bible Text CTRL+SHIFT+V Paste Formatted Bible Text

Using Commentaries
Tip #1: Many commentaries contain Bible book overviews and/or chapter summaries, in addition to the verse comments. There are two ways to get to these: (1) left-click directly on the "B" or "C" buttons in the Commentary view's toolbar, or (2) select the "Display Book Comments" or "Display Chapter Comments" from the e-Sword "Commentary" menu. Those commentaries with any comments will display the little "Information" icon on their tab. The "Thru the Bible" commentary by Dr. J. Vernon McGee is one such commentary that has both of these features. It includes excellent Bible book overviews (including an extensive outline of the book itself), and nearly a thousand chapter themes!

Tip #2: Commentaries are displayed based on the currently active verse in the Bible view. Sometimes the thought in the hard-copy commentary may extend beyond the currently displayed content. If you wish to continue reading without changing the active verse in the Bible view, just click on the "Next Comment" button in the Commentary view's toolbar.



New Features v9.5
Feature #1: A fully dockable user interface enables you to completely customize the layout in hundreds of different ways! Display what you want, where you want it by dragging the views into position with their titlebar.

Feature #2: Back by popular demand, the Bible Browser! The new dockable interface allows you to place it wherever you want, or not display it at all.



Reinstalling Resources in v.9
eStudySource Modules:

Your account(s) at eStudySource contain(s) copies of your receipts, including your product key(s) and download link(s) for redownloading your resource(s) if needed. You may access your account(s) at our site using the information you used to set up your account(s) at no cost. After you LOGIN to your account, click on MY ACCT.> VIEW ORDERS> VIEW ORDER RECEIPTS> DOWNLOAD. If you original email is still active, there is a password recovery option on the LOGIN page, which will send your password to the email address used to set up the account(s). Your purchases are tied to the email you used for your account at the time you made your purchase. Your original email does not need to be active to LOGIN to your account. You will need to use that email to re-download and install if needed. Changing the email in your account does not change the email tied to your previous purchases.

Other modules not from eStudySource may be obtained here:

NASB, Amplified - Lockman Foundation: http://abs.gospelcom.net/mail/contact.php.
Key Word, Complete Word Dictionary, Illustrations, Encyclopedia, Word/Day - AMG : ricks@amginternational.org.
Free resources: http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html



Bible Book Navigation
- Select "Options, Display Bookmark Navigator" from the e-Sword menu to display a handy tool for navigating to the next/previous chapter/verse.  This also gives you 10 bookmarks for quick access. Right-click on any bookmark to set it to the currently active verse, or left-click on any bookmark to move to that reference.

- Press the F8 key to move to the next chapter, or press the F5 key to move to the previous chapter.

- Press Ctrl+L to activate the Lookup combobox, then enter the Scripture reference you want to go to.

- Press the F2 key to display the new Lookup Scripture Reference dialog next to the mouse pointer wherever it is located, or access it from the main toolbar with the button next to the "Lookup" combobox.



Accessing Modules
I installed e-Sword and only have the KJV+ and Strong's. Where do I get more Bibles and other resources?

There is now a "Download" item in the menu bar in the e-Sword program. Click on it to see a drop down list of categories to choose from.



Version 9 Tips
Tip #1: A new Bible book browser has been implemented and is no longer docked to the side of the program. Press the F2 key to display the Lookup Scripture Reference dialog next to the mouse pointer wherever it is located, or access it from the main toolbar with the button next to the "Lookup" combobox. To quickly move to any Bible book and open up to the beginning of it, just right-click on the Book name. You can also right-click on any chapter to quickly move to the beginning it.

Tip #2: Select "Options, Display Bookmark Navigator" from the e-Sword menu to display a handy tool for navigating to the next/previous chapter/verse. This also gives you 10 bookmarks for quick access. Right-click on any bookmark to set it to the currently active verse, or left-click on any bookmark to move to that reference.

Tip #3: Press the F8 key to move to the next chapter, or press the F5 key to move to the previous chapter.

Tip #4: Press Ctrl+L to activate the Lookup combobox, then enter the Scripture reference you want to go to.



Using Study/Topic Notes
You can export the Study Notes and Topic Notes in HTML, Word DOC and Adobe PDF file formats, as well as plain text and Rich Text formats.  You can import both HTML and Word DOC files directly into the Study Notes and Topic Notes. Study Notes can be made on any verse in the Bible, now including the Orthodox Apocrypha and the Catholic Deuterocanon.



Adding Colors
Select"Options, Text Colors" from the e-Sword menu to use this feature. You can set the window background to a variety of colors, and adjust some of the text formatting colors. This will also allow you to turn off red-letter formatting in Bibles if you so desire.



Accessing the Apocrypha
The Orthodox Anagignoskomena is now supported, in addition to the Catholic Deuterocanon. (These Books are also known as the Apocrypha.) Both the Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version add-ons now include an additional module with all of these Books. When searching Bibles, such as the NRSVA, which include the Apocryphal Books, you must extended the Search Range to "Prayer of Manasseh" to get the search to include them. This is because these Books occur in the database after the New Testament. If you only want to search the Apocryphal Books, then set the Search Range to span from "Tobit" to "Prayer of Manasseh".



Copying Verses
The Copy Verses feature provides a variety of formats for copying a selected Bible passage. If you tend to use this feature for copying verses into the Study Notes or Topic Notes editor, you can do this very quickly by selecting the passage then pressing Ctrl+Shift+V. This will use the dialog settings without displaying it! If you paste into other applications, then useCtrl+Shift+C to copy the formatted text onto the Windows Clipboard.



Multilingual Interface
The e-Sword user interface has been completely localized. The various menus and dialogs can be displayed in numerous languages, with the initial offering of Afrikaans, Czech, German, French, Slovak and Spanish. As the e-Sword GUI Localization will be an add-on module, this will be updated individually as new languages are added to it. Scripture references are displayed using localized abbreviations, and popup ToolTips are converted according to the language in use.



Using Dictionaries
Does a dictionary definition have a term you want to lookup? Just right-click over the word and choose the "Lookup" menu item. You can quickly get back to the original definition by clicking on the "Previous Topic" back arrow toolbar button.



Finding Strong's Numbers
You can quickly locate all instances of a Strong's number in the KJV+ Bible by right-clicking on the number and choosing the "Quick Search" menu item. This is a good way to see the many ways a particular Hebrew or Greek word was translated into English, however it could become a tedious chore if there are more than a couple dozen verses found. A quicker way to find the English renderings of a Strong's number is to use the "King James Concordance" (KJC) dictionary module: http://www.e-sword.net/dictionaries.html.



Using Split View
Many times in the New Testament, an Old Testament passage is referenced by the writer.  If you want to study them together you can use the Split feature.  On the Bible view's toolbar is the Split button, and when depressed the currently active passage becomes "anchored" in the bottom pane of the view.  You can then go to any other location in the Bible as you normally would and the top pane will change accordingly. Additionally, you can change translations (including Compare and Parallel) without disturbing the original passage in the bottom pane.  When finished you can unpress the Split button to return the Bible view to its pre-Split condition.



Using Gospel Harmony
Another way to view parallel passages specific to the Gospels is to use the Gospel Harmony feature.  Select "Bible, Gospel Harmony" from the e-Sword menu.  This will bring up the Gospel Harmony view with the current passage in context.



Comparing Translations
You can customize which Bible translations are listed under the Compare tab by selecting "Options, Compare" from the e-Sword menu, then checking only those you want displayed.



Using Cross References
Another trick with working with commentaries involves the digging into cross-references.  The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK) has over 500,000 cross-references!  These are excellent for finding other supporting Scriptures for the current verse you are studying.  You can simply float the mouse cursor over a reference and see the verse(s) displayed in a popup ToolTip.  But what if you want to go to that passage and see it in context?  Clicking on that verse will certainly take you there, but by default the TSK cross-references would change to reflect the new active verse. 

If you want to study these cross-references, but leave the TSK set to the currently active verse, simply click on the "Synchronize" button on the Commentary view's toolbar to "unpress" it.  Now you can visit all of those different references without all the back-and-forth otherwise required.  Be sure to click on the "Synchronize" button again when you are finished to re-synch the commentaries back to the active Bible verse.



Finding Missing Resources
All of the resource files you download are EXE files that need to be "run" on your PC to extract their contents. Restart e-Sword to see the new additions.

Additionally, the resources on the Extras web page have been created as Topic Notes and as such won't have their own "tab". They can be accessed through the Topic Notes editor. Open the resources by selecting the appropriate entry in the resources combobox at the *bottom* of the editor area.



Deleting a Module
You can delete a resource by selecting "Options, Resource" from the e-Sword menu. Right-click over the resource you want to remove, then choose the "Delete" popup menu item. Confirm, and it is gone



Mac Users
e-Sword requires Windows OS. HOWEVER, you can now easily install Windows and run e-Sword and any other Windows application on your Mac using Fusion or Parallels. e-Sword LIVE is also online: http://live.e-sword.net.



Training/How to Use e-Sword
Master e-Sword in no time! Check out the FREE demos and in-depth tutorial here.

Stories and Ideas from e-Sword Users

Bible School
e-Sword has been an important tool in the preparation of our Bible School course on Spiritual Development and Evangelism. Not only that but, with each new intake of students, we set a computer up with a data projector and take 15 or 20 minutes to demonstrate the program. We start by saying that e-Sword is a free program and we offer them our disk to install it on their computers. As we demonstrate the Bible options and search capabilities, the students start to get impressed. When we explain about the commentaries and dictionaries that come with e-Sword, you can see their mouths starting to drop open in amazement. Then we explain some of the other features and, by the time we explain some of the resources that are available under topic notes, they are completely blown away! The point is that e-Sword helps us motivate and equip our students for serious Bible study right from the beginning of their course. Thank You! Steve McNeilly - Warrnambool, Australia



International Students
I work with an international student ministry and we recently threw a Chinese New Year's Party. The party was open for any and all to attend! An important part of the Chinese New Year is to give out red envelopes filled with candy and money! Of course we didn't have money to hand out, but.... "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you…." (Acts 3:6)

The students wanted to fill the envelopes with something very precious to them, verses from the Bible. We filled the envelopes with different Scripture in the 3 different languages represented at the party: Chinese, English and Polish.

A comment by a Taiwanese gal after opening her envelope and reading the verse was that she didn’t know that Scripture could be so beautiful. Many times people don’t even know the things that are in Scripture and so it was fun to surprise the students with the beauty of Scripture in red envelopes! I was able to use e-Sword for a language I don't know and bless a culture I can only communicate with if they speak in English, with Scripture in their heart language! Theresa Zacher - Poznan, Poland



Comparing Translations - Missions
I've been considerably blessed by your most inspiring e-Sword software that sheds new light not only to my personal life but to all I'm associating with. I'm an Indonesian missionary working as an interpreter for a group of Indonesian nationals currently residing in the Philippines having fellowship with brethren from several different nationalities. Whenever any minister gives a sermon in English each interpreter has to interpret for his or her respective language in respective adequately-equipped audio system room. It's a multicultural community where we are sharing our common purpose in our religious life.

Before we found this program we used to have the heavy printed Bible in our hands making great effort to flip through the pages of the Bible just to find a single verse referred to by the speaker. Often we found ourselves being bewildered and late to communicate the message to the congregation due to inconvenient equipment. Thankfully however with the emergence of this amazing e-Sword program we've found it particularly helpful in our daily practical work. With laptop computers before us we've been able to easily navigate through the program and quickly find out the verses cited by the preacher.

e-Sword also has helped us in many ways. It has enabled us to learn much more about God's word by comparing over 20 versions you provided for free to our access. Due to financial difficulty we can't afford to buy more versions and other incredibly important publications you offered but if God blesses us financially we would like to set aside some amount as a priority to purchase those precious treasures for our spiritually hungered community. e-Sword has served as an important instrument not only to get God's messages across through significant features like dictionaries and commentaries but it has enlightened us and enlarged our general knowledge in many aspects of life through such valuable features as graphics viewer and study notes.

One of the most helpful shortcuts to easily and quickly find verses is "ctrl s". That directs us to the open window to type any word or phrase and it directly brings us to a list of possible verses. When you click one of the verses listed you can actually have the complete verse displayed on the bottom -- a beneficial feature that is rarely found in other Bible software programs. Thank you very much for this program and may God bless you abundantly in doing His work for the service of others. Simon Bahir - Misamis Oriental, Philippines



"Everyday" Mom
I'm just your “everyday” mom and wife. My ministry is the people in my home and that I work with every day and those I meet on the internet. Through e-Sword I've been able to dig deep into the Word of God and get a deeper understanding by comparing verse- to-verse, reading commentaries, and through doing so apply it to my everyday life. I love to compare different translations and look at the Greek and Hebrew definitions. Gaining a better understanding of the Word has helped me through many trials and dark times in my family—sickness, disability, and suicide of a son. It’s given me a solid foundation through it all. Besides applying to my own life I send out a weekly devotional to others to inspire them as well. e-Sword has greatly enriched my Bible study, my Christian life, and others lives, through what I've gained from it. I wouldn't be without it! Many have shared with me how much the things I’ve shared have helped them. What a blessing to have such a tool at our finger tips! Ginny Larsen, Elk River, MN



Bible Study - Missions
Being a missionary to Trinidad, Guyana or anywhere else can be a challenge. This is how e-Sword has made this calling a little easier: A missionary heart desires that their Bible students have access to the same Bibles and the resources the missionary benefited from along the way. That way they can dig into the Word and glean for themselves the truths of the Word of God. We, in industrialized nations, take for granted the ability to compare versions, read commentaries, and have biblical works that others spent their lifetimes perfecting in service to the Lord. The problem is that you cannot ship [print versions] in due to weight and/or custom duties, and if you do, they do not last due to heat, flood or other events, plus they are not portable to many field environments. Most Internet services are poor or non-existent to these areas. Many times the nationals are just learning how to use a computer. The laptops that are donated from abroad are usually outdated and therefore n! ot conducive to Third World Internet connections. The solution to using these older laptops and getting the resources into the hands of God-raised Pastors is e-Sword. Loading a library of resources for these heroes of the faith onto a laptop and giving it to a new Pastor of a burgeoning church in an unserved area who otherwise could not afford it is an investment that every Christian can be proud to make. Robert Reasoner - Enterprise,Trinidad

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