E sword guide-1006

e-Sword User’s Guide
Revision: 1/20/2012

By:

BibleSupport.com

e-Sword 10.0.6
By: Rick Meyers

Table of Contents
About this User’s Guide .........................................................................................................13
About e-Sword ......................................................................................................................13
Goal of this Documentation ...................................................................................................13
Documentation Authors .........................................................................................................13
Copyright and Distribution .....................................................................................................13

What’s New in e-Sword 10?....................................................................................................14
Reference Library..................................................................................................................14
Search All Topics At Once ................................................................................................14
REFX File Format .............................................................................................................14
Support For Pictures .........................................................................................................14
New Editor with True Word Processing Power ......................................................................15
SermonAudio.com Integration ...............................................................................................15
STEP Reader Still Included ...................................................................................................15

Chapter 1: Getting to Know e-Sword .....................................................................................16
e-Sword Interface Overview ..................................................................................................16
e-Sword Quick References: Tooltips .................................................................................17
Common Tasks Menu .......................................................................................................18
e-Sword Hotkey Reference Sheet.....................................................................................18
The Main Toolbar and Main Menu .........................................................................................21
Main Toolbar Icon Summary .............................................................................................21
Maximizing Window Views ....................................................................................................23
Bible Books Navigation Tree .................................................................................................23
Introduction to the Bibles Window .........................................................................................24
The Compare Tab.............................................................................................................26
The Parallel Tab ...............................................................................................................27
Introduction to the Commentaries Window ............................................................................28
Introduction to the Editors Window ........................................................................................29
Introduction to the Dictionaries Window ................................................................................30
Introduction to the Reference Library ....................................................................................31

Chapter 2: Customizing e-Sword ...........................................................................................32
Adjusting the Layout of e-Sword’s Main Screen ....................................................................33
Maximizing / Minimizing Window Panes With Push Pins...................................................33

e-Sword User’s Guide, Copyright © 2012 by BibleSupport.com Page 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Maximizing Window Panes With the Window Menu ..........................................................34
Making Window Panes Larger or Smaller .........................................................................35
Window Docking Introduction ...........................................................................................36
Docking Windows – Getting Started .................................................................................37
Docking Windows: Overlapping ........................................................................................39
Floating Window Customization ............................................................................................42
Zoom Feature: A Gift for Old Eyes ........................................................................................43
The Zoom Icon ................................................................................................................43
Zooming with the Mouse Wheel ........................................................................................43
Changing Fonts and Sizes ....................................................................................................44
Changing Text and Background Colors .................................................................................45
e-Sword Multilingual Settings ................................................................................................45
Changing the e-Sword Application Language ...................................................................45
Tooltip and Bookmark Options ..............................................................................................46
Search Options .....................................................................................................................47
Reset e-Sword Settings.........................................................................................................47
Hiding and Uninstalling Resources ........................................................................................48
Hiding Resources .............................................................................................................48
Permanently Delete Resources ........................................................................................49
Deleting Editor Notes ........................................................................................................49
Configuring Resource Tabs ...................................................................................................50
Display Tabs on a Single Row or Multiple Rows ...............................................................50
Resource Tab Sorting - Advanced ....................................................................................50
Renaming Resource Tabs ................................................................................................51
Resource Tab Conflicts ....................................................................................................51
Changing the e-Sword Resource Location ............................................................................52
Downloading Additional Resources .......................................................................................53
Unofficial Resources .........................................................................................................53
Official Resources.............................................................................................................53
Installing Unofficial Resources ..............................................................................................55
Self Installing Resources ..................................................................................................55
Compressed Zip File.........................................................................................................55
Raw e-Sword Resources ..................................................................................................55
Support for Unofficial e-Sword Resources ........................................................................55


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 3: The Bibles Window in Detail ................................................................................56
Navigating the Bible in the Bibles Window.............................................................................57
Using the Bible Books Window .........................................................................................58
Using the Lookup Scripture Reference Popup ..................................................................58
Viewing Your Previous Bible Search Results ....................................................................59
Viewing Your Verse History ..............................................................................................59
Searching the Bible - Basic ...................................................................................................60
Quick Searching – Context Menu ..........................................................................................62
Additional Search Options Wheel ..........................................................................................63
Searching Only the OT, NT, and Apocrypha .........................................................................64
Apocrypha ........................................................................................................................64
Extended Bible Search - Multiple Translations ......................................................................65
Search Results .................................................................................................................65
Searching the Bible - Advanced ............................................................................................66
Copying and Printing Bible Searches ....................................................................................67
Printing .............................................................................................................................68
Quick Copying ..................................................................................................................68
Copying/Printing Entire Bible Passages ................................................................................69
Copying and Printing from Parallel Mode ..............................................................................70
Working with Strong's Hebrew and Greek Numbers ..............................................................71
Strong’s Number Basics ...................................................................................................71
e-Sword Modules with Strong’s Numbers .........................................................................71
Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions Without Leaving the Bible Window .........................71
Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions in the Dictionary Window ........................................72
Searching by Strong's Numbers ............................................................................................73
The Compare Tab .................................................................................................................75
The Parallel Tab ....................................................................................................................76
Split Bible View .....................................................................................................................77
Analyzing Verses – Passage Theme and Word Distribution ..................................................78
Using the Gospel Harmony ...................................................................................................80
Displaying Information about a Bible Translation ...................................................................81

Chapter 4: Highlighting, Marking, and Bookmarking Resources ........................................82
Highlighting Text ...................................................................................................................83
Marking Text .........................................................................................................................85
Working with Bookmarks .......................................................................................................86
Setting Bookmarks............................................................................................................86


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Accessing Bookmarks ......................................................................................................86
Bookmark Hotkeys/Shortcuts ............................................................................................87
Bible Markup File ..................................................................................................................88

Chapter 5: The Verse List Feature – Saving Verses .............................................................89
Navigating Verse Lists...........................................................................................................90
Changing Verse Lists ............................................................................................................90
Creating a Verse List and Adding Verses ..............................................................................91
Adding a Verse from a Verse List .....................................................................................91
Deleting a Verse from a Verse List ...................................................................................91
Sorting Verses in a Verse List ...........................................................................................91
Viewing Verse Lists ...............................................................................................................92
Quickly Adding a Verse to a Verse List .................................................................................93
Creating a Verse List from a Search......................................................................................94
Updating a Verse List ............................................................................................................95
Adding a Verse from a Verse List .....................................................................................95
Deleting a Verse from a Verse List ...................................................................................95
Sorting Verses in a Verse List ...........................................................................................95
Deleting Verse Lists ..............................................................................................................95

Chapter 6: Printing in e-Sword...............................................................................................96
The Print Preview Window ....................................................................................................97
Printing Bible Chapters..........................................................................................................98
Printing Selected Verses and Chapters .................................................................................98
Printing from the Editors Window ..........................................................................................99
Printing from the Commentaries ............................................................................................99
Printing from the Dictionaries Window ...................................................................................99
Printing from the Reference Library Window .........................................................................99
Printing Bible Reading .........................................................................................................100
Printing Daily Devotions ......................................................................................................100
Printing Prayer Lists ............................................................................................................100
Printing with the STEP Reader ............................................................................................100

Chapter 7: The Commentaries Window ...............................................................................101
Using Commentaries ...........................................................................................................102
When to Synchronize/Unsynchronize a Commentary ..........................................................102
Selecting Between Verse, Book, and Chapter Comments ...................................................104
Viewing “Next Comment” and “Previous Comment” ............................................................104


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Viewing Commentary Information .......................................................................................104
Viewing All Commentary Entries – Birds Eye View..............................................................105
Searching a Commentary....................................................................................................106
Searching More Than One Commentary Simultaneously ....................................................106

Chapter 8: Introduction to the Editors .................................................................................107
New Editor Features in e-Sword 10 .....................................................................................108
Editor Hotkeys .....................................................................................................................108
Using the Editor – Word Processing ....................................................................................110
Find (Ctrl-F), Replace (Ctrl-R), Go To (Ctrl-G) ................................................................110
Spell Check (F7) .............................................................................................................111
Thesaurus (Shift-F7) .......................................................................................................111
Cut (Ctrl-X), Copy (Ctrl-C), Paste (Ctrl-V) .......................................................................111
Pasting Formatted Text (F11 Toggle) ............................................................................111
Undo (Ctrl-Z) and Redo (Ctrl-Y) .....................................................................................111
Insert Bookmark .............................................................................................................112
Insert Hyperlink ..............................................................................................................112
Insert Table.....................................................................................................................113
Dragging Table Boundaries ............................................................................................113
Table Properties (Table Settings) ...................................................................................114
Adjusting Rows and Columns .........................................................................................115
Insert Picture ..................................................................................................................115
Image Attributes .............................................................................................................116
Header and Footer..........................................................................................................118
Page Layout ...................................................................................................................119
Show/Hide Formatting Symbols ......................................................................................119
Font Selection and Size ..................................................................................................119
Bold (Ctrl-B), Italic (Ctrl-I), Underline (Ctrl-U) ..................................................................120
Font Color .......................................................................................................................120
Highlight .........................................................................................................................120
Format Scripture Tooltip (Ctrl-J)......................................................................................121
Align Left, Align Center (Ctrl-E), Align Right, Justify ........................................................121
Numbering and Bullets ...................................................................................................122
Bullets and Numbering Format .......................................................................................122
Indent Paragraph (CTRL-TAB) and Outdent Paragraph (SHIFT-TAB) ............................122


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Format Paragraph...........................................................................................................123
Border.............................................................................................................................123
Columns .........................................................................................................................124
Page Break .....................................................................................................................124
Save Notes .....................................................................................................................124
Understanding Where the Editors Read Notes Files. ..........................................................125
How to Backup Your Notes - Advanced ..............................................................................125

Chapter 9: Journal Notes......................................................................................................126
Viewing Journal Notes.........................................................................................................127
Creating a Journal Note ......................................................................................................128
Editing a Journal Note .........................................................................................................128
Deleting a Journal Note .......................................................................................................129
Viewing All Journal Notes – Birds Eye View ........................................................................130
Searching Journal Notes .....................................................................................................131
Additional Search Options Wheel ........................................................................................131
Copying from the Bible to Your Journal Notes .....................................................................132
Copying from Other Windows to Journal Notes ...................................................................133
Copying the Entire Text ..................................................................................................133
Copying an Excerpt ........................................................................................................133
Importing and Exporting Journal Notes ...............................................................................134
To import a file: ...............................................................................................................134
To export a Journal note: ................................................................................................134
Managing More than One Journal Notes File - Advanced ...................................................135
Creating a New Journal Notes File .................................................................................135
Opening a Journal Notes File .........................................................................................135
Changing Where e-Sword Reads Journal Notes - Advanced ..............................................136

Chapter 10: The Study Notes ...............................................................................................137
Viewing Study Notes ...........................................................................................................138
Creating a Study Note .........................................................................................................138
Editing a Study Note ...........................................................................................................140
Deleting a Study Note .........................................................................................................140
Viewing All Study Notes – Birds Eye View...........................................................................141
Searching Study Notes........................................................................................................142
Copying from the Bible to Your Study Notes .......................................................................145
Copying from Other Windows to Study Notes .....................................................................146


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Importing and Exporting Study Notes ..................................................................................147
To import a file: ...............................................................................................................147
To export a Study note: ..................................................................................................147
Managing More than One Study Notes File - Advanced ......................................................148
Creating a New Study Notes File ....................................................................................148
Opening a Study Notes File ............................................................................................149
Changing Where e-Sword Reads Study Notes - Advanced .................................................149

Chapter 11: Topic Notes .......................................................................................................150
Viewing Resources: Topic Editor or Reference Library?......................................................151
e-Sword 9 Users: Can’t Find your Topic Notes? ..................................................................152
Viewing Your Topic Notes ...................................................................................................152
Creating a Topic Note .........................................................................................................153
Editing a Topic Note ............................................................................................................154
Optimizing Topic Notes Files with Images ...........................................................................155
How Image Bloat Happens .............................................................................................155
Removing Image Bloat ...................................................................................................155
Deleting a Topic Note ..........................................................................................................155
Searching Topic Notes ........................................................................................................156
Copying from the Bible to Your Topic Notes ........................................................................159
Copying from Other Windows to Topic Notes ......................................................................160
Importing and Exporting Topic Notes ..................................................................................161
To import a file: ...............................................................................................................161
To export a Topic note: ...................................................................................................161
Managing More than One Topic Notes File - Advanced ......................................................162
Creating a New Topic Notes File ....................................................................................162
Opening a Topic Notes File ............................................................................................163
Changing Where e-Sword Reads Topic Notes - Advanced .................................................164
Reference Library (.REFX) Files .........................................................................................165
When to Use Reference Book Files.....................................................................................165
Why Convert to Reference Book Files Then? .................................................................165
How to Convert Topic Notes to Reference Book Format .....................................................165


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 12: The Dictionaries Window .................................................................................166
Using Dictionaries ...............................................................................................................167
Topics List and Performance ..........................................................................................167
Quick Lookup Inside the Dictionary .....................................................................................168
Viewing Your Dictionary Search History ..............................................................................169
Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions in the Dictionary Window...........................................170
Strong’s Number Basics .................................................................................................170
Searching a Dictionary ........................................................................................................171
Searching More Than One Dictionary Simultaneously.........................................................171

Chapter 13: Reference Library .............................................................................................173
Viewing Resources: Topic Editor or Reference Library?......................................................174
Why Can’t I View Topic Notes Files in the Reference Library? ............................................174
Opening the Reference Library ...........................................................................................174
Viewing Resources in the Reference Library .......................................................................176
Filtering Resources in the Reference Library.......................................................................176
Searching the Reference Library - Basic .............................................................................177
Searching the Reference Library - Advanced ......................................................................181
Extended Search - Multiple Reference Books .....................................................................182
Search Summary ............................................................................................................182
Paste Into Topic Notes ........................................................................................................183
Highlighting Text .................................................................................................................183

Chapter 14: The Bible Reading Plan ....................................................................................184
Opening Bible Reading Plans..............................................................................................185
Using Bible Reading Plans ..................................................................................................186
Previous Reading and Next Reading ............................................................................186
Incrementing the Reading Plan Progress Bar .................................................................186
View Chapter as Paragraph ...........................................................................................186
Changing Bible Reading Plans .......................................................................................186
Creating a Bible Reading Plan ............................................................................................187
Show at Startup...................................................................................................................187

Chapter 15: Daily Devotions.................................................................................................188
Opening the Daily Devotions ...............................................................................................189
Using the Daily Devotions ...................................................................................................189
Show Devotions at Startup ..................................................................................................190


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 16: Prayer Requests ...............................................................................................191
Opening Prayer Requests ...................................................................................................192
Viewing Prayer Requests ....................................................................................................192
Adding Prayer Requests .....................................................................................................192
Editing or Deleting a Prayer Request ..................................................................................193
Managing Prayer Request Files ..........................................................................................195
Creating Prayer Request Files ........................................................................................195
Loading Prayer Request Files .........................................................................................195
Show Prayer Requests at Startup .......................................................................................196

Chapter 17: Scripture Memory .............................................................................................197
Opening Scripture Memory .................................................................................................198
Viewing Verses to Memorize ...............................................................................................198
Adding Scripture Memory ....................................................................................................199
Editing or Deleting a Memory Verse ....................................................................................200
Testing Memory Verses ......................................................................................................201
Associate Reference Test ...............................................................................................201
Fill In The Blanks ............................................................................................................202
Word Position .................................................................................................................202
First Letter ......................................................................................................................202
Managing Memory Verse Files ............................................................................................203
Creating Memory Verse Files .........................................................................................203
Loading Memory Verse Files ..........................................................................................203
Show Memory Verses at Startup .........................................................................................204

Chapter 18: SermonAudio.com ............................................................................................205
Opening the SermonAudio.com Window .............................................................................206
Listening to a Sermon .........................................................................................................206
Learning More About the Speaker or Sermon .................................................................207
Using the Sermon Player ................................................................................................208
Listening to Sermons On Different Verses...........................................................................209
Sorting Sermons By Heading ..............................................................................................209
Adjusting the Width of Heading Columns ............................................................................209

Chapter 19: Sermon Illustrations .........................................................................................210
Unlocking Sermon Illustrations ............................................................................................211
Opening Sermon Illustrations ..............................................................................................211
Viewing and Copying Sermon Illustrations ..........................................................................212

e-Sword User’s Guide, Copyright © 2012 by BibleSupport.com P a g e 10

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Filtering Sermon Illustrations ...............................................................................................212
Adding Sermon Illustrations ................................................................................................213
Editing or Deleting a Sermon Illustration .............................................................................214

Chapter 20: The Graphics Viewer ........................................................................................215
Opening the Graphics Viewer..............................................................................................216
Viewing Graphics ................................................................................................................217
Selecting Graphics within the Graphic File ......................................................................217
Panning Graphics ...........................................................................................................217
Resizing Graphics...........................................................................................................218
Copying Graphics................................................................................................................218

Chapter 21: The STEP Reader ..............................................................................................219
Opening The STEP Reader ................................................................................................220
Viewing STEP Books ..........................................................................................................221
Pasting Into Notes ..............................................................................................................221
Searching STEP Books .......................................................................................................222

Chapter 22: Searching e-Sword Using Regular Expressions ............................................223
Regular Expressions ...........................................................................................................224
Conventions Used in this Chapter .......................................................................................224
Lesson 1: Case sensitive; Characters found anywhere .......................................................225
Lesson 2: Literal vs. Special Meaning Characters ...............................................................225
Lesson 3: Word Boundaries ................................................................................................226
Lesson 4: Dot Character .....................................................................................................227
Lesson 5: Brackets “[]” ........................................................................................................228
Lesson 6: Range of characters “-” .......................................................................................228
Lesson 7: Caret “^” ..............................................................................................................229
Lesson 8: Word Characters “w” ..........................................................................................230
Lesson 9: Non-Word Characters “W” .................................................................................231
Lesson 10: Pipe Character “|” and Parenthesis “()” ............................................................232
Lesson 11: Digit “d” ............................................................................................................233
Lesson 12: Quantifiers "*", "+", and "?"................................................................................234
Lesson 13: Curly brackets “{}” .............................................................................................236
Lesson 14: Beginning Verse Anchor “^” ..............................................................................236
Lesson 15: Ending Verse Anchor “$” ...................................................................................237
Lesson 16: Putting It All Together with Useful Examples .....................................................238
Example 1: Verses Starting/Ending with a Specific Characters .......................................238
Example 2: Finding Words Beginning/Ending with Specific Characters ..........................239


Example 3: Finding Verses Only If They Contain Two+ Specific Words. .........................240
Example 4: Finding “Wildcard” Verses References. ........................................................241
Example 5: Finding a Verse with Words in Proximity to other Words. .............................242
Reference Information on Regular Expressions. .............................................................242


ABOUT THIS USER’S GUIDE

About this User’s Guide

About e-Sword
Rick Meyers, the creator of e-Sword, has given us a wonderful tool to study the Word of God.
Learning the many features available through e-Sword Bible study software will bring new life to
your study of the Living Word.

This documentation is for: e-Sword 10.0.5. If you are not running the latest version of e-Sword,
please visit the http://www.e-sword.net to download the latest version.

e-Sword® is a registered trademark of Rick Meyers. All rights reserved.

BibleSupport.com is run independently of e-Sword by a community of volunteers.

Goal of this Documentation
The goal of this documentation is to explain every e-Sword feature for both the casual and
advanced user. This documentation is the product of hundreds of hours of work.

If you have questions about a feature, we hope you can easily find the answers you are seeking
by referring to the hyperlinked Table of Contents. If you’re viewing this document in a PDF
browser, the Table of Contents is available in the Bookmarks window. The Table of Contents is
invaluable for using this documentation.

This documentation uses informal, conversational English, keeping with our goal of real-world
use by Christians wanting to learn more about e-Sword. The best way to accomplish our goal is
to use conversational English.

Documentation Authors
A concept of this manual was first written in 2003 by Barrie Gordon and Johan Struwig.

Sarah Valente completely rewrote the manual in June 2011. Other than the organizational
structure, the documentation Sarah produced bears little resemblance to the 2003 version.

Josh Bond rewrote and reorganized the manual, split in two revisions: July 2011 and November
2011.

This documentation is produced by BibleSupport.com.

Copyright and Distribution
This text is copyrighted only to prevent the documentation from being used for commercial
profit.

You may freely copy and distribute this documentation as long as you do not make any
changes or use the documentation commercially, including charging, in any way, for it’s use,
reading or distribution.

If you have any questions on this policy, contact Josh Bond at BibleSupport.com.


What’s New in e-Sword 10?
e-Sword 10 brings powerful new features to make your Bible study more productive. Rick
Meyers listened to users’ feedback and delivered on some of the most asked for functionality.

All properly constructed e-Sword 9 modules are compatible with e-Sword 10.

Reference Library
The Reference Library is now the central place to view your downloaded Topic files and a new
type of file called Reference Books (.refx). In previous versions of e-Sword, the Topic Notes
window displayed downloaded, third party Topic Notes. Now, this material is viewed through
the Reference Library instead of the Topics Editor.

Search All Topics At Once
The Reference Library lets you filter your resources by title and search all of your Topic
Notes at once! These two features are so powerful, they alone could have been the upgrade!

REFX File Format
Also new with the Reference Library is the ability to convert a Topics Note file to Reference
Book format (.refx). This file is compressed and prevents others from modifying your data!
You can convert your Topic Note files into Reference Book format. Here’s a comparison
between .refx and .topx formats:

Reference Library Book (.refx) Topic Note (.topx)

Cannot be edited. Can be edited.

Can be viewed in either the Reference
Library or the Topic Editor. (But third
Can only be viewed in the Reference
party Topic Notes should be viewed
Library.
with the Reference Library unless you
need to edit them).

Compatible with e-Sword 9.x-10+, but
images, headers/footers, hyperlinks,
Only compatible with e-Sword 10+
and bookmarks will not display
properly.

Support For Pictures
The new Reference Library Book format supports pictures. And that’s not all. Topic Notes also
support pictures!


WHAT’S NEW IN E-SWORD 10?

New Editor with True Word Processing Power
e-Sword 10’s editor seems less like an editor and more like a word processor. The new editor is
more robust and supports an array of new features. Now your Journal, Study, and Topic
Notes will benefit from:

• Hyperlinks
• Bookmarks
• Images/Pictures
• Tables
• Borders
• Columns
• Headers/Footers
• Page Layout View

SermonAudio.com Integration
e-Sword is integrated with SermonAudio.com. You can listen to sermons while you study the
Bible. This window automatically organizes sermons by verse according to the active
passage of scripture in the e-Sword Bibles window!

STEP Reader Still Included
Don’t worry— the STEP Reader is still included with e-Sword 10! But the icon has been
removed from the e-Sword main window. You can still access the STEP Reader by clicking
Tools from the main menu and choosing STEP Reader.


Chapter 1: Getting to Know e-Sword

This chapter is intended for Christians who have not used e-Sword previously. The pages that
follow explain how scripture appears in e-Sword, the main e-Sword screen, the content
windows, the toolbars, and other helpful hints and tips to get you started.

What’s in this Chapter?
e-Sword Interface Overview..............................................................................................17
The Main Toolbar and Main Menu ....................................................................................21
Maximizing Window Views ................................................................................................23
Bible Books Navigation Tree .............................................................................................23
Introduction to the Bibles Window .....................................................................................24
Introduction to the Commentaries Window .......................................................................28
Introduction to the Editors Window ...................................................................................29
Introduction to the Dictionaries Window ............................................................................30
Introduction to the Reference Library ................................................................................31


CHAPTER 1: GETTING TO KNOW E-SWORD

e-Sword Interface Overview
When you launch e-Sword, you will see a screen similar to:

This is the e-Sword interface. All e-Sword features are available from this screen.

Notice the important screen areas: Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Editors, and
Reference Library. Also notice the Bible Books window on the left side of screen.

e-Sword Quick References: Tooltips
You may have noticed the green, underlined Bible
verses in the Commentaries window above. e-Sword
automatically recognizes Bible verses and Strong’s
numbers. When you see a scripture reference or a
Strong’s number, hover your mouse pointer over the
reference. A “tooltip” window appears, revealing the
text of the scripture or the definition of the Strong’s
number.

TIP: Press the F4 button to copy the
reference text to the Windows clipboard. You
can paste (Ctrl-V) the definition into the
Notes Editor or your own word processor!



Common Tasks Menu
A universal, time saving feature available almost
everywhere in e-Sword is the “Common Tasks Menu”, or
“context menu”.

Right-click your mouse in nearly any display window to
reveal a “popup menu” of common tasks. These
shortcuts are available in the Bible, Commentary,
Dictionary, Editor, Reference Library, and other windows.

e-Sword Hotkey Reference Sheet
The hotkey shortcuts may be used throughout e-Sword
unless otherwise noted. When more than one key is
shown, press both keys simultaneously.

Hotkey Description

F2 Lookup Reference (dialog)

F3 Next Search Result

F4 Copy ToolTip

F5 Previous Bible Chapter

F7 Spell Check Editors only

F8 Next Bible Chapter

F9 Previous Bible Verse

F11 Toggle 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



Hotkey Description

ALT-7 Bookmark 7

ALT-8 Bookmark 8

ALT-9 Bookmark 9

ALT-0 Bookmark 0

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 Goto Bookmark Editors only

CTRL-H Highlight Scripture

CTRL-I Italic Editors only

CTRL-J Format Scripture ToolTip Editors only

CTRL-L Lookup Reference

CTRL-M Mark Scripture

CTRL-N Next Reference

CTRL-P Previous Reference

CTRL-R Replace Editors only

CTRL-S Bible Search

CTRL-U Underline Editors only

CTRL-V Paste Editors only

CTRL-X Cut Editors only



Hotkey Description

CTRL-Y Redo Editors only

CTRL-Z Undo Editors only

CTRL-TAB Indent Paragraph Editors only

SHIFT-TAB Outdent Paragraph Editors only

CTRL-F1 Show All Windows

CTRL-F2 Bible Maximized

CTRL-F3 Commentary Maximized

CTRL-F4 Dictionary Maximized

CTRL-ENTER Insert Page Break Editors only

CTRL-(Backspace) Delete Previous Word Editors only

SHIFT-F3 Previous Search Result

SHIFT-F7 Thesaurus Editors only

SHIFT-ENTER Insert Line Feed Editors only

CTRL-SHIFT-C Copy Formatted Bible Text

CTRL-SHIFT-S Extended Bible Search

CTRL-SHIFT-V Paste Formatted Bible Text Editors only

CTRL-SHIFT- Editors only
Insert Non-breaking Space
(Spacebar)



The Main Toolbar and Main Menu
The Main Menu contains menu commands and the Main Toolbar contains icons and pull down
menus. This documentation refers to the Main Toolbar and Main Menu using this terminology.

TIP: Hover your mouse over the any icon on any Toolbar to view the
command’s hint.

Main Menu Main Toolbar

Main Toolbar Icon Summary

Icon Icon Name Icon Function Hotkey
Lookup e-Sword will navigate to the Bible location
Scripture typed in this box. Press the hotkey to quickly CTRL-L
Reference activate this box.
Lookup e-Sword will popup a Lookup Scripture
Scripture Reference window for navigating to a Scripture F2
Reference passage.
Previous Click to retrieve the previous verses in your
Reference verse history (resets each e-Sword session). CTRL-P

Next Click to move forward in your verse history, if
Reference you moved backward with the above
CTRL-N
command (resets each e-Sword session).

Search Use to perform a Bible search.
CTRL-S

Search Use to return to previous search results (resets
SHIFT-F3
Previous each e-Sword session)..
Search This box displays the verses from the last
Results search result. Scroll down to view additional
results from the same search.

Search Next Use to move forward in search results. Only
works if you moved back at least once. (resets
F3
each e-Sword session).

Verse List Click to display the Verse List window.



Previous Click to display the Previous Verse in the
Verse Verse List.
Verse List This box displays the current verse in the
Display Verse List.
Next Verse Click to display the Next Verse in the Verse
List.

Show All This icon reveals the preset e-Sword layout:
Windows displaying the Bibles, Commentaries,
CTRL-F1
Dictionaries and Editors.

Bible Click to display the Bible Translation window
CTRL-F2
Maximized only.
Commentary Click to display the Commentary window only.
CTRL-F3
Maximized
Dictionary Click to display the Dictionary window only.
CTRL-F4
Maximized
Editor Click to display the Editor window only.
CTRL-F5
Maximized
Graphics Click to open the Graphics Viewer window.
Viewer
Reference Click to open the Reference Library window.
Library



Maximizing Window Views
New users sometimes accidentally click one of the Maximized icons and struggle to restore the
correct view. Let's learn about the different views and how to control them.

Click the Bible Maximized icon on the Main Toolbar. Notice how the Bible window is
maximized to display the current Bible translation only. You may also click the Commentary
Maximized , Dictionary Maximized , and Editor Maximized icons.

Clicking on the Show All Windows icon restores the original e-Sword layout. Click
Window from the main menu to see the same layout options, along with their shortcuts.

Bible Books Navigation Tree
The Bible Books window (shown to the right) contains all books of the
Bible in the order of the Christian Biblical canon.

You may use the Navigation Tree or the verse lookup box when
looking up specific references.

Above the Navigation Tree you will see an empty box:

This is the Lookup Scripture Reference box. Enter the text: “john
3:16” and click the Lookup Scripture Reference icon (Scripture icon).
The results will display in the Bibles window.

TIP: Press the Ctrl-L key combination anywhere in e-Sword to
place your cursor inside the Lookup Scripture Reference box
so you can begin typing. For many uses, this is faster than
using the mouse.

To minimize the Navigation Tree, click the push pin icon in the upper
right corner.

The Bible Books Navigation Tree may be e-Sword’s most simple yet
most convenient feature because of its speed and ease of use.



Introduction to the Bibles Window
The Bibles window lets you view scripture and compare Bible translations. To minimize the
Bibles window, click the push pin icon in the top, right corner.

The Bibles window consists of three parts:

• The Bible tabs - you can switch from one translation to the another. Notice how e-
Sword displays the full translation name when you hover your mouse over a tab. The
KJV translation tab is selected in the screenshot above.

• The Main Text window - this window displays the Bible text.

• The Translation Toolbar - this toolbar contains the following icons:

Print Preview Click to display the Print Preview window.

Print Verses Click to print the current Bible chapter or
selected text.
Bible Search Search the active Bible translation. CTRL-S
Select All Select the entire Bible chapter.

Copy Copy the selected text.

Copy Verses Copy verse(s) to the Copy Verses window.

Paste Into Pastes to the currently selected tab in the
Editors window.



Highlight Highlight a particular reference.
CTRL-H
Reference
Mark Underline a reference in a variety of styles. CTRL-M

Zoom Makes the Bible text bigger or smaller.

Split View Click to view two translations at once. Select
the translations by using the translations tabs.
Chapter Navigate backward one chapter. (Compare
F5
Back Verse Mode: navigate backward one verse.)
Chapter Navigate forward one chapter. (Compare
F8
Forward Verse Mode: navigate forward one verse.)

Notice the Bibles window contains two tabs that are not Bible translations, the Compare
Verses tab and Parallel tab.



The Compare Tab
The Compare tab lets you easily compare different translations of the Bible.

1. Click a verse in the Bibles window using any translation.

2. Notice the verse reference turns red.

3. Click the Compare tab. e-Sword will list the verse you selected in every Bible
translation, one after the other.



The Parallel Tab
e-Sword lets you view up to eight Bible translations in parallel. Click the Parallel tab. At first,
only one translation appears:

Notice the pull down menus with Bible translations below. The first menu will show a Bible
translation, such as the KJV. Click the second drop down menu, and select another Bible
translation. You may view up to eight translations at once.



Introduction to the Commentaries Window
The Commentaries window is shown in the top, right window by default. To minimize the
Commentaries window, click the push pin icon in the top, right corner of this window.

This window contains commentaries on the passage of Scripture displayed in the Bibles
window. The screenshot above shows the BBC commentary for Genesis 1:1. Each commentary
is represented by a single tab. Other commentaries you install appear in additional tabs.

By default, the Commentaries window displays the commentary for the current Bible verse.
You can verify this by clicking a different Bible verse in the Bibles window. The Commentary
window will update to show any comments for the new verse. See Chapter 7 for more
information on using the Commentaries window.

The icons in the Commentaries window are similar to the ones in the Bibles window:

The additional icons are:

Link Click to link the window to the Scripture in the
Bibles window.
Book Click to view a summary of the selected book.

Chapter Click to view a summary of the selected
chapter.
Verse Click to view a summary of the selected verse.



Introduction to the Editors Window
The Editors window is displayed on the bottom, right in e-Sword by default.

The Editors window lets you view and write Journal Notes, Study Notes, and Topic Notes.

TIP: In previous versions of e-Sword, the Topic Notes window displayed
downloaded, third party Topic Notes. Often, Topic Notes contain books, essays,
and papers written by other people. This material is now viewed through the
Reference Library.

Most people use Journal Notes and Study Notes for personal note taking. The Journal Notes
are date specific because they contain your thoughts written on a specific day. The Study
Notes are verse specific, meaning each comment is related to a verse. Topic Notes are
subject specific, meaning your thoughts on various subjects. In previous versions of e-Sword,
you may have considered Topic Notes as “Books”. e-Sword now handles this functionality
through the Reference Library.

The Editors window is a fully functioning word processor within e-Sword. You may write and
save notes in the Journal Notes, Study Notes and Topic Notes sections.

TIP: The Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries windows have a Paste Into
icon. Clicking this icon will paste your highlighted text into the active tab of the Editors
window.



Introduction to the Dictionaries Window
The Dictionaries window is on the bottom, left by default. To minimize the Dictionaries
window, click the push pin icon in the top, right corner. This window contains a number of Bible
dictionaries as well as an Encyclopedia (the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia).

To view Dictionary entries, click once on any word or Strong's number in the Bible,
Commentary, or Editor windows. Make sure the Link icon is pressed to synchronize the
Bibles and Dictionaries windows with the Dictionaries window.

If a dictionary contains an entry for a word, a blue Information (i) icon appears on the left side
of the tab (see above).



Introduction to the Reference Library
The other “Introductory” sections explained major sections of the e-Sword screen. The
Reference Library is represented on the main e-Sword screen with just a small icon:

Reference
The Reference Library is now the central place to view your Library
downloaded Topic files and a new type of file called Reference Modules (.refx).

Material available from the Reference Library includes books, essays, and papers written by
other authors. Some may be as short as a few pages, and other resources may contain
thousands of pages. For example, BibleSupport.com hosts a number of William Evans’ and F.B.
Meyer’s books in Reference Book format. You can also download official Reference Modules
through the e-Sword Module Downloader.

TIP: In previous versions of e-Sword, the Topic Notes window displayed downloaded,
third party Topic Notes. Now, this material is viewed through the Reference Library
instead of the Topics Editor.

With the Reference Library you can:
• Select resources to read with the drop down menu near the top of the screen.
• Filter your resources by title (see top, right of the screen, which says “evans”)
• Search all of your Topic Notes and Reference Library Books at once!


Chapter 2: Customizing e-Sword
You can customize e-Sword to suit your needs by adjusting the layout, window sizes, text and
background colors, and even font sizes. You can also choose a different application language,
download additional resources, delete resources, configure your resource tab settings, and
more. This chapter discusses most customizations possible with e-Sword.

Adjusting the Layout of e-Sword’s Main Screen ................................................................33
Floating Window Customization ........................................................................................42
Zoom Feature: A Gift for Old Eyes ....................................................................................43
Changing Fonts and Sizes ................................................................................................44
Changing Text and Background Colors ............................................................................45
e-Sword Multilingual Settings ............................................................................................45
Tooltip and Bookmark Options ..........................................................................................46
Search Options .................................................................................................................47
Reset e-Sword Settings ....................................................................................................47
Hiding and Uninstalling Resources ...................................................................................48
Configuring Resource Tabs ..............................................................................................50
Changing the e-Sword Resource Location ........................................................................52
Downloading Additional Resources ..................................................................................53
Installing Unofficial Resources ..........................................................................................55


CHAPTER 2: CUSTOMIZING E-SWORD

Adjusting the Layout of e-Sword’s Main Screen
You may adjust the layout of e-Sword in several ways. Feel free to make changes knowing that
if you cannot undo the changes, e-Sword can. To restore e-Sword to the default settings, click
Help and then choose Reset e-Sword Settings. However, all settings are reset, not just the
layout settings.

Maximizing / Minimizing Window Panes With Push Pins
You may minimize any portion of the screen with a push pin icon. To minimize the
window, click the push pin icon and the window will minimize to the left side of the
screen. Click the push pin again, and the window area will maximize.

SPACE SAVING TIP: On a laptop or small screen, every pixel counts. You can
minimize the Bible Books window (which shows the Books and Chapters of the Bible
by default). When you need to change Bible verses, press the F2 button and a Lookup
Scripture Reference window appears at the location of your mouse pointer. Use this
window to change Bible verses. The window closes after you select a verse.



Maximizing Window Panes With the Window Menu
You may maximize any of the four windows panes to full screen. Click Window from the main
menu, and then click one of the Maximized options shown below. In our example, we chose
Bible Maximized to expand the Bibles window full screen.

To show all windows again, click Window from the main menu, and click Show All Windows.

If you need to switch between Show All Windows and one of the Maximized options
frequently, use the hotkey combinations shown in the Window menu:



Making Window Panes Larger or Smaller
You can make the Bible, Commentary, Dictionary, and Editor windows larger or smaller
relative to each other.

Notice the yellow-highlighted divider lines between the windows below. You may adjust the
width and length of the windows:

1. Position your mouse pointer over the divider line,

2. Left-click and hold the divider line, and

3. Drag the line up/down or left/right as appropriate.



Window Docking Introduction
By default, e-Sword shows five windows, including the four labeled below and the Bible Books
window on the far left.

You can re-arrange these windows in hundreds of different combinations!

REMEMBER: If you’re unhappy with your new configuration, you can restore e-Sword to
the default settings by clicking Help and then choosing Reset e-Sword Settings.
However, all settings are reset, not just the layout settings.

The first time you experiment with window docking, be prepared to spend a few minutes gaining
a feel for this feature.



Docking Windows – Getting Started
You can reposition the four window panes (shown and labeled on the previous page) by
dragging window’s blue "title bar". This can result in hundreds of different views.

1. Left-click the window pane you want to move (hold this click until step 4).

2. While still holding the mouse left-click, move your mouse to another window and a
Docking Image appears. Hover your pointer one of the Arrow Indicators (see red
boxes below ).



3. Notice a blue footprint shows you where this window will dock if you release the mouse
click.

4. After releasing the mouse click, notice how your window pane is repositioned, with the
Commentaries and Editors windows side-by-side instead of above/below each other.
There are hundreds of possibilities, so keep experimenting until you find a combination you
like.



Docking Windows: Overlapping
Two or more windows can occupy the same space—or overlap each other. For example, in the
screenshot below, notice the Commentaries and Editors tabs, shown in the red box.



To produce the “overlapping” screen above, follow these steps:

1. Left click the Commentaries window pane(1) and drag the window to the Editors
window pane(2) until a blue footprint appears:

2. Release the mouse click and the windows now overlap. The Commentaries and
Editors tabs appear at the bottom, as shown in the screenshot on the previous page.



To return the Editor and Commentaries to their original positions, as separate windows,
follow these steps:

1. Left click the Editors tab(1) at the bottom of the screen and drag the toward the Arrow
Indicator(2).

2. Release the mouse click and Editors and Commentaries windows will return to
separate windows, as shown in the screenshot on the previous page.



Floating Window Customization
Many of e-Swords features use Floating Windows. For example, the Reference Library
window “floats” on top of e-Sword’s main window. Other examples of floating windows include
the Step Reader, Prayer Requests, Bible Reading, Search/Extended Search, and many
other windows.

Floating Windows share properties you should be aware of:

• You can access the underlying e-Sword main window without closing a floating window.
For example, if you need to reference the Bible, lookup a dictionary definition, view
commentary text, or create a Study Note, click the e-Sword main window in the
background.

• You can also move the e-Sword main window and floating windows so they are offset or
in any configuration that suits your monitor (see below).

• You can resize a floating window (larger or smaller) by
positioning your mouse over the edge of the window until the
mouse pointer turns into a double arrow (as shown to the right).
Drag the window in the direction you want to resize.

• Some floating windows have Minimize and Maximize buttons
(left of the red X). Maximize will expand over the whole screen.
The Minimize button will cause the window to disappear. To
display a minimized window, click the e-Sword icon on your
Windows taskbar.



Zoom Feature: A Gift for Old Eyes
e-Sword includes a very flexible Zoom Feature. Nearly every window containing study text
supports zooming, including Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Editors, Reference
Library, and many other windows.

The Zoom Icon
Anytime you see the Zoom icon, you can enlarge the text in that window by clicking the
icon. Click the icon again to restore your original view.

As you can see from the comparison below, the text isn’t just zoomed. The text is reflowed so
you do not have to use a horizontal scroll bar to view the text. The same holds true for images
and tabular charts.

Zooming with the Mouse Wheel
The advantage of this zoom method is you can quickly zoom to a custom magnification.

1. Click anywhere in the window you want to zoom.

2. Press the Ctrl button while scrolling the mouse wheel forward to zoom in or
backward to zoom out.

3. To restore the default zoom, click the Zoom icon twice.



Changing Fonts and Sizes
e-Sword allows you to change the default fonts
to a style pleasing to your eye.

Click Options from the main menu, and then
click Fonts.

Default Font and Size: Specifies the font used
throughout e-Sword, including text for Bibles,
Commentaries, Dictionaries, Devotions, etc.

Tooltip Font Size: Specifies the font used to
“popup” the text from verse references (called
tooltips).

Editor Font: Specifies the default font used in
the Editor’s Window (Journal Notes, Study
Notes, and Topic Notes).

Greek, Hebrew, and Latin Font: Specifies the fonts e-Sword uses to display these commonly
found languages in Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries.



Changing Text and Background Colors
e-Sword allows you to change the default
text colors to a configuration pleasing to
your eye.

Click Options from the main menu, and
then choose Text Colors.

You can select a Background color,
along with the text colors shown in the
screenshot to the right. The preview pane
at the bottom of the screenshot shows
your new color selections.

Popup: This color choice refers to the
ToolTip popup background window
where scripture text and Strong’s
definitions appear. This category does not
appear in the preview pane.

If you’re unhappy with the colors you selected, click the Cancel button. Otherwise, click the OK
button to save your changes.

e-Sword Multilingual Settings
Changing the e-Sword Application Language
If you prefer e-Sword communicates with you in a language other than English, you may select
another language.

Click Options from the main menu, and then select Language. Choose your preferred
language.



Tooltip and Bookmark Options
e-Sword lets you toggle the display of several
miscellaneous items. Click Options from the main menu to
see the toggle items shown to the right.

Display Scripture Tooltips: Toggles the appearance of
Scripture ToolTips. Scripture ToolTips are colored verse
references that “popup” the complete verse text from the
verse reference. John 3:16 is an example shown to the
right.

Display Strong’s # ToolTips: Toggles the
appearance of Strong’s Number ToolTips. Strong’s
Tooltips are colored Strong’s references that
“popup” the complete Strong’s text from the Hebrew
or Greek Strong’s reference. See the “H6838”
example.

Display Bookmark Navigator: Toggles the
appearance of the Bible window bookmarks, shown
in the red box below.



Search Options
e-Sword lets you toggle two search options. The search
options apply to searching throughout e-Sword, including
Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, and everywhere .

Click Options from the main menu to see the toggle items shown to the right

Highlight Search Results: When you perform a
search, e-Sword will highlight each word(s) that match
your search term(s), if you select this option.

Save Search Terms: e-Sword will “remember” your
search terms if you select this option. If enabled, you
can review your search terms and re-select a search
term to search again.

Reset e-Sword Settings
You can restore e-Sword to the default settings by
clicking Help and then choosing Reset e-Sword
Settings. This includes all settings presented in this
chapter up to this point.

Reset e-Sword Settings will not delete any modules you
added to e-Sword. But the reset will show all resources. If
you hid resources in the Resource Options window (see
next page), your selections will be discarded and all
resources will be visible.



Hiding and Uninstalling Resources
As you download e-Sword resources, your screen may become cluttered and overwhelming.
You may want to hide resources you don’t use often, or delete resources permanently.

Hiding Resources
You can hide resources without uninstalling them from your computer.

1. Click Options on the main menu, and select Resources. The Resource Options
window appears, as shown above.

2. All of the installed Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Devotions, Graphics, and
Reference Books will be listed. Remove the checkbox next to resources you want to
hide.

3. When you are pleased with your selections, click OK. You may reactivate any installed
resource by adding a checkbox beside the resource.



Permanently Delete Resources
You may also permanently delete most resources.

window appears, as shown above.

2. All of the installed Bibles, commentaries and dictionaries are listed

3. Right click any resource and a context menu appears. Select “Delete Resource
Permanently” and the resource will be deleted. You cannot “undo” this operation without
re-downloading the resource, so be absolutely sure first!

NOTE: e-Sword will automatically reinstall the modules below even if you delete them. The
modules below are essential to running e-Sword. While you can delete the modules for the
current session, when you restart e-Sword, the modules will be reinstalled. However, you can
hide these modules, as shown on the previous page.

King James Bible kjv.bblx
King James with Strong’s Numbers kjv+.bblx
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge tsk.cmtx
Strong’s Dictionary strong.dctx
Robertson’s Harmony of the Gospels robertson.harx

Deleting Editor Notes
Deleting a Journal Notes file, Study Notes file, or Topic Notes file must be done outside of e-
Sword. By default, e-Sword stores these files in your e-Sword user folder, usually “My
Documentse-sword”.

WARNING: You should only delete files from your Windows computer if you have
competent computer skills. If you’re not comfortable browsing folders and deleting
files, you should not attempt this. Otherwise, you risk deleting the wrong file. e-Sword,
or other programs on your computer, may not work properly.

1. Make sure the Editor is not displaying the file you want to delete. If you delete a file,
and exit e-Sword while the Editor is displaying the file you deleted, e-Sword will recreate
a blank version of that file when you restart e-Sword.

2. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to your “My Documents” folder. Then open the “e-
Sword” folder. Select the file you want to delete by clicking it once.

3. Press the Delete button and a Confirm File Delete window appears.

4. Click Yes if you want to proceed with deleting the selected file. Otherwise, click No.

WARNING: If you delete a file, and exit e-Sword while the Editor is displaying the file
you deleted, e-Sword will recreate a blank version of that file when you restart e-Sword.



Configuring Resource Tabs
e-Sword present Bibles, commentaries, and dictionaries as resource tabs. You can control how
e-Sword presents resource tabs.

Display Tabs on a Single Row or Multiple Rows
In the screenshot below, the resource tabs span multiple rows. This is the default e-Sword
configuration:

This second screenshot shows the resource tabs on one row, with Scroll Left/Scroll Right
arrows to show resources that do not fit on the screen:

To display resource tabs on a single row:

1. Click Options from the main menu.
2. Choose Resources.
3. At the bottom of the Resources window, tick the Display Tabs in a Single Row box.

Resource Tab Sorting - Advanced
e-Sword sorts resources in reverse alphabetical order, left to right, starting with the bottom
row. Confusion sometimes arises because e-Sword does not sort based on the resource tab
name. e-Sword sorts based on the actual filename of the resource.

If you’re an advanced user, you can change the e-Sword’s sort order by renaming the files. For
example, in most configurations, renaming a resource with a letter from the end of the alphabet
is likely to show the resource on the top row.

The e-Sword developer does not provide support for renaming resources to achieve a specific
sort order. Find support for this at BibleSupport.com.



Renaming Resource Tabs
This is a technical topic for advanced users. The e-Sword developer does not provide support
for renaming resource tabs. Instead, find support for this at BibleSupport.com.

You will not need to change the resource names for official e-Sword downloads.

However, you may find an unofficial resource that needs a different tab name. For example, a
resource may have a long tab name and you want to shorten the tab name. Occasionally, you
may find two unofficial downloads with the same tab name and you need to rename the tab.

Advanced users can download a free, third party database tool to edit unofficial resources.
BibleSupport.com hosts a tutorial explaining how to accomplish this and we also provide
support.

Resource Tab Conflicts
This is a technical topic for advanced users. This section does not apply to official e-Sword
downloads. The e-Sword developer does not provide support for resource tab conflicts.
Instead, find support for this at BibleSupport.com.

Resource tab conflicts arise when two resources have the same tab name. e-Sword resolves
this by showing only the first resource in the resource tabs. To display both resources, the tabs
must be renamed. Another way to resolve the conflict is to delete one of the resource files from
your hard drive.



Changing the e-Sword Resource Location
By default, e-Sword loads Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Devotions, Graphics, and
Reference Books from your “Program Filese-Sword” folder. On most Windows configurations
this folder is either:

• c:program filese-sword
• c:program files (x86)e-sword

If you want to store your e-Sword modules in a different folder or on a USB drive, you may
change the path and folder in the e-Sword resource Location field (see below).

For example, some churches configure e-Sword to read from a network drive so everyone
has access to the same material.

To change the e-Sword resource Location field:

window appears, as shown below.

2. Click the orange folder icon (inside the red box, as shown below).

3. Navigate to your new folder in the Browse for Folder window and click the OK button to
save and exit the Browse window.

4. Click the OK button to save and exit the Resource Options window.



Downloading Additional Resources
You will find two types of e-Sword resources: official and unofficial.

Unofficial Resources
Unofficial resources may be found on many websites like www.biblesupport.com and
www.doctordavet.com. If you download unofficial resources, please see the next subsection,
“Installing Unofficial Resources”.

Official Resources
You may add official e-Sword resources by using the e-Sword
Module Downloader.

1. Click Download on the main menu and select the type of
resource you want to add from the drop down menu.

2. The downloader is setup to browse by resource type.
Click the resource category tab that interests you.



3. Click the blue hyperlink of the module you want to add.

4. The selected module appears in the bottom window. You may add additional modules.

5. When you are ready to start downloading, select Download from the Downloader
menu and click Start.

TIP: Before you can view the newly installed resource(s), you must re-start e-Sword.



Installing Unofficial Resources
BibleSupport.com hosts thousands of e-Sword resources like the Pulpit Commentary. The list
grows nearly every day as members create additional resources. Downloading unofficial
resources requires you manually install the resources. Unofficial resources do not use the
official Module Downloader.

By default, e-Sword reads most resources from the “program filese-sword folder”, as discussed
in the Changing Your e-Sword Resource Location section.

Follow the steps below when downloading unofficial e-Sword resources. The instructions
assume the default resource installation folder.

Self Installing Resources
If the resource you download is an executable file (.exe), then run the executable to install the
resource automatically.

Compressed Zip File
If you download a resource that is compressed in a zip file (.zip), double click (or run) the zip file
to open it. Then copy the e-Sword resource to your e-Sword folder (see “Raw e-Sword
Resources” below).

Raw e-Sword Resources

Copy the following resource types to your “c:program filese-sword” folder

Bible (.bblx) Commentary (.cmtx) Dictionary (.dctx)
Topics File (.topx) Reference Library (.refx) Harmonies (.harx)
Devotionals (.devx)

*64-bit versions of Windows use a slightly different e-Sword program files folder:
“c:program files (x86)e-sword”.

Copy the following resource types to your “my documentse-sword” folder.

Bible Reading Plan (.brpx)
Memory Verse List (.memx)
Verse List (.lstx)

Support for Unofficial e-Sword Resources
The e-Sword developer (Rick Meyers) does not support unofficial e-Sword resources. For
assistance viewing, installing, or using third party resources, please post on the message
boards at BibleSupport.com


Chapter 3: The Bibles Window in Detail
The Bibles window is the heart of e-Sword, as you might expect from Bible study software. You
can lookup, compare, and analyze translations in a fraction of the time required by traditional
Bible study methods.

Navigating the Bible in the Bibles Window ........................................................................57
Searching the Bible - Basic ...............................................................................................60
Quick Searching – Context Menu .....................................................................................62
Additional Search Options Wheel .....................................................................................63
Searching Only the OT, NT, and Apocrypha .....................................................................64
Extended Bible Search - Multiple Translations ..................................................................65
Searching the Bible - Advanced ........................................................................................66
Copying and Printing Bible Searches ................................................................................67
Copying/Printing Entire Bible Passages ............................................................................69
Copying and Printing from Parallel Mode ..........................................................................70
Working with Strong's Hebrew and Greek Numbers .........................................................71
Searching by Strong's Numbers .......................................................................................73
The Compare Tab.............................................................................................................75
The Parallel Tab ...............................................................................................................76
Split Bible View .................................................................................................................77
Analyzing Verses – Passage Theme and Word Distribution .............................................78
Using the Gospel Harmony ...............................................................................................80
Displaying Information about a Bible Translation ..............................................................81


CHAPTER 3: THE BIBLES WINDOW IN DETAIL

Navigating the Bible in the Bibles Window
The Bibles window displays the text of your Bible translations.

You can change the passage of Scripture displayed using several methods.

• You may use the scroll bar to show different verses.

• You may navigate from chapter to chapter buy using the Previous Chapter (F5) and
Next Chapter (F8) icons (highlighted in red below).

• When you click a ToolTipped verse elsewhere in e-Sword, the Bible window’s active
passage changes to match the verse you clicked.

• The active passage is always highlighted in red. In the example below, Genesis 1:5 is
the active passage.



Using the Bible Books Window
The Bible Books window (shown to the right) contains all books of
the Bible in the order of the Christian Biblical canon.

You may use the Bible Books window or the Lookup Scripture
Reference box when looking up verse references.

The Lookup Scripture box is on the main e-Sword toolbar and by
default, above the Bible Books window. In the screenshot below, “john
3:16” has been entered. After entering the verse, press the Enter key
for the Bibles window to display the passage.

To minimize the Bible Books window, click the push pin icon in the
top, right corner.

TIP: Pressing the Ctrl-L hotkey combination anywhere in e-
Sword will place your cursor inside the Lookup Scripture
Reference box. This may be faster than using your mouse.

Using the Lookup Scripture Reference Popup
Click the Lookup Scripture Reference icon or press the F2
button to display this window.

This window is undocked. The window “floats” so you
can move the window as necessary.

Right-click a Bible book name to quickly open the first
verse/chapter. e-Sword will instantly change the Bibles
window to the first verse of the book you selected.

Right-click a chapter number to immediately view that
chapter.

Left-click or right-click a verse to show that verse.

TIP: If you need more screen space, hide the
Bible Books window (see image above) by
clicking the push pin icon (top image, far right).
Then you can use the Lookup Scripture Reference popup to navigate the Bible by
pressing the F2 button.



Viewing Your Previous Bible Search Results
You can access the results of your last Bible search (or extended
Bible search).

Hover your mouse over the drop down menu between the Search
Previous and Search Next icons. This lets you see the search
word(s) of the last search (so you will know what the verses in the drop
down menu have in common).

The drop down menu contains the verse results of your last search.
Click any verse in the list to lookup and display the verse text in the
Bible window. You may also cycle through each verse in the list by
clicking the Search Previous or Search Next icons.

TIP: Save time by using the hotkeys instead of the icons! Search Previous is Shift-F3
and Search Next is F3. Press the Shift key and the letter at the same time.

Viewing Your Verse History
If you find yourself rabbit-trailing through the Scriptures you can easily
find your way back to the verse you started with.

You an access every verse you viewed since e-Sword started by
clicking the Next Reference and Previous Reference
icons.

To review the complete list of verses, click the black, down arrows
to show the verse list window (see screenshot on the right).

To lookup and display the text of each verse, one-by-one, click the
blue left/right arrows.

TIP: If you have not clicked the Previous Reference
icon, the Next Reference icon will be grayed-out.

TIP: Save time by using hotkeys instead of the icons! Previous Reference is Ctrl-P and
Next Reference is Ctrl-N. Press the Shift key and the letter at the same time.



Searching the Bible - Basic

1. To search the KJV Bible, click the Search icon in the Bibles window. Or,
select Bible from the main menu and then select Search.

2. A search window appears, as shown below. If you clicked the KJV tab, you will
see "Bible Search - KJV" at the top of the search window.

Your search is limited to this translation. To search a different translation, select
the translation from the drop down menu. The KJV translation is selected below.

3. Type your search word(s) in the first field. Not sure how to spell your search
terms? Give it your best guess and then click the spell check icon.

4. In the following example, we typed, "help God righteousness" in the search
field.

5. To find a verse with all of these words, we selected Search for all of the words
from the drop down menu.



6. Click the Search icon in the top, right corner of this window. As you can see,
there is only one verse in the KJV Bible containing all three of these words.

7. Click any of the verses that match your search (one in this example, Isa. 41:10) to
change your Bibles window to that verse.

If we selected, Search for any of the words, e-Sword would have matched results for 4,211
different verses!

If we selected, Search for the exact phrase, e-Sword would have returned 0 verses.

TIP: The Apocrypha (Orthodox Anagignoskomena and Catholic Deuterocanon) are
supported. When you search the Bible as a whole (as with the example above),
Apocrypha results are shown if your active Bible includes those books.

The Apocrypha search results appear after the results for Revelation because of the
Apocrypha’s location in the e-Sword database.



Quick Searching – Context Menu
You may right-click the mouse button from any passage in the Bibles window to perform a
quick search.

1. Navigate to Matthew 13:41.

2. Right-click your mouse on the word “angels”. Note the submenu:

3. The first entry in the context menu is: “Quick Search on: angels”. Move your mouse
pointer over this option. The menu will expand and prompt you to search the Entire
Bible or to limit your search to the Old Testament, New Testament or Matthew
only.

4. Click New Testament and the current translation's search window will open with all
New Testament matches for the word “angels”.

5. Click Accept to return to the Bibles window. e-Sword will display the first reference
to angels in the New Testament (Matthew 4:6).

6. To view the next verse containing the word “angels”, right click any text in the
Bibles window and select Search Next. This will display the next verse in the New
Testament containing the word “angels” (Matthew 4:11).

7. If you want to again display the previous verse where the word angels occurred,
right click any text in the Bibles window, and select Search Previous. This will
display the previous verse containing the word angels.

TIP: Save time by using hotkeys instead of the icons! Search Previous is Shift-
F3 and Search Next is F3. Press the Shift key and the letter at the same time.



Additional Search Options Wheel
For an even more specific search, click the search wheel, (highlighted in red below). You may
use this more specific search with or without Regular Expressions, discussed in Chapter 22.

Note the powerful search features above. You can limit your search to certain books of the
Bible or make your search case sensitive to find “god” with a lower-case “g”.

In the following screen, we have performed a Partial Search for the word "child". If we exclude
the word "children," e-Sword will display results for "child," "childless," and "child's".



Searching Only the OT, NT, and Apocrypha
You can search only the Old Testament, New Testament, or
Apocrypha. When selecting either of these categories, the Search
Range automatically changes to include the beginning and ending
book.

These options are more for convenience than necessity. You can
perform the same searches by adjusting the Search Range
manually.

Apocrypha
The Apocrypha (Orthodox Anagignoskomena and Catholic
Deuterocanon) are now supported. Some Bible modules, such as the Revised Standard Version
and New Revised Standard Version include an additional section with these books.

Click Bible from the main menu and choose Search to show the Bible search screen. Notice
the Bible drop down menu. This menu lets you select which portions of the Bible to search,
including the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha.

TIP: The Apocrypha search results appear after the results for Revelation because of
the Apocrypha’s location in the e-Sword database.



Extended Bible Search - Multiple Translations
To search for words or phrases across multiple Bible translations, click Bible on the main menu,
and choose Extended Search.

TIP: The more Bibles you search at once, the more time e-Sword will need to complete
the search. Searching large numbers of Bibles may require a long time. The progress
bar shows the current status of the search.

You may press the Escape key to abort a search, while showing the results already
found.

This window is almost identical to the basic Bible Search function, but you can select multiple
translations. Click the Bibles icon to select which Bibles to search.

REMEMBER: If you do not have any Bible translations selected with the Bibles
icon, e-Sword will not display any results!

Search Results
Each keyword match is highlighted in yellow. Also notice that the search results are
grouped alphabetically by the Bible abbreviation.



Searching the Bible - Advanced
Regular Expressions, also referred to as REGEX or REGEXP, use special codes to match
patterns of text in powerful ways. In e-Sword, regular expressions allow you to search the Bible
beyond the search methods you previously used.

This section is a very brief introduction to searching with Regular Expressions using e-Sword.
Chapter 22 covers this functionality in much greater detail.

If we select Regular expression from the drop down menu, we can perform a much broader
"wild card" search. For example, in the window below, we searched for words starting in “l” and
ending in “e” by typing b (the symbol for word boundary) followed by “l...e” and closed with the
word boundary symbol b.

For more information on searching with Regular Expressions and it’s exceptional power, see
Chapter 22.



Copying and Printing Bible Searches
If you don't have an active search, click Bible from the main menu and choose Search. Enter
your search text and click the Search icon to search the active translation.

After performing your search, click the Copy/Paste Into icon. You can choose from the
options below to format the search results:

Abbreviate Book Names - When selecting this option, the book names of the Bible are
abbreviated. For example, Genesis is copied as “Gen.”

Include Translation Name - When selecting this option, the displayed text includes the
name of the Bible translation.

Include Character Formatting - This option is selected by default. Notice how the Bible
references appear in green. If you deselect the Include Character Formatting option,
the character formatting such as bold, italics, etc. is not included.

Reference Delimiters - This option specifies how the references should be enclosed.
The default is by using parenthesis. You may enclose the reference with quotation
marks, or any other symbol by entering the character into the Reference Delimiters
Starting and Ending fields.

Format - e-Sword gives you the option of copying references in a variety of formats. For
example, you may place the Bible reference at the beginning or ending of a verse. Click
the numbers to the left of the Copy Verses window to see the different possibilities.



Include Commentary Notes - If you have one or more commentaries installed, you can
also include one of the commentary notes in the copy process. Select the commentary
of your choice by clicking on the drop down box next to the Include Commentary Notes
option.

Once you’ve selected the formatting options, click Copy (to copy to your clipboard for pasting to
any other word processor) or Paste Into (to paste directly to the Editors window in the location
where you last placed your cursor).

Printing
To print your search result, click the Print icon. You will be able to format your results
before printing just as you did before copying.

Quick Copying
When you right-click the mouse button on any text in the Bibles window, a submenu appears.
Copy, Copy Verses, and Paste into Study Notes are available as quick copy options.



Copying/Printing Entire Bible Passages
In addition to copying, pasting, and printing e- Sword search results, e-Sword lets you copy,
paste, and print entire Bible passages.

1. Click Bible on the main menu and then select Copy Verses.

TIP: You may also click the Copy Verses icon from the Bibles window toolbar.

2. Then select Copy Verses to copy/paste (or select Print Verses to print).

TIP: You may also use your mouse to select the verses you want to print before loading
this window. Your selected verses will automatically appear in the window below.

You have a variety of formatting options for your Bible passage:

Abbreviate Book Names - When selecting this option, the book names of the Bible are
abbreviated. For example, Genesis is copied as “Gen.”

Include Translation Name - When selecting this option, the displayed text includes the
name of the Bible translation.

Include Character Formatting - This option is selected by default. Notice how the Bible
references appear in green. If you deselect the Include Character Formatting option,
the character formatting such as bold, italics, etc. is not included.



Reference Delimiters - This option specifies how the references should be enclosed.
The default is by using parenthesis. You may enclose the reference with quotation
marks, or any other symbol by entering the character into the Reference Delimiters
Starting and Ending fields.

Format - e-Sword gives you the option of copying references in a variety of formats. For
example, you may place the Bible reference at the beginning or ending of a verse. Click
the numbers to the left of the Copy Verses window to see the different possibilities.

Include Commentary Notes - If you have one or more commentaries installed, you can
also include one of the commentary notes in the copy process. Select the commentary
of your choice by clicking on the drop down box next to the Include Commentary Notes
option.

Copying and Printing from Parallel Mode
If you want to print the parallel Bible chapter as shown in the Bibles window (after clicking the
Parallel icon), select the Print Preview icon. The Print Preview window opens, and you can
print the chapter.

If you want to copy and paste the parallel Bible chapter, click the Select All icon in the
Bibles window. This selects the entire chapter in all chosen Bible translations. Click the Copy
icon to copy the chapter. The formatted text will be copied to your windows clipboard.

You can paste the text into the word processor of your choice. If you decide to use the Editors
window, instead of another word processor, the task is even easier. After you click the Select
All icon, click the Paste Into icon. The entire parallel Bible chapter will be pasted into
the Editors window at the location where you last placed the cursor.



Working with Strong's Hebrew and Greek Numbers
The study of Hebrew and Greek text, without first learning Hebrew or Greek, is one of e-
Sword's most powerful features. This is accomplished through the Strong's number system.
James Strong assigned every unique Hebrew and Greek word in the Bible a number. Thanks to
Strong’s numbers, we are able to easily search the Scriptures to locate Hebrew and Greek
words.

Strong’s Number Basics
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek. The
Strong’s numbering system formats the Old Testament in Hebrew with an “H” in front of the
number and the New Testament Greek with a “G” in front of the number. For example, the
reference, “H430,” refers to Old Testament. “G430” represents a word in the New Testament
and has no correlation to the Hebrew “H430” word.

e-Sword Modules with Strong’s Numbers
e-Sword Bible modules include a “+” sign when the Bible includes Strong’s numbers, such as
KJV+, which refers to the King James Version with Strong's numbers.

Let's view a practical example. When reading the passage starting in John 21:15 (in the KJV+
version), notice the different Greek words that translate to a variation of our word "love". G25
correlates to “love” as does “G5368”.

Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions Without Leaving the Bible Window
Strong’s numbers can be viewed without leaving the Bible window.

Strong's definitions can be displayed as "ToolTips". Place the mouse pointer over a Strong's
number and the definition will display in a ToolTip popup, as shown above.



Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions in the Dictionary Window
To view the Strong's definition in the Dictionary window, click a word in the Bibles window and
look for the blue (i) information icons to appear in the Dictionaries window (be sure the link
icon is selected).

e-Sword notifies you that other dictionaries also have a match for this term by displaying an
information (i) icon next to the resource. Click that dictionary’s resource tab to view the entry.

Normally, we would compare similar words in the verse by repeating the process. In this case,
Strong’s identifies the word “G5368” above so we can click the link (see above) to view that
definition:



Searching by Strong's Numbers
This feature lets you see the many ways a Hebrew or Greek word was translated into English
throughout the Bible. This is very helpful when conducting word studies.

Click Bible from the main menu and click Search. Choose the KJV+ version.

If you click a Strong's number (while using KJV+), and then click the Search icon, you can
search any portion of the Bible for uses of that Hebrew or Greek word.

In our example below, we searched for “G25”:

TIP: Strong’s numbers can be viewed without leaving the Bible window. Strong's
definitions can be displayed as "ToolTips". Place the mouse pointer over a Strong's
number and the definition will display in a ToolTip popup, as shown above.



From the Bible window view, you may quickly search for a Strong’s number by right clicking
the Strong’s number and selecting which portion of the Bible to search.



The Compare Tab
The Compare tab lets you easily compare different translations of the Bible.

1. First, click a verse in the active translation.

2. Notice the verse reference turns red.

3. Click the Compare tab. e-Sword will alphabetically list the verse you selected in every
installed translation, one after the other.

To change which translations e-Sword compares, click Options from the main Menu. Then
click Compare and select or unselect Bibles to compare.

TIP: When using the Compare view, the Chapter Back icon navigates backward
one verse (not chapter). And the Chapter Forward icon navigates forward one
verse (not chapter).



The Parallel Tab
e-Sword lets you view up to eight Bible translations simultaneously.

1. Click the Parallel tab. At first, only one translation appears:

2. Notice the pull down menus with Bible translations (screenshot below). The first box
shows a Bible translation, such as the KJV. Click the second drop down box, and select
another Bible translation. You may view up to eight translations together.



Split Bible View

The Split icon is on the Bible window toolbar. The Split feature lets you display two
different passages of scripture independently of each other. The Bibles window splits in two
sections, both showing a different passage. You can navigate to a different passage in one
section of the screen, while the other section remains anchored.

This is very useful when you want to display a passage in one half of the screen for reference
while you study a different passage in the other half. Another example is sometimes the New
Testament will reference the Old Testament. If you want to study the passages together you
can use the Split Bible feature.

To split the Bibles window into two sections, click the Split icon . The currently active
passage becomes "anchored" in the bottom pane of the view. You may then navigate to any
other place in the Bible and the top pane will change accordingly.

When finished, click the Split icon to a “raised” position to return the Bible view to a unified
view.

In the example below, we selected the King James Version and we split the Bibles window at
John 3. We then selected the LITV Bible and Matthew 3. Notice how both sections can be
scrolled independently. Even if we navigate to another part of the Bible, the bottom pane will
remain anchored.



Analyzing Verses – Passage Theme and Word Distribution
Have you wanted to know the theme or emphasis of a passage at a high level? Or have you
wondered how many times specific words are used in a verse, chapter, or book of the Bible?

The Analyze Verses feature lets you answer these questions.

1. In our example below, we searched the verse range Genesis 1:1 – Genesis
50:26 (first chapter of Genesis).

TIP: e-Sword will automatically use your current verse shown in the Bibles
window. If you highlight multiple verses in the Bibles window, e-Sword uses
the range of verses you selected without you having to enter the range
manually!

2. To find out how many times "Word" is used in the first chapter of John,
select Bibles from the main menu and choose Analyze Verses.

3. Select the book, chapter and verses to analyze and click the Analyze
button. e-Sword will analyze the passage in the active translation. To select
a different Bible translation, click a different Bible tab in the Bibles window.

4. From the partial list of results, we see a heavy concentration of “Jacob”,
“Joseph”, and “son”. By excluding additional words and shortening our
passage, we can refine our results.



5. To exclude words from your search, click the Add Word to List icon at
the bottom of the Common Words location box. Be sure the Exclude
Common Words checkbox is ticked before running your search.

6. You may also move words to the Common Words panel by selecting words
from the list and then clicking the blue directional arrow . To remove a
common word from the Common Words list, press the Delete Selected
Word from List icon.

TIP: Words such as "the", "of" "and", "in" and "to" are numerous in the
English language and you may want to exclude them from the list. "But" is
also common, although “but” has important theological implications in the
Epistles. Use caution when excluding “but”. Personal pronouns such as "I",
"you", "we" and "us" are also common, but they may be quite important to
any passage in the Epistles because they show emphasis.



Using the Gospel Harmony
Traditionally, a Gospel harmony is an attempt to merge or harmonize the four canonical gospels
(Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) into a single gospel account. e-Sword accomplishes this task
by showing you the gospels together, as shown below.

Click Bible from the menu and then click Harmony to display the Harmony window.

From this window, you can choose which Harmony to display from the Harmony tabs. You can
quickly see the content of a Harmony module by clicking the Harmony drop down menu (see
below).



Displaying Information about a Bible Translation
To view information on an installed Bible translation, select the Bible translation tab in the Bibles
window. Then select Bible from the main menu and then click Information. The Bible
Information window appears.


Chapter 4: Highlighting, Marking, and Bookmarking
Resources
e-Sword lets you mark, highlight and bookmark text in the Bibles window. You can also highlight
text for most resource types including Commentaries, Dictionaries, Editor Notes (Journal, Study,
Topical), and Reference Books.

Highlighting and marking features can be with Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Editor Notes
(Journal, Study, Topic), and Reference Books.

Highlighting Text ...............................................................................................................83
Marking Text .....................................................................................................................85
Working with Bookmarks ..................................................................................................86
Bible Markup File ..............................................................................................................88


CHAPTER 4: HIGHLIGHTING, MARKING, AND BOOKMARKING RESOURCES

Highlighting Text
When we like a verse in our paper Bibles, we often highlight important text for later reference.
Although the examples below use the Bible, you can highlight text for most resource types
including Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Editor Notes (Journal, Study, Topical), and
Reference Books.

You may highlight text any where you see the Highlight Reference icon.

To highlight text:

1. Click to the left of the first word you want to highlight.

2. While holding the left mouse button down, drag the mouse to
the last word you want to select.

3. Release the left mouse button. The text should be
selected (the background will be blue and the text
white).

TIP: To quickly highlight text, right click your mouse and choose
Highlight from the context menu or press the Ctrl-H key combination.

4. After selecting a word, phrase, or reference, the Highlight Reference
icon is activated. Click the Highlight Reference “down-arrow” icon, and then
choose the highlighter color. Once chosen, the new color appears under the
“abs” part of the icon for quicker use (see screenshot on the next page).

To remove a highlight, repeat the process above and apply the
white highlighter.



TIP: Highlighting text in one Bible translation does not highlight the text in any other
Bible translation!

WARNING: If the tab name of a Bible changes, your highlights for that resource will
disappear. You can recover your highlights by editing the “markup.ovlx” file, which is a
SQLite database. For help with this process, please post on the message boards at
BibleSupport.com.

REMEMBER: The above example uses a Bible. You may use this same process for
Highlighting text in Commentaries, Dictionaries, Editor Notes (Journal, Study,
Topical), and Reference Books. You can highlight text any where you see the
Highlight Reference icon.



Marking Text
Marking text is similar to highlighting text, except Marking underlines the text instead of
highlighting. You can mark text in Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries by clicking the
Mark Reference icon.

e-Sword lets you use the highlight and mark functions both separately and together:

1. Select the text and click the Mark Reference icon to underline a reference in a
variety of underline styles.

2. To remove the underlining, repeat the process and select the unmarked option instead.

TIP: You can also select text, right click your mouse, and choose Mark from the
context menu.

TIP: The above example uses a Bible. You may use this same process for
Marking text in a Commentary or Dictionary. Marking does not work in the
Editors Window (Topic Notes, Journal Notes, and Study Notes) or the Reference
Library.



Working with Bookmarks
e-Sword lets you bookmark verses just as you would in your paper Bible. e-Sword supports
ten bookmarks, and you can easily change them. The Bookmarks are the numbered ribbons
in the screenshot below.

If you do not see the Bookmarks bar in e-Sword, activate the feature by clicking Options on the
main menu and placing a checkmark next to Display Bookmark Navigator.

Setting Bookmarks

1. Place your cursor on the top bookmark ribbon (the numbered ribbons
on the right side of the Bibles window).

2. If you haven't saved a bookmark, the screen tip will display the default
John 3:16 reference. First, select a verse in the Bibles window by
clicking on the verse reference. The reference will turn red (see
Proverbs 10:12 below).

3. Right click a bookmark to override the current bookmark with your
selected verse. The next time you place your pointer over the selected
bookmark, it will display your saved verse reference instead of the
default John 3:16 reference.

Accessing Bookmarks
To access our example verse, Proverbs 10:2, left click the bookmark where you saved the
reference. You may also quickly access your bookmarks using the hotkey shortcuts shown
on the next page.



Bookmark Hotkeys/Shortcuts
Bookmark Hotkeys are time-saving shortcuts to quickly access your bookmarks. Hotkeys
require you to press both keys at the same time.

Hotkey Bookmark
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 0



Bible Markup File
When you highlight or mark text in Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, or the Reference
Library, e-Sword stores these “marks” to the current markup file. You can create multiple
markup files in e-Sword to track your marks separately.

IMPORTANT: e-Sword tracks highlights to Journal, Study, and Topic Notes inside
the module itself. Creating a new markup file, or deleting your existing markup file, does
not erase marks to these files.

By default, markup.ovlx stores your markup information for the four resource types listed
above. The default location for this file is your e-Sword user folder, usually “My Documentse-
sword”.

To create a new, blank markup (clean from highlights and underlining) without disturbing your
existing markups:

1. Select Bible from the main menu
and then select Markup File.

2. Click New.

3. Specify a filename and click Save.
You may check the folder location
to see where the markup file is
stored.

To open a markup file:

1. Select Bible from the main menu
and then select Markup File.

2. Click Open and select a markup
file to open.

TIP: If you and your spouse both
use e-Sword, you may each want
to track your markings separately. You can accomplish this by creating a new
markup file.

TIP: When printing Bible passages in e-Sword, all marks will be printed
(highlights can only be printed from a color printer). To print a clean copy, you will
need to create a new markup file.


Chapter 5: The Verse List Feature – Saving Verses
The Verse List feature lets you save verses in topical lists. For example, you could compile a list
of verses relating to the Trinity, Salvation, or any number of theological topics.

The Verse List feature also lets you save (some or all) verse references from a search you’ve
performed. If you searched for all verses containing “Jesus” and “Peter”, you could save those
to a Verse List.

Navigating Verse Lists ......................................................................................................90
Changing Verse Lists........................................................................................................90
Creating a Verse List and Adding Verses .........................................................................91
Viewing Verse Lists ..........................................................................................................92
Quickly Adding a Verse to a Verse List .............................................................................93
Creating a Verse List from a Search .................................................................................94
Updating a Verse List .......................................................................................................95
Deleting Verse Lists ..........................................................................................................95


CHAPTER 5: THE VERSE LIST FEATURE – SAVING VERSES

Navigating Verse Lists
Each verse list you create should have a different name. That
helps you recognize and give context to the verses in the list. To
see the name of the currently active list, hover your mouse
over the drop down menu on the main toolbar (see the “Rom
3:10” example).

The Previous Verse icon and the Next Verse icon let you
lookup each verse in the list with the Bibles window.

You can change the active verse list by clicking the Select Verse
List icon.

Changing Verse Lists
To change the active Verse List:

1. Click the Select Verse List
icon or click Bible from the main
menu and choose Verse List.

2. Select a Verse List, such as
“Roman’s Road” in our example.

3. Click the OK button to save your
selection.

The new verse list will be visible in the
screenshot in the “Navigating Verse Lists”
section above.

Similarly, when you add verses, the newly
added verse will appear in this list. See the
section, “Adding a Verse to Your Verse
List”.



Creating a Verse List and Adding Verses
You can create a Verse List from verses you enter, such as our Roman’s Road example below.

1. Click Bible from the main menu and then click Verse List.

2. Click the Add button. The screen turns gray,
and the Add button becomes the Update
button.

3. Enter the title of your Verse List, such as
“Roman’s Road”.

4. Click the Update button.

5. To add verses to your new verse list, click the
green “+” icon at the top of the vertical icon
bar. The Verse List window prompts you to
enter a verse.

6. You can add, delete, and re-order verses by
clicking the appropriate icon on the vertical
icon bar on the right side of the screen.

Adding a Verse from a Verse List
To add a verse to the selected
Verse List, click the green "+"
icon and enter the new verse.

Deleting a Verse from a
Verse List
To delete a verse from the
selected Verse List, click the
red “-” icon and confirm the
delete.

Sorting Verses in a Verse
List
To move a verse up or down
in the Verse List, select a
verse. Use the blue “Up” and
“Down” icons to move the
verse.

To view your list in Canonical
order, click the Reorder all
Verses by Canonical Order
icon.

Warning: There is not an “undo” for the Reorder all Verses by Canonical
Order!



Viewing Verse Lists
You can view Verse Lists in two ways.

First, the Toolbar method:

1. On the main toolbar, look for the Verse List icons.

2. Click the drop down menu with "Rom 3:10" in our
example. Your list will have different verses.

3. Select any verse from your verse list. Scroll through
verses by clicking the Next Verse and Previous
Verse icons.

Next, the Menu method:

1. Click Bible from the main menu and then select Verse List. The Verse List window
opens, showing your Verse Lists:

2. When you select a Verse List, your selected Verse List moves to the Verse List drop
down menu on the main toolbar (see top of this page).

3. Click OK to show the Verse List you selected.

TIP: Note the Copy/Paste Into icon and Print icon in the Verse List window
above. With these icons, you can print a Verse List and paste a Verse List into the
Editors Window.



Quickly Adding a Verse to a Verse List
You can quickly add a verse to your Verse List without leaving the Bibles Window.

1. Right click any part of a verse from the Bibles window, and select Verse List from the
context menu.

2. You may add or delete a verse from the Verse List.

TIP: Hover your mouse over the Verse List drop
down menu to see the name of the Verse List.
This way, you can be certain you are adding a
verse to the right verse list!



Creating a Verse List from a Search
When searching the Bible, you may want to save a Bible search result. See Chapter 3 for
information on searching the Bible.

1. Click Bible from the main menu and choose Search.

2. Perform a search. In the following example, we searched the KJV Bible for the word
"Elijah".

3. Click the Convert Search to Verse List icon (highlighted in red above).

4. Check or uncheck verse boxes as necessary to select the verses you want to save.

5. Specify a name for the list in the Create field or select the Add to option to choose
from an already saved list.

6. Click OK to save and close the Convert Search to Verse List window.



Updating a Verse List
Select the Verse List you want to update (see “Roman’s Road” in the above screenshot).

Adding a Verse from a Verse List
To add a verse to the selected Verse List, click the green "+" icon and enter the new
verse.

Deleting a Verse from a Verse List
To delete a verse from the selected Verse List, click the red “-” icon and confirm the
delete.

Sorting Verses in a Verse List
To move a verse up or down in the Verse List, select a verse. Use the blue “Up” and “Down”
icons to move the verse

To view your list in Canonical order, click the Reorder all Verses by Canonical Order icon.

Warning: There is not an “undo” for the Reorder all Verses by Canonical Order!

Deleting Verse Lists
You can delete an entire Verse List. This differs from deleting verses in a Verse List—this
feature deletes the whole Verse List.

1. Select the Verse List you want to
delete from the Verse List window. Our
example below uses “Song of Jacob”:

2. Click the Delete button and confirm the
delete, as shown above.

Warning: There is not an “undo” for
the delete Verse List command!


Chapter 6: Printing in e-Sword
You can print almost everything in e-Sword, including Bible chapters, Notes, Commentaries,
Dictionaries, Prayer Requests, Reference Library Books, and even Devotions.

TIP: To print just a portion of a document, select the text to print before clicking the Print
Preview icon. After you click Print Preview, notice only your text selection will print
rather than the full document.

The Print Preview Window ................................................................................................97
Printing Bible Chapters .....................................................................................................98
Printing Selected Verses and Chapters ............................................................................98
Printing from the Editors Window ......................................................................................99
Printing from the Commentaries .......................................................................................99
Printing from the Dictionaries Window ..............................................................................99
Printing from the Reference Library Window .....................................................................99
Printing Bible Reading ....................................................................................................100
Printing Daily Devotions ..................................................................................................100
Printing Prayer Lists........................................................................................................100
Printing with the STEP Reader .......................................................................................100


CHAPTER 6: PRINTING IN E-SWORD

The Print Preview Window

The Print Preview icon is the first icon in each window's toolbar. Click the Print Preview
icon to open the Print Preview window.

When the Print Preview window opens, click the Print icon to print the current document.

After the Print Previous screen opens, click the Page Options icon to adjust your paper
size, margins, and print source.

Use the navigational icons to view any page in your document. The last three buttons display
the document at 100%, page width and whole page, respectively.

Click the Actual Size (100%) icon to change the page on the screen to a 100% display.

Click the Page Width icon to fit the width of your screen.

Click the Whole Page icon to display the entire page on the screen.

To exit the Print Preview window, click the "X" in the top right corner.



Printing Bible Chapters
If want print an entire Bible chapter, find the Bible chapter text you want to print. Your chapter
should be displayed in the Bibles window. Click the Print Preview icon. The Print Preview
window displays the chapter to be printed.

Printing Selected Verses and Chapters

Select the Print Verses icon from the Bibles window (or click Bible/Print Verses from the
main menu). The popup window allows you to select the book, chapters and verses for printing.

Notice the Format options, numbered 1 – 8, each showing a different style of verse formatting.

If you only need to print a few verses from the Bibles window, highlight the text with your mouse
and click the Print Preview icon.



Printing from the Editors Window
To print Topic Notes or Journal Notes, place your cursor in the document you want to print
and press the Print Preview icon in the Editors window. Then press the Print icon in
the Print Preview window to print the selected document.

When printing Study Notes, you may want to print several study notes on the same page. In
fact, you might need to print all study notes on a particular chapter, or book of the Bible.

Click the Study Notes tab in the Editors window. Then, click the Print Preview icon and
select your printing range.

Make your selection, and press OK. e-Sword will display the Print Preview window so you can
view your document before printing.

Printing from the Commentaries

Click the Print Preview icon from the Commentaries window to print the text in the window.
Press the Print icon to print, or close the Print Preview window to exit.

Printing from the Dictionaries Window

Click the Print Preview icon from the Dictionaries window to print the text in the window.
Press the Print icon to print, or close the Print Preview window to exit.

Printing from the Reference Library Window
Select Tools from the main menu and then select Reference Library. Click the Print Preview
icon from the Reference Library window to print the text in the window. Press the Print
icon to print, or close the Print Preview window to exit.



Printing Bible Reading
Assuming you already saved a Bible reading plan, you can print any day's Scripture.

Select Tools from the main menu and then select Bible Reading. When the popup window
appears, select the reading plan from the drop down menu at the bottom of the window.

Use the directional arrows in the Bible Reading toolbar to select text for printing. Click the Print
Preview icon to setup and print the document.

Printing Daily Devotions
To print any day's devotion, select Tools from the main menu and then select Daily Devotions.
Select the desired day from the drop down menu at the bottom of the window. Once you select
the correct day, click the Print Preview icon to setup and print the document.

Printing Prayer Lists
If you saved prayer requests in e-Sword, you can view each day's requests. Click Tools from
the main menu and then select Prayer Requests. Click the Print Prayer Requests icon to
open the Print Preview window.

Printing with the STEP Reader
To print a document in the STEP Reader, select Tools from the main menu and select STEP
Reader. Open the STEP file to print, and press the Print Preview icon on the STEP Reader
toolbar. Click the Print icon to setup and print the document.


Chapter 7: The Commentaries Window

Commentaries show an author’s book, chapter, or verse-by-verse comments on the Bible.
Commentaries are immensely popular because they allow you to see someone else’s
interpretation of the Bible. The dictionaries window integrates with commentaries, so word and
Strong’s definitions are just a click away.

Using Commentaries ......................................................................................................102
When to Synchronize/Unsynchronize a Commentary .....................................................102
Selecting Between Verse, Book, and Chapter Comments ..............................................104
Viewing “Next Comment” and “Previous Comment” ........................................................104
Viewing Commentary Information ...................................................................................104
Viewing All Commentary Entries – Birds Eye View .........................................................105
Searching a Commentary ...............................................................................................106
Searching More Than One Commentary Simultaneously................................................106


CHAPTER 7: THE COMMENTARIES WINDOW

Using Commentaries
This chapter explains the Commentaries window features. The Commentaries Window
shows the installed commentaries in commentary resource tabs.

When you select a Bible verse in the Bibles window, the Commentaries window displays the
comments for that verse. By default, the Synchronize icon is selected, which automatically
updates the commentary text for any verse you choose.

TIP: If your Commentary window stops displaying new information when you
change Bible verses, make sure the Link icon is “pressed”. Also note that
some commentaries may not have a comment for every verse or passage.

More than one commentary may have a comment for your verse. In the screen below, the blue
(i) Information icon shows comments for all commentaries (except for BNTC) for Genesis 1:1:

When to Synchronize/Unsynchronize a Commentary
Commentaries frequently reference a passage of scripture while explaining a Bible
interpretation. Some commentaries show cross references, such as the TSK commentary
below.



You may want to quickly read a verse without leaving your current reading position in the
commentary window. You may hover the mouse pointer over a scripture reference to see a
ToolTip popup of that verse.

To see the verse in context using the Bibles window, without losing your current reading
position in the commentary, disable Synchronization. Click the Synchronize icon so the
icon is “raised”. This configuration allows you to view other Bible verses without changing your
reading position in the commentary window.



Selecting Between Verse, Book, and Chapter Comments
Commentaries may have three types of comments: Verse, Book, and Chapter. By default, e-
Sword shows verse comments because they are the most common.

To view Book, Chapter, or Verse comments for the current passage of scripture, click the Book
icon, Chapter icon, or Verse icon in the
Commentaries toolbar. Some commentaries may not have Bible
or Chapter comments. Also, some commentaries may not have a
comment on every verse.

You may also right click in the Commentaries window to quickly
access the Verse, Chapter, and Book view options.

Viewing “Next Comment” and “Previous Comment”
Thoughts expressed in verses don’t always end when the verse ends. Sometimes a thought is
continued to the next verse. Similarly, a commentary may continue its thought on the current
verse into the comment for the next verse.

To quickly view the next or previous comment in a commentary, use the Next Comment and
Previous Comment icons in Commentaries Window (highlighted in red below):

Viewing Commentary Information
Hover your mouse pointer over any commentary tab to view each commentary's full name.
After selecting a commentary, you may find additional information by clicking Commentary from
the main menu and then choosing Information. An information window will display with more
information on the commentary.



Viewing All Commentary Entries – Birds Eye View
To view all books, chapters, and verse comments in a commentary:

1. Click the Search Commentary icon on the Commentaries toolbar.

2. Enter the dollar sign character “$”, as shown below.

3. Select “Regular expressions (REGEX)”, as shown below.

4. Click the Search icon.

5. The Commentary Search window shows which verses contain commentary
information.

6. Click any verse in the left summary pane, and then click the OK button to accept the
search result. The Bibles and Commentaries windows change to that passage.

7. You may press the Cancel button to leave the screen without changing the Bibles or
Commentaries windows.

WARNING: This is intended for smaller commentaries when you’re not sure which
verses have comments. Performing this search on a large commentary may take some
time to complete because the search will load every verse into the summary pane
above.



Searching a Commentary
Searching a commentary is nearly the same as searching Bibles and the Reference Library.
Click the Search Commentaries icon or click Commentaries from the main menu and
choose Search.

When the Search window opens, type the word you want to search and select your search
criteria. Click the Search icon to search the active commentary.

For more information on using the dictionary search features, see the search instructions in
Chapter 3 and Chapter 13. Also, see Chapter 22 for an explanation of Regular Expression
Searching.

Searching More Than One Commentary Simultaneously
To search through multiple commentaries simultaneously, select Commentaries from the main
menu and choose Extended Search. When the Extended Search window opens, you can
select which commentaries you want to search.

For more information on using the commentary search features, see the extended search
instructions in Chapter 3 and Chapter 13. Also, see Chapter 22 for an explanation of Regular
Expression Searching.


Chapter 8: Introduction to the Editors
The Editors Window is for your personal note taking. e-Sword offers three types of editors,
including Journal Notes, Study Notes, and Topical Notes. Journal Notes store your date-
based comments. Study Notes store your verse-based comments. And Topic Notes store
your topical comments. The next three chapters explain each of the Editors in detail.

TIP: In previous versions of e-Sword, the Topic Notes Editor window displayed third
party Topic Notes (Topic Notes you downloaded). Now, this material is viewed through
the Reference Library instead of the Topic Notes Editor.

This chapter focuses on the Editors’ shared functionality and word processing features.

New Editor Features in e-Sword 10 ................................................................................108
Editor Hotkeys ................................................................................................................108
Using the Editor – Word Processing ...............................................................................110
Understanding Where the Editors Read Notes Files. ......................................................125
How to Backup Your Notes - Advanced ..........................................................................125


CHAPTER 8: INTRODUCTION TO THE EDITORS

New Editor Features in e-Sword 10
e-Sword 10’s editor seems less like an editor and more like a word processor. The new editor is
more robust and supports an array of new features. Now your Journal, Study, and Topic
Notes will benefit from:

• Hyperlinks
• Bookmarks
• Images/Pictures
• Tables
• Borders
• Columns
• Headers/Footers
• Page Layout View

The next few pages explain how to use the Editor’s word processing features. Later in this
chapter, advanced users will benefit from instructions on backing up the Editor’s notes files.

Editor Hotkeys
The Editor supports convenient hotkey shortcuts. When more than one key is shown, press
both keys simultaneously.

Hotkey Description
F4 Copy ToolTip

F7 Spell Check

F11 Toggle Paste As Formatted

CTRL-A Select All

CTRL-B Bold

CTRL-C Copy

CTRL-D Font

CTRL-E Center

CTRL-F Find

CTRL-G Goto Bookmark

CTRL-I Italic

CTRL-J Format Scripture ToolTip



Hotkey Description
CTRL-R Replace

CTRL-U Underline

CTRL-V Paste

CTRL-X Cut

CTRL-Y Redo

CTRL-Z Undo

CTRL-ENTER Insert Page Break

CTRL-(Backspace) Delete Previous Word

SHIFT-F7 Thesaurus

SHIFT-ENTER Insert Line Feed

CTRL-SHIFT-V Paste Formatted Bible Text

CTRL-SHIFT-
Insert Non-breaking Space
(Spacebar)

CTRL-TAB Indent Paragraph

SHIFT-TAB Outdent Paragraph



Using the Editor – Word Processing
The Topic Notes, Study Notes, and Journal Notes Editors contain new word processor
features you can use to format your Notes.

You may recognize most icons on the Editor toolbar from
your experience with other word processing software. You
may hover your mouse pointer over each icon for the name
of the feature.

Right click an Editor window to show the context menu,
shown to the right.

Over the next pages, we discuss the toolbar icons and context menu options in the order the
icons are shown on the toolbar.

Find (Ctrl-F), Replace (Ctrl-R), Go To (Ctrl-G)
The Find feature is useful for basic searching while you’re writing Notes.

The find feature is not intended as a replacement for the Locate Notes icon, which is a more
robust search.

The Find and the Find/Replace
commands function like any other
word processor. These commands
work only in the current Editor
window. Find and Find/Replace will
not search across Journal, Study,
or Topic Notes.

The Go To tab of this window takes
you directly to a bookmark in your
text. Instructions for defining and
linking to bookmarks are presented later in this chapter.



Spell Check (F7)
Even when words “look” right, they
may not be spelled right. Now you
can know for sure.

When Spell Check finds an
unrecognized word, you will see
a Spelling Check window.

Spell Check uses a custom
dictionary, as shown at the bottom
of the window. By default, this
custom dictionary is stored in the
e-Sword install folder, usually
“c:program filese-sword”.

The custom dictionary includes many commonly used religious terms and authors to
prevent false reports of misspelled words. If Spell Check identifies a properly spelled word as
misspelled, you can add the word (see Add button above) to the custom dictionary to prevent
future false reports.

Spell Check Options: From the main menu, click Options > Editor Options > Spell Check
Options. You can reset the Ignore All list and change which word patterns are ignored.

Thesaurus (Shift-F7)
Can’t think of exactly the right word?

Highlight a word and click the
Thesaurus icon. e-Sword will show
you synonyms for the word you
chose, if available.

If you find a replacement you like,
click the new word and press the
Replace button.

Cut (Ctrl-X), Copy (Ctrl-C), Paste (Ctrl-V)
Select (or highlight text) by left-clicking and dragging with the mouse. Remove highlighted text
with the Cut icon, copy text with the Copy icon, and paste text with the Paste icon.

Pasting Formatted Text (F11 Toggle)
The F11 toggles the availability of pasting text as formatted. If enabled, the text formatting will
paste with the text (including bold, italics, tables, line spacing, etc.). If disabled, your text will be
stripped of formatting and will paste as plain text.

Undo (Ctrl-Z) and Redo (Ctrl-Y)
To undo or redo your last edit, click the Undo and Redo icons.



Insert Bookmark
A bookmark is an invisible marker,
representing the destination for a
hyperlink.

The bookmark feature is not accessible
from the icon menu. You must right-click
in the Editor and choose Bookmarks from
the context menu.

The name of the bookmark itself is not
shown to the reader and serves only as an internal identifier. The bookmark name must be
unique—two bookmarks cannot have the same name. You will use the bookmark name later
when you insert a hyperlink to the bookmark.

Insert Hyperlink
A hyperlink connects text to a
destination. As shown to the
right, the destination may be a
Web page, an email address, a
file, or a bookmark.

You can highlight the word(s)
you want to make into a
hyperlink and then click the
Insert Hyperlink icon.

You can also click the icon first
and define the hyperlink
word(s) in the window shown to
the right.

Web Page: Links to the
web page you specify.

Email: Links to an email address, but the e-Sword user’s computer will define if/how this
works. The e-Sword user’s computer must have an email client installed. The “Send to”
field of the email will pre-populate with the email address from this link.

File: Links to a local file on the e-Sword user’s computer. If you send your e-Sword
module to someone else, they too must have the file in exactly the same location on
their computer.

Bookmark: Links to a bookmark (see above for instructions on creating a bookmark).
The drop down menu contains bookmarks you defined. You must have created the
bookmark by the time you reach this window.

A bookmark must be used in the same note where it’s defined. For example, you
cannot define a bookmark in one study note and hyperlink to the bookmark from a
different study note. The same restrictions apply to journal and topic notes.



Insert Table
Tables, like the one shown lower-right, quickly illustrate information in ways sentences
cannot. Tables can be used in a variety of ways to align information, illustrate concepts, and
compare textual relationships.

Creating a New Table
After clicking the Insert Table icon, you may begin
configuring the table. Specify the number of rows
and columns. The example table has three rows
and three columns.

Fit to page: Expand to the width of the page.

Fixed column width: How wide each
column should be.

Dragging Table Boundaries
To change the size of the table
or of any cell in the table:

1. Position the mouse
pointer over the table or
cell boundary.

2. The pointer turns from an
arrow pointer into an
adjustment pointer (see
example table to the
right).

3. Drag the pointer in the direction necessary to change the table or cell size.



Table Properties (Table Settings)
To edit a table’s settings:

1. Select the whole table or part of the table. Or place the mouse pointer in a table cell.
Your edits to the table’s settings only apply to the cells you selected.

2. Right-click and choose Table from the context menu.

3. Click Table Properties (explained below)

Frame and Color Tab

Frame: Controls the border around the
selected cells. If you selected the whole
table, the frame applies to the entire
table.

You may chose from one of the default
frames (None, Box, All, or Grid). Or,
you may click the illustration of the
cells/table to manually set which sides
have a border (see mouse pointer to
the right).

Line Width: Controls the thickness of
the frame border.

Background Color: Controls the table
and/or cell’s background color. The
Other button allows for custom colors.

Cell Margins: Controls the cell buffer (if
any). Tables usually read easier and
look better if the table text/image isn’t
“up against” the cell borders.

Size and Formatting Tab

Cell Height: Controls the height of the
cell. You can let the word processor
distribute the cell height equally
according to the text/images in the cell.
Or you can maintain a minimum cell
height.

Formatting: Controls whether the
text/image is aligned at the top,
middle, or bottom of the cell.



Row Options:

Allow row to break across pages – When not enough space exists on the page to show
the row, do you want the row to split across two pages or display in its entirety on the
next page? This setting applies to the row you selected when loading the Table
Properties window.

Repeat as header row at the top of each page – The row you selected when loading the
Table Properties window will be the header row at the top of each page that the table
spans.

Adjusting Rows and Columns
You may add or delete columns and rows as necessary:

To Insert Rows/Columns

1. Right click the table and select the Table option from the context menu.

2. Choose Insert.

3. Choose where to insert rows or columns, as shown below.

To Delete Rows/Columns

1. Right click the table and select the Table option from the context menu.

2. Choose Delete.

3. Select either Row or Column in order to delete the row or column of the cell(s) you
selected when loading the Table Properties window.

Insert Picture
You may insert a picture in two ways:

1. Click the Insert Picture icon and select a picture to insert.

2. Copy (Ctrl-C) an image elsewhere and paste (Ctrl-V) the image into the e-Sword editor.



Image Attributes
Double-click an image to adjust the image’s settings.

Layout and Position Tab

Wrapping Style: Controls how text
wraps around the image. The
“Wrapping Style” diagrams (see
screenshot to the right) illustrate how
the text will relate to the image. The In-
Line option will cause the image to
move with the text.

Move object with text: If the “Top and
Bottom” or “Square” wrapping style is
selected, this option will cause the
image to move with the text.

Fixed Position on Page: If the “Top
and Bottom” or “Square” wrapping
style is selected, this option will keep
the image in place on the page you
specify. The image will not move
unless you move it.

Horizontal Alignment: If the “Top and Bottom” or “Square” wrapping style is selected, this
option controls the image’s horizontal position.

Absolute Position: If “Other Position” is chosen, you can control how many inches (or
fractions of an inch) the image stays to the left of the paragraph.

Vertical Alignment: If the “Top and Bottom” or “Square” wrapping style is selected, this option
controls the image’s vertical position.

Absolute Position: If the “Top and Bottom” or “Square” wrapping style is selected, you
can control how many inches (or fractions of an inch) the image stays below the
paragraph.



Size and Distance Tab

Size: Controls the height and width of the picture, in inches. This setting updates based on
values entered for the Scale setting.

Scale: Controls the height and width
of the image as a percent of its
original size. This setting updates
based on values entered for the Size
setting.

TIP: This is a huge factor in
the image’s size. In the
example to the right, the 10
inch wide image should be
downsized by 50% to avoid an
unnecessarily large image.
Large images create large
resources which consume
more memory, increase e-
Sword startup time, and may
cause e-Sword to run slower.

Distance from text: Controls how
much of a margin exists between side
of the image and the text.

Options: Controls whether you can move and resize the image with the mouse to prevent
accidental movement.

Saving Options Tab

The settings in this tab are not used
by e-Sword. Making changes to these
settings will not impact how images are
stored.

All images are in JPG/JPEG format at
96dpi with 50% compression,
regardless of the settings.

All images are embedded in the module
regardless of the settings.



Header and Footer
The Header and Footer icon inserts/removes a header and footer. The header and footer
supports paragraph and font formatting found elsewhere in the Editor.

Inserting the Header/Footer

To insert the Header/Footer:

1. Click the Header/Footer icon and notice the icon changes to a “pressed” position.

WARNING: Clicking the Header/Footer icon overwrites any existing
Header/Footer. If the Header/Footer icon already has a “pressed” appearance, a
Header/Footer already exists in your document. Click the Page Layout icon
to view the Header/Footer.

2. After clicking the icon above, your view of the Journal, Study, or Topic Note changes to
Page Layout. This is a representation of how the document will look when printed.

3. A default header appears in the Header/Footer and varies depending on which Editor
you use (Journal, Study, or Topic Note).

4. Click inside the dotted rectangle to edit the Header/Footer.

5. After making changes, double click outside the dotted rectangle to save the
Header/Footer.

TIP: The Header and Footer are only visible when the Page Layout icon is “pressed”.

TIP: If you accidentally delete the page number special character, you must remove and
re-insert the header and footer by toggling the Header/Footer icon.



Removing the Header/Footer

To remove the Header/Footer:

1. Click the Header/Footer icon and notice the icon changes from a “pressed”
position to an “raised” position (assuming you have an existing Header/Footer).

2. If you are not in Page Layout mode, press the Page Layout icon to confirm the
Header and Footer is not visible and has been removed.

TIP: The Header/Footer is only visible when the Page Layout icon is “pressed” even
when a Header/Footer exists.

Page Layout
The Page Layout icon controls the view of your document. When clicked, the icon changes to
a “pressed” position, showing a Page View of your document. This representation shows the
edges of the document, margins, header/footer, and a general view of how the document will
appear when printed. To return to the Normal View, click the Page Layout icon again and the
icon returns to a “raised” position.

Show/Hide Formatting Symbols
The Show/Hide icon controls whether you see hidden formatting symbols, such as
paragraph symbols and space “dots” between words.

Font Selection and Size
You can choose a font style and font size for the
text you type. You may also highlight text and
change the font or font size. Both font controls
shown to the right are found on the Editor
toolbar.



Bold (Ctrl-B), Italic (Ctrl-I), Underline (Ctrl-U)
Bold, Italic, or Underline changes the text
accordingly.

Font Color
The Font Color icon has two parts:

• Clicking the “A” icon will change the
color of the selected text to the color
shown in the icon (green in the icon
above).

• Clicking the “down-arrow” icon displays a
color selection window. Once chosen,
that color is available from the “A” icon
shown above for quicker reference.

More Font Options (Ctrl-D)
You can also right-click and choose Font from
the context menu (shown to the right). In
addition to the font options described above, you
can also format text as Bold Italic, and
Strikeout.

Highlight
The Highlight icon has two parts:

• Clicking the “ab” icon will change the color of the selected text to the color shown in
the icon (yellow in the example above).

• Clicking the “down-arrow’ icon displays a color selection window. Once chosen, that
color is available from the “ab” icon for quicker reference.

For more information on Highlighting, see Chapter 4.



Format Scripture Tooltip (Ctrl-J)
e-Sword supports “scripture tooltips”. When verses are in the correct format, e-Sword will show
a “popup” of the verse text as you hover your mouse pointer over the scripture reference.

• Clicking the Tooltip icon without a verse reference selected shows a Verse Reference
window. Enter a valid verse reference and e-Sword will insert the properly formatted
verse into your text.

• Clicking the Tooltip icon with a verse reference selected will automatically format the
verse in your text.

Notice the examples below of ToolTipped verse references on the top row, followed by the
original text on the bottom row.

Align Left, Align Center (Ctrl-E), Align Right, Justify

Align Left: Aligns the text with the left side of the page.

Center: Centers the text horizontally.

Align Right: Aligns the text with the right side of the page.

Justify: Adds small spaces between letters and words so the left and right edges of the
text meet perfectly with the left and right sides of the page.



Numbering and Bullets
You can use the Numbering and Bullets icons in two ways:

• Select one or more lines of text and click the Numbering or Bullet icon to convert
the lines to numbers or bullets.

• Do not select any lines of text before clicking the Numbering or Bullet icon. A
numbered or bullet list will begin in your text and each time you press enter, a new
line number or bullet appears.

To stop the insertion of numbers or bullets , press the Backspace key to erase the final line
with the unwanted number or bullet.

Bullets and Numbering Format
To change the formatting of a numbered
or bullet list, right-click the list.

Style: Selects between arabic
numerals, roman numerals, and
letters of the alphabet.

Start at: Controls the number that
the list starts with. For alphabetical
lists, each letter is represented by a
number.

Format: Controls the formatting of the list, such as “1.”, “1)”, “1”, etc.

Level: Controls the number of indents.

Restart Numbering: Adds a new line starting over with number “1”, the letter “A”, etc.

Indent Paragraph (CTRL-TAB) and Outdent Paragraph (SHIFT-TAB)
Indent Paragraph or Outdent Paragraph moves the paragraph text to the right one tab stop or
to the left one tab stop. Indent is a useful formatting feature when showing a hierarchy of
information.



Format Paragraph
The settings in this window apply to the whole paragraph, not just to text you have selected.
The Preview window shows a live example of the changes you make.

Align Left: Aligns the text to the left
side of the page.

Center: Centers the text horizontally.

Align Right: Aligns the text with the
right side of the page.

Justify: Adds small spaces between
letters and words so the left and right
edges of the text meet perfectly with the
left and right sides of the page.

Indentation Left/Right: Controls the
indent for the left and right sides of
paragraph.

Special … By: Selects between a First
Line indent and a Hanging Indent. The
hanging line is not indented but
subsequent lines are intended. The By
field controls the amount of the indent.

Spacing Before/After: Controls the amount of space before and after a paragraph to
avoid entering blank lines with the Enter key.

Line Spacing: Selects the distance between lines.

Border
The Border icon inserts a border into the text. The different
border styles are shown to the right.

You can use the Border icon in two ways:

• Click the “border layout” icon to insert the border style shown in the icon.

• Click the “border down-arrow’ icon to display a Border Selection window. Once
chosen, that border is available from the “border layout” icon for quicker reference.

If you select text before clicking the Border icon, the border will enclose the text you selected.



Columns
You may select how many columns the text will be divided into. This is for display and
printing purposes only. Your column preferences will not be saved after restarting e-Sword. If
you save a Topics Note file as a Reference Library book (refx), the column setting will also not
be saved into that format.

The different column layouts are shown to the right.

You can use the Columns icon in two ways:

• Clicking the “column layout” icon will change the
number of columns.

• Clicking the “column down-arrow” icon displays a
Column Selection window. Once chosen, that column
layout is available from the “column layout” icon for quicker reference.

Page Break
Often used in word processing software, Page Break forces all the text after the “break” to the
next page. The Page Layout icon must be “pressed” to view the actual Page Break. Otherwise,
a dotted line shows where the page break will occur.

Save Notes
It’s always a good idea to click the Save icon before using other features in e-Sword.



Understanding Where the Editors Read Notes Files.
When you first installed e-Sword, three default Notes files were installed including:
JOURNAL.JNLX (Journal Notes), STUDY.NOTX (Study Notes), and TOPIC.TOPX (Topic
Notes). These files store the information you enter into the Editors Window. By default, all three
file types are located in your e-Sword user directory (typically "My Documentse-sword").

How to Backup Your Notes - Advanced
Advanced users may want to backup their Notes or move their Notes to another computer.
This section assumes a basic level of proficiency with Windows, folder navigation, and file
copying.

By default, e-Sword stores Notes files in your e-sword user folder (typically "My
Documentse-sword"). If you changed your storage location, you must use that location in the
steps below.

1. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the “My Documentse-sword” folder.

2. Copy the Journal, Study, and/or Topic Note file(s) to your backup location. By default,
the Editors store notes in: JOURNAL.JNLX (Journal Notes), STUDY.NOTX (Study
Notes), and TOPIC.TOPX (Topic Notes). If you created additional Notes files, copy
them also.


Chapter 9: Journal Notes
The Journal Notes feature allows you to keep a journal about spiritual growth, issues you
struggle with, events in your life, answers to prayer, or anything you choose. Journal Notes are
organized by date, similar to a diary. Many Christians find journaling is a key to explosive
personal and spiritual growth.

Viewing Journal Notes ....................................................................................................127
Creating a Journal Note ..................................................................................................128
Editing a Journal Note ....................................................................................................128
Deleting a Journal Note ..................................................................................................129
Viewing All Journal Notes – Birds Eye View....................................................................130
Searching Journal Notes.................................................................................................131
Additional Search Options Wheel ...................................................................................131
Copying from the Bible to Your Journal Notes ................................................................132
Copying from Other Windows to Journal Notes ..............................................................133
Importing and Exporting Journal Notes ...........................................................................134
Managing More than One Journal Notes File - Advanced ...............................................135
Changing Where e-Sword Reads Journal Notes - Advanced ..........................................136


CHAPTER 9: JOURNAL NOTES

Viewing Journal Notes
• To view all Journal Notes, click the Locate Notes icon, shown below in red.

• To view a specific Journal Note, click the date drop-down menu on the toolbar and
click a date, as shown below:



Creating a Journal Note
To create a Journal Note:

1. Notice the date selected in the date field. By default, today’s date appears but you can
change the date, as shown below.

2. Type your Journal Notes. Click the Save icon to save your notes. It's a good idea to
save your notes before navigating elsewhere in e-Sword.

TIP: You can create popup Scripture "ToolTips" in your own Notes! Just select
an existing verse reference, like John 3:16, and click the Format Scripture
ToolTip icon (or press Ctrl-J).

Editing a Journal Note
You can edit any Journal Note you previously wrote:

1. Navigate to the date where you made the Journal Note (see calendar above).

2. Click the date of the Journal Note to edit.

3. Edit your Journal Note and click the Save icon to save your notes. It's a good idea to



Deleting a Journal Note
You can delete any Journal Note you previously wrote:

1. Navigate to the date where you made the Journal Note (see calendar below).

2. Click the date of the Journal Note to delete.

3. Select all the text in the window with the mouse or by pressing the Ctrl-A key
combination.

4. Press the Delete key to delete the Journal Note. You can undelete the text by pressing
Ctrl-Z key combination or clicking the Undo icon.



Viewing All Journal Notes – Birds Eye View
If you want to view all of your Journal Notes:

1. Click the Locate Journal Notes icon:

2. The Locate Journal Notes window shows which dates contain Journal Notes.

3. Click any date in the left summary pane to display your Journal Notes in the right window
pane. The example below shows the Journal Notes for November 5, 2011.



Searching Journal Notes

To search your Journal Notes;

1. Click the Locate Notes icon in the Journal Notes Editor.

2. Searching Journal notes is nearly identical to searching Study Notes, except Study
Notes are verse-based and Journal Notes are date-based. See Chapter 10 for more
information.


Searching Journal notes is nearly identical to searching Study Notes, except Study
Notes are verse-based and Journal Notes are date-based. Please see Chapter 10 for
more information on the Additional Search Options Wheel.



Copying from the Bible to Your Journal Notes
In addition to copying with this method, you can also apply formatting to copied verses with
the Copy Verses command documented in the Chapter 3, “The Bible Windows In-Depth”.

To copy Psalms 33:6 into your Journal Notes:

1. Navigate to the date of the Journal Note. Left-click the mouse where you want to paste
the verse.

2. Navigate to Psalms 33:6 in the Bible window.

3. Right click the verse in the Bible window and select Paste Into Journal Notes. (To
paste more than one verse, select the verses you want to paste before right-clicking and
choosing Paste Into Journal Notes.)

4. The verse appears in your Journal notes.



Copying from Other Windows to Journal Notes
When copying from the other windows, such as the Commentaries, Dictionaries, Reference
Library, etc. to the Journal Notes editor, you have two options:

1. Copy the entire text to the Journal Notes window, or

2. Copy an excerpt of the text to the Journal Notes window.

Copying the Entire Text

1. Place your cursor in the Journal Notes window where you want the copied text to
appear.

2. Find the window containing the text you want to copy.

3. Click the Select All icon or right click anywhere in the text and choose Select All
from the menu. The complete text appearing in the window will be highlighted.

4. With the text still selected, right click and select Paste into Journal Notes. The
selected text will be copied into your Journal Notes at the location where you last
placed your cursor.

Copying an Excerpt

1. Place your cursor in the Journal Notes window where you want the copied
text to appear.


3. Select the part of the text you want to copy to Journal Notes by highlighting (left
click the mouse and drag to select) the text.

4. Right click and select Paste into Journal Notes. Only the selected text will paste.



Importing and Exporting Journal Notes
e-Sword lets you import data (text, images, tables, etc.) into Journal Notes. You can also
export your Journal Notes to other file formats.

The import option includes (or imports) text into your Journal Notes from other files. You can
import the following file types: html, doc (Microsoft Word), rtf (Rich Text Format), and txt (plain
text).

To import a file:

1. Select the date of the Journal Note in the Journal Notes Editor. The text you import will
appear in this Journal Note.

2. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse. Click the Import button.

3. Navigate to the folder containing the file to import, select the file, and click Open.

4. The text from your document will appear in the date of he Journal Note you selected in
Step 1 above.

The export option creates an external file (separate from e-Sword) containing your Journal
Note. You can export the following file types: html, doc (Microsoft Word), rtf (Rich Text
Format), txt (plain text), and pdf.

To export a Journal note:

1. Select the Journal Note you want to export by navigating to that date in the Journal
Notes Editor.

2. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse. Click the Export button.

3. Navigate to the folder that will contain your exported file, provide a name for your file,
and click save. You may need to adjust the “Save as type” setting to specify the file
format e-Sword uses to export your data.



Managing More than One Journal Notes File - Advanced
Advanced users may want to create and edit more than one Journal Notes file.

The default name for the Journal Notes file is “journal.jnlx” and it’s typically stored in “My
Documentse-sword”, or the location of your e-Sword user folder. This configuration meets the
needs of the majority of e-Sword users. If you do not need additional files or do not feel
comfortable with the instructions that follow, you may not need this functionality.

Creating a New Journal Notes File

To create a new Journal Notes file:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Journal Notes Window.

2. Click the New button.

3. Specify a filename and click the Save button.

4. You now have a new, blank Journal Notes file.

Opening a Journal Notes File

To open a new Journal Note file:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Journal Notes Window.

2. Click the Open option.

3. Choose a filename and click the Open button.



Changing Where e-Sword Reads Journal Notes - Advanced
Most users do not need to change where e-Sword reads Journal Notes files. Advanced
users may want to read from a different location. And some users who upgrade from a previous
version may have changed where e-Sword reads Journal Notes files.

Each Note Editor uses its own folder setting. By default, all three Editors read from the e-
Sword user folder, typically “My Documentse-sword”. However, each Editor Type can read from
a different location.

WARNING: Changing the folder the Journal Notes Editor reads may result in you not
being able to find your other Journal Notes files. For example, if you have multiple
Journal Notes files in one folder, but you change where e-Sword reads Journal Notes
files, you will not be able to view your other Journal Notes files. In that situation, you
must either change the folder where the Journal Notes reads or move your Journal
Notes to the new folder.

To change the folder where the e-Sword reads Journal Notes:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Journal
Notes window.


3. Navigate to the folder where e-Sword should read Journal Notes.


5. e-Sword will now read Journal Notes from this folder.


Chapter 10: The Study Notes
The Study Notes feature allows you to write notes about individual verses, similar to making
notes in the margin of a printed Bible. Here, you can record your personal discoveries,
conclusions, and commentary about specific verses. Study Notes are verse-based—the note
itself is matched with a verse of the Bible.

e-Sword synchronizes your Study Notes with the Bible verse you’re currently reading. When you
view a Bible verse containing a study note, the Study Note tab will show the notes you wrote for
the verse.

Viewing Study Notes.......................................................................................................138
Creating a Study Note ....................................................................................................138
Editing a Study Note .......................................................................................................140
Deleting a Study Note .....................................................................................................140
Viewing All Study Notes – Birds Eye View ......................................................................141
Searching Study Notes ...................................................................................................142
Copying from the Bible to Your Study Notes ...................................................................145
Copying from Other Windows to Study Notes .................................................................146
Importing and Exporting Study Notes..............................................................................147
Managing More than One Study Notes File - Advanced .................................................148
Changing Where e-Sword Reads Study Notes - Advanced ............................................149


CHAPTER 10: THE STUDY NOTES

Viewing Study Notes
• To view all Study Notes, click the Locate Notes icon, shown below in red.

• To view a specific Study Note, click the verse drop-down menu on the toolbar and
choose the verse, as shown below. If the Link icon is “pressed”, the current Study
Note synchronizes with the active passage in the Bible window.

Creating a Study Note
To create a study note on Genesis 2:1:

1. Navigate to Genesis 2:1 in the Bible window or from the Editors Window.

2. Click the Study Notes tab in the Editors window (lower right window, by default in e-
Sword). Notice that the Book, Chapter and Verse (in the Editors window) automatically
changes to the Bible verse you navigate to.

TIP: The Link icon synchronizes the verse in the Study Notes Editor with the
verse you open in the Bibles window. If you want the Study Note window to
display the Study Note for the Bible verse you've chosen, make sure the Link
icon is “pressed”.



3. Type your notes for Genesis 2:1. Click the Save icon to save your notes. It's a good
idea to save your notes before navigating elsewhere in e-Sword.




Editing a Study Note
You can edit any Study Note you previously wrote:

1. Navigate to the verse in the Editors Window (see red box below):

2. Edit your study note and click the Save icon to save your notes. It's a good idea to

Deleting a Study Note
You can delete any Study Note you previously wrote:

1. Navigate to the verse with the Study Note you want to delete.

2. Select all the text in the window with the mouse or by pressing Ctrl-A key combination.

3. Press the Delete key to delete the Study Note. You can undelete the text by pressing
Ctrl-Z key combination or clicking the Undo icon.



Viewing All Study Notes – Birds Eye View
If you want to view all of your Study Notes:

1. Click the Locate Notes icon:

2. The Locate Study Notes window shows which verses contain Study Notes.

3. Click any verse in the left summary pane to display your study notes in the right window
pane. The example below shows the study notes for Genesis 2:1.



Searching Study Notes

To search your Study Notes:

1. Click the Locate Notes icon in the Study Notes Editor.

2. The Locate Study Notes window appears, as shown below. Type the search
word(s) in the first field. Not sure how to spell your search terms? Take your best
guess and then click the spell check icon .

3. In the screenshot above, we typed, "all things" in the search box.

4. We selected Search for all of the words from the drop down menu to find only
Study Notes with all words from our search phrase.

5. Click the Search icon in the upper, right corner of this window. The search
results are categorized by section on the left, as shown above.



6. After reviewing the search results, press the OK button. This closes the search
window and displays the full text of the Study Note you chose.

TIP: If we selected, Search for any of the words, e-Sword would have displayed
search results with both words from our search phrase (“all” and “things”). Study Notes
would have been shown if they contained the word “all” and “things” as separate words
anywhere in the Study Note. Be careful how you refine your search.

For an even more specific search, click the search wheel, (shown in red below). You may use
this more specific search with or without Regular Expressions, discussed in Chapter 22.

Case Sensitive: When checked, this option will make your search case sensitive to find “god”
with a lower-case “g” (see above).



Partial Search: Below, we searched for "child". Notice the results for variations of our search
phrase, including “child”, “children”, “childless”, etc. (see below).

Synonyms: You can search for your search phrase and synonyms of your search phrase. In
the example below, the synonyms found include, “redemption” and several others off-screen.
The synonym box will be grayed-out (unavailable) unless Search for any of the words is
chosen (see below).



Copying from the Bible to Your Study Notes

To copy Psalms 33:6 into the Study Notes for Genesis 2:1:

1. Navigate to Genesis 2:1 in the Study Notes Editor window. Left-click the mouse
where you want to paste the verse.

2. Deselect the Link icon in the Study Notes Editor window and navigate to Psalms
33:6 in the Bible window.

3. Right click the verse in the Bible window and select Paste Into Study Notes. (To
paste more than one verse, select the verses you want to paste before right-clicking and
choosing Paste Into Study Notes.)

4. The verse appears in your Study notes.



Copying from Other Windows to Study Notes
Library, etc. to the Study Notes editor, you have two options:

1. Copy the entire text to the Study Notes window.

2. Copy an excerpt of the text to the Study Notes window.


1. Place your cursor in the Study Notes window where you want the copied text to
appear.


3. Click the Select All icon or right click anywhere in the text and choose Select All
from the menu. The complete text appearing in the window will be highlighted.

4. With the text still selected, right-click and select Paste into Study Notes (be sure
your Study Notes are open to the correct verse). The selected text will be copied into
your Study Notes at the location where you last placed your cursor.

Copying an Excerpt

1. Place your cursor in the Study Note window where you want the copied text
to appear.


3. Select the part of the text you want to copy to Study Notes by highlighting (left click
the mouse and drag to select) the text.

4. Right-click and select Paste into Study Notes. Only the selected text will paste.



Importing and Exporting Study Notes
e-Sword lets you import data (text, images, tables, etc.) into Study Notes. You can also export
your Study Notes to other file formats.

The import option includes (or imports) text into your Study Notes from other files. You can
text).

To import a file:

1. Select a verse from the Study Notes Editor. The text you import will appear in this
Study Note.



4. The text from your document will appear in the verse you selected in Step 1 above.

The export option creates an external file (separate from e-Sword) containing your Study Note.
You can export the following file types: html, doc (Microsoft Word), rtf (Rich Text Format), txt
(plain text), and pdf.

To export a Study note:

1. Select the Study Note you want to export by navigating to that verse in the Study Notes
Editor.





Managing More than One Study Notes File - Advanced
Advanced users may want to create and edit more than one Study Notes file.

The default name for the Study Notes file is “study.notx” and it’s typically stored in “My

At the bottom of the screen below, you can see the popup menu, outlined in red. The default
Study Note file, study.notx, is the currently selected file. To view a different file, select the
Study Note from the menu.

Creating a New Study Notes File
To create a new Study Notes file:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Study Notes Window.



4. The Study Notes file shown at the bottom of the screen above will change to the
filename you chose in step 3. You now have a new, blank Study Notes file.



Opening a Study Notes File
To open a new Study Note file:

WARNING: If you open a file from a different folder location, the Study Notes Editor
shows only the Study Note files from that folder in the popup menu at the bottom of the
Editor window. That means the popup menu will show only the filenames in the folder
where you opened the file.

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Study Notes Window.

2. Click the Open option from the menu.


4. The Study Notes file shown at the bottom of the screen above changes to the
filename you selected in step 3.

Changing Where e-Sword Reads Study Notes - Advanced
Most users do not need to change where e-Sword reads Study Notes files. Advanced
version may have changed where e-Sword reads Study Notes files.


WARNING: Changing the folder the Study Notes Editor reads may result in you not
being able to find your other Study Notes files. For example, if you have multiple study
notes files in one folder, but you change where e-Sword reads Study Notes files, you will
not be able to view your other Study Notes files. In that situation, you must either change
the folder where the Study Notes reads or move your study notes to the new folder.

To change the folder where e-Sword reads Study Notes:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Study Notes
window.


3. Navigate to the folder where e-Sword should read Study Notes.


5. The Study Notes file shown at the bottom of the screen above changes to the
filename you selected in step 4. And the popup menu at the bottom of the Editors
window now shows only the files from the new folder you selected in step 4.


Chapter 11: Topic Notes
The Topic Notes feature allows you to write topical notes about subjects that interest you,
similar to notes some people make on blank pages at the end of their printed Bible. Here, you
can record your personal discoveries and conclusions about different subjects in the Bible.
Topic Notes are subject-based.

My default, e-Sword creates the file “topic.topx” in your e-Sword user folder, usually “My
Documentse-Sword”, to store your topic entries.

Viewing Resources: Topic Editor or Reference Library? .................................................151
e-Sword 9 Users: Can’t Find your Topic Notes? .............................................................152
Viewing Your Topic Notes...............................................................................................152
Creating a Topic Note .....................................................................................................153
Editing a Topic Note .......................................................................................................154
Optimizing Topic Notes Files with Images ......................................................................155
Deleting a Topic Note .....................................................................................................155
Searching Topic Notes ...................................................................................................156
Copying from the Bible to Your Topic Notes ...................................................................159
Copying from Other Windows to Topic Notes .................................................................160
Importing and Exporting Topic Notes ..............................................................................161
Managing More than One Topic Notes File - Advanced ..................................................162
Changing Where e-Sword Reads Topic Notes - Advanced .............................................164
Reference Library (.REFX) Files .....................................................................................165
When to Use Reference Book Files ................................................................................165
How to Convert Topic Notes to Reference Book Format .................................................165


CHAPTER 11: TOPIC NOTES

Viewing Resources: Topic Editor or Reference Library?
In previous versions of e-Sword, the Topic Notes Editor displayed third party Topic Notes
(Topic Notes you downloaded). Now, this material is viewed through the Reference Library
instead of the Topic Notes Editor.

By comparison, the Topic Notes Editor is now for your personal topical notes (topical notes
you wrote), just like the Journal Notes are for your personal journal notes and the Study Notes
are for your personal study notes.



e-Sword 9 Users: Can’t Find your Topic Notes?
If you upgraded from e-Sword 9 and cannot find your Topic Notes, you most likely stored
your Topic Notes in the “program filese-sword” folder. You can view those Topic Notes from the
Reference Library, see Chapter 13. You can control where the Reference Library looks for
resources by reading the Changing Your e-Sword Resource Location section.

Topic Notes you need to edit: move these files to your e-Sword user folder, usually “My
Documentse-Sword”. If necessary, follow the instructions in “Changing Where e-Sword Reads
Topic Notes” so e-Sword reads the proper folder to display your Topic Note files.

Topic Notes you only need to view: move these files to your e-Sword install folder, usually
“Program Filese-Sword”. Then view them from the Reference Library (see Chapter 13).

Viewing Your Topic Notes
• To view all of your Topic Notes, click the Topic Menu, shown below.

• To view a specific topic, left-click the topic with the mouse.

• If you have multiple Topic files, you can view a different Topic file by clicking the
popup menu at the bottom of the Editor window.



Creating a Topic Note
To create a topic note:

1. Click the New Topic icon in the Editors window.

2. Enter the title of the topic you want to create.

3. Notice the new entry topic title appears in the Editor toolbar.

4. Type your notes for this topic. Click the Save icon to save your notes. It's a good idea
to save your notes before navigating elsewhere in e-Sword.




Editing a Topic Note
You can edit any Topic Note you previously wrote:

1. Navigate to the topic in the Editors window (see larger red box below):

2. Edit your topic note and click the Save icon to save your notes. It's a good idea to

3. Click the Edit Topic Title icon (smaller red box above).

4. A window will appear allowing you to change the name of the topic title. Click the OK
button to save changes or CANCEL to cancel changes.



Optimizing Topic Notes Files with Images
Chapter 8, “Introduction to the Editors”, explains how to use and embed images in the Notes
Editor.

How Image Bloat Happens
If you insert and then remove images from a Topic Note, the size of the file may become
unnecessarily large. e-Sword uses the SQLite database format to store Topic Note data. When
you insert an image, the size of the database expands to accommodate the image data.

When you delete the image from a Topic Note, the database does not automatically contract.
Even though the image is deleted, the database is still the same size! This wastes system
resources and if you distribute the module to others, the module requires more downloading
time and bandwidth.

Removing Image Bloat
e-Sword compacts the Topic Notes database when you delete a topic note.

To make sure your Topic Notes module is the smallest size possible:

1. Click the New Topic icon.

2. Enter the title of the topic you want to create.

3. Click the Delete Topic icon to delete the topic you just created.

You should not worry about this issue if you occasionally use images in your personal Topic
Notes. However, if you make modules for downloading by other people, you might consider
making this a standard practice to produce the smallest files possible.

Deleting a Topic Note
Make sure that the specific topic you want to delete appears in the text box of the drop down
list. Click the Delete Topic icon.

The following dialog box appears:

If you are sure you want to delete the topic, click OK. Otherwise, click No. You cannot undelete
or undo this action!



Searching Topic Notes

To search your Topic Notes:

1. Click the Locate Notes icon in the Topic Notes Editor.

2. The Locate Topic Notes window will appear. Type the search word(s) in the first
field. Not sure how to spell your search terms? Take your best guess and then click
the spell check icon .

3. In the screenshot above, we typed, "body of Christ" in the search box.

Topic Notes with all words from our search phrase.

5. Click the Search icon in the upper, right corner of this window. The search
results are categorized by topic on the left, as shown above.



window and displays the full text of the Topic Note you chose.

search results with all words from our search phrase (“body” and “of” and “Christ”). Topic
Notes would have been shown if they contained all the words as separate words
anywhere in the Topic Note. Be careful how you refine your search.


Case Sensitive: When checked, this option makes your search case sensitive to find “Word”
with an upper-case “W” (see above).



Partial Search: Below, we searched for "bapti". Notice the results for variations of our search
phrase, including “baptized”, “baptism”, “baptizing”, etc. (see below).

the example below, the synonyms for atonement include, “redemption”, “atone”, etc. The
synonym box will be grayed-out (unavailable) unless Search for any of the words is chosen
(see below).



Copying from the Bible to Your Topic Notes

To copy Psalms 33:6 into your Topic Notes:

1. Navigate to Psalms 33:6 in the Topic Notes Editor window. Left-click the mouse
where you want to paste the verse.

2. Right-click the verse in the Bible window and select Paste Into Topic Notes. (To paste
more than one verse, select the verses you want to paste before right-clicking and
choosing Paste Into Topic Notes.)

3. The verse appears in your Topic Notes.



Copying from Other Windows to Topic Notes
Library, etc. to the Topic Notes editor, you have two options:

1. Copy the entire text to the Topic Notes window.

2. Copy an excerpt of the text to the Topic Notes window.


1. Place your cursor in the Topic Notes window where you want the copied text to
appear.


3. Click the Select All icon or right click anywhere in the text and choose Select
All from the menu. The complete text appearing in the window will be
highlighted.

4. With the text still selected, right-click and select Paste into Topic Notes (be
sure your Topic Notes are open to the correct verse). The selected text will be
copied into your Topic Notes at the location where you last placed your cursor.

Copying an Excerpt

1. Place your cursor in the Topic Note window where the copied text should
appear.


3. Select the part of the text you want to copy to Topic Notes by highlighting (left
click the mouse and drag to select) the text.

4. Right click and select Paste into Topic Notes. Only the selected text will paste.



Importing and Exporting Topic Notes
e-Sword lets you import data (text, images, tables, etc.) into Topic Notes. You can also export
your Topic Notes to other file formats.

The import option includes (or imports) text into your Topic Notes from other files. You can
text).

To import a file:

1. Select a verse from the Topic Notes Editor. The text you import will appear in this
Topic Note.



4. The text from your document will appear in the verse you selected in Step 1 above.

The export option creates an external file (separate from e-Sword) containing your Topic Note.
You can export the following file types: html, doc (Microsoft Word), rtf (Rich Text Format), txt
(plain text), and pdf.

To export a Topic note:

1. Select the Topic Note you want to export by navigating to that verse in the Topic Notes
Editor.





Managing More than One Topic Notes File - Advanced
Advanced users may want to create and edit more than one Topic Notes file.

The default name for the Topic Notes file is “topic.topx” and is typically stored in “My

At the bottom of the screen below, the popup menu is outlined in red. The default Topic Note
file, topic.topx, is the currently selected file. To view a different file, select the Topic Note from
the menu.

Creating a New Topic Notes File
To create a new Topic Notes file:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse
in the Topic Notes Window.



4. The Topic Notes file shown at the bottom of the screen above changes to the
filename you chose in step 3. You now have a new, blank Topic Notes file.

5. See the “Creating a Topic Note” section for instructions on adding a Topic Note to the
Topic File.



Opening a Topic Notes File
To open a Topic Note file:

WARNING: If you open a file from a different folder location, the Topic Notes Editor
shows only the Topic Note files from that folder in the popup menu at the bottom of the
Editor window. That means the popup menu will show only the filenames in the folder
where you opened the file.

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Topic Notes Window.



filename you selected in step 3.

e-Sword 9 Users: Can’t Find your Topic Notes?
If you upgraded from e-Sword 9 and cannot find your Topic Notes, you most likely stored
your Topic Notes in your “program filese-sword” folder. You can view those Topic Notes
from the Reference Library (see Chapter 13). You can control where the Reference Library
looks for resources by reading the Changing Your e-Sword Resource Location section.

instead of the Topic Notes Editor.

By comparison, the Topic Notes Editor is now for your personal topical notes (topical notes
you wrote), just like the Journal Notes are for your personal journal notes and the Study
Notes are for your personal study notes.

Topic Notes you need to edit: move these files to your e-Sword user folder, usually “My
Documentse-Sword”. If necessary, follow the instructions in “Changing Where e-Sword
Reads Topic Notes” so e-Sword reads the proper folder to display your Topic Note files.

Topic Notes you only need to view: move these files to your e-Sword install folder, usually
“Program Filese-Sword”. Then view them from the Reference Library (see Chapter 13).



Changing Where e-Sword Reads Topic Notes - Advanced
Most users do not need to change where e-Sword reads Topic Notes files. Advanced
version may have changed where e-Sword reads Topic Notes files.


WARNING: Changing the folder the Topic Notes Editor reads may result in you not
being able to find your other Topic Notes files. For example, if you have multiple Topic
Notes files in one folder but you change where e-Sword reads Topic Notes files, you will
not be able to view your other Topic Notes files. In that situation, you must either change
the folder where the Topic Notes Editor reads or move your Topic Notes to the new
folder.

To change the folder where the e-Sword reads Topic Notes:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the Topic Notes
Window.


3. Navigate to the folder where e-Sword should read Topic Notes.


filename you selected in step 4. And the popup menu at the bottom of the Editors
window now shows only the files from the new folder you selected in step 4.



Reference Library (.REFX) Files
e-Sword supports a new file format for the Reference Library.

Reference Book files are identical to Topic files except Reference Book files are compressed to
save disk space. If you distribute REFX files to other e-Sword users, Reference Book files
cannot be edited or changed. One of the criticisms about Topics files has been that anyone can
change the content of a Topic file, effectively “putting words in the mouth” of its author. The
Reference Book format prevents such casual tampering.

When to Use Reference Book Files
You can convert your Topic Notes files (.topx) to Reference Book (.refx) format.

You are not required to convert your Topic Notes files to Reference Book format. The
Reference Library will read Topic Notes files and Reference Book files.

If you simply want to view your Topic Notes in the Reference Library, copy the Topic Note files
to your e-Sword resource folder, usually “c:program filese-sword”. You can control where the
Reference Library looks for resources by reading the Changing Your e-Sword Resource
Location section.

Why Convert to Reference Book Files Then?
Most of the time, users will not need to create Reference Book files. Reference Book files
should be used in three situations:

1. You do not want your content changed. Or if your content is copyrighted and you
do not wanted the material easily distributed beyond e-Sword.

2. You used e-Sword’s new image/picture functionality and the resource is large because
of the added pictures. The REFX format compresses the data. In one of our tests, a
4mb file compressed to 600kb, a reduction of about 7 times! Smaller files require less
hard drive space, less computer memory, and generally help e-Sword run faster.

3. You lack the technical skills to copy your Topic files to the e-Sword resource folder,
usually “c:program filese-sword”. During the conversion to Reference Book format , the
converted REFX files are moved to your e-Sword install folder.

How to Convert Topic Notes to Reference Book Format
To convert Topic Notes to Reference Book format:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, right-click the mouse in the
Topic Notes window.

2. Click the Convert to Reference Book option.

3. A confirmation box will tell you to restart e-
Sword to see the Reference Library book in
the Reference Library.


Chapter 12: The Dictionaries Window
e-Sword provides a Dictionaries window so you can learn the definition of words and Strong’s
numbers while using e-Sword.

e-Sword extends dictionary functionality beyond the traditional term/definition format. For
example, the "Nave's Topical Bible" (Nave) and "Torrey's New Topical Textbook" (Torrey) are
specialty dictionary modules. These excellent resources contain many cross references, perfect
for conducting in-depth studies on specific Biblical topics.

Using Dictionaries ...........................................................................................................167
Quick Lookup Inside the Dictionary .................................................................................168
Viewing Your Dictionary Search History..........................................................................169
Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions in the Dictionary Window ......................................170
Searching a Dictionary ....................................................................................................171
Searching More Than One Dictionary Simultaneously ....................................................171


CHAPTER 12: THE DICTIONARIES WINDOW

Using Dictionaries
When you click a word in any tab or window, all dictionaries containing information about the
selected word will display the blue (i) Information Icon. The word you click does not have to be
a hyperlink or tooltip link. The word can simply be normal text.

TIP: If the Dictionary window stops displaying new information when you click
new words, make sure the Link icon is pressed. Also remember that a
dictionary may not necessarily have a definition for every word.

Topics List and Performance
If your dictionary view does not contain a list of entries (see the list above beginning with
“Abiding”), click the Dictionary Topics icon. By default, the Dictionary Topics icon is
already pressed.

PERFORMANCE: If a dictionary reacts or performs slowly, disable the display of
Dictionary Topics. If enabled, the Dictionary Topics display must load before you can
use the dictionary. This can make switching between resource tabs slow for large
dictionaries.



Quick Lookup Inside the Dictionary
While using a dictionary, you may want to lookup a word appearing in the text of the dictionary
itself.

1. Right-click the word to display the following menu options:

2. Click Lookup and the definition displays in your current dictionary (if available) and the
blue (i) Information Icon appears for other dictionaries with matching entries.

TIP: You can bypass the context menu shown above. While pressing the Ctrl key, click
a word in the dictionary to view it’s definition.



Viewing Your Dictionary Search History
e-Sword “remembers” which dictionary entries you viewed this session. To cycle back through
previous entries, click the blue back arrow at the beginning of the Dictionaries toolbar.

If you viewed entries from more than one dictionary, the dictionary tab view will not
automatically change. The blue (i) Information Icon appears in the dictionary tabs with
matching entries to your previous queries.



Viewing Strong’s Number Definitions in the Dictionary Window
The study of Hebrew and Greek text, without first learning Hebrew or Greek, is one of e-
Sword's most powerful features. This is accomplished through the Strong's number system.
James Strong assigned every unique Hebrew and Greek word in the Bible a number. Thanks to
Strong’s numbers, we are able to easily search the Scriptures to locate Hebrew and Greek
words.

Strong’s Number Basics
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek. The
Strong’s numbering system formats the Old Testament in Hebrew with an “H” in front of the
number and the New Testament Greek with a “G” in front of the number. For example, the
reference, “H430,” refers to Old Testament. “G430” represents a word in the New Testament
and has no correlation to the Hebrew “H430” word.

When you find a Strong's number elsewhere in e-Sword, you can view the definition in the
Dictionary window:

1. Confirm the link icon is “pressed”.

2. Click the Strong’s number.

3. The blue (i) information icons appear on the resource tabs of the Dictionaries window
(be sure the link icon is selected).

TIP: Strong’s numbers can be viewed without leaving your current window, if you
only need a quick definition. Strong's definitions can be displayed as "ToolTips". Place
the mouse pointer over a Strong's number to display the definition in a ToolTip popup.

MEGA TIP: Press the F4 button to copy the Strong’s definition to the Windows
clipboard. You can paste (Ctrl-V) the definition into the Notes Editor or your own word
processor!



Searching a Dictionary
The Dictionaries search is nearly identical to the Bible and Reference Library search.

Click the Search Dictionaries icon, or click Dictionaries from the main menu and choose
Search.

When the Search window opens, type the word you want to search and select your search
criteria. Click the Search icon and a search will be done in the active dictionary.

For more information on using the dictionary search features, see the search instructions in
Chapter 3 and Chapter 13. Also see Chapter 22 for an explanation of Regular Expression
Searching.

Searching More Than One Dictionary Simultaneously
To search multiple dictionaries at once, select Dictionary from the main menu and choose
Extended Search.

When the Extended Search window opens, you can select which dictionaries to search. Click
the Dictionaries icon highlighted in red below.

For more information on using the dictionary search features, see the extended search
instructions in Chapter 3 and Chapter 13. Also see Chapter 22 for an explanation of Regular
Expression Searching.


Chapter 13: Reference Library
The Reference Library is now the central place to view your downloaded Topic files and a new
type of file called Reference Modules (.refx). Material available from the Reference Library
includes books, essays, and papers written by other authors. Some may be as short as a few
pages, and other resources may contain thousands of pages. For example, BibleSupport.com
hosts a number of William Evans’ and F.B. Meyer’s books in Reference Book format. You can
also download official Reference Modules through the e-Sword Module Downloader.

With the Reference Library you can:

• Select resources to read with the drop down menu near the top of the screen.

• Filter your resources by title, which is helpful for narrowing large libraries.

• Search all of your Topic Notes and Reference Library Books at once!

The Reference Library displays .refx modules and .topx modules.

Viewing Resources: Topic Editor or Reference Library? .................................................174
Why Can’t I View Topic Notes Files in the Reference Library?........................................174
Opening the Reference Library .......................................................................................174
Reference Library: Background, Foreground, Resizing ...................................................175
Viewing Resources in the Reference Library ..................................................................176
Filtering Resources in the Reference Library ..................................................................176
Searching the Reference Library - Basic.........................................................................177
Searching the Reference Library - Advanced..................................................................181
Extended Search - Multiple Reference Books .................................................................182
Paste Into Topic Notes ...................................................................................................183
Highlighting Text .............................................................................................................183


CHAPTER 13: REFERENCE LIBRARY

Viewing Resources: Topic Editor or Reference Library?
instead of the Topic Notes tab (of the Editors window). The Reference Library is view-only, like
Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries. You cannot edit topic notes through the Reference
Library.

By comparison, the Topic Notes tab (of the Editors Window) is now for your personal topical
notes (topical notes you wrote), just like the Journal Notes are for your personal journal notes
and the Study Notes are for your personal study notes.

Why Can’t I View Topic Notes Files in the Reference Library?
By default, e-Sword 10 expects your third party Topic Notes to be in your e-Sword resource
folder, usually “c:program filese-sword”. You can control where e-Sword looks for resources
by reviewing the “Changing Your e-Sword Resource Location” section.

If your downloaded Topic Notes are in the My Documentse-sword folder, or another folder,
you must move them to your e-Sword resource folder for the Reference Library to find them.

Remember, this only applies to your downloaded, or third party, Topic Notes. Your personal
topic notes—the topical notes you wrote—should remain in the “My Documentse-sword”
folder so you can continue editing them in the Topic Notes Editor.

Opening the Reference Library
The Reference Library is represented on the main e-Sword screen with a small icon, highlighted
in red below:

Reference
You can also open the Reference Library by clicking Tools from the Library
main menu and then choosing Reference Library.



Reference Library: Background, Foreground, Resizing
The Reference Library window “floats” on top of e-Sword’s main window. You can access the
e-Sword main window without closing the Reference Library window. For example, if you need
to reference the Bible, lookup a definition, view commentary text, or create a Study Note, click
the e-Sword main window in the background.

You may also move the e-Sword main window and the Reference Library window so they are
offset or in any orientation that suits your monitor.

Lastly, you may resize the Reference Library window larger or smaller (see Chapter 2,
“Customizing e-Sword”).



Viewing Resources in the Reference Library
With the Reference Library, you can select resources to read with the drop down menu near
the top of the screen. Each resource’s sections, or chapters, appear on the left side of the
screen. The section or chapter text is shown on the right side of the screen.

In the example below, you can see the other resources available in the Reference Library.

Filtering Resources in the Reference Library
If you have numerous resources, you can filter your resources by title. In the example below,
the only resources showing contain the word “evans”. After typing your keyword filter, click the
Filter Title icons (shown in red below).

.



Searching the Reference Library - Basic

1. To search the Reference Library, make sure the Reference Library is open and the
active resource is the one you want to search.

2. Click the search icon in the Reference Library window. Or, click Library from
the Reference Library menu and then select Search.

3. A search window appears. At the top of the search window, you will see the name of
the resource you were viewing when you opened the search window. Your search is
limited to this resource. To search a different resource, select a new resource from
the drop down menu.

4. Type your search word(s) in the first field. Not sure how to spell your search terms?
Take your best guess and then click the Spell Check icon .

5. In the screenshot above, we typed, "new testament" in the search box.

resources with all the words from our search phrase.



7. Click the search icon in the upper, right corner of this window. The search
results are categorized by section on the left.

window and displays the full text of the section or chapter you chose.

search results for any chapter with both words from our search phrase (“new” and
“testament”). These results would not necessarily have been discussing the New
Testament. Be careful how you refine your search.




Case Sensitive: When checked, this option will make your search case sensitive to find “god”
with a lower-case “g” (see above).

Partial Search: Below, we searched for "scriptur". Notice the results for variations of our search
phrase, including “Scripture”, “Scriptures”, and “Scriptural” (see below).



the example below, the synonyms found include, “The word”, “Scripture”, “New Testament” and
“Old Testament”. The synonym box will be grayed-out (unavailable) unless Search for any of
the words is chosen (see below).



Searching the Reference Library - Advanced
patterns of text in powerful ways. In e-Sword, regular expressions allow you to search the Bible
beyond the search methods you previously used.

This section is a very brief introduction to searching with Regular Expressions using e-Sword.
Chapter 22 covers this functionality in much greater detail.

If we select Regular expressions from the drop down list, we can perform a much broader
"wild card" search. For example, in the window below, we searched for words starting with “s”
and ending in “e” by typing b (the symbol for word boundary) followed by l...e and closed with
the word boundary symbol b.

For more information on searching with Regular Expressions and it’s exceptional power, see
Chapter 22.



Extended Search - Multiple Reference Books
To search for words or phrases across multiple resources, click Library on the Reference
Library menu, and then select Extended Search.

TIP: The more resources you search at once and the longer the resources are in
length, the more time e-Sword will need to complete the search. Searching thousands
of resources may require a long time. The progress bar shows the current status of the
search.

You may press the Escape key to abort a search, while showing the results already
found.

This window is almost identical to the basic Reference Library Search function, but it allows
you to select multiple resources.

Reference Books icon: This icon, shown in the red box above, displays the Resource Window
(also shown above). The Resource Window lets you choose which resources to include in
your search.

Search Summary
In left column of the window above, the first box shows the name of the chapter (or section)
with matching text.

The second box shows the name of the resource where the match was found.



Paste Into Topic Notes
As with most windows in e-Sword, the Reference Library lets you paste selected text into your
Journal, Study, or Topic Notes.

1. Click the main e-Sword window behind the Reference Library.

2. Select either the Journal Notes, Study Notes, or Topic Notes tab from the Editors
Window.

3. In the Reference Library window, select the text you want to copy.

4. Click the Paste Into Topic Notes icon .

TIP: After selecting text to copy, you can also right-click the
mouse and choose Paste Into Notes from the context menu.

Highlighting Text
e-Sword supports highlighting text in the Reference Library window.

Select the text you want to highlight and press the Highlight icon . For more information
on Highlighting text, see Chapter 4.


Chapter 14: The Bible Reading Plan
The Bible Reading Plan will organize and structure your Bible reading. Bible Reading plans
help you stay on track, often with a specific goal such as reading the entire Bible in a year,
reading the Old Testament in six months, or reading the Psalms. Since you can make your own
Bible Reading Plans, you control when and how often you read.

You can configure the Bible Reading Plan window to automatically launch when you start e-
Sword for the first time each day.

Opening Bible Reading Plans .........................................................................................185
Using Bible Reading Plans .............................................................................................186
Creating a Bible Reading Plan ........................................................................................187
Show at Startup ..............................................................................................................187


CHAPTER 14: THE BIBLE READING PLAN

Opening Bible Reading Plans
To open Bible Reading Plans, select Tools from the main menu and then choose Bible
Reading.



Using Bible Reading Plans
The Reading Plan Progress meter displays your progress toward accomplishing the plan’s
goal. Bible Reading Plans can be organized in different ways but our example below allows for
365 days (see large red box).

Previous Reading and Next Reading
The Next Reading icon shows you the next passage in the reading plan. You can also click the
Previous Reading icon.

Incrementing the Reading Plan Progress Bar
As you read each passage, click the Completed Reading icon. The icon turns from red to
green to remind you the passage has been read.

View Chapter as Paragraph
This toggle icon switches between the verse view shown on the previous page and a
paragraph view that displays each chapter as a paragraph.

Changing Bible Reading Plans
From the drop down menu at the bottom of the Bible Reading window, select the reading plan:



Creating a Bible Reading Plan
To create a Bible Reading Plan:

1. Click the New Bible Reading Plan icon.

2. Click the plus signs to expand the Books of the Bible lists, starting with “Bible”.

3. Select as little as one book or as much as the entire Bible.

4. Click the Next button.

5. Select the days of the week you will use the Bible Reading Plan.

6. Select the time needed to complete the reading. e-Sword compares the number of
books you selected with your chosen timeframe to calculate the time necessary to
complete the plan.

7. Save your reading plan by entering a filename and clicking the Finish button.

Show at Startup
This handy feature reminds you about your Bible Reading Plan when you start e-Sword for
the first time that day. The Bible Reading window will not show for subsequent starts during the
same day.

Tick the box marked, "Show at Startup" at the bottom of the Bible Reading window.


Chapter 15: Daily Devotions
e-Sword includes a Daily Devotions section containing devotions by Spurgeon. You can also
download other official e-Sword devotions, such as Hoekstra, Morrison, Meyer and Ryle. To
download new devotions, select Download from the main menu and then select Devotions.
You may also visit BibleSupport.com for additional, user-created devotionals.

You can configure the Daily Devotions window to automatically launch when you start e-Sword
for the first time each day.

Opening the Daily Devotions ..........................................................................................189
Using the Daily Devotions ...............................................................................................189
Show Devotions at Startup .............................................................................................190


CHAPTER 15: DAILY DEVOTIONS

Opening the Daily Devotions
To open the Daily Devotions, select Tools from the main menu and choose Daily Devotions.

Your installed devotions are shown in the tabs at the top of the window.

Using the Daily Devotions
Select the day you want to read using the Date Display Box at the
bottom of the window.

The current day's devotion appears automatically, but you may
select any other day's devotion. Click the date bar and the
following popup window appears:

Use the forward and back arrows to select the desired month.
Then click the day you want to read.


CHAPTER 15: DAILY DEVOTIONS

Show Devotions at Startup
This handy feature allows e-Sword to remind you about Devotions when you start e-Sword for
the first time that day. The Devotions window will not show for subsequent starts during the
same day.

Tick the box marked, "Show at Startup" at the top of the Daily Devotions window.


Chapter 16: Prayer Requests
We should never forget the power of prayer. With this feature, e-Sword reminds us to pray and
helps us remember what to pray about.

You can configure the Prayer Requests window to automatically launch when you start e-Sword
for the first time each day.

Opening Prayer Requests...............................................................................................192
Viewing Prayer Requests................................................................................................192
Adding Prayer Requests .................................................................................................192
Editing or Deleting a Prayer Request ..............................................................................193
Managing Prayer Request Files ......................................................................................195
Show Prayer Requests at Startup ...................................................................................196


CHAPTER 16: PRAYER REQUESTS

Opening Prayer Requests
The prayer request feature adds organization and remembrance to your prayer life. To open the
window, select Tools from the main menu, and choose Prayer Requests.

Each prayer request is labeled with these abbreviations:

A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S – Supplication

Viewing Prayer Requests
You can view your prayer requests by clicking the title of the prayer request from the Today’s
Prayer Requests tab.

Adding Prayer Requests
Add a new request using the Request Maintenance tab:



1. Click the Add button to add a new Prayer Request.

2. Enter the following information:

Prayer Request Type: Select the Prayer Request category.

Prayer Request Start Date: The prayer request will not appear in the Today’s Prayer
Requests tab until your selected start date.

Prayer Request Frequency: Select between Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or
Answered. If you select “weekly”, the prayer request appears in the Today’s Prayer
Requests tab on the same day of the week as your start date. If you select “monthly”,
the prayer request appears in the Today’s Prayer Requests tab on the same day of the
month as your start date.

Prayer Description: Enter what you need to pray for in the bottom half of the window.

3. Click Update to add the request or Cancel to exit without saving.

Editing or Deleting a Prayer Request
To edit a Prayer Request:

1. Click the Request Maintenance tab.



2. Click the prayer request title you want to edit.

3. Click Edit.

4. Edit any of the following information:

• Prayer Request Title
• Prayer Request Type
• Prayer Request Start Date
• The Prayer Request Frequency, and
• The Prayer Request Details

5. After you finish editing the prayer request, click the Update button.

To delete a prayer request:

1. Click the prayer request title you want to delete.

2. Click the Delete button

3. Confirm your request by clicking Yes. Cancel the delete by clicking No.



Managing Prayer Request Files
If more than one person uses e-Sword on the same computer or if you want to categorize your
prayer requests in different files, you can create a new prayer request file.

By default, e-Sword stores prayer requests in the prayer.prlx file in your e-Sword user folder,
usually “My Documentse-Sword”.

Creating Prayer Request Files

To create a Prayer Request file:

1. Click the Request Maintenance tab.

2. Click the New Prayer Requests File button.

3. Specify a new filename and click the Save button.

Loading Prayer Request Files
After creating at least one other Prayer Request file, e-Sword displays your Prayer Request files
in a drop down menu at the bottom of the window. Click another Prayer Request file to show
requests from that file:



Show Prayer Requests at Startup
This handy feature reminds you about Prayer Requests when you start e-Sword for the first
time that day. The Prayer Requests window will not show for subsequent starts during the same
day.

Tick the box marked, "Show at Startup" at the top of the Prayer Requests window.


Chapter 17: Scripture Memory
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you,” — Psalms 119:11.

The Scripture Memory tool organizes your scripture memorization goals and makes memorizing
verses entertaining. This feature includes several puzzle-style word games that children (and
adults) enjoy playing.

You can configure the Scripture Memory window to automatically launch when you start e-
Sword for the first time each day.

Opening Scripture Memory .............................................................................................198
Viewing Verses to Memorize ..........................................................................................198
Adding Scripture Memory ...............................................................................................199
Editing or Deleting a Memory Verse ...............................................................................200
Testing Memory Verses ..................................................................................................201
Managing Memory Verse Files .......................................................................................203
Show Memory Verses at Startup ....................................................................................204


CHAPTER 17: SCRIPTURE MEMORY

Opening Scripture Memory
The Scripture Memory feature organizes your scripture memorization goals.

To open the Scripture Memory window, select Tools from the main menu and choose Scripture
Memory.

Viewing Verses to Memorize
You can view your memorization verses by clicking the verse in the Today’s Memory Verses
tab.



Adding Scripture Memory
Add a new Memory Verse using the Verse Maintenance tab:

1. Click the Add button to add a new verse.


Memory Verse: Enter the verse you want to memorize.

Translation: Select the translation used to display the verse.

Verse Memory Category: Select a category for the verse.

Hint / General Idea: Displayed as a hint by the Test Memory Verses feature.

Start Date: The verse will not appear in the Today’s Memory Verses tab until your
selected start date.

Verse Frequency: Select between Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Randomly, or
Memorized. If you select “weekly”, the verse appears in the Today’s Memory Verses
tab on the same day of the week as your start date. If you select “monthly”, the verse
appears in the Today’s Memory Verses tab on the same day of the month as your start
date.

3. Click the Update button to add the verse or Cancel to exit without saving.



Editing or Deleting a Memory Verse
To edit a Memory Verse:

1. Click the Verse Maintenance tab.

2. Click the verse you want to edit.

3. Click Edit.


Memory Verse: Enter the verse you want to memorize.

Translation: Select the translation used to display the verse.

Verse Memory Category: Select a category for the verse.

Hint / General Idea: Displayed as a hint by the Test Memory Verses feature.

Start Date: The verse will not appear in the Today’s Memory Verses tab until your
selected start date.

Verse Frequency: Select between Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Randomly, or
Memorized. If you select “weekly”, the verse appears in the Today’s Memory Verses
tab on the same day of the week as your start date. If you select “monthly”, the verse
appears in the Today’s Memory Verses tab on the same day of the month as your start
date.

5. After you finish editing the verse, click the Update button.

To delete a Memory Verse:

1. Click the verse you want to delete.





Testing Memory Verses
The multiple choice “tests” and creative word games help you memorize your Memory Verses.
The test tabs are shown at the top of the window. The Hint button at the bottom the window
displays the “Hint / General Idea” field (see “Editing or Deleting a Memory Verse” above).

Each test also includes a color coded error chart. The window background turns a
progressively darker shade of red with each error. When the answer is correct, the window
background turns a soothing shade of green.

Associate Reference Test
This is a “multiple choice” style test, requiring you to match the text of the verse with multiple
verse references at the bottom of the window (see screenshot above).



Fill In The Blanks
Select from the words at the
bottom of the screen to fill in the
blanks.

Start with the first blank word and
work your way through the verse. If
you make an error, you must try
again.

Word Position
Beginning with the first blank
word, you must double click
the correct word from the list
of words (in the right window
pane). Work you way
through the blank words until
complete.

If you make an error, you
must try again.

First Letter
Beginning with the first blank
word, enter the first letter of
the word. Work you way through
the blank words until complete.

If you make an error, you must try
again.



Managing Memory Verse Files
If more than one person uses e-Sword on the same computer or if you want to categorize your
Memory Verses in different files, you can create a new memory verse file.

By default, e-Sword stores memory verses in memory.memx in your e-Sword user folder,
usually “My Documentse-Sword”.

Creating Memory Verse Files

To create a Memory Verse file:

1. Click the Verse Maintenance tab.

2. Click the New Scripture Memory File button.

3. Specify a new filename and click the Save button.

Loading Memory Verse Files
After creating at least one other Memory Verse file, e-Sword displays your Memory Verse files
in a drop down menu at the bottom of the window. Click another Memory Verse file to show
verses from that file:



Show Memory Verses at Startup
This handy feature reminds you about Memory Verses when you start e-Sword for the first
time that day. The Scripture Memory window will not show for subsequent starts during the
same day.

Tick the box marked, "Show at Startup" at the top of the Scripture Memory window.


Chapter 18: SermonAudio.com
e-Sword is integrated with SermonAudio.com. You can listen to sermons while you study the
Bible. This window automatically organizes sermons by verse according to the active
passage of scripture in the e-Sword Bibles window!

After this window opens, you can change the passage of scripture to listen to sermons on other
Bible verses.

REMEMBER: An active Internet connection is required for e-Sword to connect with
SermonAudio.com

Opening the SermonAudio.com Window ........................................................................206
Listening to a Sermon .....................................................................................................206
Listening to Sermons On Different Verses ......................................................................209
Sorting Sermons By Heading ..........................................................................................209
Adjusting the Width of Heading Columns ........................................................................209


CHAPTER 18: SERMONAUDIO.COM

Opening the SermonAudio.com Window
Click Tools from the main menu and choose SermonAudio.com. This window displays
sermons based on the active verse in e-Sword’s Bibles window.

The active verse in the
Bibles window is highlighted
in red.

Listening to a Sermon
To listen to a sermon, click the sermon title’s blue hyperlink.



Learning More About the Speaker or Sermon
Click the SermonAudio.com logo to learn more about the speaker or sermon currently
playing. If you are not currently playing a sermon, the profile of your last played sermon will
load.

After the website loads in your browser, you can:

• View the speaker’s biographical information.

• Download the audio in mp3 format.

• Purchase a transcript.

• Find podcasts.

• Identify the speaker’s
most popular
sermons.

• Browse all the speaker’s
sermons.

• Locate affiliated
churches and
broadcasters.



Using the Sermon Player
You can control the sound with the Sermon Player in the lower, left portion of the window. If
you’re unfamiliar with Internet audio players, think of the Sermon Player as an advanced VCR.

For ease of explanation, we’ve added a few “sticky notes” to the Sermon Player. The
numbered notes are explained below:

1. Rewind: If available, the audio will rewind while you hold this icon.

2. Seek: By moving this icon right or left with your mouse, you can skip forward or
backward in the audio playback.

3. Fast Forward: The audio will play at twice the speed while you hold this icon.

4. Play: Click the play icon to start the sermon.

5. Stop: Click the stop icon to stop the sermon.

6. Previous: Skip to the previous sermon, if available.

7. Next: Skip to the next sermon, if available.

8. Mute: Instantly decreases the volume to zero.

9. Volume: Increases or decreases the sound level as you move this icon right or left.



Listening to Sermons On Different Verses
Initially, the SermonAudio.com window shows sermons
based on the active verse in e-Sword’s Bibles window.

To display sermon titles on different verses:

1. Click Bible from the SermonAudio.com window
menu.

2. Choose Lookup Scripture Reference.

The Lookup Scripture Reference window is undocked,
meaning the window “floats” and can be moved.

Right-click a Bible book name to quickly show
sermons from the first verse/chapter.

Right-click a chapter number to immediately view
sermons on that chapter.

Left-click or right-click a verse to show sermons on that verse.

Sorting Sermons By Heading
You may sort sermons by Reference, Title, Subtitle, Speaker, Date, and Play Count. Click the
header field you want to sort by, as shown below with the mouse pointer. By clicking the same
header field again, the sort order reverses.

Adjusting the Width of Heading Columns
You can adjust the width of the heading columns
by positioning your mouse pointer over the
divider line until the mouse pointer turns into a
multi-directional arrow. While left-clicking the
mouse, drag the divider line to change width of
that heading column


Chapter 19: Sermon Illustrations
Sermon Illustrations are helpful for preachers preparing a sermon. Sermon illustrations can
bring to life a sermon, illustrating concepts that might otherwise be difficult to explain.

You have the option of buying a Sermon Illustration package through e-Sword or building your
own Sermon Illustrations database.

Unlocking Sermon Illustrations .......................................................................................211
Opening Sermon Illustrations ..........................................................................................211
Viewing and Copying Sermon Illustrations ......................................................................212
Filtering Sermon Illustrations ..........................................................................................212
Adding Sermon Illustrations ............................................................................................213
Editing or Deleting a Sermon Illustration .........................................................................214


CHAPTER 19: SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS

Unlocking Sermon Illustrations
The Sermon Illustrations menu option is grayed-out (non-selectable) without the Sermon
Illustrations file (illustrations.illx).

You can you purchase the fully loaded Sermon Illustrations module from e-Sword.net. The
module comes complete with over 4000 Bible illustrations, anecdotes, and poems compiled by
AMG Publishers and Pulpit Helps Magazine.

You can also download a blank illustrations.illx file from BibleSupport.com to activate the
Sermon Illustrations feature. You must add your own sermon illustrations to this blank file, which
makes the above purchase option a great deal.

Opening Sermon Illustrations
To open the Sermon Illustrations window, select Tools from the main menu and then choose
Sermon Illustrations.



Viewing and Copying Sermon Illustrations
1. View a Sermon Illustration by left-clicking an illustration in the Sermon Illustrations
tab.

2. Click the Copy Sermon Illustration button to copy the text.

3. Paste the text into your Topic Notes, Study Notes, or any word processor.

Filtering Sermon Illustrations
The Illustration Filter is in the Sermon Illustrations tab.

The Illustration Filter limits your view of sermon illustrations
to help narrow your search.

Sermon Illustrations are organized by Scripture and
Category. You may also search by keyword.



Adding Sermon Illustrations
Add a new sermon illustration under the Illustration Maintenance tab:

1. Click the Add button to add a Sermon Illustration.


Illustration Title: Title of your illustration.

Illustration Category: Choose an existing category or type a new category.

Scripture Reference: Enter any verses this illustration applies to.

Sermon Illustration Text: Enter the text into the bottom half of the window.

3. Click the Update button to add the illustration or Cancel to exit without saving.



Editing or Deleting a Sermon Illustration
To edit a Sermon Illustration:

1. Click the Illustration Maintenance tab.

2. Click the sermon illustration title you want to edit.

3. Click Edit.


Illustration Title: Title of your illustration.

Illustration Category: Choose an existing category or type a new category.

Scripture Reference: Enter any verses this illustration applies to.

Sermon Illustration Text: Enter the text into the bottom half of the window.

5. After you finish editing the sermon illustration, click the Update button.

To delete a sermon illustration:

1. Click the sermon illustration title you want to delete.




Chapter 20: The Graphics Viewer
e-Sword contains a built in Graphics Viewer. Your Bible study will come to life as you explore
the maps that coincide with your reading. You can view maps, illustrations and paintings used in
your Bible studies or sermons. e-Sword resources will sometimes direct you to a graphic in the
Graphics Viewer.

Opening the Graphics Viewer .........................................................................................216
Viewing Graphics ............................................................................................................217
Copying Graphics ...........................................................................................................218


CHAPTER 20: THE GRAPHICS VIEWER

Opening the Graphics Viewer
The graphics viewer can be accessed by clicking the Graphics Viewer icon on the e-Sword
main toolbar. Or, click Tools from the main menu and select Graphics Viewer.

TIP: The Graphics Viewer will be inactive if you do not have any installed graphical
resources. To use the Graphics Viewer, make sure at least one graphical resource is
installed. Download graphics resources by clicking Download from the main menu and
choosing Graphics. You may also download graphics files from BibleSupport.com.



Viewing Graphics
Choose from your graphic files by clicking a resource tab above the Map Display window.

Selecting Graphics within the Graphic File
Many graphics files have more than one graphic. The first graphic in the file is shown after you
select a resource tab. Other available graphics are shown in the drop down menu (see below).

Panning Graphics
Notice how your mouse pointer changes to a hand when you move your mouse inside the
Map Display window. Click anywhere in the Map Display window and drag the graphic by
holding down the left mouse button.



Resizing Graphics
The Graphics Viewer toolbar contains several icons for resizing graphics:

You can resize graphics by clicking the Zoom In and Zoom Out icons . These icons can
be clicked repeatedly to adjust the zoom.

The Fit All icon resizes the graphic to fit in your viewable window.

The Fit Height icon resizes the height of the graphic to fit the viewable window, although the
width is allowed to extend beyond the viewable window.

The Fit Width icon resizes the width of the graphic to fit the viewable
window, although the height is allowed to extend beyond the viewable
window.

TIP: You can resize the Graphics Viewer window to create a larger
viewable window. Then you can see more of a large graphic without
panning or resizing the graphic. See Chapter 2, “Customizing e-
Sword” for more information on resizing floating windows.

Many of these options are also available by clicking View on the Graphics
Viewer menu.

Copying Graphics
You can copy any graphic to your Journal, Study, or Topic Notes in the Editors window or
elsewhere on your computer.

1. Display the graphic you want to copy.

2. Click Edit from the Graphics Viewer menu and choose Copy. You may also use the
Ctrl-C shortcut to copy.

3. Press Ctrl-V to paste the graphic elsewhere on your computer.


Chapter 21: The STEP Reader
STEP is an abbreviation for “Standard Template for Electronic Publishing”. This file format was
designed for the storage of electronic Bible reference books. STEP is used by QuickVerse,
Bible Companion, and other Bible software products. If you already own any of these software
titles, the inclusion of the STEP Reader means you can use these resources within e-Sword!

If you do not have any STEP files, you may download a sampler step book pack at e-Sword.net
under "Extras". You may also download free and purchased Step books at:
www.lightbydesign.net

Opening The STEP Reader ............................................................................................220
Viewing STEP Books ......................................................................................................221
Pasting Into Notes .........................................................................................................221
Searching STEP Books ..................................................................................................222


CHAPTER 21: THE STEP READER

Opening The STEP Reader
To open the STEP Reader, click the Tools from the main menu and choose STEP Reader.



Viewing STEP Books
To view STEP books, click File from the STEP Reader menu and choose Open.

The STEP Reader divides the screen into two panes: The topical (or scriptural) navigation
pane on the left and the text on the right.

Pasting Into Notes
The STEP Reader supports pasting selected text into your
Journal, Study, or Topic Notes. Select the text you want to
paste, and click the Paste Into Notes icon.

You can also right-click the mouse and choose Paste Into Notes from the context menu.



Searching STEP Books
To search a STEP Book:

1. Click the Search tab on the left window pane

2. Select your search criteria and click Search.

3. Your search results appear in the right window pane, with
keyword matches shown in yellow.


Chapter 22: Searching e-Sword Using Regular Expressions
This section is intended for an advanced audience with a technical aptitude.
In depth use of this feature requires analytical and complex problem solving skills and
knowledge of a search syntax known as Regular Expressions.

NOTE: Regular Expressions have been selectively implemented in e-Sword. Not all
examples of Regular Expressions found elsewhere will work in e-Sword. If you are
running a version earlier than 9.9.1 or newer than 10.0.5, the examples may not work
properly because of changes to this feature.

Extra contributors to this section include: The tips shown at eStudySource.com and
LayHands.com (LayHands.com contains errors in syntax and definition that have been
corrected in this manual.).

Regular Expressions.......................................................................................................224
Conventions Used in this Chapter...................................................................................224
Lesson 1: Case sensitive; Characters found anywhere ...................................................225
Lesson 2: Literal vs. Special Meaning Characters...........................................................225
Lesson 3: Word Boundaries ............................................................................................226
Lesson 4: Dot Character .................................................................................................227
Lesson 5: Brackets “[]” ....................................................................................................228
Lesson 6: Range of characters “-”...................................................................................228
Lesson 7: Caret “^” .........................................................................................................229
Lesson 8: Word Characters “w” .....................................................................................230
Lesson 9: Non-Word Characters “W” .............................................................................231
Lesson 10: Pipe Character “|” and Parenthesis “()” ........................................................232
Lesson 11: Digit “d”........................................................................................................233
Lesson 12: Quantifiers "*", "+", and "?" ...........................................................................234
Lesson 13: Curly brackets “{}” .........................................................................................236
Lesson 14: Beginning Verse Anchor “^” ..........................................................................236
Lesson 15: Ending Verse Anchor “$” ..............................................................................237
Lesson 16: Putting It All Together with Useful Examples ................................................238


CHAPTER 22: SEARCHING E-SWORD USING REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

Regular Expressions
patterns of text in very powerful (but complicated) ways. In e-Sword, regular expressions allow
you to search the Bible beyond the search methods you previously used.

Understand that regular expressions see each verse in the Bible as separate characters
(letters, numbers, spaces, punctuation, etc.). Humans assemble characters into words as we
read, but regular expressions (by default) do not understand words, spaces between words, or
punctuation. Regular expressions only see characters.

Conventions Used in this Chapter
The search pattern examples used in this section may have quotation marks around them.
These quotation marks set the text apart from surrounding text for your convenience only. The
quotation marks are not apart of the search expression and will cause the expression to fail. Do
not include the quotation marks around a search pattern.



Lesson 1: Case sensitive; Characters found anywhere
If we search for “tax”, e-Sword returns verses with “tax” anywhere in the word. This includes
words like taxed, taxes, taxing, and Artaxerxes. The search is also case sensitive, meaning the
search will not find “Tax” or “TAX”.

Lesson 2: Literal vs. Special Meaning Characters
Each character in a search pattern means something to the search. A search for “Jesus Christ”
only shows results for “Jesus Christ”, not “Jesus”, “Christ”, or “Christ Jesus”. These search
terms are literal characters. e-Sword literally finds these exact characters.

Special meaning characters are symbolic. They tell e-Sword how to conduct the search. For
example, placing “b” before a search term (like this: “btax) tells e-Sword to only find words
beginning with tax.

You cannot use special meaning characters to find literal characters. For example, if you
want to find every question in the bible, you might search for the “?”. This will not work because
the “?” is a special meaning character. e-Sword will attempt to use it’s special meaning, not it’s
literal meaning.

The following characters have special meaning: ^ . ? * () {} [] |

To make a question mark literal, so we can search for it, you must “escape” the question mark
by placing a backslash in front, like this: “?”



Lesson 3: Word Boundaries
Word boundaries tell e-Sword to match your search using words, not just characters.

Search for: btax

Explanation: “b” marks the beginning of a word boundary. This tells
e-Sword to only find our search letters if they begin a word.

Words found: taxed, taxes, taxing, etc.

Words not found: Artaxerxes, poll-tax, etc.

Search for: taxb

Explanation: “b” marks the ending of a word boundary. This tells e-Sword to only
find our search letters at the end of a word.

Words found: tax, poll-tax etc.

Words not found: Artaxerxes, taxes, taxing, taxed

Search for: btaxb

Explanation: “b” marks the beginning and ending of a word boundary. This tells
e-Sword to only find our search letters if “tax” marks the beginning
and ending of a word.

Words found: tax

Words not found: Artaxerxes, taxes, taxing, taxed, poll-tax, etc.



Lesson 4: Dot Character
The dot represents any one character.

Search for: bl.e

Explanation: The dot represents any one character. So, the search will
return “lie”, “lies”, “lye”, etc. But not “like” or “life” because
those words would require more than one character and we
only have one dot, allowing for one character.

Words found: lie, lies, lye, etc.

Words not found: like, life, etc.

Search for: bl..e

Explanation: The dot represents any one character and we have two dots.
So, the search will match “like”, “life”, etc. But not “lie”, “lies”,
“lye”, etc.

Words found: like, life, etc.

Words not found: lie, lies, lye etc.

Search for: b.ord

Explanation: The dot represents any one character, whether uppercase or
lowercase.

Words found: lord, Lord, cord, word, etc.



Lesson 5: Brackets “[]”
Square brackets mean any single character within the square brackets.

Search for: [Ll]ord

Explanation: Searching for "[Ll]ord" will return all verses containing "Lord" or
"lord".

Verses found: Verses with Lord or lord.

Search for: gr[ae]y

Explanation: Searching for gr[ae]y will return all verses containing “gray” or “grey”

Verses found: Verses with gray or grey. This is useful when you are not sure how
a translation spells a word, gray/grey, color/colour, etc.

Lesson 6: Range of characters “-”
A range of characters can be specified with [ - ] syntax. Several ranges can be given in
one expression.

Search for: H307[0-4]

Explanation: Locate all verses containing "H3070", "H3071", "H3072", "H3073",
or "H3074".

Verses found: Verses with "H3070", "H3071", "H3072", "H3073", or "H3074".

Verses not found: Verses with “H3075”, “H3076”, etc.



Lesson 7: Caret “^”
If a character class starts with “^”, then specified characters will not be selected.

Search for: H307[^5-9]

Explanation: Locate all verses containing "H3070", "H3071", "H3072", "H3073",
or "H3074", but it will also match "H307".

Verses found: Verses with "H3070", "H3071", "H3072", "H3073", "H3074",
“H3080”, etc.

Verses not found: Verses with “H3075”, “H3076”, “H3077”, “H3078”, “H3079”.

Search for: man[^k]

Explanation: Locate all verses containing the characters “man” as long as the
characters are not “mankind” or any other word with “man” + “k”.

Verses found: Verses with “man” and any other variation of “man” except
“mankind” and any other word with “man” + “k”.

Verses not found: Verses with “mankind”.

A cleaner way to accomplish the above search is to use a negative
lookahead assertion: man(?!kind)



Lesson 8: Word Characters “w”
This code matches a word character. Word characters include the letters from A - Z
(upper-case and lower-case), plus the digits from 0 - 9, plus the underscore _ character.
All other characters (spaces, punctuation, etc.) are non-word characters.

Building on the brackets in Lesson 5, understand that “w” is an abbreviation for: “[A-Za-
z0-9_]”.

Search for: selw

Explanation: Finds all words which contain "sel" followed immediately by a word
character.

Words found: "self”, “selves”, “Methuselah, “himself”, “themselves”, etc.

Search for: selwb

Explanation: Finds all words which contain "sel" followed immediately by a word
character and the end of the word.

Words found: "self”, “sell”, “closely, “himself”, “myself”, etc.

Words not found: " Methuselah”, “themselves”, “selves”, etc.



Lesson 9: Non-Word Characters “W”
This code matches a non-word character. Word characters include the letters from A - Z
(upper-case and lower-case), plus the digits from 0 - 9, plus the underline character. All
other characters (spaces, punctuation, etc.) are "non-word characters".

Building on the brackets in Lesson 5, understand that “W” is an abbreviation for: "[^A-
Za-z0-9_]”.

Search for: Wself

Explanation: Finds all words which begin with " self". More specifically, this finds
a string of characters containing a non-word character (such as a
space) followed immediately by "self".

Words found: " self", " selfish", " self-control", etc.

Words not found: "itself", "herself", "yourself", etc.

Search for: "WselfW"

Explanation: Finds all occurrences of the word "self" as a stand-alone word. More
specifically, this finds a string of characters containing a non-word
character (such as a space) followed immediately by "self", followed
immediately by a non-word character (such as a space or
punctuation).

Words found: "self".
Since a hyphen is a non-word character, this search will also find
words such as "self-control", "self-indulgence", and so on. In a
moment we'll see how to exclude hyphenated words.

Words not found: "selfish", "yourself", etc.



Lesson 10: Pipe Character “|” and Parenthesis “()”
The pipe | sign means “or”.

Search for: Jesus|God

Explanation: Finds all verses with “Jesus” or “God”. The search will return a verse
with either term.

Verses found: Verses with “Jesus” or “God”

Verses not found: Verses not having “Jesus” and not having “God”

Parenthesis allow for grouping or to apply a quantifier to all characters in parenthesis
(see Lesson 12 for Quantifiers).

Search for: lov(e|ed|er|es)

Explanation: Alternating text can be enclosed in parentheses "()" and alternatives
separated with "|". Searching for "lov(e|ed|er|es|ing)" will locate all
verses containing:

"love", "loved", "lover", "loved", or "loving".

Verses found: Verses "love", "loved", "lover", "loved".

Verses not found: Verses containing: “loving”.



Lesson 11: Digit “d”
"d" matches any digit. “d” is equivalent to "[0-9]" (see Lesson 5 for Brackets). "D"
matches any non-numeric character. This is equivalent to "[^0-9]". The examples below
are based on a search of the KJV+ Bible.

Search for: Hdddb

Explanation: Locate all verses containing the a 3 digit Strong’s number H100-
H999. The b boundary prevents the search from finding a 3 digit
number within a 4 digit number.

Verses found: Any 3 digit Strong’s number, such as H100-H999.

Verses not found: All other Strong’s numbers.

Search for: Ddddb

Explanation: Locate all verses containing a non-numeric character, followed by 3
digits.

Verses found: Any 3 digit Strong’s number, such as H100-H999 and G100-G999.

Verses not found: All other Strong’s numbers.



Lesson 12: Quantifiers "*", "+", and "?"
Quantifiers specify how many times a character can occur. The asterisk “*” character
finds previous character zero or more times. The plus “+” character finds find the
previous character one or more times. The question mark “?” character finds the
previous character zero or one times.

It’s difficult to find practical Bible examples that only use quantifiers (without using other
commands in conjunction with quantifiers). So let’s take two hypothetical examples, just
to gain an understanding of the concepts. Some of the examples that follow will make
practical use of quantifiers.

Search for: abc*

Explanation: Finds the letter "c" zero or more times.

Words found: “ab", "abc", "abcc", "abccc", etc.

Search for: ro*t

Explanation: Finds the letter "o" zero or more times.

Words found: “rot", "brother", "root", "rooted", "birth", words containing “rt”, etc.

Search for: abc+

Explanation: Finds the letter "c" one or more times.

Words found: “abc", "abcc", "abccc", etc.

Words not found: “ab”

Search for: ro+t

Explanation: Finds the letter "o" one or more times.

Words found: rot", "brother", "root", "rooted", etc. If a word had three “o’s”, it would
be found.

Words not found: words containing “rt”, like birth, because the “o” must be found at
least once.



Search for: abc?

Explanation: Finds the letter "c" zero or one times only. This differs from the +
and * characters because they could find the character one or more
times. The question mark is limited to a maximum of one.

Words found: “ab”, “abc”

Words not found: “abcc”, “abccc”, etc.

Search for: ro?t

Explanation: Finds the letter "o" zero or one times only. This differs from the +
and * characters because they could find the character one or more
times. The question mark is limited to a maximum of one.

Words found: rot", "brother", "root", "rooted", "birth", words containing “rt”, etc.

Words not found: If a word had three “o’s”, it would not be found.

Searching for "Saviou?r", “Saviou*r”, or Saviou+r”, will each locate 29 verses in the KJV
containing "Savior" or "Saviour”. This illustrates that sometimes there isn’t a difference
which quantifier you use. But in our later examples, you will see a quantifier choice can
be critical.



Lesson 13: Curly brackets “{}”
Curly brackets "{}" enable precise specification of character repetitions:

• “(abc){2}” matches the “abc” characters two times.

• “(abc){2,4}” matches “abc” a minimum of two times and a maximum of four
times,

• “(abc){2,}” matches abc a minimum of two times, and “{,4}” matches “abc”
maximally four times.

Quantifiers "*", "+", and "?" (Lesson 12) are really special cases of the bracket notation.
"*" is equivalent to “{0,}” and "+" is equivalent to “{1,}” and "?" is equivalent to “{0,1}”.

In Lesson 6, we searched for “Hdddb” in the KJV+ Bible to locate all verses containing
a three digit Strong’s number, such as H100-H999.

Using what we just learned, we can search for “Hd{3}b” to return the same result as
Lesson 6. Since “d” stands for any digit and “{3}” limits our digits to three, only H100-
H999 will match.

Lesson 14: Beginning Verse Anchor “^”
The “^” anchor tells e-Sword to find our search term at the beginning of a verse.

Search for: ^ God

Explanation: Locates all verses starting with the characters “God”.

Verses found: All verses starting with the characters “God”.

Verses not found: Verses with “God” anywhere else in the verse.

Because each e-Sword verse begins with a space, we have a space in “^ God”.



Lesson 15: Ending Verse Anchor “$”
The “$” anchor tells e-Sword to find our search term at the end of a verse.

Search for: man $

Explanation: Locates all verses ending with the characters “man”.

Verses found: All verses ending with the characters “man”.

Verses not found: Verses with “man” anywhere else in the verse. Will NOT find verses
ending in “man.”, “man?”, “man;” etc.

Search for: manW? $

Explanation: Locate all verses ending with the characters “man”, including
between zero and one non-word character. “W” specifies the non-
word character. “?” quantifies the non-word character to say zero or
one non-word characters. Non word characters are all characters
other than a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and the underscore _ sign.

Verses found: All verses ending with the characters “man” plus a non-word
character. This search locates “man”, “man.”, “man?”, etc.

Verses not found: Verses with “man” anywhere else in the verse.



Lesson 16: Putting It All Together with Useful Examples
Many people may skip to this section and hope to use these examples to solve their
search goals. The in-depth examples and discussions of these commands were
methodically given in the previous examples. If you’re confused by these examples,
please read the previous section(s) the command(s) where the commands were
presented.

Example 1: Verses Starting/Ending with a Specific Characters
Let’s search for verses where the word “God” starts the verse.

Search for: ^ God

Explanation: The caret “^” command anchors our search to the beginning of the
verse. All e-Sword verses begin with a space, resulting in our space
above between “^” and “God”.

Verses found: All verses starting with “God”.

Verses not found: All verses beginning with text other than “God”.

Let’s search for verses where the word “God” ends the verse.

Search for: God(W)* $

Explanation: The “$” command will anchor our search to the end of a verse. But
since verses can end with non-word characters, like punctuation, we
must account for that or those instances of “God” will be excluded.
Non-word characters are represented by “W”. We must also include
a space between our last character and our “$” anchor.

Verses found: All verses ending with “God”, “God,”, “God;”, etc.

Verses not found: All verses not ending with the above.



Example 2: Finding Words Beginning/Ending with Specific Characters
Let’s search for all names starting with “P” and ending with “r”. Since both first names
and place are capitalized in the Bible, this search will find both.

Search for: bP(w)+rb

Explanation: The “b” commands define our word boundary. “P” represents the
first letter. “r” represents the last letter. “w” means all word
characters and the parenthesis forces the “+” to apply only to the
“w”. The “+” matches one or more word characters in between the
“P” and “r”.

Verses found: All verses containing: Peter, Potiphar, etc.

Verses not found: All verses are excluded unless they contain a word starting with “P”
and ending with “r”.

TIP: The above search has word boundaries. So if a verse ends with “Peter.” or “Peter;”
our search will not find those verses!

For our search to include punctuation (or non-word characters), we must modify our
search to include zero or more non-word characters. Non-word characters are
represented by “W” and we can find zero or more instances of the previous character
with “*”: bP(w)+rb(W)*



Example 3: Finding Verses Only If They Contain Two+ Specific Words.
Let’s search for “Jesus” and “Peter” and only find verses containing both words. You can
easily find a third, fourth, fifth, etc. word by adding additional pipe | symbol.

Search for: (Jesus).+Peter|(Peter).+Jesus

Explanation: We should ideally use “b” word boundaries around our search
words, “Jesus” and “Peter” but for ease of presentation, we are not.

The search finds “Jesus” and then skips one or more characters in
search of “Peter”. The dot “.” represents any character. The “+” sign
quantifies the dot wildcard character to unlimited. The pipe “|” sign
says “or”. The flip side of this pattern searches for “Peter” then
“Jesus”. The first side of our pattern would only find “Jesus” then
“Peter”.

Verses found: All verses containing both “Jesus” and “Peter”, including “Simon
Peter”.

Verses not found: All verses not containing the text “Jesus” and “Peter”.

LIMITATION: Using e-Sword’s implementation of Regular Expressions,
I’m unaware of a way to ignore “Simon Peter” but still find “Jesus” and
“Peter”. This should be possible through several methods, including a
negative assertion, but this appears unsupported. If can show otherwise,
contact Josh Bond on BibleSupport.com

We can achieve the same results with a look-ahead assertion. A look-ahead
assertion requires one string to the right of another to return a match. So, our
search expression is: Jesus(?=.*Peter)|Peter(?=.*Jesus)

These expressions aren’t completely identical, there are slight differences
depending on whether the expression is greedy or lazy. Please refer to
Regular-Expressions.info for more information.



Example 4: Finding “Wildcard” Verses References.
You may use a Regular Expression to find verse references in a commentary or
dictionary. Let’s search for any Bible verse.

Search for: w+.d{1,3}:d{1,3}

Explanation: “w” finds any word character, “+” repeats the search as long as the
search finds more word characters, the “.” finds any character (like a
space or a _ in a verse reference), “d” represents any digit, “{1,3}”
matches the digit at least once and up to three times, the “:” is a
literal character to find the “:” in the verse, and the final “{1,3}”
behaves the same as the first.

Verses found: When running this search in a commentary, dictionary, or topic, the
search matches all entries containing ANY Bible verse reference,
including Genesis 1:1 and Gen_1:1.

What if you only want to find e-Sword verse references (tool tipped verses)? The
difference between an e-Sword verse reference and a traditional verse reference
is that e-Sword uses a three character book abbreviation and underscore _ sign
between the book abbreviation and the chapter, like “Gen_1:1”. Our search
expression is: w{3}_d{1,3}:d{1,3}

What if you want to find specific verse references, such as all references to a
specific bible book?

Search for: Gen_d{1,3}:d{1,3}

Explanation: “Gen_” is literal text—the book of the Bible we want to find. The
remaining search expression is the same as our example above.

Verses found: When running this search in a commentary, dictionary, or topic, the
search matches all entries containing all e-Sword verse references
from Genesis.

We can further refine our search to the first chapter of Genesis with this search:
Gen_1:d{1,3}



Example 5: Finding a Verse with Words in Proximity to other Words.
You may use a Regular Expression to find verses with specific words in proximity other
words. This example is a more complex version of a previous example, Example 3. In
our example below, let’s search for “Jesus” followed by “Christ” with no more than six
words between them.

Search for: bJesusW+(?:w+W+){1,6}Christb

Explanation: “b” sets a word boundary, “Jesus” is our first word to find. “W+”
finds one or more non-word characters (like a space for example).
The parenthesis sets the precedence and scope of the look-ahead
assertion. “w+” finds one or more word characters, “W+” finds one
or more non-word characters. “{1,6}” skips a minimum of one word
and a maximum of six words. “Christ” is the second word to find.

Verses found: This search only finds verses with Jesus followed by Christ, with at
least one word in between and no more than six words in between.

What if we want to find the opposite—“Christ” followed by “Jesus” with at least one word
in between and no more than six words in between? A few translations will show
additional results.

We must insert, a pipe | symbol and reverse the order of our words. Our expression is
now:

bJesusW+(?:w+W+){1,6}Christb|bChristW+(?:w+W+){1,6}Jesusb

We can achieve the same results with a look-ahead assertion. A look-ahead
assertion requires one string to the right of another to return a match. So, our
search expression is: Jesus(?=.*Peter)|Peter(?=.*Jesus)

Reference Information on Regular Expressions.
Regular Expressions have been selectively implemented in e-Sword. This means many
examples of Regular Expressions you find elsewhere will not work in e-Sword.

A great Regular Expression command summary is available:
http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/RegEx-QuickRef.htm.

A wealth of reference material for Regular Expressions may be found here,
although much of this material is either not applicable to searching the Bible in e-
Sword or not supported by e-Sword: http://www.regular-expressions.info.


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