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This is a detailed list of changes and updates in each version of SwordSearcher. Items marked "Deluxe only" are library modules added to the Deluxe study library and are only available from a full installation. See the upgrade page for information on upgrading SwordSearcher.
Version 7.0
Library Additions:
Program:
- New more powerful and "unified" Go To Verse and Search Toolbar:
- A single starting point for going to a verse or doing a Bible search is easier to use than the previous separated system.
- Automatically provides search suggestions with spelling corrections and matching verse count as you type.
- Automatically suggests possible phrases from the Bible you might be looking for as you type.
- Can also be used to open a Topic guide, verse list, Find Related Verses, or locate library modules by title.
- Search suggestion (when you misspell a word) now also works for phrases.
- (For users who do not wish to have the search suggestions appear while they type, this option can be disabled in File, Preferences, Misc. Options.)
- New "Bible Word Clouds Generator" tool:
- The Bible Word Cloud Generator is a scripture visualization tool that can show you at a glance what words are emphasized in a portion of Scripture, making word associations that might not be obvious easy to see. It's a great study tool that is very easy to use.
- The word cloud generator shows words weighted (size and color intensity) based on their relative frequency. That is, words used more often in the passage will be bigger and more intense than the others.
- Holding your mouse pointer over a word will show its word count, first use, and last use in the passage. Click a word to show all of the verses from the passage with the word in a verse list.
- Fully interactive and customizable, with common word exclusions, support for temporary word removal, and support for automatically combining multiple word forms.
- You can create Bible word clouds from any portion of Scripture you want. Several sections are pre-configured, and you can instantly generate a word cloud from the current Bible panel chapter with the Generate Bible Word Cloud toolbar button on the Bible panel.
- More fascinating Scripture word associations can be found by using the Bible Word Cloud generator from Bible search results in a Verse List panel.
- This new Generator should not be confused with the Word Clouds book module (part of the Deluxe library). The book module is a stylized, fixed set of word clouds, while the Generator can create word clouds on-the-fly for any portion of Scripture you want, and allows customization.
- New Module Sets system makes it easier to manage your library to create groups of the library modules you care about:
- Module sets are user-configurable collections of library items (Bibles, Books, Commentaries).
- User can create as many different Module Sets as desired with an easy-to-use selection screen.
- Can be used to control and change visible tabs.
- Can be used to control and change Bible margin links.
- Can be used to limit the Full Library Search to a collection of library modules.
- Select Configure Module Sets on the User menu. Also, right-clicking a library tab provides an option to choose which Module Sets it is included in.
- Replaces the old "Reference Sets" system. If you are upgrading, your reference sets will be automatically imported as Module Sets.
- The Verse Guide panel and the Topic Guide have been improved:
- More intelligent grouping of titles.
- Better grouping of commentaries in lists showing a range of verses.
- Multiple colors used to make it easier to quickly distinguish between entry titles and module titles, etc.
- More intelligent entry and module title sorting.
- Verse Guide panel sort mode is easier to change with the new settings button on the Verse Guide panel status bar.
- The Visible Library Tabs and Bible Margin Links sections of File, Preferences have significantly improved module selection lists, which allow keyboard title filtering and can be sorted by abbreviation or full module title.
- Added custom module file locations configuration option:
- Select File, Preferences, Module File Locations.
- Can add additional file paths for SwordSearcher to locate modules on startup.
- Can change default user module file location; move highlighter data file, etc.
- When multiple writable module file locations are defined, creating a new user book or commentary also allows selection of file location.
- Works well with SkyDrive to sync module files across multiple computers. See help file for details.
- Custom Bible book abbreviation support (File, Preferences, Bible Book Abbreviations).
- More intelligent book module tab highlighting for matching entry titles. For example, "Abelmizraim" in one dictionary and "ABEL-MISRAIM" in another are understood to be the same, so the module tabs are shown highlighted, and switching from one dictionary to the other automatically goes to the correct entry.
- Ability to add multiple new empty entries to a user book all at one time from a list.
- File, Preferences can be saved to portable files. Also, an automatic settings backup system retains settings changes from several days of usage, in case the user accidentally deletes something important like a Module Set.
- Added more verse export styles and options.
- Additional audio Bible file set support (mp3 file sets from Bible.is can now be used without any renaming).
- Added "hide paragraph markers" option in File, Preferences, Text Display Options to hide Bible panel pilcrows.
- Added Verse List Panel right-click menu function "Consolidate Verses:" if the verse list contains duplicate or out-of-order verses, this function allows the user to place all verses in canon-order and remove duplicates.
- Improved icons and "look" for SwordSearcher 7.
- Native 64-bit executable (automatically installed on 64-bit systems). 32-bit is still supported as well.
- Numerous additional improvements throughout SwordSearcher.
Version 6.2
Library Additions:
Library Updates:
- Improved Spanish Reina-Valera [SRV] versification issues and added italics for translator-supplied words.
Program:
- New! StudyClick™
 SwordSearcher's new StudyClick system makes it even faster to do searches and lookups while you are reading text. Just hold down the CTRL key while you move the mouse over words in the Bible, Book, or Commentary panels, and instantly the word under the mouse pointer becomes a link. Click the link to do a search, look up the word in a dictionary, or other actions.
- Default options:
- As you hold down CTRL and move the mouse pointer over words, a pre-view pop-up shows the first and last occurrence in the Bible for the word. Clicking the word performs a normal Bible word search.
- If you hold down CTRL and ALT at the same time, you can click the word to open the Topic Guide for the word.
- You can choose what happens when you use StudyClick in File, Preferences, StudyClick Options. Options include favorite dictionary lookups, full library search, and more.
- Choose a secondary action if you hold CTRL and ALT at the same time.
- Choose what happens when you CTRL+click a verse link.
- New and Enhanced: "Drag and Drop" support:
 You can "drag" text into SwordSearcher from other applications (and from within SwordSearcher itself) and "drop" it into controls to perform certain actions in SwordSearcher.
- Go To Verse box: Dropping text here will open the first recognizable verse reference from the dropped text.
- Quick Bible Search box: Dropping text here will perform a quick Bible search for the dropped text.
- Commentary entry selector: Dropping text here will go to the first recognizable verse from the dropped text.
- For the Copy Verses, Print Verses, Export Verses to File, and Display Verses dialogs: Dropping text in the edit box will automatically parse all recognizable verses from the dropped text and enter them into the box.
- Dragging text to one of the search buttons on the main toolbar (Bible, Library, Topic Guide, ESI, and Scan Text buttons) will open the associated window and pre-fill with the dropped text.
- Dragging text into the Find Related Verses text entry box will perform the search on all recognizable verses in the dropped text.
- Added "Optical Zoom" support in text panels.
- There is now a Zoom setting on the bottom-left of the main window to control zooming in all text panels.
- Holding down CTRL while rolling the mouse wheel over a panel temporarily zooms in and out on the text.
- Zoom can also be selected on the main View menu and replaces the old "Increase/Decrease font sizes" feature.
- Ctrl+Alt+0 (zero) resets all zoom levels to 100%.
- Enhanced touch-based input support for touch monitors and Windows 7 Tablet/Slate PCs.
- User interface options added to improve appearance and control size for touch input and visual impairment. (File, Preferences, Misc. Options, Enhancements for Touch Input and Visual Impairment.)
- Layout improvements:
- Several improvements to main toolbar layout when resizing the main window and restoring previous toolbar configurations.
- Added option "Include main window and toolbar positions in custom layouts" (File, Preferences, Layout Options.) On by default. Includes the location and size of the main window and main toolbar configuration in custom layouts. (This option will affect the next save of your custom layout, not previously-saved layouts.) This is especially handy when using complex "undocked" layouts.
- Improved mouse text selection in the Bible panel so that margin content no longer appears highlighted as verse text is selected.
- Improved support for high-DPI settings in Windows.
- Added "Table of Contents Tool" shortcut to the Book panel right-click popup menu. Opens the Table of Contents tool and scrolls to the current entry from the book panel. This is useful as an alternative to using the Book panel entry selector.
- Added selectable user preference to for Verse Widget size (File, Preferences, Verse Widgets, Widget Size).
- New main program icon.
- Various other fixes, optimizations, and improvements.
Version 6.1
Library Additions:
Library Module Updates:
- Expanded Treasury of Scripture Knowledge [TSK]
- King James Bible Companion updated to 2010 edition [KJBC]
- Added Chinese Union Translation Simplified to Foreign Language Bible Pack.
- Various minor corrections to other modules.
Program:
- New! Bible Audio support.
- Support for verse-level, synchronized scrolling, and verse-list playback of AMG Publishers' Alexander Scourby Narration of the KJV.
- Support for chapter playback of other MP3 audio Bible sources, including Max McLean's Listener Bible, Stephen Johnston's narration from Firefighters.org, and any other MP3 Bible set with a supported file structure.
- See File, Configure Bible Audio to link audio files to SwordSearcher.
 New! Verse Widgets. (See video.) Verse widgets are user-configurable icons which appear below the verse reference tag in the Bible panel. Choose which ones appear in File, Preferences, Verse Widgets. The following widgets are available:
- Active Verse & Sync. Works like double-clicking the verse tag (performs Go To Verse options).
- Topic and Verse Guide.
- Find Related Verses.
- Copy Verse.
- Play Bible Audio. Same as option in Configure Bible Audio but included here for intuitive completeness.
- Favorite Commentaries. You can select up to three commentary widgets to include. These work like Bible margin links, except that they always show even if the commentary is empty (in which case the icon is faded). Also, clicking a widget on a user-editable commentary that is empty opens the editor, and finally, shift-clicking opens the editor as well.
- Added Ctrl+Click behavior for verse links in book and commentary panels. Ctrl+Clicking opens the reference in a cloned Bible panel.
- Additional Reference Pattern Search options added.
- The Load All Referenced Verses function of the Book and Commentary panels now loads the verse list in the order they are referenced (instead of chronological Bible order.)
- Module Selector Tool improvements:
- Items on the list indicate if they have visible tabs and if they are user-editable.
- Improved behavior of item selection when filtering the list with keyboard input.
- Shift-Clicking an item on the list toggles visibility of the module tab in its panel (Bible, Book, Commentary).
- Added right-click menus for items on the list for various module-related actions, including deleting/renaming user-created modules.
- Added "Select User Module" item to User menu, which opens the Module Selector filtered for only user-editable modules.
- User editor improvements:
- Added range option to the Insert Link to Bible Search function.
- Editor File menu item "Book Exclusions" re-named to "Configure Verse Reference Recognition."
- Added option to disable Roman numeral chapter recognition for verse linking under Configure Verse Reference Recognition.
- Improvements to verse reference recognition.
- Added Show Strong's Numbers as Lexicon Words option to File, Preferences, Text Display Options. Leaving this item checked (default) shows Strong's links in the KJVSL as Strong's lexicon words, as previous versions of SwordSearcher always have. You can un-check this option to make the links show as Strong's numbers.
- Book and Commentary tabs now show a "pen" icon next to the module abbreviation for user-editable modules. This can be disabled in File, Preferences, Library Tab Appearance.
- Added option: File, Preferences, Bible Margin Links, Use bold type for user-editable module links in the Bible margin.
- Added additional user-configurable options for colors in File > Preferences > Fonts and Colors.
- Full Library Search window remembers the last-used Reference Set between sessions.
- Improved speed of adding and renaming entries in user-created books.
- User modules whose files are marked "read only" in Windows will no longer be editable in SwordSearcher.
- Workaround for bug in Internet Explorer 9 Beta and certain video drivers which could cause a crash in SwordSearcher.
- Workaround for some virus scanners intermittently causing SwordSearcher to crash after saving edits to user modules.
- Fixed: some extremely long verse references in the Scan Text for Verse References Tool could cause a crash.
- Fixed: certain Bible searches with long lists of alternations could cause a crash.
- Lots of other small fixes and improvements.
Keyboard and mouse commands:
- Ctrl+Click a verse reference in the Book and Commentary panels to open the reference in a new cloned Bible panel.
- Pause or Ctrl+Space: pause/resume Bible audio playback.
- Ctrl+M: Opens Module Selector Tool for all module types.
- Ctrl+H in Bible panel: applies default highlighting to selected text.
Version 6.0
 Library Additions:
Library Module Updates:
- TR (Textus Receptus) module now includes Ben Chayyim Hebrew Old Testament text. New Testament text is Scrivener Greek New Testament with Stephens variants indicated in footnotes.
- Strong's Lexicon text presentation improved, especially Hebrew. Vowel points restored to Hebrew definitions. Definitions now use pure Unicode text, which enables copying to clipboard without regard for font availability in other applications.
Program:
- Bible Highlighting and Underlining:
- The Bible panel now supports user markup: highlighting and underlining.
- A variety of marker colors are available for both highlighting and underlining.
- To highlight or underline text, mark it with the mouse (as if you were going to copy a selection), then use the marker tool button on the Bible panel toolbar, or the "Highlighting and Underlining" right-click menu option.
- Markup can be easily cleared from a selection, verse, or chapter.
- Markup display and functions can be disabled by disabling the "Allow User Highlighting and Underlining" option on the Bible menu.
- Bible > Show Verses with User Highlighting or Underlining allows the user to easily see all verses that have user markup.
- Markup data is stored in the user Documents\SwordSearcher User Modules folder for easy backup.
- Search Bible dialog functions (Search > Search Bible or F2):
- New search methods:
- Proximity search: allows searching for words appearing within a certain number of verses, or within the same chapter.
- Character String search: allows searching for an exact sequence of characters, including spacing and punctuation. This is different from normal phrase searching because it includes punctuation and spacing, while normal phrase searching does not.
- Regular Expression search: allows users familiar with RegEx to perform RegEx searches. (This is an advanced user feature.)
- Added "Words of Christ only" option to Search Bible dialog options to allow for additional searching methods in red-letter words (supporting modules only).
- KJVSL phrase searches now support Strong's number placement matching in the phrase.
- Consonant search option added for Bible modules with Hebrew text.
- "Use Word List" button text changed to "View Word List." View Word List performance improvements.
- Search Results (Verse List) "Statistics and information" added: blue "i" icon on Verse List tool bar after a Bible search:
- Gives search match details, included matched terms and counts.
- "Result map" gives a list of shortcuts to first matches in each book.
- Several bar graphs showing match frequencies in books and match frequency relative to book verse count and word count.
- New Find Related Verses search:
- An easy way to find other verses in Scripture which contain words from a specified verse or passage.
- Right-click a verse in the Bible panel or Verse List and select "Find related verses." Or, select "Find Related Verses" from the Search menu.
- Words from the verse or passage are shown in a list, ordered by least-common words first.
- Check the boxes next to the words you are interested in to do a search. The dialog immediately updates with information about your search with every change or selection you make. Supports different search methods, including all word forms of the selected words.
- Verse List right-click menu "Find Related Verses for Entire Verse List" loads the dialog with all words from the verses in the Verse List.
- New Reference Pattern search (Search > Reference Pattern Search)
- Allows examination of verses with references matching various "patterns," such as "every 10th verse" in the entire Bible, or a book, or passage.
- Layout and Docking:
- Added support for multiple custom layouts. User layouts can be saved and restored easily. The View menu and layout toolbar button now have options for saving or deleting custom layouts. Restore Layout function enhanced to support custom layouts.
- Significant performance enhancements; updates to changes in layout are much faster in many circumstances.
- (Note: SwordSearcher 6.0 uses a new layout storage system. If you are upgrading from an older version, the first time you run 6.0, layout will default to Bible on Left. This will only happen once.)
- Clone Panels:
- Bible, Book, and Commentary panels can be "cloned." (Bible, Book, or Commentary menus, or right-click pop-up menus in panels.)
- When a panel is "cloned," the content of the panel is copied to a new panel and then never changes to a different entry/chapter. This makes it very easy to "hold your place" in a study while still being able to follow links in the various study panels, and is a great convenience when doing complicated studies. Users with multiple monitors will find this extremely handy and productive.
- A cloned panel is docked to the search results area by default. However, this can be changed so that cloned panels are created "floating" rather than docked (File > Preferences > Layout Options).
- Added preference option for pop-up verse preview Bible module (File > Preferences > Misc. Options). This allows the user to specify a module that will be used for Bible pop-ups regardless of the active module in the Bible panel.
- Added preference option for Bible text italicization display (File > Preferences > Text Display Options). Allows the user to substitute italicization in Bible text with brackets or normal text.
- Added preference option for Bible margin text size (File > Preferences > Fonts and Colors > Margin Font Size). This is a proportional setting, which means that you can select the size of the margin font relative to the Bible text font size.
- Added preference option for Treeviews and Module Selector Tool font (File > Preferences > Fonts and Colors > Set Individual Panel Properties). This controls the font used in the Topic and Verse guides, the Module selector tool, and other "treeview" lists.
- Improvements
- Numerous usability enhancements throughout the program.
- Active verse in Bible panel is indicated with a different background color, which can be configured or disabled in File > Preferences > Fonts and Colors.
- Strong's number search results for KJVSL highlight English text preceding the Strong's link.
- Strong's number search results for KJV highlight the English text for the Strong's number without showing the Strong's link.
- Significant speed improvements for certain kinds of phrase and wildcard searches.
- Scripture reference recognition:
- Added "Pss" as recognized reference to Psalms. Added "Sol" as recognized reference to Song of Solomon.
- Speed improvements when parsing large amounts of text in the user Editor or Scan Text for Verse References tool.
- Go To Verse box, and other text entry boxes which expect verse references, now recognize single-letter abbreviations for books. For example, M = Matthew, G = Galatians, etc. (Single-letter matching starts in the NT, and matches the first book with the starting letter. The OT is searched only of no match is found in the NT.)
- Significantly enhanced entry selectors for Book and Commentary panels:
- Speed and visual improvements.
- As letters are typed in the selector text area, the list is automatically updated with suggested matching entries.
- Topic Guide entry matching improved.
- English-Strongs Indexer text output enhanced.
- Improved text rendering in all text display panels. Higher-quality text display and faster formatting.
- Copy/Print/Export verses dialogs load with currently active verse pre-entered.
- Highlighted verse matches in the Book and Commentary panels (such as appear when clicking an item in the Verse Guide) can by cycled through with + and - keys.
- Preview text pop-up for book and commentary entries improved.
- Go To Verse box now supports verse number entry in the form of #VERSE. Example: "#1" = Genesis 1:1, and "#31102" = Revelation 22:21. (Without quotes.)
- Additional options added to Edit > Configure Copy/Export Formatting.
- When saving an entry from the user editor, the Book or Commentary panel is no longer "forced" to the edited entry.
- Performing a successful search with the Quick Bible Search box updates the Search Bible - Normal Search text entry field and drop-down list with the search text.
- Full Unicode text support throughout the program.
- Keyboard shortcut changes:
- Decrement/Increment active verse: Alt+Up/Dn (was Ctrl+Up/Dn).
- Decrement/Increment active chapter: Alt+PageUp/PageDown (was Ctrl+PageUp/PageDn).
- User editor improvements:
- Improved HTML and CSS support.
- New {ssimagestorepath} variable for advanced users in the code editor allows non-hard-coded links to images in the SwordSearcher image store for in-line image display. Example: <img src="{ssimagestorepath}\Maps\Kingdom of Saul.png" width="90%"/>
- Various bug fixes
Version 5.5
- Added How to Study the Bible by Isaac Massey (I. M.) Haldeman [Book: imhStudy] (Deluxe Only)
- Added F. B. Hole's Commentary on the New Testament by Frank Binford Hole [Commentary: FBHCNT] (Deluxe Only)
- Added The Writings of F. B. Hole by Frank Binford Hole [Book: FBHole] (Deluxe Only)
- Added "Context Preview" for verse link pop-up text. It's now faster than ever to quickly examine the context of a linked verse. (Context preview in Book and Commentary panels can be disabled in File > Preferences > Misc. Options.)
- Added improved support for custom Bible search ranges in Search Bible dialog.
- User can select from several pre-defined search ranges with the custom button (Law, History, Pauline Epistles, etc.).
- User can delete, add, and edit pre-defined search ranges.
- User can specify non-contiguous search ranges, such as "Psalm 1, 5, 6, 119." etc.
- Optimizations to user module updates, significantly improving the save-time when changes to a user-edited module are saved.
- Improvements to Topic and Verse Guide dialog:
- Added match style option (strict, normal, loose).
- Added sorting options for book entries:
- Sort book entries by Entry Title works as before.
- Sort book entries by Book Title organizes book results by module instead of entry.
- Removed "Bibles" node from result list as it was redundant and unused.
- Improved mouse and keyboard navigation.
- Improvements to Verse Guide panel:
- Added sorting options as with the Topic and Verse Guide dialog above. Can be changed by right-clicking in the Verse Guide panel.
- Improved mouse and keyboard navigation.
- Added Compare Column toggle button to Bible and Verse List panels. Right-click to change compare text selection.
- Updates to various display components and improvements to toolbar and panel appearance, especially for Windows Vista and Windows 7.
- Updates and improves to docking and layout system.
- Search result panels are now automatically closed on exit to prevent empty panel from displaying on next startup.
- Added "Results Panel List" to View menu for alternate access to multiple search result panels.
- Added Select Module Tool items to resource tab right-click menus for convenience.
- Quick Bible Search now behaves as the Go To Verse box in the event a verse reference is entered.
- Improved responsiveness of Full Library Search progress window.
- Verse Export Formatting (Search menu) now supports formatted text (such as bold for verse tags). Some changes to Verse Export Formatting options.
- Verse link detection for User Editor improvements:
- Added File > Book Abbreviation Exclusions list which user can edit to prevent certain words from being interpreted as Bible book names.
- Added support for references in the form Num. xxvii:21, Deut. xxxiii:8, etc.
- Fixes:
- Workaround for Dell Dock preventing pop-up and tooltips from displaying.
- Improved click-focus-select behavior of Go To Verse and Quick Bible Search boxes.
- Fixed toolbar buttons not properly painting on some systems.
- Fixed some minor font issues.
- Fixed layout becoming customizable after a panel being maximized and restored, even with layout customization disabled.
- Fixed commentary drop-down selector not responding if current entry is empty.
- Fixed red-lettering in Acts 9:10 (KJV)
- Other minor bug fixes.
Version 5.4
- Added Pulpit Commentary (Commentary module: Pulpit) (Deluxe only)
- Added Dispensational Truth by Clarence Larkin (Book module: LarkinDT), including charts (Deluxe only)
- Added One Book Rightly Divided by Douglass Stauffer (Book module: StauOBRD), including charts (Deluxe only)
- Improved Image Viewer
- Automatically "smart fits" image in viewer as needed
- High-quality resize when zooming out
- Improved mouse wheel handling
- Fixed printing of large images
- Fixed condition where Image Viewer couldn't be opened after minimization of SwordSearcher main window
- New "Module selector" tool. This replaces the listing of module names under the Bible, Book, and Commentary menus (this does not change library tab behavior). Each of those menus now has a "Select Bible..." (etc.) item which opens the module selection window. Also, the File menu has "Select Library Module."
- Every installed module is listed.
- Selection tool supports filtering. Just start typing to make the list filter out items that do not have the text you have typed in their title or abbreviation.
- Keyboard shortcuts from main SwordSearcher window: Ctrl+F10 opens the selection tool with only the Bibles category expanded; Ctrl+F11, Books and Dictionaries; Ctrl+F12, Commentaries.
- Minor improvements to KJV Bible module
- Other bug fixes:
- Fixed Ctrl+C and Shift+Ctrl+C not working in undocked panels
- Bible margin commentary edit links now obey margin link preferences
- Fixed some issues with library link popup previews
- Fixed phrase highlighting in Bible search result panels in some cases
- Fixed plain-text copy of Bible text including << and >> markers
Version 5.3
- Added A. C. Gaebelein Annoted Bible commentary (Commentary module: Gaebelein) Deluxe Only
- Added C. H. Mackintosh's Notes on the Pentateuch (Commentary module: CHMNP) Deluxe Only
- Added Writings of C. H. Mackintosh (Book module: Mackintosh) Deluxe Only
- Added Reina Valera Gomez (Spanish KJV) (Bible Module: RVG) Deluxe Only
- New tool: Scan Text for Verse References. Here's an overview of what it does and how to use it:
- Example uses for this tool:
- While studying references on the web: if you are reading a web page that has verse references mixed in with other text, you can copy and paste the entire document into the Scan Text tool to automatically hyperlink and highlight all of the verse references, making it very easy to read referenced verses right in the document and avoid manually looking up each one.
- If you need to load a long list of verse references into a Verse List panel, you can type or paste them into the Scan Text tool and then have all referenced Scripture automatically loaded into a verse list.
- How to use it:
- 1. Open the Scan Text for Verse References tool. (Search menu, search toolbar, or Alt+F5.)
- 2. Type or paste from the clipboard any text. The Scan Text tool will automatically hotlink and highlight verse references in the text, which you can read by hovering your mouse pointer over the verse references, or clicking the links, or by loading all referenced verses into a Verse List.
- User Editor Overhaul: The user editor (used for creating and editing personal books and commentaries) has been completely revamped, with the goal of making it a much more robust tool for recording personal commentary and study, as well as making it more useful as a Bible study and sermon preparation tool.
- Verse references are now automatically linked when the entry is saved. It is no longer necessary to use special tags to link verses in your text, though you may still tag verses manually if you wish. See the help file's user editor section for more details.
- You can now switch between Design and Code editing modes in the editor; it is no longer necessary to set a program preference for this option.
- Find and Replace functions added.
- Design mode has an integrated spell check. By default, the integrated spell check understands American English and words from the King James Bible. A British English dictionary is also available and can be selected. By default, the spell check is "live" (meaning it will underline misspelled words as you type) except for very large documents. The spell check can be manually initiated with F7 or on the Spell Check menu.
- Several new "Insert" commands are available for inserting links to other resources in Design mode. See the Insert menu.
- New "Insert Text for Verse Reference at Cursor" function (Insert menu or Ctrl+T) for Design editor. When activated, the editor re-writes verse references at the typing cursor position with the full text of the verses according to the user's export formatting options and "hard links" the reference tags as Bible panel links. This makes creating a Bible study handout a snap.
- Design mode now has a "Show Elements" option to make invisible elements (such as paragraph breaks) visible with icons.
- The HTML code edit mode uses "syntax highlighting" for easier HTML editing. The code editor has been significantly improved.
- User menu now has functions to quickly print entire user books and commentaries at one time.
- Clipboard copy improvements:
- Formatted copy from a Bible, Book, Verse List, or Commentary panel no longer "forces" the font selection into the target document (such as MS Word).
- Text manually copied from Bible and Verse List panels no longer includes "table boxes" from the panels.
- Text manually copied from Bible and Verse List panels now excludes the margin area in the copy operation.
- Fixed: in some applications, pasting Bible text manually copied from the Bible panel would paste the entire contents of the panel rather than just the selected text.
- Reduced likelihood of SwordSearcher reporting "unable to access clipboard" or crashing due to other applications not playing nice with the Windows clipboard.
- General verse formatting copy improvements.
- SwordSearcher URL Protocol implemented: a standardized linking system now exists to work with SwordSearcher from any point where URLs are supported (such as Internet Explorer, MS Word documents, etc.). See the help file for the complete protocol and link specifications.
- General Improvements:
- Verse Lists from Bible searches now show the match count as well as the verse count. For example: a search for "love" reports "311 matches in 281 verses." Please note that while this works well for simple word and phrase searches, complex searches involving boolean operations may not produce meaningful "match counts" since these types of searches will often match one part of a verse more than once.
- Search result highlighting highlights found phrases contiguously (including spacing) instead of only highlighting each individual word of the phrase.
- Holding the mouse pointer over a commentary or book entry link now "pops up" a preview of the book or commentary entry text.
- User interface icon painting improved.
- Improvements to verse reference formatting in Book and Commentary panels.
- Placement of "Search Words of Christ in KJV" window improved.
- Clicking "Search for # in KJVSL" (Strong's lexicons) no longer prompt for the search; search is immediate.
- Improvements to KJV Bible module.
- Double-clicking in Go To Verse and Quick Bible Search toolbar boxes now selects entire text, not just one word.
- Added Print command to Image Viewer to simply printing of images.
- Functions that handle verse reference input from the user are even more effective in understanding what verses are intended by the user. SwordSearcher now understands well over 2,000 different variations of book names and book abbreviations from the 66-book KJV canon.
- Support for "old style" commentary verse references with chapters specified in roman numerals added. Eample: Rom. iv. 1-2. (Romans 4:1-2). This was a common way of referencing verses and is especially useful with the new Scan Text for Verse References function or when pasting in text into a user book or commentary entry. Note that the period after the roman numeral is required.
- Search result panel tree view controls now use Windows menu font settings (useful for users who have set larger font settings in Windows).
- Improved printing of Book and Commentary entries.
- File menu now has "Print Book/Commentary Panel Text" functions which prints the text exactly as it appears in the Book or Commentary panels. (Duplicates function already on the right-click pop-up menu for the panels.)
- Hovering over a Bible panel link in a Verse List (search results, etc) shows the full book name in the tooltip. Useful if the user is not familiar with book name abbreviations.
- The Bible Panel "Copy All Verses" function (pop-up menu) has been improved. It now copies the entire panel text as it appears but without the margin area.
- Improved positioning in Bible and Verse List panels after layout/size changes.
- Added "Close All Search Result Panels" function (View menu or Ctrl+F9)
- Opening the Topic and Verse Guide (Alt+T) when the active panel has selected text pre-fills the selected text in the TVG.
- Other Changes:
- Removed "Keep editor window on top" option from Preferences. (Function no longer necessary.)
- Removed "Edit Raw HTML code" option from Preferences. Function is obsolete -- the user can now switch between edit modes in the editor on-the-fly.
- Bug Fixes:
- Right-clicking a library tab would switch the active module before displaying pop-up menu.
- Search Result panels could lose maximize/restore buttons on layout changes.
- Fixed certain SwordSearcher windows staying on top of other applications in some circumstances.
- In some cases, verse links pasted in from other resources into the user editor wouldn't be indexed for the Verse Guide.
- Attempting to open SwordSearcher a second time wouldn't bring the already active instance to the foreground.
- Color selection windows in user editor would appear behind the user editor window.
- Doing a Bible search which included footnotes would alter the user's default preference for Verse List panel footnote display.
- Synchronizing a Book module with one of the sync preference actions would cause a crash if the book module was empty.
- Layout changes would sometimes "break" links in the Bible panel until the Bible panel content was changed.
- Export Verses to File function could have incorrect font formatting in some circumstances
Version 5.2
- Added John Calvin's Verse Commentary (Calvin) commentary module. Contains the verse-specific commentary text from the Calvin Translation Society edition of Calvin's Commentaries. (Deluxe only)
- Added Morrish Bible Dictionary (Morrish) book module. (Deluxe only)
- Added Sketches of Jewish Social Life and The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (Edersheim) book module. (Deluxe only)
- Added Words of Christ in Red support for KJV module.
- The KJV and KJVSL Bible modules show words of Christ in red letter text.
- Red-lettering can be disabled in File > Preferences > Text Display Options > KJV Words of Christ.
- Color is configurable as well.
- Added Search KJV Words of Christ search function (Search menu). Restricts search to "red letter" text of the New Testament.
- Updated Harmonies module.
- Added additional synchronization options (File > Preferences > Sync Options).
- Improved behavior of commentary entry up/down toolbar buttons and up/down key press in entry selection box.
- Added Show Margin Area toggle toolbar button and shortcut (Alt+F10) to Bible panel and improved toggle handling of margin items and paragraph mode.
- Added new keyboard shortcuts: Alt+Up and Alt+Down. Decrements or increments verse in the Go To Verse toolbar and performs synchronization actions.
- Added Maximize Search Results shortcut (Shift+F9).
- Added single row tabs display option in Library Tabs appearance preferences.
- Fixed rare focus bugs that could cause prompt windows to appear behind active windows causing the program to appear to be frozen.
- Fixed bug that could cause Table of Contents Tool to be opened but disabled.
- Fixed crash that could occur after changing commentaries and then using the commentary entry up/down toolbar buttons.
- Fixed font size preference issues with the View > Increase/Decrease font commands.
- Other minor bug fixes and performance enhancements.
Version 5.1
- Added options for action taken when double-clicking on a word in a Bible panel. Options are:
- Open closest entry in active Book (default),
- Open closest entry in Webster's 1828 Dictionary,
- Open closest entry in user-specified book module,
- Open Topic Guide,
- Do nothing.
- Double-clicking a word in the Book or Commentary panel opens the Topic Guide. (This can be disabled in Sync preferences.)
- Double-clicking a verse reference tag in the Bible panel performs the same actions as using the Go To Verse box. (Can be disabled in Sync preferences.)
- Added specific commentary option for Go To Verse Sync preferences.
- Added "set individual panel properties" option in font and color preferences. Using this option it is possible to set different fonts and colors for each panel type (Bible, Book, Commentary, Verse List).
- Expanded right-click menus for Bible, Books, and Commentary library tabs to provide lists of tabs with complete names as an alternative means of accessing modules.
- Added Library Table of Contents Tool (on Search menu, or Shift+Alt+T)
- Added +/- key press function for focused panels displaying highlighted search results. Pressing + or - keys “cycle” each highlighted search result into view.
- Added "Find in focused panel text" search option -- like a word processor "find next" function. (Ctrl+F shortcut for focused text panel.) Searches the text displayed in the active panel (rather than the entire module).
- Significant overall performance improvements, especially when changing panel configuration and switching between books and commentaries.
- Other minor improvements and enhancements.
- Various improvements and bug fixes for panel layout configuration, toggling, etc.
- Fixed some dialog boxes not responding to Esc keypress.
- Fixed crash error when trying to do certain invalid phrase or Boolean expression searches.
- Fixed incorrect enabling of "Export User Book/Cmt" options on User menu (they are now shown as disabled when there are none to export).
- Fixed user module build progress dialog sometimes staying visible even after build is complete.
- Improved internal "closest matching entry" selection method for book panel when double-clicking a word in Bible text.
- Fixed bug with Book menu where selecting a book from the menu could under some circumstances not load the proper entry in the panel.
- Fixed resource tabs not appearing according to user preferences in some cases.
- Other minor bug fixes.
Version 5.0
General information about this release:
SwordSearcher 5.0 is a major new version. Significant improvements to the program and the library have been made in this release. Because the fundamental file format of the SwordSearcher modules has changed (to support faster and more robust searching and indexing), there is no update file that can be downloaded to upgrade 4.8 to 5.0. While the 5.0 module format is not compatible with previous versions of SwordSearcher, you can easily import your user commentaries and books from SwordSearcher 3 or 4 into SwordSearcher 5.
- Added John Gill's Exposition of the Bible commentary.
- Added Chronologies and Harmonies book module.
- Added Clarence Larkin's commentary on Daniel and Revelation.
- Search system improvements:
- Improved support for wildcard searching; added support for single wild character.
- Added "English Stemming" search option to find all forms of a word.
- Added "Fuzzy Matching" search option to find words that are close matches, such as colour = color.
- Added complete support for boolean expression searches and modifier tokens to apply specific search options, such as case sensitivity or fuzzy matching, to specific words in a search.
- Bible search "word list" dialog has been improved to include a list of close matches while seeking a word in the list.
- The "Go To Verse" toolbar, in addition to setting the displayed verse in the Bible panel, also loads a Verse Guide panel in the search results area. (Setting can be changed in user preferences.)
- Library improvements:
- Commentary and book modules support all new search functions described above.
- Entire library is now pre-indexed to support fast searching of any or all commentary and book modules. The "Full Reference Search" function from 4.8 has been replaced with a "Full Library Search" function. Library search results are loaded in a results panel similarly to Verse Lists.
- Library modules now have a "module information" screen. Right-click a module tab to view.
- Several library modules have been reformatted to improve text presentation and navigability.
- User interface improvements:
- New docking system allows user to completely customize configuration of the display panels. Three pre-set layouts are defined, and the user may enable layout customization to move panels in any desired configuration, including floating a panel off of the main display window.
- Improved pop-up text formatting. Added ability to change pop-up and tooltip font and color in user preferences.
- Added page selector to Verse List panel toolbar.
- Now supports multiple Verse Lists and Library Search Result panels. By default, new searches open new panels, allowing simultaneous view of different searches. (Setting can be changed in user Preferences.)
- Added Quick Bible Search box to main toolbar. Also, when using the Quick Bible Search toolbar, if one word is entered and not found in the active Bible, SwordSearcher will present alternatives. For example, typing "savior" into the Quick Bible Search toolbar with the KJV active will offer to search for "saviour" instead (the correct spelling of the word in the KJV).
- General improvements and changes:
- Various updates and changes to support Windows Vista.
- Completely revised help file and manual.
- Added "Rename entry title" for user books on Books menu.
- Added various keyboard shortcuts.
- There have been numerous performance enhancements and minor bug fixes not listed here.
- Forge for SwordSearcher is now available. Forge is a free module-build tool for creating SwordSearcher modules without using SwordSearcher's internal user editor.
Version 4.8
- Added Keil and Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary (Deluxe only)
- Added Lightfoot's commentary on the Gospels (Deluxe only)
- Added Finney's Systematic Theology (Deluxe only)
- Added Bounds on Prayer (Deluxe only)
- Significant improvements to memory management, resulting in faster performance for most systems
- Fixed errors in Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Text in Full Reference Search dialog can now be copied to clipboard
- Verse reference parser improvements
- Improved automatic correction and handling of certain module errors
- Commentary view now includes next/previous links when showing an empty entry
- No longer "beeps" when enter is pressed in Go To Verse
- F6 added as additional shortcut for Go To Verse (Alt+G still works too)
- Added update check function on Help menu, optional reminder interval on Options.
- Fixed excessive indentation in some Webster 1828 entries
- Added "look up in Websters" popup menu item for Bible display, when appropriate.
- Added Paste as Plain Text function to user editor
- Fixed problem where Verse List status text could improperly size
- Fixed sizing bug with displays that could cause the Bible and Commentary scroll bars to creep off the edge of the screen in some circumstances.
- Added export formatting styles I and J.
- Back/Forward history in Book and Commentary displays now remember scroll position.
Version 4.7
- Added Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible (Deluxe only)
- Added 1611 edition KJV Bible (Deluxe only)
- Added Bishops Bible (Deluxe only)
- Added Old Testament portion to Barnes Commentary (Full commentary now complete) (Deluxe only)
- Added Newell's Romans Verse by Verse commentary (Deluxe only)
- Fixed verse link errors in 1Cor chapter headings for Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary (Deluxe only)
- Fixed verse link errors in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge commentary (Deluxe only)
- Marked-text copy from main displays retains underlines
- Fixed bug where switching between Bible tabs would sometimes not update display
- Added option to preferences to force plain-text clipboard copy method with marked-text copy in main displays
- Changed size constraints of main window to allow for smaller size display
- Fixed verse reference parsing bug
- User editor font size selector is now shown in HTML font size units
- Added "Export user module" functions to allow for an entire user-created module to be exported to a text file
- Fixed user editor problems caused by Windows update KB891781
- Fixed menu display color issues on some systems
- Various rarely encountered bugs fixed
Version 4.6
- Added John Darby's Chapter Synopses (Deluxe only)
- Added Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (Deluxe only)
- Added Fausset's Bible Dictionary (Deluxe only)
- The button glyphs in SwordSearcher have been redesigned and the main toolbar buttons are slightly larger.
- Various visual improvements to the user interface have been made. Certain operations should be faster.
- The Previous/Next chapter buttons on the Bible display toolbar have been changed to a single Up/Down control.
- The 'Maximize" buttons for the various displays will now function as toggles.
- Double-clicking a word in the Bible display with a Webster's volume selected in the Book display will now attempt to look up the word in the alternate volume if it does not exist in the active volume.
- Corrected the display of bad links in some Strong's lexicon entries. These link errors are due to the original printing of Strong's and do not require a module update to fix.
- Fixed some problems with the word list dialog (from the Search Bible dialog).
- Fixed incorrect hilighting of results in the Verse List in certain conditions.
- Fixed problems with case sensitive Bible searching.
- Fixed bug where linebreaks in the user editor may not be saved correctly.
- Fixed bug where changing the Verse List version or compare version could result in a crash if no verses were displayed.
- The Verse List Display and Bible Search dialog will remember the selected version between program sessions.
- Several other minor improvements and fixes.
Version 4.5
- Added John Wesley's Notes on the Bible commentary module (Deluxe only)
- Added A. T. Robertson's NT Word Pictures commentary module (Deluxe only)
- Added English-Strong's Indexer
- Added quick-start tutorials
- Added automatic verse copy+paste hotkey (Ctrl+Alt+V) for automatically pasting verses into other applications
- Added function for renaming user modules
- Added preference option for clearing search/etc history on exit
- Added up/down controls to Commentary and Book displays for going to next/previous entry
- Fixed bug in Full Reference Search that could cause results from Strong's to be incomplete
- Improved display on systems set to large fonts
- Several other minor fixes and improvements
Version 4.4
- Added Geneva Bible module (Deluxe only)
- Added Spurgeon Sermons book module (Deluxe only)
- New user content editor (now more of a WYSIWYG editor)
- Added toolbar button to commentary display for deleting a user entry
- Improved handling of oversize user entries (rarely encountered)
- Added 'append to clipboard' function
- Improved result linking in Full Reference Search
- Improved status bar text information
- Improved verse link handling in user content
- User can now right-click a Bible tab to select/deselect compare version (in addition to using the regular popup menu)
- Various minor bugfixes
Version 4.3
- Added Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English Book module (Deluxe only)
- Added Tyndale's Translation Bible module: New Testament, Pentateuch, and Jonah (Deluxe only)
- Minor fixes to Spurgeon's Morning and Evening module
- Improved searching in Book and Commentaries
- Topic Guide renamed to Topic and Verse Guide
- Topic and Verse Guide now includes commentaries when searching verse references
- Topic and Verse Guide now supports verse ranges in addition to specific verses
- New Full Reference Search feature
- Minor corrections to Strong's data
- Added function to copy image in image viewer to clipboard
- Bible text searching improved, especially when doing phrase searches
- Ability to assign titles to bookmarks added
- New export styles added to Configure Copy/Export Formatting
- Fixed problem on some systems with Bible drop-down lists (Book & Chapter)
- Improved clipboard output for selection copy
- Added options for including next/previous chapter links in Bible Display
- Added Substring Matches option to Bible search, same as searching with wildcards on each end of the word
- Fixed KJVSL search results where some words would not be hilighted properly in rare cases
- Restart no longer required after creating a new user module
- Option to delete user modules from inside SwordSearcher added
- Double-clicking a word in the Bible display now attempts to look that word up in the active dictionary/book
- New resource tabs system implemented
- Ability to hide tabs added
- Other various minor improvements to program
- Various visual improvements
Version 4.2
- Added Wycliffe Translation Bible module (Deluxe only)
- Added Rightly Dividing the Word book module (with images for image viewer) (Deluxe only)
- Added Osborn's Biblical History book module (Deluxe only)
- Added King James 2000 Bible module (Deluxe only)
- Added Dutch Statenvertaling Bible module (Deluxe only)
- Significant improvements to ISBE module (Deluxe only)
- Various minor improvements to several other modules (Deluxe only)
- Added Image Viewer feature
- Added Maps module (for image viewer) (Deluxe only)
- Added illustrated portion (270+ illustrations and maps) to Easton's Bible Dictionary module (illustrations not available in download version due to file size constraints) (Deluxe only)
- Improvements to Topic Guide and reference link popup selector
- Various cosmetic improvements; support for Windows XP themes
- QuickJump now moves commentary as well as Bible display
- Added support for book and commentary entry links in user modules
- Added windows states (position and size) save option, on by default
- Added user editor "stay on top" option, on by default
- Added user editor "raw" mode (doesn't interpret paragraphs, intended for advanced users), OFF by default
- Added "Print this window" feature to Verse List, Bible, Book, and Commentary pop-up menus. Prints as displayed on screen.
- Added Resource Tabs preference page for configuring tab display options
- Added "copy verse from link" function to Book and Commentary popup menus. Allows you to copy the linked verse without viewing it in the Bible or Verse display.
- User editor no longer closes automatically with save
- Speed improvement in opening user editor in some cases
- Added Previous/Next Chapter buttons to Bible display toolbar
- Added support for CSS in user entries (must appear in <head> segment of HTML. Intended for advanced users who already know how to manually code style sheets. No support for this feature is offered.)
- Other minor bug fixes and improvements.
Version 4.1
- Added Abbott NT Commentary module (Deluxe only)
- Added Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary module (Deluxe only)
- Added Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia module (Deluxe only)
- Added Fox's Book of Martyrs module (Deluxe only)
- Switch Bible Text keyboard shortcuts added: Alt+Left: Previous version, Alt+Right: next version.
- New keyboard focus shortcuts: Alt+1: Verse List, Alt+2: Bible Display, Alt+3: Book Display, Alt+4: Commentary Display
- SwordSearcher now remembers which Bible, Book, and Commentary you had open when you last closed
- Added functions added for printing Commentary and Book entry ranges, on File menu
- Added Display Verse List function to Verse List menu (loads specified verses into the list)
- Fixed rare bug with popup menus when no Books or Commentaries loaded
- Fixed problems with verse scrolling in Paragraph mode
- Rare search result display problems with KJVSL fixed
- Fixed removal of character after pipe (verse references) in user editing
- Fixed some help linking errors
- Verse tag now marked in Bible display when clicking reference in Book or Commentary
- Successive pages in verse list now gives correct verse on pop-up menu
- Minor memory/resource improvements
- Corrections to Morning and Evening Devotional
Version 4.01
- Corrected bad link in Torrey's Topical Textbook
- Topic Guide and Custom Search Range dialogs now display correctly on systems set to Large Fonts
- "Today's Proverb" added to Devotional Menu (was only on Bible menu)
- Corrected bookmark #9 bug
- Fixed bugs which could cause some menu and toolbar functions to be non-responsive
- Corrected crash bug in Configure Export Formatting
- Display windows can no longer become "lost" when resized to zero width
- Added function on View menu to restore default sizes to display windows
Version 4.0
- Initial SwordSearcher 4 release.
Older Versions
If you are still using a version older than 4.0, please see A Brief History of SwordSearcher Bible Software for more information on how SwordSearcher has changed.
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