Author: Brandon

SwordSearcher 9 Released with Dark Mode and more

SwordSearcher 9’s new Dark Mode interface

After a considerable development period, SwordSearcher 9 is finally available!

There are a couple of new library modules, as usual, but the real improvements are to the program itself. Version 9 adds a dark/light color mode toggle that lets you quickly adjust the color mode of SwordSearcher’s interface for when you’re working late and night in a dim environment or just trying to reduce eye strain. Check out the comparison of color modes here. What’s great about the color mode toggle is that it remembers your text and background color choices for each mode, independently. This means you can set up your favorite colors for each mode and not have to worry about losing them when you switch!

In addition to that, some serious work has been put into improving SwordSearcher’s layout and windowing systems.

Moving your study panels around in the main window is easier now because panel sizes automatically adjust to expected sizes when you move them, and all of the panels will proportionally size, automatically, when the main window is maximized or restored or otherwise resized. Setting up a custom layout should be faster and easier now.

Also, tool windows like the Topic Guide and English-Strong’s-Indexer now appear to the system as “top-level windows,” which means they can all be maximized, minimized, and most importantly, they now participate in Windows Alt+Tab task switching and Windows Snap functionality.

Clone panels have had an upgrade, too. You can now create clone panels that can be maximized, minimized, snapped, and Alt-Tabbed. (If you prefer the prior functionality of dockable clone panels, you can have that, too!)

We’ve also been using Microsoft’s preview builds for Windows 11. Not surprisingly, to really shine on a new version of Windows, we had to accommodate some new and changed features of Windows 11. That work has been done, and SwordSearcher 9 runs and looks great on Windows 11, which is expected to be released to general availability later this year.

There’s a bunch more stuff, including hundreds of little improvements and tweaks too numerous to mention. Rest assured though, SwordSearcher 9 is still SwordSearcher and you will feel right at home when you upgrade.

Speaking of upgrades, if you’re already a SwordSearcher user with a valid license, you can get a huge discount on the new version right here.

More information:

SwordSeacher 8.4 Released with new Quick Concordance Tool and more

We’ve got two new commentaries (34 volumes worth of content) and lots of great enhancements in SwordSearcher 8.4. A new search tool has been developed, called the Quick Concordance. The Quick Concordance is a fast way to do “on the side” searches that don’t interrupt your study flow. It’s updated live as you type and it’s instantaneous, offering an unlimited number of new “concordance tabs” in a floating window. The QC has been integrated into StudyClick and the various pop-up menus for fast access and seamless use.

Also, SwordSearcher has had an analytical concordance tool called the English-Strong’s Indexer for many years. For version 8.4 it’s had a complete overhaul and redesign to make it faster and more flexible.

See the complete list of updates below. If you’re a SwordSearcher user already, go here for your upgrade.

New Library Modules:

  • William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament [Commentary module: Godbey] (7 vols, 1910)
  • Joseph Parker’s People’s Bible Commentary [Commentary module: Parker] (27 vols, 1886-1898)

New Quick Concordance Tool:

  • A convenient new way to perform quick, “on-the-side” Bible searches without opening new verse list panels.
  • Floating tool window supporting an unlimited number of search tabs.
  • Instantaneous results display in the classic concordance layout as you type your searches, making it super-easy to get word and verse counts, without disrupting your current study flow.

Enhanced English-Strong’s Indexer:

  • SwordSearcher’s analytical concordance tool, known as the English-Strong’s Indexer (aka ESI), has been redesigned and expanded.
  • The ESI can now work on small phrases and Advanced Search Expressions; it is no longer limited to using a single word only.
  • By default, the ESI now includes multiple word forms in its matching.
  • To make the ESI more powerful as an analytical concordance, it now accepts Strong’s numbers as well as English text.

Other improvements:

  • The Bible panel book and chapter menus have been enhanced.
  • StudyClick improvements.
  • Verse List bar graph now allows clicks on books that have no matches. Doing this will bring the closest match position into view, so the bar graph can more easily be used to quickly navigate the results, without having to precisely click on a bar with results.

Many more enhancements and several bug fixes. All of the details can be seen here.

SwordSearcher 8.3 Released with Enhanced Audio Bible Support

SwordSearcher 8.3 is now available!

In addition to some great new library content, the big update in this release is enhanced Audio Bible support. There are now several narrations supported by SwordSearcher’s audio Bible integration and you may link in as many audio Bibles as you have on your hard drive.

If you’re a SwordSearcher user already, go here for your upgrade.

What’s New in SwordSearcher 8.3
Q2 2019

New Library Modules:

  • James Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary [Nisbet] (12 Vols, 1908)
  • Handfuls on Purpose [Handfuls] (James Smith and Robert Lee, 13 volumes, 1943)
  • The Essential Works of A. W. Tozer [AWTozer]
    (Nine books from the life and ministry of A. W. Tozer, 1897-1963)
    One combined SwordSearcher book module:

    • Christ, The Eternal Son
    • Jesus is Victor
    • Jesus, Author of Our Faith
    • Jesus, Our Man in Glory
    • Knowledge of the Holy
    • Man, The Dwelling Place of God
    • That Incredible Christian
    • The Pursuit of God
    • The Root of the Righteous

New and enhanced Audio Bible Support:

  • SwordSearcher has supported the integration of an audio Bible for several years, but this functionality has been significantly enhanced for SwordSearcher 8.3.
  • The following Audio Bibles are now supported with verse-level synchronization and playback and can be directly played from the Bible panel and Verse List panels:
    • Alexander Scourby, KJV, AMG Publishers.
    • Alexander Scourby, KJV, Hendrickson Publishers.
    • Alexander Scourby, KJV, Scourby.com (non-dramatized mp3 edition only)
    • Max McLean’s Listener’s Bible, KJV, Fellowship for Performing Arts.
    • David Cochran Heath, KJV, ChristianAudio.
    • Paul Mims, KJV, AudioBible.com.
    • Dan Wagner, KJV, Talking Bibles International.
    • Faith Comes By Hearing Dramatized KJV.
    • Stephen Johnson, KJV, Firefighters.org.
    • Note that SwordSearcher does not come with an audio Bible. You may integrate any of the above audio Bibles into SwordSearcher once you have obtained them from their publishers or retailers. Please see the audio Bible page on the website for a complete list of supported audio Bibles and where you can obtain them.
  • You may now configure an unlimited number of audio Bibles at the same time. Switching between integrated audio Bibles is easy and done with a simple selection in a list.
  • Audio playback speed can be adjusted to make it slower or faster based on listening preference.
  • The core audio system has been replaced and updated to work with a wider variety of source audio files.
  • Audio Bible configuration/selection is accessible on the main File menu or with Shift+Ctrl+A keyboard shortcut.

Other improvements and fixes:

  • Added visual feedback for clicking on a verse widget or margin link.
  • Word Trees now remove hyphens from hyphenated words. This allows Word Tree searches and links to work consistently regardless of hyphenation setting in Preferences.
  • Verse Guide panel will automatically rebuild its content after saving changes to a user module entry.
  • Improved parsing of hard-coded verse reference links in user module entries.
  • Fixed issues related to “Remove optional hyphenation” option.
  • Fixed some tab display issues that could occur after renaming or deleting user modules.
  • Fixed a condition where the user editor would not allow saving until more changes were made after switch to Design mode.
  • Fixed incorrect counts and ratios in Bible Search Result Info and Stats for Verse Match Count by Book.
  • Fixed: Renaming a user module could orphan its keyboard shortcut.
  • Fixed a condition where user module editor Insert Table dialog could get hidden behind the editor.
  • Other various minor fixes and optimizations.

Navigation tip: Switching between book tabs and the history menu

SwordSearcher’s Books and Dictionaries panel is designed to help you review similar materials in different books. For example, if you’re viewing the Nave’s Topical Bible entry on Anathema Maran-atha, the Watson’s Dictionary tab is highlighted, and clicking on it will take you to the Anathema Maranatha entry in that dictionary. This works even though the two books use different titles. Note the subtle difference of the hyphenation in Maran-atha.

This is possible because SwordSearcher has a special “best match” algorithm it uses when you switch between book tabs. Minor spelling or orthographic differences don’t typically present a problem for reviewing similar material because of this feature.

However, if you switch between books that do not have similar entries, it is possible to “lose your place” if you don’t realize what is going on. For example, if you’re reading a book comprised of chapters instead of a dictionary, it’s not likely there will be a “close match” in another book. If you switch tabs, SwordSearcher will usually just take you to the first entry.

Sometimes this might seem confusing, and you may wonder how to get back to what you were looking at before.

That’s easy. Just use the back button in the books panel. It remembers what you were viewing. It also has a long memory. Click the back button to go to your previous entry, or, right-click the back button to see a history of what you have viewed in the books panel, and you’ll get right back on track in no time.

The “Back” history menu in the Books panel.

The Bible and Commentary panels also have back/forward navigation buttons with history menus.

More for your SwordSearcher study library

If you’re interested in adding some more content to your SwordSearcher library, take a look at the Module Repository (a part of the user forum). There are over 100 additional books or commentaries you can download and plug right in to SwordSearcher and it doesn’t cost a dime.
To download more modules, all you have to do is join the forum. Then you can add any of the modules to your library. This post has specific download instructions.

Read here for details about extra SwordSearcher modules.

Extra modules provided by the author of SwordSearcher

Over the years, as I have expanded the SwordSearcher Deluxe study library, I’ve also created books or commentaries that for one reason or another didn’t “make the cut” as “official” modules, but I’ve added them to the module repository. There are about 70 of these, from authors like:

  • John Gill
  • Charles Spurgeon
  • John Bunyan
  • B. H. Carroll
  • J. W. Burgeon
  • Edward Hills
  • and more.

Click here for the complete list of modules that I have personally uploaded to the module repository.

Joining the Forum

Anyone interested in SwordSearcher is welcome in the forum! It only takes a minute or two to join. Forum membership is not in any way tied to your SwordSearcher license.  Just create an account here. If you think you’ve created an account on the forum in the past but can’t remember, just use the password recovery option on the log in page.

See you there!

Updated video: Making your own books and commentaries

SwordSearcher has long offered the ability to create your own content in the library. This functionality has steadily been improved with new features and tools. Version 8.2, released last week, improves the editor by live-linking verse references as you type. Up until 8.2, verse references were only linked when the entry was saved. This worked well, but now you can make changes and additions and verify that the references are correct before saving the entry. This and other changes over the years prompted me to update (well, completely re-do) the tutorial video on user modules which you can now watch here.

SwordSearcher 8.2 Released

SwordSearcher 8.2 is now available.

Be sure to try out the new Word Trees tool — a fun, unique way to see word and phrase connections in the Bible.

If you’re a SwordSearcher user already, go here for your upgrade.

What’s New in SwordSearcher 8.2

Q2 2018

If you are using a version older than 8.0, be sure to watch the video that shows what’s new in SwordSearcher 8.

New Modules:

  • Joseph Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1835) [Commentary module: Sutcliffe]
  • Reviving the Blessed Hope of Thessalonians (by Douglas Stauffer and Andrew Ray, 2016) [Book module: StauRBHT] A book-form commentary on 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Includes 17 charts.
  • When the End Begins (by Douglas Stauffer and Andrew Ray, 2017) [Book module: StauWTEB] A book-form commentary on Matthew chapters 24 and 25. Includes 60 charts.

Major new features:

  • Bible Word Trees:Bible Word Trees in SwordSearcher
    • Bible Word Trees show fascinating connections between words and phrases in the Bible.
    • The Word Tree is a visualization tool (like the Word Cloud Generator) designed to help you see Bible search results in a very different way.
    • See groupings of the sentences and phrases flowing into and out of a word or phrase across the whole Bible or just chapters or books.
    • Connections between words and phrases can suddenly become obvious where they can be hard to spot in a conventional list of verses.
    • Fully interactive. Fast.
    • Integrated: load conventional verse lists and search results based on the word trees for further study.
    • See dozens of word tree previews for any portion of Scripture, like a chapter or book, to get ideas for additional exploration, or just to get a new birds-eye view of a passage.
  • Live verse tagging in the user module entry editor:
    • It is no longer necessary to save the text you are editing to see what will be automatically linked as a verse reference.
    • As you type, the editor will “live tag” any text that is recognized as a verse reference so you can see immediately what will be linked and it will instantly respond to any changes you make.
    • You can hold your mouse pointer over the live tag to see the text in a pop-up preview to verify it is what you intended.
    • Additional options when right-clicking a live-tagged reference in the editor.
    • Also added a handy keyboard shortcut for power users to insert a “contextual reference” at the caret position (Ctrl+R):
      • This inserts the book and chapter from the most recent verse reference recognized up to the caret position.
      • This is just a convenience keyboard shortcut to avoid the need to re-type book and chapter repeatedly when making a series of references broken up by other text.
  • Full-library Search Results display has been redesigned:
    • The layout of library search result previews has been improved.
    • More previews of matching text inside of entries are visible without taking up much more space.
    • Match previews also indicate how many individual matches there are in each entry, in addition to each module, so it is more obvious when an entry has multiple matches beyond what is visible in the preview.
    • Significant performance improvements.
  • Many additional optimizations and fixes. See the full revision history for detail.