Usage tips

Simplified Mode

• in this mode you will only see basic Bible reading, navigation, and bookmarking
• the special gestures support will be turned off
• Strong numbers, commentaries, dictionaries, daily devotions, Text-to-Speech support hidden
• adjustment of appearance/themes will be hidden

Bible module button

• Tap to select a Bible module for this window.
• Double-tap to toggle Strong's numbers displaying (works only if a Bible module contains Strong's numbers).
• Long touch for limiting Bible module selection dropdown list (applicable when "Quick selection of modules" setting is on).
  Underlined font on this button means that cross references are shown.

Window control button

• If only one window is shown, tap to open a new window.
• If several windows are shown, tap to close a window a tapped header belongs.
• Long-tap to toggle the windows synchronization mode. '=' means that windows are synchronized; '≈' means that windows are not synchronized.
• The indication (=) on this button means that this window is selected as a target window for opening references to the Bible (see navigation settings).
• Double-tap to select a window as a target for opening references to the Bible.

Bible position button

• Tap to select a new Bible position starting from a book.
• Double-tap to select a new Bible position starting from a chapter of a current book.
• Long touch to bring up the Bookmarks window.

Bible book selection

• Last visited Bible book is is highlighted.
• Tap a book abbreviation to proceed to selection of a chapter of that book.
• Long-touch a book abbreviation to open that book from the beginning (this is a shortcut - no selection of a chapter and a verse).

Bible book chapter selection

• A book you selecting a chapter in is shown in the window header.
• Last visited chapter in a selected book is is highlighted.
• Tap a chapter number to proceed to selection of a verse of that chapter.
• Long-touch a chapter number to open that chapter from the beginning (this is a shortcut - no selection of a verse).

Menu button

• Tap To show the MyBible menu.
• Long-tap opens the "Show, screen, scale..." sub-menu.

Sub-menu

• The "Show, screen, scale..." sub-menu allows to tune appearance of MyBible content windows.
• This sub-menu has several pages which you can flip with the "Next" and "Previous" buttons in the sub-menu header.
• The "Show" page allows to select what features to display in the Bible window. Note that you can control appearance of every Bible window independently, if desired.
• The "Screen" page allows to control an overall appearance of the MyBible's main screen.
• There is a separate usage tip on the "Scale" sub-menu page.
• The "Themes" page allows selecting an appearance theme individually for every window.
  Note that a long-tap on a theme selection dropdown list opens a selected theme for editing in the "Theme" window.
  Note also the "Auto-select" button on the "Themes" sub-menu page - it allows to assign particular appearance themes to particular Bible modules or to particular languages of Bible modules.

Configurable buttons

• Presence and order of convenience buttons is configurable from the Settings.
• You can bring up the configurable buttons that did not fit the header by a fling down on one of the shown configurable buttons.

Next/previous chapter

• Fling left to move to the next chapter.
• Fling right to move to the previous chapter.
• You can also configure buttons in the header for this. Note: if you have a big screen, these buttons should be visible by default.

Next/previous book

• Fling left with two fingers to move to the next book.
• Fling right with two fingers to move to the previous book.
  Note: There is a setting to turn this off, so that a touch with two fingers opens the book selection screen.
• You can also configure buttons in the header for this.

Scroll by touch

• A touch on the right side of the Bible window scrolls the text down a page.
• A touch on the left side of the Bible window scrolls the text up a page.
  Note: This default behavior can be changed via Settings.

Scaling

• Start a pinch-to-zoom gesture and hold it for about a second to enter the scaling mode.
• While scaling with your two fingers, observe the sample text size in the appeared "Scale" sub-menu.
• End the gesture to apply the new size. Repeat the gesture to further adjust the size.
• Fine-tune the scaling using the percentage entry.
• The "Cancel" button on the "Scale" sub-menu restores the scaling as it was before opening the sub-menu.

Window placement

• Enter the window placement mode by a long touch of the widest button (position/topic selection button) in any of the shown windows.
• Appeared bright lines show boundaries between windows. You can drag boundaries by their round handles to change a space usage by the two adjacent windows around the boundary.
• Tap on the round boundary handle to show buttons that allow moving of a window located to the top (or to the left) of the boundary to another place.
• The window placement mode allows to reset window position to the initial state, that is to the order suggested by MyBible, with all window sizes set according to the "Ancillary windows" element of the current theme. Use the Reset button for that.

Reading Plans

• You can select the reading plan(s) you want to follow in the "Reading Plans" window.
• You can assign a start date separately for each reading plan.
• The Start Screen presents reading plan items for the day.
• The "Track reading plans" option in the "Reading Plans" window helps you to pace yourself in case if you did not do the reading during some day(s), and allows you to read ahead of a plan if desired. MyBible will remind you of the action of this option when you check/uncheck it.
• A reading plan item will be marked as completed after you scroll it so that the end will be fully visible on the screen.
• If you want MyBible to help you read certain books of the Bible in a certain number of days, try custom reading plans. You can add a custom reading plan by tapping the "+" in the "Reading Plans" window header.

Cross-references

• Double-tap to activate a cross reference (this can be changed to a single-tap in Settings).
• Cross-references can be downloaded as modules.
• In the Full Mode, you can also create your own, custom cross-references.
• The "References" window lets you see all the cross-references for a verse.
• The "References" window lets you select cross-reference modules to be shown in the Bible text.
• To open the "References" window, select a single verse and use the "Cross-references for a verse" button in the Bible window header.
• To open the "References" window, you can also double-tap a verse number.

User-defined cross-references

• A cross reference has a beginning it goes from and an end it goes to. These sides are reversible.
• Select a verse or a range of verses for a cross reference to go from.
• Click the "Add cross reference" button in the Bible window header.
• Navigate to a place in the Bible you want a cross reference to go to, and long-tap the verse.
• Click the "Add" (plus) button in the "Custom x-refs" pop-up.
• Note that you need to create a cross-references set (module) before you can add cross-references - use the triple-dot button on the "Custom x-refs" pop-up.
• The bright highlight on the "Custom x-refs" pop-up indicates a cross reference side that will be assigned when you long-tap a Bible verse.
• The "Custom x-refs" pop-up lists all the custom cross-references that cover a verse shown as "From".

Strong's numbers

• Strong's numbers can be turned on in a Bible module ending on '+' (KJV+, RST+).
• An activated Strong's number shows a corresponding Strong's dictionary topic in the separate window. This only works if you have the Strong's dictionary downloaded.
• Default way to activate a Strong's number is a double-tap, however, it can be changed to a single tap via Settings.

Paragraphs and numbering

• For a more attentive studying of the Bible text you might want to turn off verse numbering and even chapter numbering. There are "chapter numbering" and "verse numbering" check-boxes in the "Show" sub-menu for this.
• Some Bible modules contain information on grouping verses into logical paragraphs. If you do not want to see such a grouping, clear the "paragraphs and indents" check-box in the "Show" sub-menu.
• Reminder: long-tap the triple-dot menu button for quick opening of the "Show" sub-menu.

Introductions

• An overall introduction is accessible by tapping the "i" button in the Bible window header, or by double-tapping the "Introduction" word at the beginning of any book.
• A book introduction is accessible by long-tapping the "i" button in the Bible window header, or by double-tapping the book title.
  Note: the name of a book which has an introduction is shown in an underlined font.
• The introduction pop-up has two display options: half-window or full-window; the first option lets you browse the introduction while you read the Bible text.

Bookmarks

• Bookmarks are shown on the right as vertical bars.
• Touch on a bookmark shows bookmark info.
• Long touch on a bookmark allows to edit or delete it.

Bookmark sets

• MyBible allows having several different bookmark sets.
• Default bookmark set is called "bookmarks", but you can create or take from your friends additional bookmark sets.
• You can select bookmark set using the action bar in the "Bookmarks" window, "Select Bookmark Set..." item.
• When your friend sends you a bookmark set file, just place that file to the /MyBible/user/bookmarks directory on your device - it will then be available as a bookmark set.
• While selecting a bookmark set, long-touching on a bookmark set name allows you to share a bookmark set you have with someone.
• In the "Bookmarks" window you can export a selected category of bookmarks into a separate bookmark set file.
• In the "Bookmarks" window you can also take (merge) a bookmark set received from someone into your current bookmark set.

Verses memorizing

• MyBible can now help you memorize a verse or a set of adjacent verses - any Bible fragment that you can mark with a bookmark in MyBible.
• MyBible offers three different exercises for memorizing, which are more or less known and used in existing specialized applications (like "Remember Me"): word hiding, first letter, text ordering.
• MyBible also offers a rather unique exercise, called voice correction. It will help you speak out loud a Bible fragment being memorized, while MyBible listens to you, checks what you have said against a corresponding Bible module, and corrects you with a voice if it hears a mistake. So this way you could work on memorizing important Bible passages while on a walk - with no need to look at the screen of your mobile device often.
• You can access the Verses Memorizing feature from the Start Screen, from the bookmarks side panel, from the action mode for selected verse(s), and by long-touching an existing bookmark in the Bible window.
• Verses Memorizing lets you select and keep track of the bookmarks which you want to memorize. For each bookmark selected for memorizing MyBible lets you create and configure a memorizing program: which of the 4 exercise types to engage, how many times a day each, and for how many days.
• Verses Memorizing keeps track of your progress.
• MyBible can notify you when it is time of the day that you have assigned to do some Bible verses memorizing.

Side panel

• Side panel can be pulled from the left edge by a gentle horizontal fling from the edge to the right. Side panel provides convenient access to bookmarks of a selected category.

Reading places

• Reading places let you quickly mark a place to resume reading from.
• Each reading place has a range of books it is applicable for. While reading, you can set there one of defined reading places that cover your current book by their books ranges.
• If you start using reading places, make sure that your defined reading places cover the entire Bible by their book ranges. To do this, go to Menu -> Reading Places.
• To set a reading place, select a single verse and click the reading place button in the window header.
• Jumping to already set reading places is available from the Start Screen.

Selected verses

• You can start selecting verses by a long touch on a verse.
• Once the first verse is selected, other verses are selected/unselected with a simple touch.
• When there are selected verses, the action bar for selected verses appears, allowing to:
• Copy selected verse(s) to Clipboard.
• Share selected verses.
• Create a new bookmark spanning from the first to the last selected verses.
• ... and more - see the buttons on the selected text action bar.

Selection of individual words

• Once you start the selection mode by a long touch on the Bible text, there is the button "Selection mode: individual words or entire verses".
• When the individual words selection is on, you can select desired words by a horizontal move of a finger. After a move is started in the horizontal direction, you can move your finger up and down - all the words between the starting point of the move and the current position of your finger will be selected.
• Tapping a word toggles its selection state, so you can correct a selection word-by-word.
• The "Back" button of your device ends the selection mode.

Long-tap on the Bible text

• a single-finger long-tap for verse selection
• a two-finger long-tap for words highlighting
• a three-finger long-tap for inserting a remark

Words highlighting

• You can highlight words and phrases in a Bible module.
• Highlighting by a color or by a line can be selected with the leftmost button in the Bible window header after a verse was long-touched.
• Start highlighting by a horizontal move of a finger. After a move is started in the horizontal direction, you can move your finger up and down - all the words between the starting point of the move and the current position of your finger will be highlighted.
• You can turn on a highlighting eraser in the header. Note that there is also a separate erasing mode, selectable with the leftmost button in the Bible window header.
• Touching a word toggles its highlighting (so you can easily correct/erase highlighting word-by-word).
• To exit the highlighting mode, make another long touch of the Bible text area, or click the "Back" button of your device.

Remarks

• Insertion of remarks into a Bible text can be activated with the leftmost button in the Bible window header after a verse was long-touched.
• Touch a word after which you want to insert a remark.
• While a remark is being edited, you can long-touch another word in the Bible text to re-position there a remark being edited.
• A remark marker is shown in a Bible module as a chapter number plus a remark order number in that chapter.
• Double-touch a remark marker in the Bible text to open a remark pop-up.
• Long-touch a shown remark pop-up to make it editable.

Favorites

• There is a "Favorite" button in the header of the Dictionary window, the Commentaries window, and the Daily Devotionals window. This button shows whether the article you are looking at is marked as a favorite or not. Tap this button to toggle-mark a favorite, long-tap to see all the favorites.
• The assigning of a favorite is marked by a time-stamp, so that you can easily see the latest favorites.
• Favorites are kept separately for every profile. However, you can import favorites from another profile.
• You can open a favorites window from the Main Menu, by a long-tap on the Main Menu item for the corresponding window (notice an added little star on the Main Menu items).

Text-to-Speech

• After a long-tap on a Bible verse, select the TSS icon (with a speaker) using the far-left button in the Bible window header.
• Once you click the Start/Stop button, MyBible will start saying the current (shown at the top) verse of the currently open Bible book.
• The speaking ends when the end of the current Bible book is reached.
• If you move to another place of the Bible while the speaking is active, the speaking will continue from a new current verse.
• A change to the synthesis speed will be applied when the next verse begins.
• MyBible also supports TTS for Commentaries, Daily Devotions, and Dictionaries.
• When commentary links are shown directly in the Bible text, and opening of commentaries in a balloon is specified in the settings, the TTS of the Bible text will be automatically opening and speaking commentaries when reaching links to them. The commentaries are spoken with a voice of a higher pitch, so that it is possible to tell by the voice whether you are listening to the Bible text or to commentaries.

Night mode

• Touching with three fingers is a shortcut to turning the night mode on and off.

Notes Window

• You can open the notes dropdown menu by tapping the header of the Notes window.
• The notes dropdown menu allows you to do all the necessary manipulations with notes: creating, renaming, deleting, arranging into folders and subfolders.
• Notes are stored in the MyBible/user/notes directory as plain text files with the ".txt" name suffix. This allows you to rearrange/rename your notes using any file manager. This also allows to obtain your notes on another mobile device, on a laptop, or in the Internet - as the result of MyBible data synchronization (regarding data synchronization see the "About" text available from MyBible menu).
• The read-only mode of the Notes window will protect your notes from accidental damaging.
• In the read-only mode of the Notes window, Bible positions referenced in notes automatically become hyperlinks to corresponding Bible places.

Profiles

• MyBible now allows having several named sets of settings, essentially forming "profiles" that allow switching between different configurations/saved states of MyBible.
• You can have different sets of windows, theme selection, navigation history and virtually all the other MyBible settings configured/prepared independently in each profile.
• You can create, select, rename, delete, share MyBible profiles via the "Profiles" menu item.
• The same set of themes, bookmark sets, reading places, words highlighting/underlining and remarks is used by all the profiles.
• Each profile has its own notes.

Commentaries

• Once a commentary module is downloaded, use the "Comment. window" menu item to open the Commentaries window.
• Commentaries are synchronized with the current Bible position.
  If you click a hyperlink in commentaries, synchronization is turned off, and the button to synchronize commentaries with the current Bible position appears in the commentaries window header.
• There are three modes of showing commentaries in the commentaries window:
  • "Show commentaries relevant to the current verse"
  • "Show commentaries relevant to the shown fragment"
  • "Show commentaries relevant to the current chapter"
  The buttons in the header of the Commentaries window help you to switch these modes; the button for a currently active mode is highlighted.
• Click on the commentaries abbreviation button allows selecting a different set of commentaries (if downloaded).

Links to commentaries in Bible text

• Long-tap on the "commentary links..." check-box in the "Show" sub-menu opens the "Commentaries in Bible text" window. This window lets you flexibly configure commentary links to be shown in Bible books.
• Long-tap on the "Comment. window" button in the Bible window header also lets you choose commentary links for the Bible text.

Dictionaries

• A distinct way to access a Strong's lexicon is to double-tap on a Strong's number, when these numbers are shown in a Bible module supporting this feature.
• You can activate a double-tap on any word in a Bible module, so that MyBible will look up a tapped word for you in dictionaries that you have downloaded (and have not marked as inactive).
  Note: This also allows you to not show space-consuming Strong's numbers and yet be able to open Strong's lexicon entries for words.
• Make a vertical fling on the module selection button in the Bible window header to see or change the action on a word double-tap.
  Note: This is only a convenience shortcut, there are spelled out settings for controlling this feature.
• The Dictionary Window has two modes: the Strong's Lexicon Mode and the Dictionary Mode, which can be switched using the button in the header.
• When you double-click a word, the Dictionary Window obtains both the word and the attached Strong's number (if the Bible module supports Strong's numbers). So by switching the Dictionary Window mode you can see articles for both a Bible manuscript's original word and for the translated word.
• MyBible provides a very diverse set of dictionaries, so it can be used even as a dictionary application. While the Dictionary Window is in the Dictionary Mode, tap the current word button in the header, and you will be able to use the powerful dictionaries lookup tool.
• Another powerful MyBible feature related to dictionaries is "References to selected verse from active dictionaries". This is available via the special button which appears in the Bible window header when a single Bible verse is selected.
  Explanation: In many Biblical dictionary entries there are references to Bible places, so when you use the above feature, MyBible finds all the dictionary entries referring to a selected verse and gives you a list to choose from. Try this - you can discover interesting comparisons and facts.

Strong's number usage

• By tapping a Strong's number in the header of a Strong's lexicon balloon.
• By using the "Strong's number usage" button in the header of a Dictionary window.
  

• Verses where the specified Strong's number(s) occur.
• Summary information on translation words used for the specified Strong's number(s). Using that summary, you can refine your search by tapping a particular word used the Bible module for a Strong's number.

• Enter several Strong's numbers (space-separated) to search for their usage at once. You have a choice: to search for verses containing all the entered Strong's numbers or to search for any of the entered Strong's numbers in a verse.
• When entering several Strong's numbers to search for, use a possibility to automatically enter all the cognate Strong's numbers for the first entered Strong's number.

Dictionary nuances

• MyBible analyzes your active dictionaries and tries to find a single best matching dictionary article. However, a result depends on the Current Dictionary, that is on a dictionary and a Strong's lexicon that you have explicitly selected from the dictionary window or from the dictionary balloon. Note that the Current Dictionary is marked by a check mark.
• When you see a list of suggested dictionary articles, you can not only select a desired article but a desired article from a particular dictionary: dictionary abbreviations in the list are individually clickable.
• When you double-tap a word in a Bible translation, MyBible will show you the best matching dictionary article, or a short list of matching articles. But when you double-tap the same word in the same verse for the second time, MyBible will show you corresponding articles from all the active dictionaries, i.e. a wider selection of articles for a tapped word.

Daily Devotions

• Once a devotions module is downloaded, use the Devotions menu item to open the Devotions window.
• Touching a Bible verse hyperlink in the Devotions window opens a corresponding Bible place in the active Bible window.
• Double-tap on the devotion day info button allows assigning a start date to a current devotions series.
  Note: A default start day is January 1st.
• You can navigate to the previous and next devotions using arrow buttons in the Devotions window header.
• Tap on the devotion day info button allows opening a devotion for a particular date.
  Note: The result depends on as assigned start date for this devotion series.
• Tap on the devotions abbreviation button allows selecting a different devotions series (if downloaded).

Random verse

• The "To random verse" menu item and header button may be useful when you are looking for a place to read from the Word of God.
• Long touch on the "To random verse" menu item or header button allows you to adjust this functionality.
• You can select book(s) to open a random verses from.
• You can request the "First verse of a random chapter".

Start Screen

Start Screen helps you quickly jump to a place of your interest.
• Start Screen shows reading places.
• Start Screen also shows today's items from the currently selected reading plan.
• MyBible shows the Start Screen after it was closed with the "Back" button.
• Start Screen can also be shown manually - use the button with star.

Buttons that can be long-tapped

Data backup and synchronization

Report Bible module defect

• You can conveniently report a noticed Bible module defect via email by selecting verse(s) with a defect and long touching the "Share verses" button.

Modules

• Modules in MyBible are named materials, downloadable from the MyBible's repository, destined for their studying within the application.
• MyBible groups modules by their destination.
• No Internet connection is needed to work in MyBible with already downloaded modules.
• The MyBible team works on correcting noticed defects in modules. The application supports automatic updating of already downloaded modules and lets you update modules manually if desired - using the Internet connection.

Bible modules

• Bible modules contain texts of Holy Scriptures, in original (Hebrew and Greek modules) and in translation to many world's languages.
• Some Bible modules contain Strong's numbers, which allow invoking of dictionary articles for Hebrew and Greek words used in original manuscripts of the Old and New Testament. In order for this to work, at least one Strong lexicon module should be downloaded (lexicons are available among dictionary modules).
• Some Bible modules contain footnotes, which are commentaries of a Bible text translator or compiler to concrete places of chapters and verses. Footnotes are inside of Bible modules and thus are downloaded and deleted together with the Bible text. 

Dictionary modules

• Dictionary modules allow obtaining information on words of the text (see usage tips on dictionaries in the main window).
• Among dictionary modules there are Strong's lexicons that allow obtaining information on words of original Bible manuscripts when reading a Bible module (if a Bible module is supplied with Strong's numbers).
• For the dictionary lookup to work effectively, MyBible needs a word forms dictionary for the text language. MyBible will automatically select for downloading a corresponding word forms dictionary when you select for downloading a dictionary for a particular language.

Commentary modules

• Commentary modules provide Bible commentaries in a form of articles linked to particular chapters and verses.
• MyBible does not support reading of commentaries in a succession, like a book, - only as separate articles linked to places of the Scriptures. It is done that way in order to place the Bible itself, not commentaries to it, into the center of the reader's attention.

Cross reference modules

• Cross reference modules carry information on parallel places or related places of the Scriptures.
• You can configure MyBible to show cross references in the Bible text; you can also study cross references in a special separate window.
• You can use several cross reference modules simultaneously.

Subheading modules

• Subheadings modules carry summarizing/titling texts shown before particular chapters and verses of the Bible - not connected to a particular Bible module.
• MyBible allows to select which of already downloaded subheading modules to show in the Bible window (depending on a Bible module language).
• Some Bible modules carry their own, built-in subheadings.

Reading plan modules

• Reading plan modules carry lists of verses assigned to sequential days for a systematic or thematic studying of the Bible.
• MyBible allows to activate several reading plans simultaneously and also to create an own (not downloaded) reading plan - see usage tips on reading plans in the main window.

Daily devotion modules

• Daily devotion modules carry short inspiring spiritual texts, one text per day, for a sequence of days.
• Daily devotion modules are least related to the main goal of the MyBible, which is deep studying of the Bible, that is why this type of modules has a low priority in updating and extending.

Bundles

• Bundles carry selections of different types of materials: texts, fonts, appearance themes, etc.
• Bundles that carry no texts are not pertinent to a particular language and are thus grouped at the top of the modules list.
• Different bundles have different purposes - see descriptions of concrete bundles.

Modules manipulation

• There are three possible states of a module: available for downloading, downloaded, and local only (not available for re-downloading).
• If there is no Internet connection, all your modules will appear as local only.
• Select modules by tapping them, then use buttons on the selection mode bar to manipulate them.

Updated modules

• A module was updated having a language which MyBible thinks you can potentially use.
• You did not (re-)download a module after it was updated.