erasmus is an electronic tool whose purpose is to aid in Bible study. This document is designed to help you get the most out of your use of erasmus.
erasmus consists of a collection of reference works. These works are typically electronic versions of books, such as Bibles, commentaries, and Bible dictionaries. Although you can merely read these reference works on your phone or computer, erasmus provides ways for you to dig into the material and get more out of it. For instance, you can cross-reference between different Bible versions and/or commentaries. You can also cross-reference between Bible versions and encyclopedia articles, photos, and maps.
Editions
erasmus comes in several editions. The 128 Mb edition consists of Bibles. The
256 Mb edition adds encyclopedias and more Bible versions. The 512 Mb edition
adds original language support in the form of lexicons and interlinears. The 1
Gb edition adds more bibles, a commentary, and other resources. There are some
features that are supported in all editions, while other features are only in
certain editions because they require additional data or specific reference
works. The larger the edition, the more reference works are included and the
more connections between them.
erasmus is multi-platform, meaning that there are versions of it available for different hardware. There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Microsoft Windows and Android, plus versions for both Intel and ARM Macs. However, erasmus is designed to work very similarly between all the different versions and platforms. However, there are slight variations to accomodate what is expected by users of the different platforms.
If you don't have a touch screen, you will need a mouse or mousepad. On Windows, the mouse can be used in the place of your fingers: when the left mouse button is down, the mouse pointer operates as if you were touching the screen at that point. If you have both touchscreen and mouse, you can use either or both. Any time we use the term "tap", that also means "left click" with the mouse.
If you have a keyboard on your platform, like a PC, certain keys can be used as shortcuts to most functionality. On Windows and Mac, you also have a menu that can be used to perform many operations. The menu is normally hidden on Windows, but you can make it appear by pressing the Alt key. Pressing Escape will hide the menu again.
On non-mobile devices, scrollbars are shown where text can be scrolled. On touch screens, the text is scrolled by using your fingers. When scrolling the main text panes on mobile devices, a "thumb" (looks like a square with two arrows) will appear that you can use to scroll quickly through the text of the reference work you are viewing. The thumb will disappear automatically after a couple seconds of non-use.
Also on Windows and Mac, if the mouse pointer is positioned over a reference to a verse or topic, a "hover" box will show that displays that reference. Hovers can happen in other contexts, such as providing a definition of the original language word over which the mouse pointer is sitting. Hover can be adjusted or disabled/enabled through options dialogs. Hover doesn't show on platforms without a mouse or mousepad.
The screen metrics (height and width) can be changed by moving the mobile device between portrait and landscape. On Windows and Mac, the window can be resized as desired, just like other Windows and Mac applications.
Other than scrollbars and main menus, the interface looks nearly identical on all platforms. Most features are available within one or two taps. You can back up to a previous state with either the mobile device back button, the escape button (on keyboards), or the back button that appears in the upper left corner of dialog boxes. Also, drop-downs and popups go away if you tap on the app outside of the drop-down/popup.
The basic layout of erasmus looks like this:
1. At the top is the navigation panel.
2. Just below the navigation panel is the tab bar.
3. Most of the screen is the reference work view. Text and images for a reference work appear here.
Dialog box: A box that appears over the app in response to an action you have performed (such as tapping on a menu item). These boxes are temporary and disappear when you go back, or complete whatever operation the dialog exists for.
Drop-down: A box that expands down (or up) from a tapped item, which contains information or menu items.
Menu: A quick means of performing some action in erasmus. Menus are of two types: main menus (only on Mac and Windows), and drop-down menus (all platforms). The latter is a drop-down that contains options that are performed when you tap on one. In either type of menu, tapping on an item either opens a sub-menu or selects the action that was tapped.
Multipane Tab: A tab containing multiple panes. See the discussion of Multipane tabs for detailed information.
Reference Works: Basically a book, such as a Bible, Commentary, Encyclopedia, etc. Or some other source of information (such as this help text).
Scrollbars: A vertical or horizontal bar used to position text and/or images that are too tall or wide to fit the screen. Typically these only appear on Windows and Mac systems. If you have a touch screen, you can touch and drag the text/images.
The navigation bar is the main way to open a reference work. The parts of the navigation bar are:
1. Back/forward buttons
2. Reference/search box
3. Drop-down button
4. Open button
5. Main Options button
You can enter the reference you want to open in the search box. For instance, you can type "Gen 12:10" to open a Bible to that location. You can also type a topic (such as "Love") to open an article to that topic - if you have an encyclopedia that has an article on "Love". If you have lexicons, you can enter a strong's number for a Greek or Hebrew word to bring up the definition of that word. For instance "g250" would open the definition for the Greek word with the Strong's number 250. Likewise, entering "h2" would open the definition for the Hebrew word with the Strong's number 2. If you enter something that is not recognized as a verse, topic, or strong's number, the reference work for the current tab is searched for what you typed in. We will discuss searching later. Note that if you want to search for "fruit" rather than opening an article on "fruit", you can begin the text with a quote. Anything following that quote is treated as text to search for. See the section on Searching for more information.
You can specify a specific reference work to use when you open a reference by prefixing the reference with the reference work name (full name or abbreviation) and a colon. For instance, entering "KJV:Matt 5:1" would open the King James Bible to Matthew 5:1.
If you press the drop-down button, a list of the last five things you entered into the search box are shown. You can tap any of those to perform that open operation again. Pressing the button again will hide the list.
The Back/Forward buttons are used to navigate back and forward like a browser when you move around in a reference work.
The open button performs the same action as pressing ENTER on a keyboard - it tells erasmus to open the specified reference (or perform a search).
The Main Options button will open a drop-down menu with various options.
Tapping this button drops down the main options menu. See the section on Program Options for more information.
Library
This will bring up the library dialog, which resembles this:
You can tap the button corresponding to what you want to open.
Bibles. Tap this button to see an alphabetical list of all available Bibles. Tap the Bible you want to open.
Categories. Tap this button to see a list of all reference works, grouped by category (Bibles, Commentaries, Lexicons, etc). Tap the reference work that you want to open.
Titles. Tap this button to see a list of all reference works, sorted by title. Tap the reference work that you want to open.
Authors. Tap this button to see a list of all reference works, sorted by author. Tap the reference work that you want to open.
Lists. Tap this button to see all lists that you created. You can tap the list you want to open. This will create a new tab with a list pane on the left. See the section on Lists.
Plans. Tap this button to see a list of all Bible Reading Plans. You can tap the list you want to open. This will create a new tab with a plan pane on the left. See the section on Bible Reading Plans.
When you open a reference work via the Library dialog, the reference work is opened to the title page of that reference work.
Bible Readiung Plans
This opens the Bible Reading plan dialog. See the section on Bible Reading Plans.
Advanced Search
This opens the Advanced Search dialog. See the section on Searching.
Reference work ordering
Tapping this item opens the Reference Work ordering dialog. See the section on the Reference Work Ordering.
Options
Tapping this item opens the Options dialog. See the section on Options.
Clear Clipboard
Tapping this item clears the contents of the clipboard.
About erasmus Tapping this item opens the About box for erasmus. This contains information on the version of erasmus that you are running, and a button that you can click to check for updates for the app.
Open devotional
Tapping this item opens the default devotional to the current article. See the section on Devotionals.
The tab bar only shows if you are viewing a reference work. It resembles the following:
1. This is a tab. Each time you open a reference, a new tab is created. The tab contains the abbreviated name of the reference work, the reference that is visible at the top of the text area, and a close button.
2. Tab options. The circle contains the number of open tabs. If there are more tabs open than can fit on the tab bar, only the most recently viewed ones are shown. This number indicates the total tabs open, even if they are not visible on the tab bar. Tapping this will show the tab options drop-down, which includes a list of all open tabs. You can then tap a tab in the list to bring that tab back to the tab bar (probably causing another existing one to no longer be visible). Generally, you should close a tab when you are done with it. The more tabs that you have open at a time, the harder it will be to find it in the long list in the drop-down. Also, erasmus will start up more slowly if there are a lot of open tabs.
If you have multiple visible tabs, you can switch between them by tapping on the tab you wish to view. The tab associated with the visible text is the "active tab" and has a blue outline to help you see which of the tabs is the active one. If you tap on a nonactive tab, that tab will become active. If you tab on an active tab, the behavior will depend upon which item in the tab that you tap: If you tap on the reference work name, you can change which reference work to view. If you tap on the reference, you can change where you are in the current reference work. If you tap on the close button, the tab will be closed. Note that you can close even an inactive tab by clicking on the close button.
Tab bar drop-down
This drop-down menu allows you to perform actions on the currently visible tab. Which options are visible depends upon the reference work you have open. The following are all the possible options with descriptions of the situations in which they occur. Unless otherwise noted, once you tap one of the options, the drop-down will vanish. It will also vanish if you tap the tab options again, or tap anywhere else in the app. The drop-down resembles the following:
Add a pane. This allows you to add another pane to the current tab, allowing you to view multiple Bibles, Topical articles, or Lexicons side by side. Up to eight panes can be added, and the option will be absent if there are already eight panes showing. This option is not visible in a parallel passage tab. See the discussion of Multipane Tabs for detailed information. Note that the drop-down menu will not close when you tap this, so that you can easily add multiple panes.
Remove a pane. This allows you to remove a pane from a multipane tab. The last pane added will be the first removed. This option will not be present if the tab is not a multipane tab. See the discussion of Multipane Tabs for detailed information. Note that the drop-down menu will not close when you tap this, so that you can easily remove multiple panes.
Parallel passages. This allows you to convert a tab to a parallel passage tab. It shows when you are viewing a verse that has one or more parallel passages. A parallel passage tab shows four panes, which can show up to four passages side by side. All panes are from the same reference work. If there are fewer than four parallel passages for a given verse, one or two of the panes will be empty. The parallel passage shown is based on the top verse in the leftmost pane. Each pane caption with parallel passages will show the book name where the passage is found. The pane caption will be blank if there is no parallel passage. To indicate the presence of parallel passages, verses in the leftmost (or only) pane will have the parallel passages image next to the verse number. If you tap on that image in a multipane tab, a new tab will open to a parallel tab for that verse. Otherwise, the current tab will convert to a parallel view.
Close all tabs. This will close all open tabs, whether currently visible or not. You will be prompted.
Show highlights panel. This will show a highlights panel at the top of the tab. This option only shows if a highlights panel is not already visible and the tab is showing Bible text. See the section on Highlights for detailed information on highlights.
Hide highlights panel. This will hide a highlights panel. This option only shows if a highlights panel is visible in this tab. See the section on Highlights for detailed information on highlights.
Tab list. After the above options comes a list of all open tabs. You can tap one of these to focus the tab. You can also drag the tab off to the right to close it.
Which options are available/enabled depends upon what text you tap on.
Copy Word. Tapping this button will copy the tapped word to the clipboard.
Copy Verse. Only available in Bible text. Tapping this button will copy the tapped verse to the clipboard.
Copy Para. Tapping this button will copy the tapped paragraph to the clipboard.
Search. Performs a search on the word you tapped.
New Tab. Opens a new tab to the current reference work/position.
Word Info. Shows a definition of the word that was tapped. This may not work on words from languages other than English, Greek, and Hebrew. Also, it may not be available for person or place names.
When a reference is tapped in text, the Information Popup is shown. It resembles the following:
The text area shows the text of the reference from the default Bible/encyclopedia/Lexicon.
Copy. Tapping this button copies the shown text to the clipboaard.
Go to. Tapping this button will move to this reference in the current tab. If the current reference work does not have this reference (such as tapping a verse reference within an encyclopedia), the reference is opened in a new tab.
Open in New Tab. Tapping this button opens a new tab to the shown reference.
More Info. Shows information related to the shown reference. Depending upon which type of information was tapped, the contents of the dialog will vary. For a verse reference, the dialog will resemble the following:
In this case, there are two items: the specific verse and the chapter containing the verse. To see more information on the verse, expand the first item by tapping the plus (+). To see more information on all verses in the chapter, expand the second item. As an example of expanded items, the dialog would resemble:
Which options are shown depend upon the reference and/or the reference work. For instance, Parallel passages will not be shown if the verse has no parallel passages, or if the reference is a topic, etc.
Parallel passages. If the current verse has parallel passages, you can expand the item to see the parallel passage references, or you can click the button to open a tab to this verse and its parallel passages.
Bibles with verse. When expanded, all Bibles that have this verse are shown. Tapping on one of them will open a new tab to this reference in that Bible.
Commentary for verse. When expanded, all commentaries that comment on this verse are shown. Tapping on one of them will open a new tab to that commentary at this verse.
References to verse. When expanded, all works that have a reference to this verse are shown. Tapping on one of them will open a new tab to that reference in the tapped work. Tapping the button will open a new tab with a search pane showing all references to the verse.
Related verses. When expanded, all verses related to this verse are shown. Tapping one of them will open a tab to that verse. Tapping the button will open a new tab with a search pane containing all related verses.
Topics for verse. When expanded, all topics associated with the verse are shown. Tapping one of them will open a new tab to the topic.
Maps and images for chapter. When expanded, all maps and images associated with this verse are shown. Tapping one of them will open a new tab to that map or image.
Topics for chapter. When expanded, all topics related to any verse in the chapter are shown. Tapping one of them will open a new tab to that topic.
Verses related to chapter. When expanded, all verses related to all verses in the chapter are shown. Tapping one of them will open a new tab to that verse. Tapping the button will open a new tab with a search pane containing all ther related verses.
Reference to chapter. When expanded, all places referencing the whole chapter, or any verse in the chapter, are shown. Tapping one of them will open a new tab to that verse. Tapping the button will open a new tab with a search pane containing all the references to the chapter.
There are three main ways to open a reference work. The first way is by entering a reference in the search box. The first reference work found with the specified reference is the one opened. The order in which the reference works are processed can be set by the user. See the section on Reference Work Ordering for information on this. However, the reference work can be specified as well by using the reference work name or abbreviation, a colon (:), and the reference. For instance, typing "WEB:Romans 10:10" would open the World English Bible to Romans 10:10.
The second way to open a reference work is to use the Library dialog. Tap on the Main Options menu in the upper right corner of the app, and tap on "Library". This will bring up the library dialog, which resembles this:
You can tap the button corresponding to what you want to open.
Bibles. Tap this button to see an alphabetical list of all available Bibles. Tap the Bible you want to open.
Categories. Tap this button to see a list of all reference works, grouped by category (Bibles, Commentaries, Lexicons, etc). Tap the reference work that you want to open.
Titles. Tap this button to see a list of all reference works, sorted by title. Tap the reference work that you want to open.
Authors. Tap this button to see a list of all reference works, sorted by author. Tap the reference work that you want to open.
Lists. Tap this button to see all lists that you created. You can tap the list you want to open. This will create a new tab with a list pane on the left. See the section on Lists.
Plans. Tap this button to see a list of all Bible Reading Plans. See the section on Bible Reading Plans.
When you open a reference work via the Library dialog, the reference work is opened to the title page of that reference work.
The third means of opening a reference work is by tapping on a reference or reference work in the "More Information" dialog.
Once a tab opens, you will see the text of that reference work in the Reference Work text area.
Once a tab is open, you can move around within the reference work. Scrolling is the most obvious way. However, you can also quickly move to a specific location by tapping on the reference in the tab. This will open the Reference dialog and allow you to enter, or choose, a new reference. The Reference dialog resembles the following:
A new reference can be entered into the top reference box, or an option can be chosen from below. Depending upon the reference work, different things are displayed. In this example, the reference work can be navigated by book/chapter/verse (Bible) or by book outline (Outline). Tap the desired method and then choose the new location from what is shown. This will place the reference in the box, and the Go button can be tapped to change the reference work to that location. Tapping Go does nothing if the reference in the box is not valid for the reference work.
Depending on the contents of the reference work, there can be options for topics, Strong's numbers, etc.
If you tap on the reference work name abbreviation in the tab, a drop-down of reference works is shown. Only those reference works which have the currently displayed reference are shown. Tapping on one of those names will cross-reference to the current reference in the tapped reference work.
Note that generally, only reference works in the same category as the current reference work are shown. That is, commentaries are not shown in a list of Bibles, or vice versa. When viewing a general book, you will see no other books, because there is no common reference between books that don't have Bible/Chapter/Verse, Topics, or Strong's Numbers.
Tabs for Bibles, Commentaries, Encyclopedias, and Lexicons have the capability of showing up to eight different reference works. Each reference work is shown in a separate pane in the tab. The Tab options drop-down menu allows you to add or remove panes from the tab. When removing panes, the most recently added pane is the first removed. The reference work associated with a newly added pane is determined by the order you have selected for that type of reference work. See the section on Main Options for more information.
The original pane (which will be the upper left pane if there are multiple panes) is the main pane, which means that the tab reference, reference work, and scrollbar will affect that pane. As the location of the main pane is changed, the other panes are adjusted so that the top paragraph in each pane contains the first verse/topic/word that occurs in the top paragraph of the main pane. Therefore, if the main pane displays text for a Bible which has several verses in the top paragraph, so long as that paragraph is the topmost visible paragraph, any scrolling operation in the main pane causes the subsidiary panes to reset the top paragraph to that verse. You can, however, individually scroll subsidiary panes by dragging them up or down. However, as soon as any change happens in the main pane, the subsidary panes will once again update to match the main pane.
Each subsidiary pane has a caption that shows the abbreviated name of the reference work which is showing in that pane, you can tap that caption to see a list of other references of the type. By tapping the name, the pane will change to that reference work. If another subsidiary pane is currently showing that reference work, the panes are effectively swapped. This will also update your reference work ordering for that type of reference work.
A Bible reading plan is a schedule for reading through the Bible (in whole or in part). erasmus provides the means for you to generate your own custom plan for reading the Bible. To open an existing plan, tap the main options button, tap "Library", tap the "Plans" button, and then tap the plan you wish to open. See the section on Opening a plan, below, for more information.
To create a plan, tap the main options button, then tap "Bible Reading Plan". The following Bible Reading Plan list opens:
Existing plans are shown on the left. On the right are buttons that allow you to create, delete, rename, edit, or open a plan.
Tapping this button creates a new reading plan. erasmus creates a unique name which you can change. It also brings up the plan editor so you can customize your plan. See the section on editing below.
Tapping this button deletes the selected plan.
Tapping this button allows you to edit the name of the selected plan.
Tapping this button allows you to modify the selected plan. The dialog resembles the following:
The left side contains checkboxes for each Bible book, in an outline form. Only books that are checked are included in the plan. On the right you can specify how many days you want to allot to reading through the checked books. For instance, if you check "Entire Bible" and set the number of days to 365, the plan will take you through the entire bible in one year.
When you tap the Save button, your customized plan will be saved. The total number of chapters is divided by the number of days to let you know how many chapters to read each day of the period you selected. Plans include all chapters from the checked books (no partial books can be specified) and each day's reading will include entire chapters.
Tapping this button opens the selected Bible Reading plan. This opens the selected plan in a new tab. The plan will look like this:
On the left is the plan pane which shows each day and which chapter(s) to read on that day. To read the chapter(s) indicated, click on the reference, which will open that text on the right side. When you have finished the reading for one day, you can check the box to indicate that fact.
Tapping on the caption for the left plan pane will open the Bible Reading plan dialog.
erasmus allows you to create named lists of references. One list that comes installed with erasmus is the "Default favorites" list. This list cannot be deleted or modified, but a copy of it can be made which can be modified or deleted. In the list, this default list is shown as "<default favorites>" to distinguish it from your own lists.
New lists are created manually or by copying existing lists, such as search results. They can also be created from internal topic lists (See the section on Highlights). The name of a list may contain any characters except "<". Note that all leading and trailing spaces are ignored in the name.
The Manage Lists box is used to manage your lists. On the left side are the names of the existing lists. On the right side are the buttons which allow one to perform various options on lists. Tapping a list on the left will select that list and allow you to perform operations on that list. The buttons will be enabled or disabled as appropriate depending upon which list is selected. The dialog resembles this:
Add new list
When this button is tapped, a new empty list is created and added to the names on the left. The name is defaulted and you can change it to be the name you want (or you can leave it as is).
Delete
When this button is tapped, the currently selected list is deleted. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion.
Rename
When this button is tapped, the selected list's name can be edited.
Edit
When this button is tapped, teh list editor is shown. Here the list can be manually edited. The editor looks like this:
On the left side of the editor is the list of references in the list being edited. The references on the left can be qualified or unqualified. Qualified references are those that are for a specific reference work. They are preceded by an abbreviation for the reference work. For instance "KJV Gen 1:1" is a qualified reference to Genesis 1:1 in the King James version, whereas "Gen 1:1" is an unqualified reference to Genesis 1:1 in general. The right side has buttons that allow the list to be edited. The buttons that are enabled depend on what, if anything, is selected on the left. Above the buttons is the reference box where a reference can be typed.
Add
Entering text into the reference box enables this button. When tapped, the reference in the reference box is added to the list.
Delete
Tapping this button deletes the selected reference on the left.
Copy
Tapping this button copies the selected reference to the clipboard.
Copy List
Tapping this button copies the entire list to the clipboard.
Unqualify
When this button is tapped, the list is modified so that reference works are removed from references for bible verses, Strong's numbers, and topics.
Consolidate
When this button is tapped, the list is consolidated. This means that duplicate
references are removed.
Sort
When this button is tapped, the list is sorted. If the list contains multiple types of references (such as topic and verses), the sorted list will have the types sorted separately and gathered together.
Duplicate
When this button is tapped, the a new list is created that is a duplicated of the selected button. A name for the new list is created, which you can alter as desired.
Merge
When this button is tapped, existing lists are shown and you can tap one of them to merge the selected list into. The lists will be merged and the old list is deleted.
To open a list, tap the Main Options button, then tap "Library", then tap "Lists". You are shown all the current lists and you can tap the one to open in a new tab. In the tab there is a left reference pane that contains the references from the list, and the right text area that shows the text for the selected reference. It looks similar to this:
erasmus allows a fair amount of customization. You can see options by tapping the Main Options button in the upper right corner of the app. Choose "Options" from the drop-down to open the Options dialog.
Some options are unique to certain platforms, so you may not see all of the possible options in your dialog.
This option dialog is chosen from the Main Options drop-down rather than from the Options dialog. First it asks which category of reference work you wish to reorder. It will only show categories that contain two or more reference works that are available to you. Thus, this list will vary depending upon which edition you are using. A full list looks like this:
Once you select a category, erasmus brings up a list of all the reference works in that category, in a dialog resembling this:
This list is in the current reference work order for that category. If you tap the down-arrow next to a reference work name, that reference work is moved down in the list (that is, after the reference work directly beneath it). If you tap the up-arrow next to a reference work name, that reference work is moved up in the list (that is, above the reference work directly above it). When you have the reference works in the desired order, you can exit the dialog. From now on, when you open a reference for that category, the list is searched from top to bottom until the first reference work with that reference is found; that is the one that is open.
Reference work ordering also defines which reference works are opened when adding panes to a tab.
Devotionals are reference works which offer material for encouragement and exhortation. Some devotionals are included with the 256 Mb (and larger) editions. Each devotional is designed to provide readings on a regular basis - usually daily. For devotionals with a pre-defined reading schedule, erasmus will open it to the article for the current day and time. For devotionals without such schedules, it is opened to a random location.
Note that opening a devotional from the Library dialog will open it like any other general book - to the title page. Devotionals opened via the "Open devotional" item in the Main Options drop-down will automatically update to the proper place when erasmus starts - or when the date or time changes to match a different part of the devotional's schedule. But devotionals opened via the Library dialog do not automatically update to different locations. Also, devotionals with random schedules only open to a new location when erasmus starts.
To search for specific text, enter the text to search for within quotes. For example:
"fruit"
If the quotes are left off, erasmus will look for articles on the topic "fruit". Or to search for "Genesis 1", you would need quotes to search for that text, or else erasmus would open the default Bible to Genesis 1:1. You can leave off the ending quote, if you wish. And if you enter text that is not a recognized topic name, verse reference, or original language word reference, what is entered will be searched for as text.
Note that if your search results in more than 5,000 matches, you will be informed and a tab is not opened. Searches with that many results (or more) are generally not helpful for study. Also, if the text is not found, erasmus will inform you of this.
Searches are always done on the reference work that is visible in the current tab. If no tabs are open, the search is done in the default Bible. If the current tab has multiple text panes, the search is done in the primary text pane. If you want to search in a different reference work, or to search several reference works at a time, use the Advanced Search dialog.
When a search is done, a new tab is opened, with the search results shown on the left search pane, and the text opened to the first result on the right. Searches never change an existing tab into a search results tab. A search tab resembles the following:
Tapping on the caption above the results allows you to create a list from the results, or otherwise manage lists. The options are:
o Manage lists: open the List dialog. See the section on Lists.
o Add to new list: A new list is created and the results are added to that list.
o Merge into list: Tap one of the lists below this to add the results to that list.
The Advanced Search dialog allows a more flexible search than what can be done in the main Reference/search box. This is opened from the Main Options button dropdown, and tapping the "Advanced search" item, which opens a dialog resembling the following:
The search box at the top is where the text to search for is entered. There is no requirement for quotes, since this only does text search - it will not open a topic, word, or verse reference.
Below the box is the language selection where you can specify which language you wish to search. Only words in the specified language are included in the search results. Neither Greek nor Hebrew are included in the list of languages. These will be searchable in a future version.
At the bottom is an outline of all available reference works. They are grouped by category and the dialog allows you to easily include or exclude entire categories. Note that the more reference works that are included, the more likely you are to exceed the maximum of 5,000 results. All reference works with checks are included in the search. If this maximum is reached or no matches are found, erasmus informs you of this. Otherwise, a tab is opened with the search results on the left and the text for the selected reference on the right.
Because multiple highlights can apply to a given verse, if multiple highlights are active, erasmus chooses the highlight that is farthest left in the highlights panel. That is, in the case of conflicts, the highlight farthest to the left that corresponds to the verse is the one that is shown. You can adjust the priority (order) of highlights by tapping on the down arrow on the far left of the panel to bring up the highlights option dialog. You can also add or remove highlights using this dialog.
Highlight sets are of two types: topic and list. Topic highlights are pre-defined lists of verses that correspond to the topic. The list contents cannot be changed, however you can combine a topic and its subtopics into a single color. These combined topic highlights are shown with an ellipse (...) following the topic name. List highlights are highlights that are based on a list created by the user. See the section on Lists for details on creating, deleting, and modifying lists. A List highlight set is shown on the panel just as are topic highlights except that the name is prefixed with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is a list.
Because topic highlight sets are not changeable, if you attempt to clear or set a highlight for one, the topic highlight set is not altered. However, erasmus will create a list of the same name of the topic (if there isn't one already), and the list will take the place of the topic set in the highlights panel. If the list didn't exist before, the topic list is copied to the new list. This is, in fact, a quick way to create a list from a topic list.
The highlights panel has two or more boxes with names to the right of the boxes. The standard boxes are shown on the left. Right of that are the highlight sets that are active. Only one box can be selected at a time. Selected boxes are outlined in red. Unselected boxes are outlined in black. Note that the highlights being shown are those on the panel, regardless of whether or not they are selected. The highlights panel resembles the following:
The dialog is split into a top and bottom half. The top half lists all topics and lists that are active. The bottom lists all topics and lists that have not been assigned a color and are, therefore, inactive. As in the Highlights panel, lists are preceded with an asterisk (*), while topics are not.
At the top of the unassigned topics/lists is an edit box where you can type the name of a topic to scroll immediately to it. Clicking on an unassigned topic or list will bring up the color dialog which will allow you to select the color that you wish to assign to the topic/list. The Color selection dialog resembles the following:
Any colors already in use in a highlight set have a red border instead of black. You can assign the same color to multiple topics, but it will then be impossible to tell which topic is causing a verse to have that color highlight. If you choose a topic that has subtopics, a checkbox will appear at the bottom of the color dialog. Checking it will include all subtopics along with the topic in the highlight set. Tap the box before choosing a color.
The highlight sets shown in the upper half are shown top to bottom in the order they are on the highlights panel from left to right. Whereas the Highlights panel may be too narrow for you to see all highlight sets lists, all active highlights will be shown in the upper half, although scrolling the list may be necessary. The color associated with the highlight set is shown to the right of the highlight name. Tapping a topic or list in the upper box will bring up a dialog box that will allow you to alter that highlight set. The dialog resembles the following:
Assign New Color
Tapping this button will bring up the color dialog so that you can choose a different color to associate with the highlight set. The color dialog resembles the following:
Move Topic to Foreground
Tapping this button will move the topic/list to the top of the list (to the left of the highlights panel), which means it will take precedence over any other highlight sets.
Remove Topic Highlight
Tapping this button will remove the selected highlight set. It willl be inactive and the color will no longer be associated with it.
Text Size
This tab allows you to change the default text size. You can drag the thumb left or right on the bar to decrease or increase the text size. Tapping the default button will return the text size to the original size when erasmus was installed.
Hover
This tab only appears on Windows and Mac. It allows you to control the hover popup. You can drag the thumb left or right to adjust the delay before a hover popup with appear. For hover to appear, you must leave your mouse pointer unmoved for the indicated number of seconds. You can also completely disable hover by tapping the checkbox at the bottom. Tapping the Default button returns the hover settings to the original values.
Devotions
This tab only appears if you have devotional reference works. You can select one of the following behaviors when erasmus starts:
1. View most recent tab. Ignores devotions and simply opens the tabs you had open when you last ran erasmus.
2. View Proverbs chapter for the day. A Bible tab will automatically open to the Proverbs chapter corresponding to the current day of the month.
3. Open devotion tab to. If checked, when erasmus starts, a tab is opened to the devotional that is selected in the list.
If the Autoupdate checkbox is checked, the devotion tab will automatically update when the day changes.
Sounds
This tab allows you to control sound effects. If the Enable sounds checkbox is not checked, no sounds are used. Otherwise, the sounds on the right are used for the operations on the left. If you tap on one of the sounds, the sound selection dialog is shown where you can choose which sound effect you want to associate with the operation.
Note that disabling sounds does not affect the operation of the hymnal.
Other UI
This tab allows you to change various options. You can set the clipboard append mode. When Append mode is checked, each clipboard text copy operation is added to the existing contents of the clipboard. This allows you to quickly collect several items on the clipboard. If unchecked, the clipboard operates as normal - that is, any copy operation replaces the existing clipboard contents.
For Bibles, Commentarues, Encyclopedias, and Lexicons, you can define the number of initial panes to open for that type of text. If more than 1, when a tab is opened to the specific type of text, a number of add-pane operations are done to bring up the number of panes to match what is desired.
Pressing the Default button will reset all of these settings to the original erasmus settings.
You can change the default text size at any time. This can be done in multiple ways, depending upon what device you are using. The method that works on all devices is to go to the Program Options, select the Text tab, and then drag the pointer left or right until the sample text is the desired size (left makes the text smaller; right makes the text larger).
On devices with touch screens: you can do the normal zoom in/out gestures with two fingers.
On Mac and Windows, you can use the main menu to increase or decrease the text size. On Windows, press the Alt key to make the menu show. Then go to the Options | Font, and choose the increase/decrease from the child menu, as desired. On Macs, the menu is always visible.
This affects which Bible, lexicon, or encyclopedia will open when you type in a verse, word or topic. If you add panes to a tab, the new panes will open the next reference work, as appropriate, in the ordering list.
Also, when you tap or hover over a reference, the first reference work in your ordering list (with the verse/topic/word) will be the one whose text is shown.
There are many books that are considered "devotional". But in the case of erasmus, "devotional" has a specific meaning. A devotional is a reference work that has individual, relatively short, devotions that are usually tied to a day of the year, day of the month, day of the week, or some such. The purpose of these works is to provide you an encouragement with which to start your day (and sometimes to end it as well). erasmus provides special features for these kinds of works.
If the erasmus edition you are using comes with devotionals, you can have erasmus start up by opening to one of them, or even having the devotions tab automatically update to the current devotion. If you open a devotional through the Main menu, "Open Devotional" item, erasmus will remember that tab is the devotions tab. If it is time for the devotion to change (based on a new day, for instance), that tab will be updated - unless you closed it. If you open a devotional through other means, such as via the Library dialog, the associated tab will not be updated. Depending upon your settings and which devotionals you have in your library, the update will vary. For instance, if you are using Proverbs, the update happens at midnight (or shortly thereafter). In fact, most devotionals are daily. On the other hand, if you are using "Morning and Evening", there are two devotions for every day: morning and afternoon. A devotional tab opened to this work will update at midnight and at noon. Some devotionals have devotions for specific days, while others are random. It depends upon the devotional in question.
By default, erasmus will open Spurgeon's Morning and Evening to the current day each time you start the app.
Unlike Bibles and other reference works, devotionals do not have "ordering". Instead, you choose which devotional you want in the Program options dialog, Devotional tab (Click on the main program options, then on the Devotions tab). In this tab, you can specify whether or not you want the devotions tab to automatically update, and you can choose startup behavior for erasmus. The purpose of opening to a devotional is to remind you to read it when you start the app each day. There are three options in the Devotions tab:
View most recent tab. This simply opens erasmus to where you left off - the last focused tab is the tab that you will see when erasmus starts. In other words, the app does not open directly to a devotional.
View Proverbs chapter for the day. This opens the book of Proverbs in your default Bible to the chapter corresponding to the current day. In other words, if it is June 7th, Proverbs chapter 7 will open.
Open devotion tab to: This opens to a devotion tab that views the current devotion for the devotional you have chosen from the list.
To set up erasmus' devotional behavior, click the dot that indicates your desired behavior. If you chose the third option, then select your desired devotional from the list below that.