Working efficiently with Logos (1): prioritize your favorite books

Have you purchased a Logos basic package and can't see the forest for the trees? Does it seem like Logos opens random books every time? Do you have no control over what your preferred translation is? Tip #1: prioritize your favorite books!
Boeken, boeken, boeken

Don't expect miracles from software and so don't expect miracles from Logos Bible Software. Yes, it's true, Logos does an awful lot for you. But if you want to use the program efficiently, you'll have to put your best foot forward yourself. And in this blog we'll tell you exactly what you can do to promote the efficient use of Logos. And that from the very beginning! Because many Logos users forget these first steps and then get frustrated with the unpredictable behavior of Logos. And that makes sense, because computer programs don't work miracles.

Anecdote

To put things in perspective, we will first begin with an anecdote. Rudolf is a theology student who in his second year of study inherits a large number of theological books. One day the moving van comes and it dumps all 3,000 books unsorted in one heap on the sidewalk in front of his house. Congratulations! Or is it? Rudolf is in the middle of his exams and has not yet made room for his books. On top of that - and this is the worst of all - he has to sort all the books one by one and put them on the right bookshelf. Imagine how many hours he spent doing that...
With Logos it is no different: if you have a basic package buy, you get hundreds of books at once. And of course you have to do something with that, if it is not to become chaos. That's why it's important that you tell Logos right from the start how you want to organize your library. And the first tip we give you is ...

Tip 1: Prioritize your favorite books

This may not be the best tip for efficient use of Logos. MThis is possibly the tip with the greatest directly visible result. And therefore perhaps the most effective Tip. Do you have a problem with Logos sometimes just opening random books, instead of your favorite books? That's probably because you've never told Logos which are your favorite books! And as mentioned ... Logos doesn't work miracles, nor does Logos have a clairvoyant's eye. You will have to tell Logos what your favorite books are and then Logos will listen to you nicely from now on! And we do that by means of Prioritize (English: prioritize / prioritization).

Follow these steps:

  1. Open the library in a floating window (right-click on the library icon); 
  2. Click on the three dots at the top right of the library window; 
  3. Click Prioritize
Efficiënt gebruik van Logos: selecteer-prioriteren

On the side of your library, the priority screen now appears. Now, from different categories, you are supposed to drag the top six of your favorite books to this priority screen. In your library, find the books you want to prioritize and drag them onto the priority screen. It is important that you keep the correct order of the book categories: first Bibles, then commentaries, then lexicons, and finally dictionaries. Of course, within each category you may think of your own favorite books. 
Notice: if a book is part of a series, don't drag, use the right mouse button!

Efficiënt gebruik van Logos: prioriteer-je-boeken
  1. Favorite Bibles
    At the top you should put your favorite Bible translations: English or Dutch, it doesn't matter. In the example you see first a literal and a free translation into Dutch, then three English ones: a middle translation, a literal and a free translation.
  2. Favorite Ground Text
    After the translations follow the Hebrew and Greek source texts
  3. Favorite Comments
    For each book of the Bible, I have the two or three best comments selected and prioritized them (for the sake of length, I shortened the list).
  4. Favorite Commentary Series
    Following the list of best commentaries by Bible book, I added some of my favorite series. 
  5. Favorite Lexicons
    Now it's time to prioritize your most important Greek/Hebrew lexicons
  6. Favorite Dictionaries
    And finally, at the bottom, add your favorite (theological) dictionaries. 

What is the effect? 

The effect of the prioritization you have now done is immediately apparent in the following assignments, among others:

  • Open the Passage Guide for a passage of your choice: in the 'Comments' section, you will now see at the top of your favorite comments on the book in which that passage occurs.
  • Open the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK): hover over or click your mouse on any reference text. Logos now displays or opens the text in your favorite Bible translation. Without prioritization, Logos would have chosen a random translation itself.
  • In an English translation: double-click on any word in the translation. If all goes well, your favorite lexicon will open. (If this does not happen, change the mouse behavior settings in Function (Tools) -> Program Settings and select 'Look up' in the settings for 'Double Click Action'.
I hope this tip has helped you in terms of using Logos Bible Software efficiently! Subscribe to this blog at the bottom of this page, if you more tips and with the book reviews want to receive!

Used books

In this blog we have used the following books:

The function of prioritization is available in all basic packages of Logos, including the free version.

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