Quick Start
This is a short tour of Keep Thy Heart Bible Reader. It touches every major part of the window. If you haven't installed the app yet, start with Installation.
The main window
When you launch the app for the first time it opens to John 3. The window has three parts:
- The Bible pane, on the left. This is the reading area, and the visual anchor of the whole application. It has its own header with a translation selector, a book and chapter picker, and display controls.
- The study pane, on the right. A tabbed panel holding commentaries, dictionaries, books, notes, documents, the journal, prayer lists, search results, bookmarks, and topics. You can collapse it entirely when you want the Bible text at full width.
- The search bar, across the top. It searches, navigates to references, and runs commands.
1. Move to a passage
Click the reference in the Bible pane header — it will say "John 3" — to open the book and chapter picker. Choose a book, then a chapter.
There are faster ways once you know where you're going:
- Type a reference such as
Romans 8:28into the search bar and press Enter. - Press Alt+Down and Alt+Up to step through chapters.
- Press Alt+Left and Alt+Right to move back and forward through where you have already been, like a web browser.
2. Choose a translation
The dropdown at the top-left of the Bible pane lists every translation you have installed. Pick a different one and you stay on the same passage — only the wording changes.
If a translation is in a language other than your interface language, it is listed with a language prefix such as [ESP].
3. Try the display modes
The Bible pane offers three display modes, selectable from the pane header:
| Mode | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Simple | Verse numbers and text only. Best for uninterrupted reading. |
| Standard | Adds footnote markers, cross-reference indicators, and section headings. Good for general study. |
| Study | Adds the interlinear Greek or Hebrew, Strong's numbers, and morphology codes. |
Switch to Study to see what the deepest mode looks like. It needs interlinear data to be available; see Study Tools.
4. Select a verse and watch the study pane
Click a verse number to select that verse. This is the central interaction in the app: the study pane follows your selection. Open the Commentary tab and it will show entries for the verse you just picked. Open Topics and it will show topics that verse belongs to.
5. Mark up the text
Right-click any verse to open the verse context menu, which offers:
- Copy Passage… — opens the copy dialog with formatting options.
- Add Note — creates a note attached to that verse.
- Highlight/Underline… — applies a color or an underline.
- Remove Highlight — clears existing markup.
Try highlighting a verse in yellow. Then press Ctrl+D to bookmark it.
6. Write a note
With a verse still selected, switch to the Verse Notes tab in the study pane and click New Note. Type anything. The note saves itself as you write — there is no save button.
Verses that have notes show a small note icon in the Bible pane, so you can see at a glance where you have written something.
7. Search
Click the search bar or press Ctrl+L, and type a word or phrase. After three characters you'll see live suggestions. Press Enter to run the full search and open the Search Results tab.
Results include a distribution graph showing which books of the Bible your term clusters in. Click any result to jump the Bible pane to that verse.
8. Rearrange the window
Right-click any tab in the study pane for Split Right, Split Down, Pop Out to Window, and Close. Drag tabs between groups to rearrange them.
If you make a mess of it, the Layout dropdown resets you to one of three built-in arrangements — Study Mode, Reading Mode, or Study Mode (Quad). See Sessions & Layout.
9. Close the app
Everything you just did — the passage you were on, your open tabs, the layout, your notes — is saved automatically as a session. Close the app and reopen it; you'll come back to where you left off.
What next?
- Only have one translation? See Installing Modules.
- Want the text bigger, or a dark theme? See Personalizing.
- Ready to protect your work? See Backup & Restore.