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Notes & Highlights

Modules are read-only. Highlights, bookmarks, and prayer lists are stored in a separate database. Notes are files in a folder you choose. Neither is part of a module, and both are included in backups.

Highlighting​

Select one or more verses in the Bible pane, right-click, and choose Highlight/Underline.... In the menu that opens:

  • Under Markup type, choose Highlight, Underline, or Both.
  • Choose a color: yellow, green, blue, red, purple, or orange.
  • For an underline, choose a style: Solid, Wavy, Dotted, or Dashed.

To change a highlight, apply a different one. To remove it, right-click and choose Remove Highlight/Underline.

A passage with several verses highlighted in different colors

The floating toolbar​

Selecting words within a verse shows a floating toolbar with highlight colors, Toggle Underline (Ctrl+U), and Remove Formatting. Use it to mark part of a verse. It also lists your recently used styles, and More options… opens the full highlight menu.

Ctrl+Shift+H highlights the selected words, or the selected verse if no words are selected, in the last color you used.

The notes folder​

Notes are saved as .bn files in a folder on your computer. The first time you open the Notes pane or add a note, the Set Up Your Notes Folder dialog asks where to keep them. Choose Browse... to pick a folder, then Use This Folder.

Because notes are ordinary files, you can keep the folder in a location that another program backs up or syncs. Notes changed by another program appear in the list when you return to the app.

Verse notes​

Verse notes are attached to a verse. To add one, right-click the verse and choose Add Note. The note opens in the Notes pane, filed under the Verse Notes folder by book, chapter, and verse. Notes save automatically as you type. Verses with notes show a note icon in the Bible pane; click it to open the note. If the verse already has a note, the context menu shows Edit Note instead.

A verse note open in the Notes pane beside the Bible text

Notes​

Notes that are not tied to a verse can include things like sermon outlines, research, topical studies, or lesson plans. To open the Notes pane, click + in a tab bar and choose Notes, or choose Writer Mode from the Layout dropdown.

  • New Note creates a note. Give it a title and choose a template: Blank Note, Verse Study, Expository Outline, Topical Study, or Devotional Journal.
  • New Folder creates a folder. Right-click a note or folder to open, rename, export, show it in your file manager, or delete it. Deleted items go to your system's Recycle Bin or Trash.
  • The Browse tab shows the folder tree. The Recent tab lists notes you opened recently.
  • Open from File... opens a .bn file from anywhere on your computer.

Notes save automatically. Ctrl+S saves immediately, and Save As... (Ctrl+Shift+S) saves a copy under a new name. The print and export menu prints a note or exports it as .docx, .md, or .pdf.

Prayer lists​

The Prayer pane tracks prayer requests. To open it, click + in a tab bar and choose Prayer.

  • You can keep several lists. Switch lists with the Prayer List: selector at the top of the pane. Configure Prayer Lists creates, renames, and deletes lists.
  • + New Prayer adds a prayer. Each prayer has a title, content, and an optional color.
  • Drag prayers to reorder them. Delete prayers you no longer need.

The Prayer pane with a list of requests

The editor​

Notes and prayers use the same text editor. It supports:

  • Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, subscript, and superscript
  • Three heading levels, font family, font size, text color, and highlight colors
  • Alignment, indentation, and text direction
  • Bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, horizontal rules, tables, images, and task lists
  • + Bible Passage, which inserts the text of a passage

Scripture references typed in the editor become links that navigate the Bible pane.

The note editor’s formatting toolbar, with formatting applied to the text below it

Finding notes​

The filter box above the notes list (Find notes in /Home) searches note titles in the current folder and its subfolders. It does not search the text inside notes. To find a verse note, open the Verse Notes folder and then the book and chapter.

Your data​

Notes, highlights, and sessions are stored separately from modules, so updating or uninstalling a module does not affect them. To back them up, use File → Backup & Restore; see Backup & Restore. For copying text out of the app, see Copying & Exporting.