Copyright and Legal Information:

You may give this program to others, so long as you don't charge for it in any way, including putting it in an archive or collection that is sold.

You may also not modify or alter the Handy Scriptures program or scripture files in any way.

THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS," AND THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.

THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION.

Copyright © 2000-2004 Harold H. Stuart.  All Rights Reserved.

Table of Contents:
 

1.0:  Installing Handy Scriptures
1.1:  Running Handy Scriptures
1.2:  Finding a reference
1.3:  Searching for references
1.4:  Table of Contents
1.5:  Beaming
1.6:  Copying Text
1.7:  Underlining Text
1.8:  Bookmarks
1.9:  Marking your place
1.10:  Changing the font
2.0:  The Info menu
 

Running Handy Scriptures from an expansion card.

Welcome to Handy Scriptures, a program for Palm OS devices which lets you read and search the scriptures.

You can get Handy Scriptures from a friend that has already downloaded the files (this is usually done by beaming), or you can download it directly from www.handyscriptures.org.  Handy Scriptures is provided to you free of charge.

If you downloaded Handy Scriptures you should install both the application (which ends in .prc) and the data files (which end in .pdb) on your device.  You can do this from the Palm Desktop program (please read the Palm Desktop documentation for how to do this).  Once you have done this, HotSync your device.

These instructions assume that you have installed all of the Handy Scripture data files.

1.1:  Running Handy Scriptures

Now that you have the Handy Scriptures application installed on your device, run it by tapping the Handy Scriptures icon.  You should see a screen that looks something like this:

This screen lets you read the scriptures.  Here are some things you should know:

• One chapter is displayed at a time.
• Use the page up and page down buttons to move the text one page at a time.  If you try to page past the end of the chapter, Handy Scriptures will show the beginning of the next chapter.  If you try to page past the start of the chapter, Handy Scriptures will show the end of the previous chapter.
• Use the scroll bar arrows to move one line at a time.  Pressing the scroll bar arrows past the beginning or end of a chapter has no effect.
• Use the scroll bar thumb to move quickly to any point in the chapter.

To find a reference, tap the menu button and choose Go to... from the Text menu.  You will then see the Go to screen.

Begin writing the reference.  Write the reference in the standard form (i.e. book chapter:verse).  Once you have written enough characters that Handy Scriptures can identify the book name it will be automatically filled in for you.

Keep these things in mind when writing a reference:

• You don't have to know how to spell a book name completely.  For example, writing "hab" is enough for Handy Scriptures to complete "Habakkuk."  If you can't remember how to spell a book name, write the first few characters and tap the words "Go to" in the window.  You will see a pop-up list with all of the books that begin with those letters.
• Don't worry about punctuation.  For example, you can select the Doctrine and Covenants by writing "DC", "D&C", "D C", and so forth.  You do need to leave at least a space or some other punctuation mark between the book name and the chapter, and also between the chapter and verse.
• If you want to start reading from the beginning of a book, just write the book name.  If you want to start reading from the beginning of a chapter, write the book name and the chapter.

Note:  Because of the length of their names, Joseph Smith-Mathew is abbreviated as JS-M, and Joseph Smith-History is abbreviated as JS-H.

1.3:  Searching For References

Handy Scriptures has a powerful search feature.  You can find references that contain any one of a list of words, or you can find references that contain all of a list of words.

To search, tap the menu button and choose Search... from the Text menu.  Choose the kind of search you want, and write the words you want to search for, separated by spaces.

For example, let's say that we wanted to find verses containing the words "god", "loved", and "world".  Your screen would appear as follows:

Once you have written the words, tap OK.  Handy Scriptures brings up the progress dialog:

Pressing Cancel will stop your search, and you will have to enter your search words again if you want to repeat the search.

Once the search is complete you will see a screen like this:

You can scroll this screen the same way you scroll a reading screen.

Some searches will return more references than others.  Because of limitations in Palm OS, Handy Scriptures will only report a limited number of references at a time.  If you don't see the reference you want, tap the Find More button.

Tap Cancel to return to the chapter you were last reading.

If you would like to read a reference in context, tap anywhere in the reference.  For example, let's say you wanted to read John 3:16.  Tap anywhere in the verse, and you will go to this reading screen:

Here are some things you should keep in mind while searching:

• Avoid searching for simple words which occur in many verses.  For example, we could have found John 3:16 by searching for "so", "that", "he", and "in", but it would have taken much longer.
• Writing more words may speed up "all words" searches, but beware:  you may not remember a verse correctly.

Handy Scriptures will let you search all or some of the books you have installed.  To limit search to only certain books, tap Limit Search from the Search screen.  Check all the books you want to search, then tap OK. Handy Scriptures will search only these books until you tap Limit Search again and change your choices.

To quickly check or uncheck all of the boxes, tap the Check All button.  This toggles tall of the check boxes on or off.

For example, the following arrangement will cause Handy Scriptures to only search the Old Testament:

1.4:  Table of Contents

The Table of Contents screen lets you perform these tasks:

• Going to the beginning of a book.
• Beaming a book to another Palm OS device.
• Deleting a book.

To go to the beginning of a book, tap the menu button and choose Table of Contents from the Text menu.  Tap the book you want to read, and press Goto.

To delete a book from the device, tap the menu button and choose Table of Contents from the Text menu.  Tap the book you want to read and press Delete.

If you delete all of the books for the device, Handy Scriptures will alert you and then exit.  You won't be able to run Handy Scriptures again until you install books.

1.5:  Beaming

If you want to beam Handy Scriptures to a friend's device, do the following:
 

• Tap the programs icon (looks like a house), and choose Beam... from the App menu.  You will see Handy Scriptures as one of the programs that can be beamed.  Although the application shows the entire memory usage of Handy Scriptures, you can only beam the Handy Scriptures program from this menu.  Tap Handy Scriptures and then tap the Beam button.  This will beam Handy Scriptures to the other device.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Warning:  Due to a design feature of Palm OS, you cannot beam Handy Scriptures to another device that already has Handy Scriptures installed without deleting all of the scripture data files from that device.  You may want to consider a separate beaming application like Beam Box that does not have this feature.  (Note:  mention of Beam Box does not imply an endorsement or warranty of that product).
 

• Run Handy Scriptures and choose Table Of Contents from the Text menu.  Tap the book you want to send and tap Beam.  This will send the book to the other device.  Repeat this process until all books have been sent.

Sometimes you may want to use text from the scriptures in other applications, for example, you are preparing a last-minute talk on your handheld and you wish to include a scriptural quotation.  To do this:
 

• Select the text you want to copy with the pend and choose Copy from the Edit menu.  The data will be placed on the clipboard, ready to use in other applications such as the Note Pad.

1. You can only copy about 2k of data at a time.  If you try to copy too much Handy Scriptures will show an error message.
2. If you copy a verse number the entire reference will be copied.  For example, Handy Scriptures displays John 11:35 as "35 Jesus wept."  If you paste this text into the notepad you will see "John 11:35 Jesus wept."

If you want to underline text in the scriptures, do this:
 

• Select the passage you want to underline with the pen.

Figure 8: Selected Text

• Choose Underline from the edit menu.  The text will then look like this:

Figure 9:  Underlined Text

To remove underlining repeat the above steps.

1.8:  Bookmarks

Handy Scriptures not only allows you to bookmark passages so that you come back to them later, but you can also make notes at the same time.  Here's how you add a bookmark:
 

• Tap the place you want to put a book mark with the pen.  The bookmark cursor will begin to blink:

 

 
 






Figure 10:  Bookmark Cursor




• Choose Add Bookmark from the Text menu.  A screen that looks something like this will appear:

 

 
 



























Figure 11:  Bookmark




The scripture reference will appear as a suggested first line of the bookmark, but it has no real meaning.  You may delete it if you wish.  If you change it, the bookmark will still point to the orignal location.

Bookmarks are very much like notes you make with your device's notepad.  You can add additional notes to this references just by writing them with the pen, cut, copy, and paste text, and so forth.;

You can also change the category of the bookmark.  Handy Scriptures comes with several categories by default, but you can add your own if you wish.

When you are done creating your bookmark, tap Done or Goto.  You will go back to the reader screen.
 

• To read bookmarks, choose Bookmark List from the Text menu.  You will see something like this:

 

 
 





















Figure 12:  Bookmark List

 
To read a bookmark, tap it.  To return to the reader screen, tap Cancel.

To mark your place temporarily, choose Mark Place from the Text menu.  You can then go to other locations in the scriptures.  To return to the place you marked, choose Return to Marked Place from the Text menu.

2.0:  Changing The Font

To change the font, choose Font from the Options menu.

2.0:  The Info menu

The Info menu contains the about box and extra information about the program.  Please show these menus to those you give this program to, so that they can get updates as they become available.