Formatting imported sermons

I'm new to Sermon File Addin. I have a bunch of sermons that I want to import. They're all nicely formatted in MSWord (headings, bullet points, numbers ... just the way I like it Big Smile ), but SermonFile won't recognize the formatting (I already know this).

Here are my questions.

1. Is there any way to import sermons from MSWord and keep the formatting (I'm guessing not, but I'll ask anyway)?

2. Is there a way to set up a MS Word template using the SermonFile formatting requirements so that the imported Word document is automatically re-formatted? It will look silly in Word, but nice in Sermon File. I tried this - the numbering mark (#.) seemed to translate, but jeadings (!). bullets (*) and text formatting (ex. /ital/ and *bold*) were treated as intended text (and were printed as ~! ~* ~/ etc.). But, maybe there's a way to do this?????.

3. Do most of you write your sermons right in Sermon File now? I assume this is the easiest, and the formatting code doesn't really seem that difficult to get used to. I'm sure it wouldn't take long.

So, I'm okay with option three for new sermons, but the work of reformatting my old sermons is daunting if I have to reformat each one individually. Yikes! But, maybe such is the price of progress.

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Rich DeRuiter

3. Do most of you write your sermons right in Sermon File now? I assume this is the easiest, and the formatting code doesn't really seem that difficult to get used to. I'm sure it wouldn't take long.

I don't use MSWord so I can't answer Q#1, or #2, but I can answer #3.

There is no way I'd use the sermon file add-in to write a sermon. It's just to clumsy and doesn't have nearly the formatting capabilities I need.

But the sermon file add-in does help me search my old files much better than any desktop search program (Google, MS, etc.), because I can search for references, browse the index, etc. As I see it, that's the purpose of the add-in anyway.

That said, if all you're doing is using the sermon file add-in for archiving old sermons (which is what I do), you won't need to do much formatting, if any. All I do, is tag verse numbers with the full reference (so I can view by hovering) and set up my main points as headings (which makes them visible in the contents panel). When I was using L3 I'd set a goal of doing 10 old sermons a week. I didn't always meet my goal, but I did get through my first few years of ministry that way. By doing just a bit at a time, I could do a better job without being overwhelmed. (Since switching to L4, the sermon file add-in is not yet present, so I haven't done anything in months. I'm hoping it will be released soon so I can catch up.)

Hope this helps.