Word Info on Mobile is Useless

Matt Zimmerman
Matt Zimmerman Member Posts: 138
edited November 21 in English Forum

Clickbait title? Maybe. I don’t know Hebrew/Greek. I just want a quick way to look up a word as I’m reading the Bible on my iPone or iPad and find some background on the word in a Bible dictionary or encyclopedia. As an example, I’m reading Judges. I click on “Othniel” and I get useless (for me) word info on the Hebrew.

I just want to pull up some info on that word from my preferred (or any) Bible dictionary or encyclopedia by highlighting it. Maybe as an addition/alternative to pulling up the Hebrew/Greek.

Zero way to do this easily on mobile and I’ve complained about this for a couple years so yeah, I’m a little frustrated.

So I highlight the word and click “copy” so I can paste it into a preferred dictionary or encyclopedia. But what does it paste? “Judges 1:13 (ESV): Othniel”.

I have to delete all that nonsense at the beginning after pasting it in.

Come on. It’s 2022. Lots (or dare I say a majority) of people feel my pain. Is there something you FaithLife can do this year to improve this?

Thanks.

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Comments

  • SineNomine
    SineNomine Member Posts: 7,043

    I just want a quick way to look up a word as I’m reading the Bible and find some background on the word. As an example, I’m reading Judges. I click on “Othniel” and I get (for me) useless word info on the Hebrew.

    So I open my preferred Bible to Judges 3:9, right click on "Othniel", scroll down the right side of the menu that pops up, click on "Look Up", and immediately have my most highly prioritized Bible dictionary open to "Othniel". And now I have some background on Othniel.

    Does that not work for you?

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

  • Matt Zimmerman
    Matt Zimmerman Member Posts: 138

    I just want a quick way to look up a word as I’m reading the Bible and find some background on the word. As an example, I’m reading Judges. I click on “Othniel” and I get (for me) useless word info on the Hebrew.

    So I open my preferred Bible to Judges 3:9, right click on "Othniel", scroll down the right side of the menu that pops up, click on "Look Up", and immediately have my most highly prioritized Bible dictionary open to "Othniel". And now I have some background on Othniel.

    Does that not work for you?

    I'm not seeing what you're seeing maybe? Here is a video of what I'm doing on the latest IOS release. When I click the three dots then press "look up this word", it brings up the Enhanced Brown Driver Hebrew English Lexicon. I swipe right to show you that I'd love to have something else pop up, like the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (or Anchor, ISBE, etc). But I don't see a way to do that? Logos has never worked that way for me.

    Video -> https://sendspark.com/share/p8j978wxj7l48t3d

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,432

    When I click the three dots

    SineNomine suggested that you "right click on the word" i.e. he is directing you to the context menu rather than the panel menu.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Matt Zimmerman
    Matt Zimmerman Member Posts: 138

    MJ. Smith said:

    When I click the three dots

    SineNomine suggested that you "right click on the word" i.e. he is directing you to the context menu rather than the panel menu.

    Hmm. Maybe he was talking about desktop? I'm talking about Logos mobile on Apple IOS which doesn't have a right click? Or does it?

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,432

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Arnold McKinlay
    Arnold McKinlay Member Posts: 7 ✭✭

    I want to add that, with non-Biblical books, when looking up a word, my android returns the message "One or more selected words is not supported by the word 'Look up' feature....".  When performing the same action on my Kindle, it returns a dictionary definition, which is the behavior I want and expect.  Is there some setting on my android device that prevents this from happening or is it just a bug?

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,512

    Is there some setting on my android device that prevents this from happening or is it just a bug?

    No idea for android. 

    On iOS, the user must download an iOS dictionary for that feature to work. 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
    truth over tribe

  • KSO
    KSO Member Posts: 18

    I believe that if you press and hold on the word that a popup (Word Info) will appear giving some word info. At the top right corner are 3 dots for a menu to further search the word.

  • GregW
    GregW Member Posts: 277 ✭✭

    If you press and hold, it will give you the word info and your preferred lexicon, but if you tap “search” in the black menu above, and select Facebook, you’ll get the Lexham Bible Dictionary entry and the entry for Othniel in your other Bible Dictionaries, as well as a list of other relevant passages and the other Facebook headings. 

  • Leo Wee Fah
    Leo Wee Fah Member Posts: 593 ✭✭✭

    Earlier, when I clicked on a word, it would pop up with a definition from my Collins English Dictionary. Now, it says: One or more selected words is not supported by the word `Look up' feature.....

    My desktop version is still giving me the definition from Collins English Dictionary.[*-)]

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,512

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
    truth over tribe

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,512

    On iOS, the user must download an iOS dictionary for that feature to work. 

    Now that I am on my device, I remember that the behavior has changed. I <think> that it is pulling from the servers. 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
    truth over tribe

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks MVP Posts: 7,436

    I just want to pull up some info on that word from my preferred (or any) Bible dictionary or encyclopedia by highlighting it. Maybe as an addition/alternative to pulling up the Hebrew/Greek.

    As a quick test I touched and held the word 'David' and this is what I got...

    Do you wish for a different response from the app?

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.(now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS

  • Matt Zimmerman
    Matt Zimmerman Member Posts: 138

    As a quick test I touched and held the word 'David' and this is what I got...

    Do you wish for a different response from the app?

    You get two popups (factbook and word info) when you select a word? I have only ever seen a word info popup when selecting a word. I would love it if I could set an option to have Logos open factbook instead of word info. But at the moment I’m not even as lucky as you.

    Here is what I get when I select a word on my iPhone: 

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks MVP Posts: 7,436

    Matt Zimmerman said:

    But at the moment I’m not even as lucky as you.

    Here is what I get when I select a word on my iPhone:

    I'm not sure that it can be considered as 'luck'. However my screenshot was taken from an iPad. I get the same as you on my iPhone. I have compared the settings on each and can see no difference. Bit odd really.  :-(

    Perhaps we might consider re-titling, in true Douglas Adams style, 'Word info on mobile is often useless'?

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.(now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,512

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
    truth over tribe

  • JBR
    JBR Member Posts: 211 ✭✭

    I wonder if the Factbook popup is iPad only. 

    That seems a likely possibility. I get the same pop-up as the OP in my Fire-HD.

    For God and For Neighbor

  • KSO
    KSO Member Posts: 18

    I just tested on my iPad and only the word info pane shows up.

  • Perhaps we might consider re-titling, in true Douglas Adams style, 'Word info on mobile is often useless'?

    Logos 9.11.0 (27) Word Info on an iPhone 13 Pro Max (portrait mode on iOS 15.3) is initially useless (need to slide Word Info over) while clearly can see Factbook:

    Keep Smiling [:)]

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks MVP Posts: 7,436

    " rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :) said:

    Perhaps we might consider re-titling, in true Douglas Adams style, 'Word info on mobile is often useless'?

    Logos 9.11.0 (27) Word Info on an iPhone 13 Pro Max (portrait mode on iOS 15.3) is initially useless (need to slide Word Info over) while clearly can see Factbook:

    Now that is just frustrating on my 13pro I can only get the one pop-up (which is 'Word Info') while on my iPad I get the two appearing. It looks as if it is a setting somewhere that I can't spot.

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.(now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS

  • Simon’s Brother
    Simon’s Brother Member Posts: 6,816 ✭✭✭

    Same here Mike, i only get the word info window on my 13 Pr, maybe the app detects the larger screen size of the Max and determines the two Windows can be displayed.

    " rel="nofollow">Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :) said:

    Perhaps we might consider re-titling, in true Douglas Adams style, 'Word info on mobile is often useless'?

    Logos 9.11.0 (27) Word Info on an iPhone 13 Pro Max (portrait mode on iOS 15.3) is initially useless (need to slide Word Info over) while clearly can see Factbook:

    Now that is just frustrating on my 13pro I can only get the one pop-up (which is 'Word Info') while on my iPad I get the two appearing. It looks as if it is a setting somewhere that I can't spot.

  • Matt Zimmerman
    Matt Zimmerman Member Posts: 138

    Same here Mike, i only get the word info window on my 13 Pr, maybe the app detects the larger screen size of the Max and determines the two Windows can be displayed.

    Okay so we have to figure this out because iI don’t think its a screen size thing. The image below is my ipad pro m1 11” on ios 15.3 and logos 9.11.0 (0033). No factbook… As for my iphone, it‘s a 11 pro max and nothing. I also tried fiddling with the settings and had no luck.

  • Alex Bowsher
    Alex Bowsher Member Posts: 6

    +1

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,512

    Welcome to the forums Alex!

    I see that you added a "+1," but there is no context for your post. Also, this thread was created 2.5 years ago. Do you have any questions? It might be good to create a new thread.

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
    truth over tribe

  • Alex Bowsher
    Alex Bowsher Member Posts: 6

    Hey JT, appreciate you reaching out. On mobile (Android for me) there was nothing showing after highlighting a word in the popup box.. now after updating the app I see the "Lookup" showing up for the word that I have selected. However, this is not really what I am looking for when highlighting a word. (I am very new to Logos so maybe I am just not doing something correct) The expected behavior I am looking for is a quick definition of a word after highlighting. Instead the "Lookup" section takes a while to load and is really hit or miss on whether or not it shows me the meaning of a word. I truly have to dig and dig through the Lookup to maybe find a simple meaning of a word.

    Is there a way to quickly select a word and have it return the word's definition from a dictionary or online reference (Google, Merriam-Webster)?