What is the best way to update a PB?

Kristin · 2025-07-26T18:36:55+00:00

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So I am working on a translation of the Bible. My translation is in two parts, the OT and NT, and I finally imported them into Logos as a PB and then glued them together in Logos as a series. I then made notes which are anchored to biblical references AND anchored to the translation. For the sake of this example let's call my translation "Translation July."

I have now made edits to my translation in whatever I am doing externally and would like to update it in Logos. It is still July, so I would like to just call it the same thing and update the OT and NT. With this all as a preface here are my questions:

1) Is it ok to just update the texts of the PBs in the settings (I think that is possible), or do I need to create an entirely new PB?

2) If I am able to keep the same PB but update the text, will updating the text break the series?

3) What will happen to anchors of "Translation July"? Since the PB is called the same thing but the text is different, I take it that it will break my links, is this correct?

Any ideas of how to update two PBs in a series in the best way would be appreciated.

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NB.Mick

yes, you update the Word docx, recompile the PB and that's it - it would not be prudent to build a new PB just for some updates.
no, the series is attached to the metadata of the book, which doesn't really change. No issue with the series.
no - it will not break any links.

DMB

On #1, if the file is the original for changes (and the Accordance version is a PB derivative), I'd do versioning, given the criticality of edits? At least until you're comfortable.

Kristin

Hi @NB.Mick and @DMB, thank you both for your help. @NB.Mick, that is super surprising that it won't break the links or series, but that is for sure good. :) It is still kind of a pain to create the PBs, but I feel optimistic that the multi-step process will become second nature after I do it a few times.

On #1, if the file is the original for changes (and the Accordance version is a PB derivative), I'd do versioning, given the criticality of edits? At least until you're comfortable.

Hi @DMB, I am not entirely sure if I understand what you are saying, so let me just mention a few things. First, ya, you are correct that it is an Accordance User Bible. Outside of Accordance I have a plain text file. I really like it since I can just copy and paste parts of it and there is no coding in it. Anyway, I have a name for it and keep making changes, and after the name I have "July 25" and then each month I duplicate the file and re-name the duplicate the same name but with "Aug 25" and continue. So I have a long paper trail of my versions going back 5 or 6 years or something like that. Anyway, then in Accordance I just have a file of "recent OT" and "recent NT" and then I just keep that file updated to whatever is recent. (Then in Accordance the "recent OT" and "recent NT" are combined similar to the Logos series).

So right now in Accordance my "recent OT" is actually the file of "July OT" and right now in Accordance I would just update the version and it updates the recent OT.

For most of my classes I have my students reading the NIV, but for this specific class we actually use my translation. Thus before each class I update my file in Accordance so that my students have the same version I have. While I re-name my translation normally once a month, I am updating my translation in Accordance normally twice a week.

This has worked extremely well and I have nothing negative to say about the Accordance User Bible. It is just perfect for my needs. However, the Accordance notes kept corrupting on me and it finally got to the point that I moved my classes to Logos. For the class where I use the NIV Logos has been great. It has been a little tricky to get used to, but I actually really like it now because my notes are so accessible.

For the past month I have actually been doing my NIV class in Logos and my translation class in Accordance, but I finally decided to move that class to Logos too because of the notes.

So that caused me to finally create a PB of my translation. To do so I needed to import my User Bible to BBEdit which splashed it with the Logos PB Bible code, then I copied it and pasted it in Pages, then from Pages I saved it as a docx file and THEN I finally imported it to Logos.

I was grateful to have it and it has been working well, but now by the time I have that specific class again in a few days I need to go through that multi-step process to convert my User Bible into a Logos PB. And I suppose it won't be so bad once I do it a few times, but at the moment it just feels super complicated compared to importing my Accordance User Bible.

Sorry this answer sort of turned into a diary entry. I guess I am just sort of processing it out. My current PB in Logos is something with "July 25" and I think maybe I should create one more PB as "recent" just like Accordance and leave the July one alone. The system in Accordance with RECENT has worked well, and I am also nervous of messing up my July 25 PB since it took so much effort to even import at all.

So I am not even sure if that addresses what you were talking about, but I kind of think so.

DMB

Oh, ok. I wasn't sure you if you were still half-ies in both Logos and Accordance.

Kristin

Hi @DMB, ya, I for sure still need Accordance for most of my translational work. Looking things up in dictionaries etc seems ok in Logos, and I actually REALLY like Logos' version of Research, but working with the actual words is just easier in Accordance. For example, if I hover over a Hebrew word in Accordance it highlights that word, while in Logos it highlights the word AND the word "the" AND the word "and" AND possessive pronouns. So it is just cleaner in Accordance. (If this is a setting, let me know, but I don't think I can fix this in Logos).

Also, in Accordance I frequently copy the references of blocks of verses and paste them somewhere else, and in Logos I can't even figure out how to copy the references of a group of verses. Also, in Accordance multiple times a day I look at several verses at the same time (for example, Gen 1:1, Ex 2:3, Mk 1:4), while in Logos it is a multistep process to do that. And that isn't even mentioning the "one layout open at a time" situation, which is truly not realistic. I think the past few days on the forum is a good example. I kept needing to show screenshots of the BHS and the LXX, yet I was working on my note import of the book of James. So any time I needed to provide a screenshot I literally needed to close my work, go back to the BHS and LXX, screenshot, then close that and re-open my work. Seriously? In Accordance I can just open another workspace do whatever and keep my work open.

So while I for sure like Logos the more I work with it, I still do need to use Accordance.

DMB

"Also, in Accordance multiple times a day I look at several verses at the same time (for example, Gen 1:1, Ex 2:3, Mk 1:4), while in Logos it is a multistep process to do that."

I won't say efficient, but the verses delimited by semi-colons paste into the Passage List entry box and then display the text?

Kristin

Hi @DMB, thanks for the idea. The main issue with the passage list is that it is not only a multistep process, but it also uses a bunch of space. So in Accordance I just go to the search bar and paste my verses and be done with it. By contrast in Logos I need to open them in a passage list and then open them. So now the "list" and the "open verses" are taking up the space of two tabs instead of just one. That might not seem like a big deal but I am very limited on space. So I finally floated the passage list and then attached the open verses to the same floating window as the passage list, but then when I tried to update the verses instead of it going to the open verses tab it opened yet another tab! So then I changed the verses again and now yet another tab. So the main issue I have is that instead of dedicating one tab for my multiple verse lookup (like I do in Accordance), in Logos I need to have this gigantic "passage list" and then have it re-open a new tab every random time I need to look up multiple verses. The idea of people looking at more than one verse of the Bible at a time is not revolutionary, and so it seems like it should be as functional as looking up one verse.

DMB

Oh, I agree completely. Logos is first and foremost pretty. And second, convoluted but powerful.

Accordance is first and foremost, snappily efficient. And second, laser-focused, though dated.