Introducing the New Logos Notes

Love the new notes tool. Can't wait for some of the other features (like labels) to be brought over.

Hey Phil!

I love using Logos, and really appreciate the work put into keeping this tool so productive! Thank you!

I have two requests.

The new format for notes only seems to sort based upon date created or date modified. Is there a plan to allow us to sort alphabetically? This is a big deal for the way I use the notes.

Also, the desktop version used to have an export feature where I could choose the "expand" option, and then export all my notes at once into an editable text file. I used that feature quite a bit, and would love to have it in the online and/or iOS applications. Any plans to add that feature?

Blessings!

Phil, in another post (can't find it now) you had asked about wanting to know what's important to us. For what it's worth. I can't see myself upgrading to Logos 8 until these issues are resolved:

• Integration of notebooks in Your Documents search section in Everything search
• Integration of notebooks in My Content section of guides Copy
• Paste from resources with citation links

These three things are essential to my daily work and usage of Logos and it would be a significant drawback to not have these. I know there is planned integration of them on the FAQ page, but there is no timeline given as to when that would be (e.g. 6 weeks or 6 months) and these features are too important to me to go for very long without them.

It’s also available to use free of charge on the Logos 7 web app and will be included in the free versions of our Logos 8 desktop and mobile apps in early 2019.

Phil, love the web app!   

Our you saying that this feature be available (in early 2019) to any one who has already upgraded to Logos 8?

Or just to people who buy the feature sets? 

I went the "library only" (more books) route when I updated, did I make a mistake? 

Tom, a little more confused then normal this morning  

In my old notes system, I had notes for each book of the Bible.  When I added a new note to the notes for a particular book, the new entry would insert itself in the proper chapter/verse order.  When labels are added to the new system, will new notes in a note book transparently insert themselves in chapter/verse order?  if not, will a new sort option be added that allows me to sort notes within a notebook in chapter/verse order?

I have used the notes feature on Logos for nearly twenty years. I add notes on specific bible study topics, and title each note so that I can go back whenever I need to review my study. I sorted the notes based upon the topic title. I usually have dozens of bible verses in each note. I suppose that I have thousands of hours invested in these notes. 

About three years ago I replaced my laptop with an iPad. the iOS version is awesome, and can nearly do everything I needed to do. The one significant feature it was missing was the ability to export notes to an editable text file. I have been concerned about not backing up my notes, but it looked like future development would add that feature.  I’m still hoping it will come  

The brand new note feature sorts by date only. After using the new system for a while now I can say that my notes are almost useless to me. I like the quick response of the search feature, but it searches the whole note which produces so many responses I can’t find the note I’m looking for.  Unfortunately the online version does the same thing.

I realize more development is coming. However, I have waited for years for export features. The thought of waiting years before I can use my notes again in a meaningful way is depressing. 

If anyone knows of a workaround I’m not seeing I would love to hear about it. I’m getting desperate enough that I’m considering using my last notes export from three years ago to import to another bible software, and just lose the last three years of work. since notes now sort by date, I guess I could hand type those new notes, but the editing I’ve done on old notes would be nigh impossible to capture. 

Phil - would it be possible to make this note "sticky" so we have easy access to the FAQ etc?

I watched a video that introduces the new Notes design...and there wasn't a single example shown of what a note pop-up window looks like when the cursor hover over the note icon. A staggering oversight. I am left having to ask:

Can Logos 8 do this?

Notice how the pop-up window of the note shows the whole contents of the note. This is accomplished without a single mouse click, just by hovering over the Note icon. Notice also how BIG the pop-up is...it isn't one of those tiny and extraordinarily annoying 2x3 in. keyholes that Logos started sporting in L4. These new, post-L3 Notes pop-up windows are so limited they are almost functionally worthless. In contrast, how big can one of these L3 (that's what you are looking at) Note pop-ups be? As big as the screen itself...

For the record, what L3 notes are capable of can't be replicated in L4, L6, L7, (and I guessing) L8, either. Why not??? Am I the only one who sees how valuable this function is? This allows pretty much any pertinent content (from your Library or elsewhere) to be pigeon-holed in the precise spot in your Bible where that information is relevant. For instance, in the screen shot below, I am about to hover over a note in verse 16...

...and when I do, this is what I see.

Isn't this 10000000000 times better than what L8 (or any L-not-3) does? But it's not just the ability to create alternate marginal references. You can include pretty much any useful info for instant reference WITHOUT A SINGLE CLICK NEEDED, such as...

...or this...

THIS IS WHAT NOTES IN LOGOS 8 SHOULD DO.

I used the old note system and it was effective for me. I would organize a sermon plan, make the note icon silver circle for sermon prep notes. Then I would write out the entire manuscript in Logos. I would take previous notes i wrote and add them all onto a word processor document, footnote what was necessary, post to my blog on Patheos, and then copy and paste that post back into Logos. I would make that new note a gold circle (for the completed sermon). I put it in a certain folder where I knew sermons were going. 

All my notes would show up in the Passage Guide, I could work with them, and my workflow became simple. I would just add notes and thoughts to a certain note and then write my sermons out. 

I used the search function to find all I needed and used my Scripture verse as my connecting search. 

However, now with this notes system, my searching has changed (and it doesn't do what I want it to do). I can't find my notes so easily and it seems that tagging is the way to sort most of my notes. My problem with this is that I have over 3000 notes and I will probably have to spend a week to tag them all. 

I wish there was a way for Logos to help tag and make it easier for me. 

The fact that my notes don't show up in the Passage Guide is a serious misstep. This should have been ready when Logos 8 was made public. I also don't like that I have to go to another menu to find my notes. 

I will adapt to this new system. But it reminds me of going from writing my sermons by hand to typing them out. It also reminds from going from odl school searching to searching digitally on Google. It just changes the way I have to work. I hope it cuts my time down. But I wish Logos would not make me have to do additional work just to make something that was already workable function properly in its own new system. 

I see a lot of people love the new notes in 8. Put me down in the camp that hates the new format. I've tried watching the tutorial video and it just confuses me even more. I've had Logos for 9 years now and most upgrades I've liked, this one is the first I loathe. It makes no sense to my brain and I can't figure out how to just make notes for a particular sermon anymore.

Phil,

My wife and I have been owned logos through many product cycles, we are still very beginning users and have not been through the many available tutorials or read the plethora of forums on your site.  Frankly, for us, it's like drinking from the proverbial fire hose.  Therefore my question here may be too basic, (or because I am lazy... if I worked just a little harder I could find the answer on your site myself.)

 But here are two questions.

#1.  As my wife begins to use Logos more frequently, she will highlight something important for her... but when she does it shows up on my note/bible/commentary as a highlighted note.  Question:  What do we have to do to separate her notes/highlights from my notes/highlights?

#2  Is there a way to set my "preferences for highlighting" to one or more "default preferences".  I find it cumbersome to "hunt" for the correct tool each time I want to use the highlighter tool.  I would like to "set" the tool to my individual preferred default preference.  (I hope that makes sense to you?)

Thanks for any input you may have

Bill & Gail

Does anyone at the Corporate and Sales Levels know about all the complaints about the New Note System?

Many people have emailed them with NO RESPONSE.

We hate to complain, but this is HURTING our ministries and research.

I have been with you for OVER 10 Years and I have upgraded 2 times.

I have loved the program and have referred many people to it, until now.

The new NOTE System is Boken and I cannot refer anyone else nor upgrade to any new versions until the NOTES copy the links to citation Resources as it used to... This HUGE lost feature almost ruins the note system for many of us.

That was the most efficient and powerful aspect of the NOTES in my opinion.
NOW IT IS GONE and the work has become 10 times harder to do than before.

I have ALREADY contacted the programmers, but I see no improvement.

Does anyone in corporate office or the sales team care that customers you have had for over 10 years are extremely disappointed and will no longer Upgrade nor refer new customers?

I hope this gets resolved soon.

I know many others who are HURT by this so-called improvement.

Hi Phil,

Please forgive the length of this message...

I'd like to describe how I have used Notes for the past 20 years and how the new Notes Tool has wrecked my 20-year old system (almost 3,000 notes). Perhaps I was using notes in a way it was never designed to be used, but it really worked well for me. It was also the feature used the most apart from the Passage Guide.

I had several different notebooks (My Commentary, My Messages, General Quotes/Illustrations, My Topical Bible, etc). Some of the notes were anchored, some were not. If I clicked on an anchored note in any Bible, it opened that notebook and gave me a large window in which I could easily read the note - even if it was an entire sermon (I love having my messages anchored to a specific text so I can access it immediately from the text without having to do a search of any kind). Imagine trying to read an entire sermon in the tiny window now reserved for notes! 

If I was reading a scripture and wanted to add a note to My Commentary, I simply right clicked and was given the option of creating a new note in that particular collection, automatically anchored to the text in which I was creating the note. Under the new system, my only option for creating a new note is simply to "Add a Note" with no ability to specify that it be included in the My Commentary collection.

If I want to find a quote in my "General Quotes/Illustrations" collection (which has a separate note for each topic in my system with each note containing several entries), I have to open notes, create a filter, and then try to read it in a tiny column that only displays about 1 sentence at a time. I understand I can open it in a floating window, but now I've lost the ease and simplicity of having it open in a full-size window with a single click that allows me to see both the note and my other windows at the same time.

Also, with my General Quotes/Illustrations and Topical Bible collections, I had my notes alphabetized by topic with many entries under each topic.If I want to find a quote on "Forgiveness" in the new system, I have to create a filter to narrow it down to General Quotes/Illustrations only to find that my old notes are no longer alphabetized by topic but ordered with only two options: date created or date modified. I could search for "Forgiveness" but now I've added another step to the process that was so simple and easy under the old system.

I could go on and on with examples of how my very simple system of creating personal content in notes just got immeasurably more difficult to use. Again, I LOVE LOGOS and use it every day, but this change has had huge consequences for me personally. I'm sure I would love many of the improvements if I could actually find a way to reclaim my old system of creating, collecting and accessing notes. For now, I am grateful for the option of changing back to the old system, but I pray you will find a way to keep the improvements without destroying the basic functionality of the old system.