BUG: (Major annoyance) Search Window doesn't remember my last setup

A possibility might be to set your Search panel according to your liking (type of search, collapsed sections, etc.) and then drag the Search panel to the shortcut bar. Next time you need search, open it from shortcut bar ... you could do this even for multiple different search setups.

That's definitely a workaround but not ideal. I have limited space for more shortcuts. Logos normally remembers when you have stuff collapsed so that searches don't all have to run at once (which slows things down), and so that we're not overwhelmed with info we don't yet need. I don't want to have to create a shortcut for something the software should do on its own.

Instead of shortcut bar, one could drag it to favorites ... e.g. if a certain search with complicate search rule, etc. is part of a certain project and any resources related to the project could be included in a Favorites entry.

I'm not really trying to do any complicated searches. I already use Favorites to save special searches. I'm just talking about everyday searching. I just want to go to whatever tab I last used (instead of it defaulting to All) and want things to remain collapsed that I have collapsed. So if I'm doing multiple Book searches or multiple Bible searches I don't have to keep clicking to select those tabs since those were the tabs I was just using.

I'm not really trying to do any complicated searches.

I keep two Search tabs in my layout. You could keep one there and avoid the inconvenience of opening from the toolbar.

I have a basic layout with a search tab but I always end up adding more.

I have a basic layout with a search tab but I always end up adding more.

Duplicating a search tab might be more satisfactory. And I use "Send searches here" to control which tab is used by Context menu and other features.

I would really just prefer that it work like it used to. The standard Logos function is to have sections remain collapsed if you collapsed them with the last use. Guides, the Factbook, and Search used to work this way. 

I also always like for the Factbook and Bookstore sections to remain collapsed until I want to use them (especially the Bookstore). If I want the Factbook, I just go to the Factbook. There are certain instances when I actively want to search the Bookstore. But I want the search window to be focused on searching my existing library first. I've spent a lot of money building my library over the years and I want to get the most out of it.

I also want Logos to remember how I work so that I don't have to create shortcuts or use workarounds for stuff that should be basic functionality.

I know you're trying to help, but sometimes endless workarounds won't do. The program should simply remember that I have things collapsed and keep them that way until I change them. I don't use a ton of layouts because I don't always work just one way. I work more dynamically so I just want the Search tab to remember how I last used it. If I want a specific more precise Search layout, that's when I use shortcuts or favorites.

Agree completely. And I did the send search here thing, plus dedicated search panels. I really wish they'd replace the designer guy; they're just treading water, with design repairs masquerading as features.  Each update demands a new set of work-arounds from the designer guy.

They need a whole design philosophy and a unified set of design standards. The desktop app is like Frankenstein's monster, cobbled together and inconsistent. They should have all of the common design elements of the program work the same throughout the program, (e.g. scrollbars, find boxes, expandable/collapsable lists and sections, sidebars, dropdown lists, panel menus, etc.) All of these things should look and function in a consistent manner. There is no other program installed on my computer that has a more inconsistent, cobbled-together interface than Logos.

People just get used to working around design flaws instead of demanding that Faithlife fix them. Frustrating.

I have so many more complaints about the interface but it would take up literally all of my time reporting all of them, so I just report them when I'm annoyed enough and when I have time.

• Faithlife is a small company with limited programming resources
• Faithlife spread itself too thin across too many products -- a reality they have admitted and corrected

Agreed wholeheartedly.

Faithlife tries to respond to the feature requests of its customers -- resulting in a need to provide new features but without the resources necessary to bring all the old features up to modern standards

Some new features I wonder who even asked for them. I feel like a lot of us have been asking them to focus on performance and refinement lately. I personally wish they would slow down on new features and focus on improving and refining existing ones with a focus on consistent design. (Sidenote: having all search sections expanded for every new search doesn't contribute to increased search performance, quite the opposite. Search is actually slower because it keeps trying to search everything--Factbook, Downloaded, Cloud, Print, and Bookstore--at once.)

The customer base has to convince Faithlife that we have the patience to allow them the time to standardize the code and interface without demanding new platforms and input devices be supported, that our personal pet peeves be "fixed" etc., that we are willing to try more recent design preferences that are not to our personal liking . . .

Faithlife has created this dynamic with its own inconsistency and lack of discipline as you mentioned. If they put out stuff that works well and adds value to our study customers will accept it. Customers don't have anything to prove to Faithlife, Faithlife needs to prove it can design a piece of software that works well and customers will trust them more to make changes.

I think another issue is that Faithlife is focusing on things they can sell to us to get us to upgrade. It's harder to sell "Interface Refinement" as a premium upgrade (although I would definitely upgrade for that). Lately their new "features" seem to be focused on things that prompt us to buy more and more books. The Counseling Guide was a total example of this. I could have done without that, I almost never use it. But it was an excuse for them to sell folks more counseling books to fill out that feature (and now they even have a Counseling Suite base package). The Theology Guide was a similar situation. Even the new Sermon quotes feature functions to show you more books with quotes that you don't own.

Faithlife needs to pause on new datasets, and we certainly don't need any more guides. Focus on improving the performance and design and data integrity of what we have.

What platform are you speaking of or, if the desktop, are you speaking of the all search?

I was speaking of the Books search on the Desktop app. By "everything" I meant everything in the Books tab. It's running the search for all the sections in that tab because they're all expanded.

I hope to see a filling out of various data frameworks they already have in place.

Agreed.