New Feature: Insights Sidebar on Desktop

Anna Adent
Anna Adent Member, Logos Employee Posts: 45
edited November 21 in English Forum

Insights Sidebar brings the most important related books and passages right into your Bible, making them accessible in just a single click. 

By bringing the most valuable related passages right into the Bible panel, the Insights Sidebar helps you use Scripture to interpret Scripture and better understand its context. This can, for example, provide background information on Jewish weddings when reading John 2:1-12 or show that 1 Peter 2:25 alludes to Isaiah 53:6.

The Insights Sidebar on Desktop is available to some users today via our early access to Logos Pro subscription. It will be more widely available later in the year.

For more information about Insights Sidebar, visit our support page.

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Comments

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,018 ✭✭✭

    I think it is exaggerated to claim it as a tool for interpretation. on the sidebar I can only see  Faithlife Study Bible and one other book. 

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Ralph Gibson III
    Ralph Gibson III Member Posts: 39

    Thanks Anna for taking the time to share this.  I don't have Pro but I can see this sidebar being a useful feature.

    Ralph

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle Member, MVP Posts: 32,436 ✭✭✭

    I think it is exaggerated to claim it as a tool for interpretation. on the sidebar I can only see  Faithlife Study Bible and one other book. 

    I don't understand. It is designed to give access to two (currently) types of book, a study bible and a commentary (as well as cross-reference information where appropriate). As such it is a tool to help interpretration though clearly not as exhaustive as something like the Passage Guide.

    What are your concerns?

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I think it is exaggerated to claim it as a tool for interpretation. on the sidebar I can only see  Faithlife Study Bible and one other book. 

    I had to chuckle at this as tonight for the first time, I actually used the Insights sidebar as a quick way to see the interpretation of a single verse in Luke which I suspected was being used out of context.

    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."

  • Frank Sauer
    Frank Sauer Member Posts: 1,442 ✭✭✭

    I haven't tested it, but is this pretty much the Passage with cards as its GUI? Based on the posted screenshot.... It looks to be that with much less data showing

    Logos 10 - OpenSuse Tumbleweed, Windows 11, Android 15 & Android 14

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle Member, MVP Posts: 32,436 ✭✭✭

    I haven't tested it, but is this pretty much the Passage with cards as its GUI?

    It's more designed to be a quick lookup without using the full Passage Guide.

    It provides access to a Study Bible (selectable), a Commentary (selectable), and some cross-reference information.

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭

    When I look at the Insights Sidebar.... it comes up with Faithlife Study Bible.  When I click the "chevron" " (down arrow).... I get a list of 5 books that I never use. And I cannot type in a book to use as nothing happens when I hit enter.  

    What am I missing?

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle Member, MVP Posts: 32,436 ✭✭✭

    When I click the "chevron" " (down arrow).... I get a list of 5 books that I never use

    You should get a list of up to 20 of your Study Bibles. How many do you own?

    Please post a screenshot showing what you are describing.

    And I cannot type in a book to use as nothing happens when I hit enter.  

    And on the web app - unlike desktop - there isn't a filter option for selecting books. They can only be selected from the dropdown

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭

    When I click the "chevron" " (down arrow).... I get a list of 5 books that I never use

    You should get a list of up to 20 of your Study Bibles. How many do you own?

    Looks like I own quite a few. But only 5 books are listed that I never use.

    Please post a screenshot showing what you are describing.

    And I cannot type in a book to use as nothing happens when I hit enter.  

    And on the web app - unlike desktop - there isn't a filter option for selecting books. They can only be selected from the dropdown

    Here's a screen shot.....   

    11-04-2024-12-07-14

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • Mark Barnes (Logos)
    Mark Barnes (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 1,888

    It should show you all the study Bibles (up to a maximum of 20) that you own, and that have an entry for the current passage.

    Can you give a screenshot which shows the missing study Bible(s) open to that passage, and shows this dropdown, so we can try and figure out what's wrong.

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,018 ✭✭✭

    I don't think it's a good decision to start with study Bibles rather than exegetical resources and commentaries or lexicons that one might be able to identify or find out how texts are interpreted.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Christian Alexander
    Christian Alexander Member Posts: 3,008 ✭✭

    I do not use study Bibles as much as commentaries. They are normally very terse. The suggestion by Tes is seconded. It should show commentaries.

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,018 ✭✭✭

    My first choices are exegetical resources with a detailed analysis of the biblical text I want to understand in its context.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭

    It should show you all the study Bibles (up to a maximum of 20) that you own, and that have an entry for the current passage.

    Can you give a screenshot which shows the missing study Bible(s) open to that passage, and shows this dropdown, so we can try and figure out what's wrong.

    Mark... Thanks.  After lots of checking.... It appears I have lots of "Bibles" but not many "Study Bibles" which I think is the problem. I do have bibles with notes... which I would consider "Study Bibles" but not very many. 

    From this it appears that the Sidebar is looking for "Study Bibles" in particular.  And in this "view" of the Sidebar... it's not very practical for people like me. That being if I understand it right. 

    Edit: if the above is true...  I would second Tes suggestion about allowing the Sidebar to maybe have a choice about what it looks for such as 1: Commentaries from my collection.  2. Bibles with Notes from my collection. 3. Bibles from my collection. (My collection = collections I have set up). 

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,413 ✭✭✭

    ... but not many "Study Bibles" which I think is the problem. I do have bibles with notes... which I would consider "Study Bibles" but not very many. 

    You got me beat ... I have one study Bible (downloaded). And my favorites are Bible notes (eg NET).

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭

    ... but not many "Study Bibles" which I think is the problem. I do have bibles with notes... which I would consider "Study Bibles" but not very many. 

    You got me beat ... I have one study Bible (downloaded). And my favorites are Bible notes (eg NET).

    Which maybe shows that it takes more resources for me to find out what you already know.... lol     [8-|]

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • Don Awalt
    Don Awalt Member Posts: 3,521 ✭✭✭

    Is there a way to influence which 20 show up in the drop down, in the case where someone has more than 20 that have the given passage? Does it help to put them in the Priority List, for example?

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,018 ✭✭✭

    Is there a way to influence which 20 show up in the drop down, in the case where someone has more than 20 that have the given passage? Does it help to put them in the Priority List, for example?

    It doesn't mean you'll see all of them at once. It means that you can click and replace with another study Bible from the list based on the number of study Bibles you own.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Is there a way to influence which 20 show up in the drop down
    Mine appear to be in priority order.

    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."

  • Don Awalt
    Don Awalt Member Posts: 3,521 ✭✭✭

    Mine appear to be in priority order.

    Not for me - I specifically added about 10 of my fave study bibles to the priority list, and none of them show up - in fact random ones are in the list of 20, ones I have never even looked at (I have 65 of type "Study Bible")  Mark is this a bug?

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle Member, MVP Posts: 32,436 ✭✭✭

    Not for me - I specifically added about 10 of my fave study bibles to the priority list, and none of them show up

    In my testing I found that after adding study Bibles to the prioritised list, the Bible needed to be closed and re-opened for the updated prioritised entries to show. And, even then, I had to close / open it a couple of times.

    What happens if you open a different Bible - do your prioritised entries show there?

  • Don Awalt
    Don Awalt Member Posts: 3,521 ✭✭✭

    Yep - either opening a different bible (I did open the same Bible again), or a time elapse of about 30 minutes, and it's working now. Thanks Graham.

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭

    I played with the Insight Sidebar a while today. I find it is 1. Very limiting in it's scope. By that I mean if one doesn't have many "Study Bibles" then it really doesn't work for them. 2. I also find that it is not easy to change the scope of the books that it suggests.  I believe they can be changed, but the process is slow and that causes one to think it is misguided and not working. I think I closed and opened Logos about 4 or 5 times before I actually saw any changes to the list and then I only saw 1 change when I had re-prioritized 6. 

    I hope Logos will open the "Insights Sidebar" up to other books such as Commentaries, dictionaries etc. in which case I believe "Insights Sidebar" will become very popular with many people. 

    I know we can create a "Layout" with linking to do this... but the "insights Sidebar" appears to be more intuitive to me anyway. 

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith Member, MVP Posts: 53,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    up to other books such as Commentaries,

    It is deliberately very limited but it includes currently: study Bibles, Bible commentaries, Bible harmonys, and NT use of the OT type resources.

    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."

  • NichtnurBibelleser
    NichtnurBibelleser Member Posts: 269 ✭✭

    Could the sidebar get a section for catholic/Verbum users, e.g. display of links to the CCC, DH or catholic topics?

  • Mark Barnes (Logos)
    Mark Barnes (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 1,888

    Thanks for the feedback. We're actively working on getting more than 20 resources in these lists (performance is the problem at the moment).

    I agree that it would be useful to have some Bible Notes (e.g. NET Bible) in this list. Unfortunately, the Bible Notes resource type is quite an eclectic list. I'll see if I can get that tidied up.

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭

    @Mark Barnes ---I appreciate what you are doing! I think you are making a huge difference in helping Logos to become all that it can be.  Thanks!!!

    xn = Christan  man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • Dave Gifford
    Dave Gifford Member Posts: 96 ✭✭

    Eclectic is an understatement. I still leave my Geneva bible notes on that our dedicated Logos users created years back. A blessing !

    D

  • Dave Gifford
    Dave Gifford Member Posts: 96 ✭✭

    I too get a random order, not honoring priority. 

  • NichtnurBibelleser
    NichtnurBibelleser Member Posts: 269 ✭✭

    Is it possible to integrate a [PB] commentary - the great Index of Bible Studies - in the Insights Sidebar?