Building a Personal Book of My Sermons

I am trying to build a Personal Book consisting of my sermon notes for the past six years. I searched the forums and most of the information I found was outdated. Apparently PBB is a relatively new feature.

First, is there anyone who has done this already that would be willing to share pointers?

Second, does anyone know of a way to convert several Word documents into a single document? The only way I know to get started now is to open each document and copy and paste the text into my PB source file. I'm just wondering if there is an easier way. I know you can merge PDFs.

Third, I want to organize them by main text, but also tag the date preached. Any suggestions?

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JT (alabama24)

Hey Kevin -

I need to leave real quick, but I wanted to get you started. See THIS wiki page. Notice the links at the bottom for sample documents. I have not created my own sermon PB, but the blog PB I mentioned to you before would work the same way.

steve clark

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493450#Comment_493450

Kevin,

There are a lot of Sermon file PB posts. Try using this Google Search to view them.

Also, i added a macro for Word to embed the blank table for the Sermons into Word (see this post).

Graham Criddle

Hi Kevin

Apparently PBB is a relatively new feature.

Not really - its been around since Logos 4.3 which was shipped in August 2011

I searched the forums and most of the information I found was outdated

The wiki article at http://wiki.logos.com/Personal_Books is a good starting point including the links at the bottom

First, is there anyone who has done this already that would be willing to share pointers?

There are a number of threads addressing this - have a look at http://community.logos.com/forums/p/69507/483253.aspx for an example

Second, does anyone know of a way to convert several Word documents into a single document?

Not sure why you want to do this - can you expand? Are you aware that you can add multiple word documents to a single Personal Book? (just uas the "Add File" button in the tool)

Third, I want to organize them by main text, but also tag the date preached. Any suggestions?

You can tag personal books by date (and other fields) See 4.6a release notes (http://wiki.logos.com/Logos_4.6a) for details of the tags and links to threads where this is discussed)

Hope this helps, Graham

Eleanor Emmott

Second, does anyone know of a way to convert several Word documents into a single document? The only way I know to get started now is to open each document and copy and paste the text into my PB source file. I'm just wondering if there is an easier way. I know you can merge PDFs.

Third, I want to organize them by main text, but also tag the date preached. Any suggestions?

There are pros and cons to having multiple sermons in one file versus having one file for each sermon. The PB tool allows you to use either method.

If you put several sermons in one file, it is a little easier to keep the formatting consistent. You also end up with fewer .docx file entries in the PB.

Despite those benefits, I decided to have each sermon in it's own file. A PB book can be compiled using several .docx files. That means that each week when my sermon is complete, I just add the new sermon .docx file to the PB and re-compile the book.

That being said, there is an easy way to convert several Word documents into a single document. I use Word 2007. There may be slight differences if you have a newer version.

Open a blank word file, or open the sermon that you want to be first in your collection / set of sermons.

Go to the Insert tab of the ribbon. Towards the left side of the ribbon you should see the "Text" section. In that section is the "Object" option. Click on the small arrow beside Object and choose "Text from File" from the dropdown menu.

In the Insert File dialog box, find the folder where your sermon files are saved. Select all of the files you would like to add to the document and press Insert.

It may take a few seconds, depending on how many files you have selected, but the text of all those files should now be in your open document.

I organize my sermons using the file names of the docx files. Mine are organized by date, so I name all my files with the date and then the sermon title. (ex: "130602 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.docx"). If you want them organized in your PB by main text, you could do something similar. For example, if you were preaching about creation from Genesis, you could name the file "01Gen 1 Creation.docx" But it might be a lot of work to change the file names if you have several years of sermons!

Thankfully, you don't really need to do that at all. When you read the wiki you will see information about the sermon meta-data table. If you include a table like that for each of your sermons, it will build an index for your sermon PB. That index will include the main text, the date, and any other tags or themes that you include in the table. It does take some time to go through 6 years of sermons and build the tables, but the end result is definitely worthwhile.

It is also possible to do the work in stages. That makes it less overwhelming.

First put together your book and add to it your one or many docx files. Don't worry about the table or formatting or anything else. You will have all of your sermon text into Logos and you can start reaping the benefits of that right away.

After that, start with this week's sermon. Add the table to it. Use the Word Style Headings to start a table of contents and headings in the PB. Add that text to your big sermon docx or add the individual docx file to the PB and recompile the book. Now you have the beginnings of an index with one sermon in it.

As part of my early prep-work for each sermon, I fill in the PB sermon table. That way by the time the sermon is written, it is ready to be added to my PB.

Once you are into a rhythm of adding new sermons into the PB with the meta-data table and helpful formatting, then you can start going back to earlier sermons. You can chip away at it over time until you have added the meta-data table to each of them. Each time you finish adding the table and formatting one or three or ten sermons, then recompile the PB. Those sermons should now show up in the Index at the end of your PB.

Eventually you will have all of your sermons indexed.

A few months ago I enjoyed the benefit of all that work when I was preparing for Pentecost Sunday. I opened my sermon book and went to the tag index, and scrolled to the list of sermons with a Pentecost tag. It only took me a few seconds to find all of the sermons that I had preached on Pentecost over the past few years [:)]

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493450#Comment_493450

I need to leave real quick, but I wanted to get you started.

You are so kind and helpful. Thanks for replying before you had to leave.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493452#Comment_493452

Try using this Google Search to view them.

Well, I obviously don't know how to do a search. [:)] That was real helpful. I had went directly to the forum site and searched with the search box. I looked through all of the results, but didn't see the results you found with the Google search. Thanks.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493472#Comment_493472

there is an easy way to convert several Word documents into a single document.

Thank you Eleanor, I knew there must be a way. However, you have convinced me not to use it. Now that I understand the index table, I believe I can just go back to my sermon files and add the table and then compile the PB from the multiple documents. I format all of my notes the same, so formatting will not be an issue.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493450#Comment_493450

See THIS wiki page. Notice the links at the bottom for sample documents.

Here is the table from the sample document:

Sermon File Type	Sermon
Passages	2 Kings 7:19
Topics	Sin; Unbelief
Tags	Congregation; Believers
Speaker	C. H. Spurgeon
Venue	New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
Date	January 14, 1855

The only problem I see is that I often preach in series. Is there someway to include data for the series? Can I just add a row to the table labeled "Series"?

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493478#Comment_493478

Is there someway to include data for the series? Can I just add a row to the table labeled "Series"?

Yes, Kevin you can.

See: http://wiki.logos.com/Sermon_and_Illustration_Support

"The ‘Sermon File Type’ is required for the first row, but the other metadata lines can be added as desired in any order."

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493480#Comment_493480

Yes, Kevin you can.

See: http://wiki.logos.com/Sermon_and_Illustration_Support

"The ‘Sermon File Type’ is required for the first row, but the other metadata lines can be added as desired in any order."

Thanks Kevin, I should have read the wiki file more carefully before I asked the question. [:)]

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493481#Comment_493481

Thanks Kevin, I should have read the wiki file more carefully before I asked the question.

No problem, glad I could help. [:)]

Randy W. Sims

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493482#Comment_493482

Sorry to interrupt. [;)]

You can add rows to the table but I don't think they get indexed. It might be a reasonable suggestion to make to Logos for an addition.

As a workaround you use the Topic or Tag section. Make up a convention for naming them such as "Series: Creation". If you always start with "Series" in the tag name then all of the series will appear near each other in the indexed tags.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493484#Comment_493484

Sorry to interrupt.

Sorry, I'm at the exhaustion point where you are so tired you get silly.

You can add rows to the table but I don't think they get indexed.

OK, I just tested it and you are correct. When the file said you could add metadata, I assumed it would index it.

Make up a convention for naming them such as "Series: Creation". If you always start with "Series" in the tag name then all of the series will appear near each other in the indexed tags.

I try this.

Anthony H

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493489#Comment_493489

[Y]

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493484#Comment_493484

Make up a convention for naming them such as "Series: Creation". If you always start with "Series" in the tag name then all of the series will appear near each other in the indexed tags.

That works like a charm!

The other data I want to catalog is auxiliary scriptures used to support the exposition of the main passage. I do not want to include this data in passages field because I want to be able to distinguish between an entire sermon devoted to the exposition of a passage and a passing mention in the sermon. Since addition fields are not indexed, the best solution I can come up with is to enter these scripture references as tags. I tested it on one sermon and it appears it will work fine. Does anyone have a better solution?

JT (alabama24)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493514#Comment_493514

I'm not sure why you would want to add tags for the other verses... Since you presumably have the scripture references within the sermon text, it will be auto hyperlinked. When you do a search for, say "Hebrews 10:24," then your sermon will appear in the search.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493517#Comment_493517

I'm not sure why you would want to add tags for the other verses...

I want to accomplish two things: one, I want to see a list of the scriptures I am using for support. This will help me to see if I am covering all areas of the Bible or camping out in a few favorite spots. Already this list has been revealing and I have only finished about 14 sermons. Second, I want a list where I can see in which sermon each scripture is used. I see your point about the search feature, but so far I like how the tag system is working for this.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493532#Comment_493532

Here is what I have so far...

As suggested I tagged the sermon series beginning with "Series:" so that they fall together in the list.

Here is another screen shot...

So the main passages are listed under passage and secondary supporting scriptures are tagged.

Randy W. Sims

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493553#Comment_493553

You might want to keep an eye on that. That list of references is going to GROW. Verses like Gen 1:1-5, Gen 1:2, Gen 1:2-3, Gen 1:5,6, Gen 1, Gen 1:1. Will all get separate individual entries in the index even though there is a lot of overlap. That list is going to get HUGE, very quickly, unless you break your sermons into a number of manageably sized PBs. However, I don't know enough about PBB (yet) to think of any other solutions.

Kevin Maples

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/493563#Comment_493563

That list of references is going to GROW.

You are correct, it is going to be a long list. But do you foresee any problems with having a long list? I don't really know if this will create a problem down the road. If I broke them up, then I couldn't see on one index all the places a particular scripture was referenced.