Word Lists - generate your own & import to Logos!

In this post I'm sharing a small Excel tool that helps generating an import file to bring Word List data into Logos - which will subsequently also work in the Logos vacabulary trainer mobile app.  

Note: this feature relies on an import routine with an undocumented file format that was intended to bring content created for Libronix into Logos 4.6. It still works, but Logos disadvises its use.

The import procedure for pre-generated lists is easy: create the right folder, put the file there and use the command Import Word Lists (see the process step write-up by Fr Devin Roza).

You may not want to use this, most surely because

• it is easy and fun to create your own Word Lists within Logos 6 by direct input or automated from e.g. Greek NTs or Interlinear bibles. The L6 feature allows for full editing of fields, for merging lists etc.
• making a list "by hand" will do much more for memorization than copying something you found on the web.
• letting Logos create the Word List instead of importing it will give you pronunciation audio and semi-official glosses
• there are great Faithlife groups (yes, plural) that share Word Lists - especially those Logos-pre-generated ones for Greek/Hebrew Grammars. Getting Word Lists via such a group is easy and safe.
• import it is risky - one wrong character in the import file may crash your Logos during import. Yes, it crashed on me, several times, during development of the tool.

So, this tool may not be for you and no-one blames you for not using it. 

Nevertheless, there could be reasons to think over creating your own Word Lists in Excel and importing them into Logos. This may apply when you want to use the Logos features and the mobile app

• for a course based on a Grammar where there is no pre-generated list
• for glosses in another language than English (e.g. Spanish, German)
• for a language currently not supported by Logos, such as Latin

In this case, the Excel tool may help. It basically converts a word list in spreadsheet format into a format that you can copy into a unicode textfile and that Logos will recognize during import as a valid format. I wanted to do this for myself for a long time, but thought to share it. It's most basic Excel 2007 formulas - just string-handling and a couple of IFs. No macros, no button, no code - this should be interoperable on all versions, I hope.   

The instructions are - I hope - very straightforward: fill in the white fields with your data. Some restrictions apply: Lemma needs to be filled with something (it doesn't need to be a real lemma, if you don't have one, just copy the Display column), Count with a number (use 1 throughout if you have no frequency data). 

I used a list of NT vocab occuring more than 900 times as a sample (source http://www.biblicalgreek.org/grammar/vocabulary.php - great site!)

The tool will generate the xml-code needed for the file on a second tab. From there, it's the most easy way to simply copy it into a textfile that accepts unicode formate (just paste your stuff over the content of the sample file below and save) - note the import path. 

Some (still further) caveats:

• You must use Unicode - pasting what looks like Greek into the sheet may just use another font faking it (a stands for α, b for β, ... you know them) but won't work. Sad for some great content existing even in Excel format. The Windows Editor supports that - I haven't tested anything else (Excel will save a tab in Unicode text, but forces the .txt extension, renames the whole workbook and puts quote marks around the xml-strings, therefore I went with the copy solution)
• I have not the faintest idea if and how this works for Hebrew, Syriac, Akkadian, Chinese or whatever. You better assume it doesn't - at least I can't help you if it doesn't.
• I filled in formulas (in two hidden colums in Tab 1 and in the grey area in Tab 2) for 35 words. That's just an arbitrary number. If you intend to use more in one go, make sure to "drag down" formulas in both tabs.

3757.test wordlist & sample.zip