How do YOU manage personal Bible notes in Logos?

I want to start using a good system to record my personal notes as I study the Bible in Logos. I'd love to hear your good strategies and bonus points if you can support it with screen shots of what your note files, Bible screens looked like marked up, and custom note pallets.

On my paper Bible, sometimes I like to highlight passages, underline passages, mark key cross references, use inductive methods to mark symbols & key words, and jot down notes/lists in the margins. I would like to start using Logos as my repository for all of these notes & markings. Here are some questions going through my mind as I try to develop a good system:

1) what is the best way to set up note document structure? - a) one for each book of the Bible, b) one giant note file for all Bible notes, c) separate files for highlighting, underlining, and text notes

2) sometimes I like to do inductive studies. Should I keep these notes and symbols for inductive study in a separate note document or merge them with my other Bible study note documents?

3) Should I tie all my notes, underlines, highlighting to verse references (so the notes and markings are visible in any Bible version or book with that verse reference) or should I just tie all my notes to my preferred Bible version?

4) what system do you use for your note titles? Do you use the verse reference as the title, or do you use a more descriptive title (I.e. Mat28:18-20 or "the great commission"

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Comments

DMB

Delete them all every now and then (answering your title).

So's you have a complete discussion, notes don't belong in Logos (my input, and the Logos CEO originally ... he may have changed, better to support his eco-system idea).

All my notes sit in a text file, keyed relative to my 4 Bible software platforms. Then every now and then, I import them into Logos using a PB. All nicely indexed, display as I wish, and naturally backed up.

Jonathan Bradley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855820#Comment_855820

Delete them all every now and then (answering your title).

So's you have a complete discussion, notes don't belong in Logos (my input, and the Logos CEO originally ... he may have changed, better to support his eco-system idea).

All my notes sit in a text file, keyed relative to my 4 Bible software platforms. Then every now and then, I import them into Logos using a PB. All nicely indexed, display as I wish, and naturally backed up.

Denise, what formatting do you use in your text file for the occasional PB import into Logos?

Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855874#Comment_855874

The notes in Logos do not have all the functionality that one can wish, however, good cause to use them is integration with the rest of your library (links, tags, labels, etc.).

The question you asked has been discussed extensively in the past on the forum. Google something like:

"organise notes site:community.logos.com" to search for "organise notes" (or whatever else you think best) on the logos forums. You will have to sort through the results but this way you can benefit from what has already been shared which may not be posted yet again at length in response to you post. Then you can ask further questions that arise if they are not answered after reading on this.

I hope this helps even though it is not a direct answer.

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855908#Comment_855908

I do the following:

- I have one note file for each book of the Bible. So if I enter a textual note, I make sure it goes into the appropriate note file. Initially, I entered notes on selected words or phrases. I have stopped this practice as then the note is linked to the one Bible and cannot be seen when you read another Bible. I now only attach textual notes to references so they show up in all Bibles.

- I have all highlights (Bibles and books) in ONE file. This unfortunately means that the note file with the highlights has become huge, which might cause performance issues. However, I am afraid that if I store highlights in resource-specific note files, I will end up with hundreds of note files each containing highlights. So this is still an area I am looking for better solutions.

Armin

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855874#Comment_855874

Not for most, but the notes start in straight text, no formatting, then move to my Bible software PBs using HTML (because it's viewable and hard, WYSIWYG). For Logos, I import the HTML into Word, thense my standard PBs, one for OT and one for NT (I use separate windows for each testament).

It's programmed, so it converts verse refs, makes sure of TOC formatting, etc. Again, not for most, but I use several packages. I really wish Logos supported tables and colors ... for Logos import, that portion is skipped.

RyanB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855918#Comment_855918

- I have all highlights (Bibles and books) in ONE file. This unfortunately means that the note file with the highlights has become huge, which might cause performance issues. However, I am afraid that if I store highlights in resource-specific note files, I will end up with hundreds of note files each containing highlights. So this is still an area I am looking for better solutions.

I used to do it like this as well. Then somebody showed me the advantage of having all my highlights and notes in resource specific note files (with the exception of the Bible. I handle that differently.) The reason for the advantage is in addition to smaller files leading to better performance (my highlight file got really bogged down), I really liked being able to open a note file for a book, changing the view to "quotes", and then being able to see all of text I had highlighted (which usually forms a summary of the book for me), all laid out in one place. You do end up with quite a few note files, but there are ways to search for specific highlights across all note files so I haven't run into that being a problem for me yet. It's just a personal preference I suppose, but I haven't regretted it.

Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855940#Comment_855940

I should mention here in case you experiment with different models that if you change your mind later, you can drag individual note entries from one file to another (but you can't move a bunch of notes at once).

EastTN

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855940#Comment_855940

Mine are essentially unmanaged, which is not at all ideal. I started out just making notes and highlights, without giving any thought to where they were stored. That created a big, ugly note file. I probably should go back and split it up into a series of note files that are organized more rationally, but the level of effort just seems prohibitive. (I did do it a while back with one book - Isaiah - and it took forever.)

In a perfect world, what I would like to see would be:

Default behavior that:

Allows a new user to just start taking notes
Doesn't create a hole that the new user will have to dig out of later when they become more experienced
Allows an experienced user to buy a new resource and immediately start taking notes without having to set something new up
Provides a default structure for storing notes that's at least reasonable

Basic tools for reorganizing note files, such as:

Bulk select/move from one note file to another
Merging of note files
Splitting of note files

Based on prior forum discussions, it sounds like a good many Logos users have accidently found themselves with large, unwieldy note files that require a lot of work to get under control.

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855955#Comment_855955

Based on prior forum discussions, it sounds like a good many Logos users have accidently found themselves with large, unwieldy note files that require a lot of work to get under control.

I think you may be right.

I don't have a system that I really like either other than keeping notes in resource-specific files.

Phil Morgan

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/855951#Comment_855951

Hi Francis, can you describe how to do this? (Drag individual notes)

thanks!

Graham Criddle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/856249#Comment_856249

Hi Philip

Hi Francis, can you describe how to do this? (Drag individual notes)

https://wiki.logos.com/Notes#How_can_I_copy.2fmove_notes_to_a_New_Note_file should give you what you need

Graham

Phil Morgan

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/856252#Comment_856252

Excellent! Thank you Graham.