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To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Accordance, I'm trying to switch from Logos to Accordance. My Accordance Bible Software 25 Day Switch begins.

For the last 13+ years I’ve used Logos Bible Software plus others as I reviewed them. Today I am going through an Accordance Bible Software 25-day Switch experiment to jump from using Logos first to prioritizing Accordance Bible Software. What inspired this choice? How do I expect this change to affect my Bible study experience? Should you make a similar switch?

This post won’t answer all of the question posed above, but it will answer the first and share my early experience. The Accordance Bible Software 25-Day Switch may be temporary. We’ll see after it’s over. However, it will be complete during that 25 days.

Why am I making this possibly temporary switch? There’s a number of reasons.

  • Of all the Bible software I use regularly, I’m least familiar with Accordance and want to become more adept with it.
  • Logos works great, but it’s a hardware resource hog and Accordance runs faster and takes up less space and power to run on both Windows and Mac.
  • This experience, I hope, will inform readers what it takes to switch from one major Bible software platform to another.
  • I like a challenge.
  • The length will honor the history of Accordance, as they celebrate 25 years of publishing a world class Bible software program first on Mac and now on Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android.

Accordance Bible Software 25-Day Switch Rules

First, I won’t use my old go to program or the apps related to the program. In other words, I can’t launch Logos on my Mac or on my phone/tablet during the 25 days. There’s one exception. If I’m studying a passage and need to open Logos to access a resource that I know will help me produce a better sermon or Bible study, then I will. My preaching and teaching ministry at High Peak Baptist Church matters more than an article written on this site.

Second, like most weeks, I can use other programs or apps. While I launch Logos first, unless I’m reviewing another program or app, I always use more than one Bible program or app to research my sermons. So this “switch” means that Accordance will dominate my study, but I’ll continue to occasionally use other programs and app besides Logos when I need to.

Third, I reserve the right to cancel the switch at any time but not for any reason. If this switch means I’m so unproductive that the switch harms the affectiveness as I study the Bible. I’ll write about it here.

Fourth, if I need to open Logos to get a screen shot or shoot video to explain differences between Logos and Accordance for articles in this series, I will. But I will only set things up to get the shot and then close it.

Accordance Bible Software 25 Day Switch Copying Passages to Other Programs

Logos helped me finish most of the in depth study for this weeks’ sermon already. The first day of the switch came after that on purpose. I didn’t want to dive head first into the Accordance deep end. Instead, I’m wading in the shallow end this week.

This week I began to prepare my preaching notes for this week’s message. That means I’m copying passages from my Bible software to a Microsoft Word document. I take that Word document into the pulpit with me on my 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It’s an extensive outline with the Bible passages copied to the document.

In Logos, copying a passage to Word is simple after some setup. The Logos Copy Bible Verse tool will let you select a passage and then choose the translation, a copy format and whether you want to simply copy the passage to the clipboard or copy it and paste it in one click. If you want to copy it, hit the copy button. Or you can hit the Copy-Paste button and it automatically inserts it into the Word document with the formatting chosen.

The above video shows how to use Copy Bible Verses tool in Logos 5, but it works the same way in versions 6 through 8.

With Accordance you insert passages into Word or other programs on macOS by using the built-in macOS Services feature. You can download a Accordance Services Set and install them. To insert the passage, type out the reference in Word and select it. Then right-click it and choose Services and then Insert Verses.

insert verses service

I love the Logos Copy Bible Verses tool, but the Accordance use of services works. Also, you can do a little more. They offer services for …

  • View Verses – shows the reference in Accordance.
  • Search with Options – searches the selected text using an options dialog box.
  • Search for Words – opens a search in Accordance and looks for the selected text.
  • Insert Verses from any Text – lets you choose which Bible translation to paste the passage from.
  • Insert Verses – inserts the selected passage from your top Bible.

Users have created other services, which you can find in the Accordance Bible exchange site, which holds files related to Accordance, including this collection of user created services.

This process took some configuration to make the inserted verses look how I want. Go to Preferences and then look in the Citations screen to experiment with the options there to make things look the way you want them too. Here’s my screenshot to make things look how I wasn’t.

Go to Accordance menu and choose Preferences or use the COMMAND+, shortcut.

Here’s the way the verses look when I paste them into Word. After pasting them into Word, I apply my Bible Quote Style. Logos does this with one click and in Accordance it takes several steps.

bible copied to word in quote style

Here’s how to insert text using Accordance and services.

  • Type the reference in Word or another program.
  • Right-click (or click on menu for Word, Services, Insert Verses) and choose Services and then Insert Verses (or one of the other services).
  • The passage gets pasted using basic formatting so I have to select the passage and click on the Ribbon to apply my Style.

Logos handles this better, but if Accordance handles more of my Bible study process better than Logos, this minor weakness will not keep me from continuing my Accordance Bible Software 25-Day Switch.

4 thoughts on “Accordance Bible Software 25 Day Switch Part One

  1. Hello Kevin

    On Mac if you are in Word try press option/alt-Command-A for the Get Verses feature. This is the Accordance own tool. The one you mentioned is a third party tool.
    May you have to give permission to use it.

    Unfortunately on 12.3.2 to select a verse in Word and press the Shortcut-key is broken. Hopefully it is fixed in 12.3.3.

    Greetings

    Fabian

    1. Yes, Get Verses will do exactly what you want, Kevin. Cmd-option-A (Mac) or Ctrl-alt-A (Win) will pull up a dialog that allows you to use your citation format and match formatting during insert.

      Screenshot:
      https://dl.dropbox.com/s/fj98uui3evjwhcq/Screen%20Shot%202019-03-12%20at%203.04.21%20PM.png?dl=1

      For more info, see Mac help: http://accordancefiles2.com/helpfiles/OSX12/Default.htm#topics/10_ref/db/db_get_verses.htm#kanchor930
      Win help: http://accordancefiles2.com/helpfiles/Win12/Default.htm#topics/10_ref/db/db_get_verses.htm#kanchor837

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