Lookup & Search in the App

There are two ways to discover information on a specific topic in the app. First, you can simply search the text you have open for a specific word or phrase. Or secondly, you can use the Lookup feature to find specific information throughout your entire digital library. In this post, we will go over these two methods, providing clear examples and tips for always finding what you’re looking for.

Search in the Olive Tree Bible App

Most frequently, the search feature is used to find all the occurrences of an English word in an English Bible. You can easily try this for yourself by selecting the search icon at the top of the app. Then type in any word (that you would find in the Bible) and search.

Above, we searched for the word “Jesus”. There are 1,311 results in the NIV Bible, which is open in the main menu.

You can also create more advanced searches, and search within any text that’s open in the main window.

Search Options

There are three simple features you can use to narrow your search. First, you can filter your results by book of the Bible. For example, try searching for “Jesus” only in the book of Mark. How many results do you discover then?

Secondly, you can set a search range. You can create your own range, if you want, but we’ve provided a list of popular ones. Examples include the Old Testament, Prophets, All Epistles. Now try searching for “Jesus” in all the Gospels.

Lastly, you can quickly access your search history. No need to type something you recently searched!

Advanced Search Features

The app contains two advanced search features, for those who have very specific search terms in mind. One allows you to create search commands using advanced syntax. Here are the rules we’ve included:

• OR searches: use “OR”, “Or”, or “|”. Using “or” will result in a search for the word “or”.
• AND searches: use “AND”, “And”, or “&”. Using “and” will result in a search for the word “and”. On its own, this type of search will find two words or phrases within the same verse (or 20-words for non-versified books). If you want change this, add a number followed by “v” for verses or a “w” for words at the end of your search terms. For example, “10v” or “2w”.
• You can combine multiple OR and/or AND searches. Like with math, the order of precedence is from left-to-right. Then, parentheses may be used to change the order if needed.
• Search for an exact phrase by using double question marks around the words: “a servant of Christ Jesus”.
• Wildcard searches can be done by adding an “*”. This means words including this word, along 0 or more other characters, will be included.
• Add a “?” to the end of a word to search for the word along with 1 additional character, perhaps to find the plural as well as the singular.

These rules can be tricky if you have never used them before. However, in the advanced search feature, we’ve made these commands easier to use. Tap to add them to your search query, or select the information button to learn a little more before implementing.

The last search option allows you to switch between searching for the plain text or morphology when you are using a parsed text.

The Lookup Feature

Lookup is more similar to using the Resource Guide than searching. In case you aren’t sure what the Resource Guide is:

The Resource Guide is a tab in the Study Center. It shows you every piece of content related to the text open in the main window. Relevant content is organized by type: commentary, maps, outlines, etc.

So, Lookup doesn’t simply search the text you have open. Instead, it scans your entire digital library, searching for any content related to your query.

Using Lookup in the Study Center

There are two ways to search your library for a topic. First, open the Study Center and select the Lookup tab. Here, you can search for any topic you want. However, we also work hard to organize information related to Bible study for you in advance. So, while searching, you may realize we’ve already created a tag for this person, place or thing.

Extra Tip: If you were to create a note and tag it with one of these pre-made tags, then your note would also appear in the Lookup results.

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After searching, you will see a results page. If we find content related to your search, you will see it here!

Using Lookup in the Text

The second way to use this feature is by selecting a word in the text you are reading. For instance, you can lookup “servant,” like we did above, without opening the Study Center.

After selecting the word you’re curious about, tap “Lookup.” Now you’ll see the results page in a pop-up window. This method is a very convenient way to quickly learn about what you’re reading, while you’re reading — no distractions.

Learn About Other Study Center Tabs

There are three other tabs in the Study Center! Have you tried using them? If not, check out our articles on the Resource Guide, Parallel, and Notes tabs for all the info you need to know.