QuickVerse tricks

Downloadable Projects: QuickVerse survival tricks

For years we have used Parsons Technology's QuickVerse Bible program. We found that it reached its most useful form with version 4.0. Later versions focused more on layers and layers of commentary and libraries of works of the ancient "fathers," not to mention a baffling proliferation of versions, at the expense of both readability and functionality of the Bible itself. By the time version 7 arrived, one could no longer link a note with its verse. Worse, with the advent of Windows 2000 and its offshoot, Windows-XP, the older versions will no longer run. But we found a way.

For those who may still be using version 4 or earlier, we have provided a program which will take the exported note files and convert them into rtf format wich can be read by most word processors in Linux, Windows, or Unix. The program is free, but before you download it read and see if you are game to run it.

It is easiest if the program is stored in a folder included in the systems path or directly in the qv directory (a.k.a. folder). Your personal note file is most likely called av.not; in any case, it will have a .not extension. Start QuickVerse and under the "Notes" drop-down menu select "Export." Click "yes" and then "OK" when the copyright notice pops up. When the "Open Text File" window pops up, type in something imaginative like "notes" for the file name. Click "OK."

It may take a while, but eventually your notes will pour out into a file called "notes.txt" (or whatever imaginative name you used .txt). Now comes the "techie" part. (If you know the path to your QV directory you can skip this paragraph.) Right-click on the QV icon and select "Properties." If it is not already selected, click the shortcut tab. One of the lines should say "Target" and the lettering in the text box next to it might even be highlighted (white text on blue background). Either memorize it or wrte it down, but do not include the program's name, "qvwin.exe." You now have the path to your QuickVerse directory or folder.

Next, click the start button and select "Run." Type the word "command" (or "cmd" for Win-2000) and click OK. You will now see a DOS box with the dreaded C-prompt. In the box type

cd c:\.....

where the c:\..... is the path to your QV folder. (If yours did not start with c:\, use whatever yours did say. Note the space between the cd and the path. Typing the command

dir *.txt

will reveal several files, one of which is the notes.txt we created above.

If all that went well, and if the program is installed in the search path or in the QV folder, we can run it by typing the command:

qv2rtf notes.txt notes

Typing

dir *.rtf

should show a file called notes.rtf.

That's it. Type "exit" and start your word processor. Click "open" and type in the path to the QV folder or else browse to it. It you do not see the notes.rtf file, click the drop-down button on "Files of type and select "Rich text format," which is probably on the bottom. If the file that Word opens shows a copyright notice and restrictions that start with \c, you have opened notes.txt instead of notes.rtf. Try again and be sure that the Type (third column) says "Rich Text Format."

Downloading qv2rtf.exe

Download the qv2rtf.exe file by saving it either in the Windows folder or in the QV folder (preferred).