What are Layouts and How Do I Use Them?

 

As you use Verbum, you will open and close many panels in the main application workspace. You’ll probably want to use certain panels in a particular arrangement regularly. For example, you may want to have your preferred Bible, a commentary, and a Passage Guide open together, with link sets connecting them so they scroll synchronously. Opening and linking each panel each time you want to use this common configuration would be tedious.

Layouts allow you to permanently save a current or previous snapshot of the Verbum workspace to access at a later time. Use this to set up your preferred workspace, with all the resources and tools you want to access quickly for reading a particular book or studying a specific topic.

 

Skip ahead to:

Layouts Menu

Open a Layout When Verbum Starts Up

Add a Layout to the Toolbar

Add a Layout to the Dashboard

QuickStart Layouts

 

Layouts Menu

The Layouts menu appears on the main application toolbar, and when selected, it displays three distinct areas: 

• A top bar, which has tile arrangement buttons and a Find box for finding snapshots;

• A left column with links to Quickstart Layouts and Saved Layouts;

• A right column that lists thumbnail images of "snapshots" of your workspace.

  

 

Arrange Open Panels

Tile arrangements are not saved layouts, but convenient commands that rearrange the currently open panels into one of several stock configurations. They don’t close any open panels or open any new panels like saved layouts do.

1. Click the Layouts menu.

2. Choose one of the six layouts displayed in the upper-left corner of the drop-down window.

   

3. Panels are assigned to tiles (areas of the screen) based on the shape of the tile arrangement chosen. Verbum groups similar panels together into tiles whenever possible.

   

   Note: Panels can still be moved by dragging the panel tab to another location. They can also be resized. When one panel is moved or resized, the other panels will adjust accordingly.

View Snapshots

1. Click the Layouts menu.

2. The current configuration of tiles and panels is shown at the top right of the menu. Previous snapshots are listed below it, going back in time.

   

Save a Snapshot as a Named Layout

If you want to preserve the current arrangement of tiles and panels for later retrieval, save the snapshot as a layout:

1. Click the Layouts menu.

2. Locate the snapshot thumbnail you want to save on the right side of the drop-down window. The most recent ones will be listed at the top by day and time. (Older snapshots will eventually drop off the list.)

3. Click Save as named layout and assign it a name.

   

 

Named layouts are added to the left side of the drop-down window under Saved Layouts.

Duplicate names are fine; the list on the left will take you to the last-saved version of that name, or you can use the Find box next to Recent at the top right to find all the earlier versions of that name in your history.

After opening a named layout and making changes, click Update Active to save the changes to your named layout.

Right-clicking a named layout reveals the following options: Load, Rename, Update to current snapshot, or Delete.

 

When you close the application, the current snapshot will be saved under the name “Application Closed” and synced to the server for access at a later time or on another machine. Up to ten snapshots will be retained. Application Closed layouts, like other snapshots, must be renamed to be saved in the left column.

 

Load a Named Layout

Saved snapshots appear in the Saved Layouts list on the left side of the Layouts menu.

1. Click the Layouts menu.

2. Click the layout you wish to load on the left side of the drop-down window. Notice that saved snapshots appear in the Saved Layouts list on the left side of the Layouts menu

 

Loading a layout will create a new snapshot of the current layout, close all open panels, and load the panels from the selected layout. This newly opened layout then becomes the new active layout.

If you make changes to the layout that you want to save:

1. Click the Layouts menu.
2. Right-click the named layout on the left or right side of the Layouts pane
3. Choose Update to current snapshot. This will save the current snapshot as the latest version of the named layout.

   

 

Tip: To quickly update the active layout to the current snapshot, press Cmd + Alt + L (Mac) or Ctrl + Alt + L (Windows).

 

Open a Layout When Verbum Starts Up

You may want to dive right into your most recent study whenever you start Verbum, and you can enable this option from Program Settings. In Program Settings, expand the menu next to At Startup Open to and select from the available options.

 

The Layout specific options include:

• Most recent layout - any opens the last layout you used from any device that is signed in to the same account.
• Most recent layout opens the last layout you used on the current device.
• All of your saved layouts appear below the horizontal line at the bottom of this list.

 

Add a Layout to the Toolbar

You can drag a layout to the shortcut bar for easier access.

1. Click the Layouts menu.

2. Drag the desired layout to the shortcut bar. For more information, see the article on the Shortcut Bar.

 

Add a Layout to the Dashboard

You can add a Layout Card to the dashboard to provide easy access to it.

To do this, go to the Verbum dashboard and click the + icon at the top right of the Get Started section and select Layout from the dropdown menu

 

Then choose the Layout you want to add and click the Add button.

 

This puts a Layout Card in the dashboard and you can click it to open that layout.

 

QuickStart Layouts

These built-in layouts appear in their own section on the left side of the Layouts menu. They are designed to streamline setting up your workspace for common tasks. Choose from layouts that bring together the right guides, resources, and interactive tools to get the job done.

 

By default, these QuickStart Layouts contain the following books, tools, and guides:

• Bible and Commentary: your preferred Bible and your highest prioritized matching commentary (with these linked together in a linkset)
• Bible Journaling: The highlighting Tool, your preferred Bible, and the Notes Tool
• Bible Reading Plan: The Bible specified in your Reading Plan, your highest prioritized Study Bible (linked to the Bible), the Notes Tool, the Reading Plan document showing the current status
• Daily Devotional: Your highest prioritized devotional resource, your preferred Bible, a prayer list document, the Factbook Tool (linked to the devotional and showing the specified date), the Notes Tool
• Greek Word Study: The Bible Word Study Guide, the Factbook Tool linked to it and showing the article for the same word as in the Guide, your preferred Bible, and your highest prioritized matching lexicon
• Hebrew Word Study: The Bible Word Study Guide, the Factbook Tool linked to it and showing the article for the same word as in the Guide, your preferred Bible, and your highest prioritized matching lexicon
• Lectionary: Your highest prioritized lectionary open to the current date (or the nearest date to that), your Top Bibles all linked together and open to the first lectionary reading, your highest prioritized commentary in the same link set as the Bibles, a devotional book, and the Factbook Tool opened to the date matching that in the lectionary with these two in a separate link set, the Cited By Tool and the Explorer Tool in the same link set as the Bibles
• Lectionary Reading: Your highest prioritized lectionary open to the current date (or the nearest date to that), the Factbook Tool opened to the date matching that in the lectionary, your preferred Bible open to the first lectionary reading
• Passage Study: The Passage Guide, the Factbook Tool, your three highest prioritized Bibles (linked together and in a link set with the Factbook Tool), your highest prioritized commentary (in the same link set), the Information Tool
• Proverbs Explorer: The Proverbs Explorer Tool, the Factbook Tool open to the entry on the Proverbs, your preferred Bible (linked to the Proverbs Explorer Tool), your highest prioritized commentary on Proverbs (in the same link set)
• Psalms Explorer: The Psalms Explorer Tool, the Factbook Tool open to the entry on the Psalms, your preferred Bible (linked to the Psalms Explorer Tool), your highest prioritized commentary on Psalms (in the same link set)
• Search: Opens a Search Window set to do an All Search
• Study Bible: The Highlighting Tool, your preferred Bible, your highest prioritized Study Bible (linked to the Bible), the Notes Tool
• Topic Study: The Factbook Tool, the Topic Guide (linked to the Factbook Tool), optionally the Sermon Starter Guide (depending on whether it has an entry to match that in the Factbook Tool), your highest prioritized Bible (opened to a relevant passage), your five highest prioritized encyclopaedias (in the same link set as the Factbook Tool and Topic Guide)

Each layout is customizable to fit your workflow. To save the current snapshot as a QuickStart layout:

1. Click the Layouts menu.

2. Right-click on the QuickStart layout you’d like to customize and choose Replace with current layout. (You can also click the blue triangle button on the right side of the item.)

   

• To later restore the QuickStart layout to its built-in state, choose Restore default layout from this same menu.