Search is a feature in The Olive Tree App that will help you find a Bible verse, phrase, or a word in a book you have downloaded to your Library. Here is a tutorial about how to search in the app.
Search Basics
To start a search, tap the search icon on the toolbar. If the search icon is not visible, tap anywhere on the screen to bring it up.
Tap in the search box and begin typing the term you want to search for. As soon as you start typing, a list of search terms will begin to auto complete. Tap on the desired search term from the list and the search results will appear.
Scroll through the results until you find the verse or passage you are looking for and tap the entry to navigate to that passage.
Long pressing on a search result will give you three options:
- Go To Location
- Copy Text
- Add Note Here
Advanced Search Options
If you want to customize your search beyond the basic search feature above, we have advanced tools available for you.
When you have the search results window open, tap on the green Search Options bar:
Below you'll find a tutorial about each section in the Search Options.
Filter Results by Book
Tap 'Filter Results by Book'. This option allows you to narrow the search range to find results in a specific Bible book or books.
Tap the circle next to any Bible book to add these books to the search filter.
Tap on the arrow in the upper left corner once to get back to the Search Features screen and then tap it again to get back to the search results list. Now you will see your search filter reflected below the search box:
To clear the search filter and revert to a 'Whole Bible' search, tap Search Options, tap Filter Results by Book, and tap Clear in the upper right corner.
Set A Search Range
Tap 'Set a Search Range' under Search Options.
In this list, you will find pre-set search ranges, like 'Prophets' and 'All Epistles'.
You can also create and save a search range filter here by tapping on 'Create Custom Search Range' at the top of the screen.
As soon as you click 'Create Custom Search Range', a new custom filter will be created. To assign a new title to your custom search range, tap 'My Custom Filter' in the box that includes Range Title.
When the cursor is in the box, delete the title that is already there and type in a new title.
Tap the circle next to each Bible book you want to include in your custom search range. Tap the back arrow in the upper left corner to return to the main 'Set Search Range' page.
You will now see your custom search range listed under the 'Custom Search Filters' section. If you want to edit this search filter, tap the 'i' icon to the right of the filter.
Tap on any Search Filter in this list to apply it to your search. Tap the back arrow twice to get back to the search results with this search filter on.
To delete a custom search filter, tap 'Edit' in the upper right corner.
A red circle will appear to the left of the custom search range. Tap it and tap 'Delete' that appears to the right side.
Tap 'Delete' again on the pop-up window to confirm that deletion.
To default back to searching in the whole Bible, tap on 'Search Entire Bible' in the Set Search Range screen:
Search History
The next option you will find under Search Options is Search History. Tap Search History to see a list of your past searches.
Scroll through the list if you have more than a page of history results.
Tap on any result in the list and then tap the back arrow in the upper left corner to immediately bring up the results for that search again.
If you want to clear your search history and start afresh, tap 'Clear' in the upper right corner.
Add Search Command
Tap 'Add Search Command' for a list of the commands you can use to make your search even more particular.
Tap the 'i' icon next to each available command for an explanation of how that particular command works, as well as some examples.
As an example, I want to search for 'grace AND truth'. In the search box at the top of the screen, I type in the word 'grace' and then hit the command 'AND' from the list. This adds the command to the search box. I then type in 'truth'. Here is what my full search term looks like now:
When I tap the blue Search button on my keyboard, here is what I see:
Tap a result in the list to pull up the passage or tap on the 'x' in the upper right corner to start over with a new search.
We also have a Help article that goes into more depth about search commands in an article about Advanced Search Syntax. Find that article here.
Search Options
The last advanced search option is also called Search Options.
When you tap on this option, you will have a choice to Search on Plain Text or Search on Morphology.
When you are searching in a Bible text in a current language (e.g. English, Portuguese, etc.), I recommend that you use the 'Search on Plain Text' option.
The 'Search on Morphology' option is used for original language resources that are tagged morphologically, such as a Strong's Bible or a parsed text (e.g. BHS Parsed, NA28 Parsed, etc.). When this setting is turned on, you can do a search for a Greek or Hebrew word and the search results will show all locations that word is used, regardless of tense (past, future, present, etc.).
In this example, I am searching for the Greek word 'blessed', which looks like this: μακάριος Because I have chosen 'Search on Morphology', I get these results:
Once again, tap on the 'x' in the upper right corner to clear out a search and start afresh. We also have a Help article specifically on Morphological Search. You can access it here for more details about how to make use of this advanced search feature.
Conclusion
We hope this content has been helpful for you! If you have more questions about search, don't hesitate to reference the Advanced Search Syntax article here or contact our Customer Support team here.