Overview
The Search feature in the Olive Tree app helps you quickly find Bible verses, phrases, or words in any resource you’ve downloaded to your Library. With our latest update, you can now find passages related to the ideas or questions you’re exploring in Scripture too!
When you enter a term, the app displays two kinds of results on the same screen:
- Smart Results – Verses that go beyond exact word matches, surfacing passages connected to the meaning or topic of your search, even if the wording or translation differs.
- Exact Results – Verses that contain the precise words you typed.
Smart Results appear at the top of the list, followed by Exact Results, so you can explore both in a single search.
Search Basics
Open Search
The first way to search is by using the Search icon on the toolbar. This search method allows you to look in the resource that is open in the main window.
To search, select the search icon on the toolbar.
Enter a Search
Click in the search box and begin typing a word or phrase. As you type, suggestions will appear—select one to run the search immediately.
View Your Results
Scroll through the results until you find the verse or passage you are looking for and select the entry to navigate to that passage.
Quick Actions on a Result
Right-click any verse to see the following options:
- Copy – copy the verse to your clipboard.
- Share – share via email, etc., depending what is set up on your system.
Advanced Search Options
If you’d like to narrow or refine your search, select the Search settings icon at the top of the Search window.
From here you can:
- Filter Results by Book – limit results to specific Bible books.
- Set a Search Range – use a preset range (e.g., Prophets, Epistles) or create your own custom range.
- Search History – revisit or clear previous searches.
- Smart Search – toggle smart search on/off and view smart search usage.
- Add Search Command – combine terms with operators such as AND, OR, or ALL.
- Search Options – choose Plain Text (for modern-language Bibles) or Morphology (for original-language resources).
Below you'll find more detailed information and tutorials about each section in the Search Options.
Filter Results by Book
In the search settings, select 'Filter Results by Book'. This option allows you to narrow the search range to find results in a specific Bible book or books. Select the circle next to any Bible book to add these books to the search filter.
Select the arrow in the upper left corner once to get back to the Search Features screen and then select 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, click one of the filters and then uncheck the boxes. Click the back arrow to return to your search results, which will now reflect 'Entire Bible'.
Set A Search Range
In the search settings, select 'Set a Search Range'. 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 clicking on the '+' symbol at the top of the screen. A new custom filter will be created. To assign a new title to your custom search range, select the 'i' to the right of the default title 'My Custom Filter'.
Select Search Filter in this list to apply it to your search. Select the back arrow twice to get back to the search results with this search filter on.
To default back to searching in the whole Bible, click on 'Entire Bible' in the Set Search Range screen:
Search History
The next option you will find under Search Options is Search History. Select Search History to see a list of your previous searches.
Click on any result in the list and then select 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, click 'Clear' in the upper right corner.
Smart Search
Select 'Smart Search' for an option to turn off Smart Search. You can also see your Smart Search Usage. (Our Smart Search feature uses a paid service, so we limit daily use to keep it sustainable for all our users.)
Add Search Command
Choose 'Add Search Command' for a list of the commands you can use to make your search even more particular.
Select the 'i' icon next to each available command for an explanation of how that particular command works, as well as some examples.
We also have a Help article that goes into more depth about search commands in an article about Advanced Search Syntax 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.), we 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 the ESV with Strong's for the Greek word 'blessed', which looks like this: μακάριος. Since I have chosen 'Search on Morphology', I get these results:
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.
Full Library Search
Within the Windows app, you can also search your full Library of Bibles and books.
Open the Study Center by selecting Open Study Center.
When the Study Center is open, click on the search icon in the lower right corner. It looks like this:
Type your search result in the search box. Note that as you are typing, you will also see recommended People, Topics and Places in the 'Lookup' area below. Either hit enter on your keyboard or select one of these terms to execute the search.
You can also apply a search filter. This option allows you to narrow the search range to find results in a specific Bible book or books. To search your full Library, make sure that "Entire Bible" is selected.
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.