Practical Logos Shortcuts for Sermon Preparation
Dr. John Fallahee’s webinar “The Ultimate Logos Shortcut List, Part 2/5” offers hands-on techniques that help pastors and sermon preparers move efficiently through Logos. Below are the key shortcuts covered in the first twenty minutes, each with a brief explanation of how it can streamline your study workflow.
Shortcut 23 – Don’t Read, Listen
This audio reading tool, accessed through the Tools menu in any book, lets you hear the text while following along visually. Features include adjustable speed, a 30‑second rewind button, pause functionality, and an “X” to stop. A word‑by‑word indicator appears in select Bibles (e.g., ESV) but may be disabled in commentaries. Using this feature while studying a commentary or the Bible itself can improve retention by engaging both sight and sound.
Practical tip: Open a commentary and the ESV Bible, click the speaker icon, and adjust the speed to match your reading pace. The simultaneous visual‑audio input helps keep focus on the passage being discussed.
Shortcut 24 – Paralleling Books to Save Time and Space
The “Add Parallel Text” option under the View menu lets you arrange multiple resources vertically (the preferred layout) or horizontally. You can search for a specific book (type “BKC” to locate the Bible Knowledge Commentary), reorder resources by dragging, and toggle titles on or off. Limiting the number of parallel books to two to four keeps the workspace manageable.
Practical tip: Set up a vertical parallel view with the MacArthur Study Bible on the left, BKC in the middle, and DACA on the right. This arrangement lets you compare exegesis, commentary, and notes without opening additional tabs.
Shortcut 25 – Clean Layout (Close All)
A small “X” icon in the tab bar instantly closes every open book. After clearing the workspace, you can open a resource such as “Speaking to God” via the library icon, switch the view to “detail”, and use the carrot symbol to sort by relevance rather than title. Typing a phrase like “speaking to God” and clicking “rank” instantly prioritizes the most pertinent result, which you can then maximize for full‑screen study.
Practical tip: Use the “close all” button before beginning a focused study session; it removes visual clutter and lets you start fresh.
Shortcut 26 – All the Commandments of the Law
This interactive resource lists the 613 commandments (both positive and negative) with linked verses. Filters let you narrow results by category (e.g., “negative” or “idolatry”), book of the Bible, or reference (clicking a commandment’s “P number” opens a rabbinical commentary link to the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud). While these commentaries are not biblically authoritative, they provide valuable historical context for commandment study.
Practical tip: Filter by “negative” to explore how the Old Testament addresses prohibitions, then drill down to a specific book for deeper insight.
Shortcut 27 – Overcoming Babel (Translation Comparison)
Logos includes a built‑in Translate tool (Tools > Translate) that can render Latin works (e.g., Calvin’s writings) into English. By linking two resources—such as a Latin edition and its English counterpart—through a “link set” in the library, you can view them side by side. You can also search for books by language (e.g., “French”) and translate them to English, eliminating the need for external translation services.
Practical tip: Create a link set that keeps the Latin and English editions synchronized; then use the Translate tool to compare wording instantly.
Shortcut 28 – Fast Recent History
Clicking the plus icon (or the plus next to a tab) reveals a history of recent activities, tracking over 50 entries such as opened books and menu selections. This mini‑search engine lets you quickly return to a resource you closed by accident. The history can be cleared when you first open Logos, and a clock icon can be dragged to the shortcut toolbar for one‑click access. History is always sorted with the newest items at the top.
Practical tip: Keep the history cleared until you need it; then use the clock icon to jump back to a recently used book.
Shortcut 29 – Creating Quick Outlines
Through Tools > Outline, the “Bible Outline Browser” lets you type a passage reference (e.g., “John 3, 16”) and automatically generate a structured outline. This is a fast way to organize study material without manually drafting an outline from scratch.
Practical tip: Use this feature to draft a sermon outline on the fly; the generated structure can be copied into your Sermon Manager.
Throughout these shortcuts, Dr. Fallahee emphasizes that the tools are designed to reduce cognitive load, improve retention, and deepen engagement with Scripture. Whether you’re working on a mobile device (where “Don’t Read, Listen” works well) or a desktop (where layout and parallel features shine), the principles remain the same: use Logos’ built‑in functions to make studying the Bible more efficient and insightful.