# BibleBoard Documentation Learn how to use BibleBoard: create studies, annotate PDFs, place Bible passages, study Greek and Hebrew, collaborate in real time, and lead your group. ## Start here ### Getting Started BibleBoard has two workspaces that share one library: Studies, a page you write, and Mindmaps, a board you arrange. They work differently on purpose — start with whichever fits what you’re doing. #### Create an account Sign up with email, Google, or YouVersion at bibleboard.org/sign-up. BibleBoard is free — signed-in accounts get cloud sync so your work is available on every device. #### Start a study Go to Studies and create a new study. It opens as a blank page with a title — the title is the study’s name. Start typing, or type "/" to insert blocks: passages, headings, callouts, tables, images, maps, songs, and more. #### Start a mindmap In your Library, switch to the Mindmaps tab and press "New mindmap". Pick a starter — Compare translations, Arc a passage, Trace a theme, or Word study — or start from scratch and place passages, notes, and images anywhere. ### Move work between them Dig on a board, then write it up as a study — or take a passage from a study and open it up on a board. No retyping. #### Open in a mindmap In a study, click the grip in a passage block’s left gutter ("Block options") and choose "Open in a mindmap". BibleBoard creates a board named after the passage and places it there — same translation, your word-level highlights, line breaks, the arcing tree, and interlinear settings — with a small caption linking back to the study. #### Send to a study On a board, select a passage, open the ⋯ menu ("More actions") in its bar, and choose "Send to a study". Pick a recent study or start a new one. The passage is added to the end of the study, with a bookmark that links back to the board. The study opens at the top, so scroll down to see it. #### What comes along Going to a mindmap, the highlights, translation, line breaks, and bracket view come with the passage. Things that only exist in a study — the heading above a passage, bracket notes, ink and arrows — stay behind. Going the other way, the passage is added fresh from the text. ## Studies ### Studies Editor A collaborative page editor built for Scripture. Write your study, place passages beside your notes, and lead it live. #### Blocks & slash menu Type "/" anywhere to open the block menu. Insert headings, lists, callouts, tables, images, attachments, bookmarks, and page breaks. Drag the handle in the left gutter to reorder blocks. #### Passages Insert a passage block and pick any book, chapter, and verse range. Passages render verse-by-verse with optional titles, verse numbers, and an interlinear view showing the original Greek or Hebrew under the English text. Typing a reference like "John 3:16" in your notes turns it into a live scripture link with a hover preview. The insert bar at the bottom remembers the translation you last used. To take a passage further, open its menu and choose "Open in a mindmap". #### Marking the text Highlight with the freehand pen on any surface, including passage cards. Use the arc/bracket view on a passage to map how its propositions relate. #### Present & follow along Enter fullscreen presentation mode to teach from your study — page breaks become slides. Share the study with your group and they can follow along live on their own devices as you move through it. #### Outline navigation Long studies get an outline rail on the right edge: one tick per heading and passage, with the one you’re reading lit. Hover the rail to see the titles, and click one to jump straight to it. #### Related maps Type "/map", or choose "Add related map" from a passage’s menu, to place an interactive map in the study. BibleBoard lists the places named in the passage — pick the ones you want pinned, switch the base map, and tap a pin to read about the place. #### Songs & chord charts Type "/song" to add lyrics with chords. Paste a ChordPro chart or chords over lyrics, then transpose up or down a half step, change key, or hide the chords to leave just the lyrics for the room. #### Word study Tap a word in any passage to open the word study drawer: the original Greek or Hebrew word, its parsing, and its definition. #### Import & export Bring in what you’ve already written: import Markdown, a Word (.docx) file, or a Google Docs link from the study menu. Importing into a study that has content asks whether to replace it or append. Export any study as a PDF, a standalone HTML page, or Markdown — highlights, callouts, tables, and passage layout come along. ### Planning Center Connect Planning Center Services and bring your songs and service plans into a study. #### Connect your account Go to Settings → Integrations and press Connect to sign in with Planning Center. If your organization restricts app access, connect with a Personal Access Token instead. Disconnect at any time from the same page. #### Pull in a song In a Song block, search your Services library, pick an arrangement and key, and the chart drops in with its chords. Refresh a song later to pick up edits made in Planning Center. #### Import a set list Type "/set list", pick a service type and a plan, and the whole plan is imported as headings, songs, and notes — ready to transpose, present, and share with the band. ## Canvas ### Mindmaps: the basics A mindmap is an open board. Instead of writing top to bottom, you place passages, notes, and images anywhere and draw the connections between them. #### Start a mindmap Open your Library, switch to the Mindmaps tab, and press "New mindmap". A new board opens on "Start your mindmap". Pick a starter and it builds the board for you — one undo removes it — or start from scratch. - **Compare translations** — One passage in two translations, side by side. - **Arc a passage** — One passage in Bracket view, with the relationship families beside it. - **Trace a theme** — Three passages left to right, joined by arrows you can relabel. - **Word study** — One passage with the interlinear on, ready to chase a word. - **From scratch** — Add Scripture, Add a map, or Paste text. #### Name your mindmap A starter names the board for you, and so does your first passage — "Compare translations — John 1:1-5", or just "John 1:1-5". To change it, open the board’s title menu at the top and choose "Rename", or use the ⋯ menu on its card in the Library. #### Three places to look Almost everything on the board lives in one of three places. Once you know which is which, the rest of the canvas falls into place. - **Left rail** — Brings things onto the board — everything under Add — and holds Search, Assistant, Comments, and Settings. - **Bottom toolbar** — Tools for the board itself: select and pan, draw and annotate, shapes and arrows. - **Passage bar** — Appears when you select a passage and works inside the text: look up a word, highlight, draw arrows, layers, layout, and the passage and its translation. #### Take the tour The first time you open a board, a three-step tour points out the left rail, the bottom toolbar, and the passage bar. Skip it any time. To see it again, press "Show me around" on an empty board. #### The left rail Every item has a label, and a panel opens beside the rail. Each panel has at most one row of tabs. - **Add** — Scripture, Reference, Maps, and Images — everything you bring onto the board. - **Search** — Find text, bookmarks, and references on the board. - **Assistant** — Chat with AI, Insights on a document, and a list of Passages on your board. - **Comments** — Threads left on the board, with filters for open and resolved. - **Settings** — Translation, comments, and export. - **Pages** — Only on a board over a PDF: thumbnails, rotate, delete. #### Moving around Scroll or pinch to zoom, and drag with the Pan tool (H) to move the board. Press V to get back to Select. The zoom menu in the bottom-left corner has Zoom to fit and Zoom to selection, next to the minimap. Shift+0 returns to 100%. #### Pages A mindmap can hold more than one page — handy for keeping each week or each passage on its own board. To start a second page, right-click a shape and choose Move to page, then "New page": the shape moves there and the board follows it. "Back to Page 1" in the message that appears takes you straight back. Once a board has two or more pages, the page menu sits in the top-left corner of the board, showing which page you’re on. Open it to switch pages, or use "New page", "Rename page", and "Delete page". To move shapes between pages you already have, right-click them and pick a page under Move to page. Anyone you share the board with can switch pages; only editors can add, rename, or delete them. #### On a phone A phone shows one thing at a time. The strip along the bottom has Board, Add, Assistant, and Settings — press "Board" to get back to the canvas from any panel. Boards open on the canvas, in Pan so a stray touch doesn’t drag a passage: tap a shape to select it. A selected passage’s bar docks along the bottom of the screen — swipe it sideways for the rest — and its menus open just above it. For just one passage, choose "Open fullscreen" under Layout. Building a large board is easier on a tablet or desktop. ### Scripture on the board Passages on a mindmap are live text, not pictures of text. Every word can be highlighted, connected, and looked up. #### Add a passage Open Add in the left rail, type a reference like "John 1:1-5" in the Scripture tab, and press Enter — the passage lands on the board. You can also browse by book and chapter, choose the translation, and pick Paragraph or Poetry layout first. "Paste text" turns any text into a markable passage, with an optional reference. #### The passage bar Click a passage and one bar appears above it. It has eight controls; the rest is one click deeper, under the ⋯ button ("More actions"). - **Look up** — Drag across words for their definition, concordance, cross-references, and your own notes. - **Highlight** — Drag across words to color them. - **Arrows** — Click two words to connect them. - **Aa** — The color and style your highlighter is using. Click it to change them. - **Layers** — The stacked-squares button: color sets you can show or hide. - **Layout** — How the text is set: text or bracket view, line breaks, interlinear, verse numbers, fullscreen. - **Passage** — The reference and translation, like Luke 1:46-55 ESV. Type a new reference, or open Translation to switch it or add another beside it with "Compare". - **⋯ More** — Sentence diagram, Analyze with AI, Send to a study, Show advanced tools — and Clear all highlights once there are highlights. #### Look up a word Press "Look up", then drag across a word or phrase. A drawer opens with four tabs: Notes, Definition, Concordance, and Cross-refs. Notes you write there are saved to the layer you’re working in, and the dotted underline that marks a note on the text takes that layer’s color. #### Lay the text out "Layout" opens a menu of how the passage is set. - **View** — Text, or Bracket for arcing. - **Line breaks** — Paragraph, Verse per line, or Sentence per line (⇧1, ⇧2, ⇧6). - **Show** — Interlinear Greek or Hebrew under each line, and verse numbers. - **Also** — Text settings for font and spacing, and "Open fullscreen" for just this passage. #### Compare translations Open the passage button in the bar — the reference and translation together — choose Translation, and press "Compare" beside another one. The same passage lands beside the original in that translation, ready to read side by side. Tap a translation’s name instead to switch this passage to it. Select both and press Link: hovering a word in one lights up the matching word in the other — word for word when both carry Strong’s numbers, verse by verse otherwise. #### Simple and Advanced BibleBoard starts simple. Open the ⋯ menu ("More actions") and choose "Show advanced tools" to add Diagram and Analyze to the bar, more ways to break lines (by prepositions, conjunctions, clauses, verbs, or particles), interlinear rows for morphology, Strong’s numbers, and lemmas, and copying highlights across linked passages. Switch it off the same way. ### Marking & connecting Observation happens inside a passage; synthesis happens between shapes. The canvas has tools for both. #### Highlight Click the passage, press "Highlight" in its bar, and drag across words. While Highlight is on, a row of colors sits just under the bar, with Background and Cloud beside them — pick one before you drag. The Aa button in the bar shows the color and style you’re holding. Click it for every option: squiggly, outline, dividers, label, text color, and bold, italic, or underline. Color and style belong to the active layer, so changing them also recolors that layer’s earlier highlights — for a second color, add a layer. Once a passage has highlights, "Clear all highlights" in the ⋯ menu starts over. #### Layers Open "Layers" in the passage bar. Put repeated words on one layer, contrasts on another, and questions on a third — then hide the ones you’re not teaching from. Press "Add layer", then click the swatch at the start of its row — or tap the layer you’re already on — to choose a highlight color and style — background, squiggly, cloud, outline, dividers, or label — plus text color and bold, italic, or underline. New highlights go to the active layer. The eye hides or shows a layer, and once you have two or more, "Only" shows one layer alone. Layers can be renamed, removed, or copied to another passage on the board. A passage can hold up to 20. A layer is one highlighter for the whole board. Highlight a different passage with it and the layer comes along — no setting it up again — and changing its color, style, or name changes it on every passage that uses it. #### Highlighter palette & favorites Open "Layers" and press "Pop out highlighter palette" to keep every highlighter on the board one click away. Drag it by its title bar wherever you like; it stays open and in place until you close it. On a computer or tablet it also opens by itself the first time you press "Highlight". Click a highlighter to pick it up — highlight mode turns on — then drag across words in any passage. The number keys 1–9 switch between the first nine. Star a highlighter to make it a favorite. Favorites sit at the top of the palette on every board and follow your account to your other devices, so your usual set is ready in each new mindmap. You can keep up to 12. #### Arrows between words Press "Arrows" in the bar, then click two words — or a word and a whole line — to draw an arrow between them. Click the arrow to add a note explaining the connection; the note shows again whenever you select the arrow. Arrows go on their own "Arrows" layer, so you can hide them all at once. #### Arcing & bracketing Open "Layout" and choose Bracket. The text splits into numbered propositions on its own. Click the number of one proposition, then another, and pick how they relate — the bracket is drawn with its abbreviation on each arm. Click a bracket’s label to read what the relationship means, swap which side carries the main point, add a note, or delete it. There are 18 relationships in four families. - **Coordinate** — Series · Progression · Alternative - **Restatement** — Action-Manner · Comparison · Negative-Positive · Idea-Explanation · Question-Answer - **Distinct** — Ground · Inference · Bilateral · Action-Result · Action-Purpose · Conditional · Temporal · Locative - **Contrary** — Concessive · Situation-Response #### Connect shapes Use the Arrow tool to join any two shapes — a passage to a note, a creed to a verse. Arrows stay attached when you move things, and you can type a label on the arrow to name the connection. #### The bottom toolbar Three groups at the bottom of the board. Click a group for its last tool, or press and hold to see them all. - **Select** — Select (V) · Pan (H) - **Annotate** — Draw (D) · Text (T) · Note (N) · Comment (C) · Highlight (Shift+D) · Cloud Callout (Shift+K) · Eraser (E) · Laser (K) - **Shapes** — Arrow · Frame (F) · Line (L) · Rectangle (R) · Ellipse (O) · Triangle · Diamond · Table (Shift+T) #### Good to know The eraser won’t delete passages, notes, or library documents — only ink and plain shapes — so you can clean up freely. Press Shift+H for the full list of keyboard shortcuts, and Ctrl/Cmd+F to search the board. ### Reference library & maps Bring historical and reference material onto the board beside the text it explains. All of it lives under Add in the left rail. #### Reference The Reference tab is one searchable list of creeds, confessions, catechisms, and councils alongside commentaries, lexicons, dictionaries, and cross-reference works. Filter with the chips, open one, find the article, and press "Place on Canvas". Then connect its lines to the passages behind them. #### Maps The Maps tab switches between the interactive Map and a list of Books. Filter by Old Testament, New Testament, or the intertestamental period, then place the view on your board as an image. #### Images Paste or drop an image straight onto the board. The Images tab keeps the ones you reuse, sorted into your own categories, with filters for All, Mine, Org, and Public. #### Boards over a PDF A board can also sit on top of an uploaded PDF — a commentary, a study guide, sermon notes. You get the same tools plus a Pages item in the rail, and your highlights, margin notes, and cloud callouts stay with the page they’re on. ## Everywhere ### Read & Listen Scripture on its own — to read and to hear, with or without an account. #### Bible reader Read any chapter at bibleboard.org/read — no account needed. Highlight as you go, and the reader remembers where you left off. "Study this chapter" opens it as a study document, formatted the way you were reading it. #### Text & layout The Aa button in the reader sets how the chapter looks. Layout offers poetry — the publisher’s own line breaks — and the same six text layouts as a study: paragraph, verses, prepositions, conjunctions, clauses, and sentences. Display turns passage titles and verse numbers on or off. Typography sets the font, size, leading, and word spacing, with Normal / Large / Present presets for reading aloud and a Full width switch that trades the reading column for the whole screen. Settings stay on the device you set them on. #### Search The search button in the reader’s header — or ⌘K (Ctrl+K) — searches the whole Bible in the version you’re reading and jumps to references. Type words to find verses, or a reference like "jn 3:16", "1 cor 13", or "salmo 23:1-6"; book names work in English and Spanish, with ":", "." or a space between chapter and verse. Picking a verse opens its chapter and flashes the verse. ⌘F (Ctrl+F) finds words inside the chapter you have open, with a match count and next/previous. Both are forgiving: accents and capitals are ignored, a half-typed word still matches, and a small typo is tolerated when nothing matches exactly. The ESV can’t be searched directly, so those searches match in the Berean Standard Bible and still open the ESV chapter. Hebrew and Greek have no text search yet — references and in-chapter find still work. #### Share a passage The address bar always names the translation you’re reading, like bibleboard.org/read/john-3?v=RVR, so a link you send opens in the same version, in the same language. A verse you searched for rides along as ?verse=16. The tab title carries the book, chapter, and translation too. Pasted into a chat or a social feed, the link previews with a card showing the opening of the chapter in that translation, with its name. #### Listen Press Listen in the reader, a passage block, or a daily reading. The Berean Standard Bible plays a human narration; other translations are read by an AI voice that runs on your own device. The verse being read is highlighted, and a mini player keeps going while you move around the app. #### Sermon transcripts Upload a sermon or lecture recording from Transcripts and get a timestamped transcript you can search and quote from. The audio itself is never stored. ### Daily Reading Plans Time-tested plans, one day at a time — on your own, or with a group that reads together. #### Start a plan Open the Daily reading tab in your library (or bibleboard.org/devotionals) and press Start on a plan. Pick a pace: "Follow the calendar" keeps everyone on the same date, and "Start from day 1" counts from a start date you choose. Choose your translation, and give the group a name if you’ll read with others — the invite panel opens as soon as it starts. You can be on more than one plan at once. - **M’Cheyne Calendar** — Four chapters a day, two for the family and two in secret. The Old Testament once a year, the New Testament and Psalms twice. - **Bible in a Year** — The whole Bible in canonical order, about three chapters a day. - **Psalm & Proverb** — One psalm and one chapter of Proverbs each day, cycling through both. - **Morning and Evening** — Charles Spurgeon’s devotional: a verse and a short meditation for each morning and evening. #### Each day Your plan’s card shows today’s readings and who in the group is done. Open it and the day reads like a study with the passages already in it. Tick off each reading as you finish, press Listen to hear the day’s passages back to back, and step to the previous or next day from the header. Save as study keeps a copy of the day you can highlight and annotate like any other study. #### Read with a group The group’s owner invites people with the Invite button: copy or share the link, or send it to a list of email addresses. Everyone reads in their own translation and can change it in the plan’s settings. The plan page shows this week’s progress for each member, one cell per day, filling as readings are ticked off. The owner can rename the group, reset the invite link (the old one stops working), and remove members. Anyone can leave; when the owner leaves, ownership passes to the next member, and the group ends when the last person leaves. If you’re reading alone, Delete plan removes it along with your progress. #### Reminders Under Settings → Notifications, pick a time and turn on push for this device, email, or both. You get one nudge a day for the plans you’re behind in, and nothing once you’ve read. Email reminders carry today’s readings and a one-click unsubscribe. ### Collaboration & Sharing Study together in real time, or hand your work to someone with a single link. #### Live collaboration Studies and boards sync in real time. Everyone sees each other’s cursors, edits, and highlights as they happen. #### Share links Share a study or document with one link — no account required to view. Choose viewer, commenter, or editor access, and optionally add a password, expiration date, or use limit. Revoke a link at any time. #### Comments Leave comments anchored to specific places in a document and resolve threads as your group works through them. ### AI Tools AI that works from your own study materials and answers with citations. Some AI features are rolling out gradually and may require access. #### Chat with your documents Ask questions about an uploaded commentary or study guide in plain language and get answers cited from the document itself. On a mindmap, chat lives in the Assistant panel, beside Insights and a list of the Passages on your board. #### Auto-extraction When you upload a PDF, AI can identify its cross-references, themes, outlines, and key passages so they’re searchable and linkable. #### Voice Talk with AI about your documents hands-free — it can read, navigate, and annotate the canvas by voice. ### FAQ #### Is BibleBoard free? Yes. BibleBoard is free to use, supported by donations. If it serves your study, you can support the work at bibleboard.org/donate. #### Which translations are available? BSB, ESV, KJV, NET, Hebrew, Greek, and Spanish (RVR, RVG, BLA) are built in, and the version picker lists many more from YouVersion, including NIV, NASB, and NVI. #### Does it work on my phone? Yes — BibleBoard runs in the browser on desktop, tablet, and phone. The Studies editor has touch-first controls for reading, highlighting, and following along. #### Can I install it like an app? Yes. Add it to your home screen (iPhone, iPad, Android) or dock (Mac, Windows, Chromebook) and it opens full screen like any other app — free, no app store. bibleboard.org/install has the steps for your device. It keeps itself up to date: when a new version is out, an open tab reloads into it the next time you come back to it, so you never need to reinstall. #### Who can see my studies? Only you, until you share them. Share links are scoped to exactly the access level you choose and can be password-protected or revoked. #### How do I get help? Email nathan@bibleboard.org — you’ll get a reply from a human. --- Source: https://bibleboard.org/docs