Expositor's Bible Commentary 5.0
This software is compatible with Windows® 98, 2000, ME, XP and Windows NT®.
Q. How can I tell if my computer meets the system requirements listed on this software?
A. By right-clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop and choosing Properties, you can find out what kind of computer you have, which version of Windows you are running, and how much RAM you have installed.
If you double-click My Computer and then right-click the drive you would like to install the software on and finally choose Properties, the resulting screen will tell you if you have enough hard drive space available.
Q. Where is the manual/user's guide for this software?
A. In the interest of being environmentally responsible, there is no print manual with this software. The entire manual in included under the Help menu in the program. You are welcome to print it from there if you desire.
Q. Why can't I get past the Customer Information screen during installation?
A. You have to put something in the Company field. If you do not have a business, just put “home.”
Q. I have installed this software as an administrator, but now the users can't access it. What is wrong?
A. We have corrected this in a newer version. Please contact technical support at ztech@zondervan.com or 800-925-0316 for a new CD.
Q. I have a Tablet PC, use JAWS or a Braille reader and I get COM errors at various points in my Pradis software. What is wrong?
A. There was a conflict with earlier versions of our software. We have a fix available. Please contact us at 800-925-0316 or ztech@zondervan.com and we will provide you with the fix.
Q. How do I stop the interactive setup screen from appearing every time I insert the CD?
A. While you are inserting the CD into your CD-ROM drive, hold down the Shift key for about 20 seconds and the screen will not appear.
Q. When I open Pradis, I get an error that no directories have been configured, that the NIV is not online, or that the NIV has not been installed on my system. How do I correct this?
A. Please go to the File menu and choose Preferences. Click on the Directories tab and select Add. Select the plus sign in front of My Computer, your C drive, Program Files, Zondervan, and Pradis. Click on Books to highlight it and click OK. Close the program. When you reopen it you should be all set.
Q. Where is the NIV Exhaustive Concordance?
A. The NIV Exhaustive Concordance is used whenever you do a search on the NIV, or if you like you can search a lexical form of a Greek word or use its corresponding G/K number. The definitions are also viewable when you right click on any NIV word and select "See G/K Definitions." While this arrangement of the Exhaustive Concordance may be confusing at first, we believe that in the end it will be more helpful than arranging it in the same way the print concordance was arranged.
Q. I have more than one Pradis CD. When I install the second one, the contents of the first one disappear. How do I get them both?
A. The books are all there, it just changes the template files it opens with to the one that you most recently installed. To access the books, go to the Book menu and choose Open Book. To change back to the other template, go to the File menu and choose and click on the yellow folder next to template file. Select the other template. You can also Preferences create a new template that combines the books in a different way. Please see the Pradis Help for instructions on this.
Q. What are the *.TPL files?
A. *.TPL files are template files that Pradis utilizes to design your study. You can save your changes, such as color and font, to a new template with a new name. Then the next time you open Pradis or start a new study, you can select that template and your preferences will be used.
There are also some predefined templates that are shipped with your product that you may want to use.
To save your font and color changes to a new template, navigate to the File menu and select Export to Template. In the Export to Template dialog box, click the folder icon next to the box after Template Name. Then, in the Save As dialog box, type a new name for your template. Click Save. Note that the path and the new template name are shown in the Export to Template dialog box. To use the new template each time you open Pradis or a new study, click in the Set as Default check box. Click OK.
Q. Where can I find more information about Zondervan Bible Study Library products?
A. Please see these products’ detail page for more information.
Q. Why do the tab/tile icons appear sometimes but not at other times?
A. When you open a second book (or a second copy of a book) in a pane, you can view the books two ways:
- Tiled—side by side
- Tabbed—one at a time
If you are not seeing the tiled icon, it is because the area of your pane isn't large enough for you to view the books in tiled mode and still have them legible. Try making your pane size larger.
Q. Why does the position of all the other Bible translations change when going to a different verse in the NIV, but not when going to a different verse in other Bibles?
A. The reason for this is because the NIV is set as a “driver” in that linked group in your study.
Each linked group has a “driver,” the book that is “in charge.” The books in this group are given a “group number,” such as “1,” which appears in the upper-left corner of each pane. The driver of the linked group has a black box outlined around the number. When you scroll up or down in the text of the driver, the text of the other books moves.
Linked books scroll together, making it easy for you to refer to specific Bible verses while studying the Bible or doing research in a Bible commentary. But only one book, the driver, is in charge of scrolling the text in the other books in the linked group. When you scroll in a book in the linked group that is not the driver, the other books do not move.
When you first open Pradis, some books open automatically for you. These books, by default, are linked to scroll together and the NIV has been assigned as the driver of that linked group. You can easily change the driver of any link group by clicking on the group number. See the Help menu for more details.
Q. After running a search, only verses that contain search hits appear. How do I see the other verses?
A. This is caused by the NIV being set as a “driver” in that linked group in your study.
On the File menu, select Preferences. On the General tab under Search Options, you can change the View Style from the default Partial Context to Full, with search results highlighted in the complete text of the book. Note: This change doesn't take effect until you open a new study or restart Pradis.
You may also select to view your search results in either concordance or reference modes. Concordance, which is not available in a book arranged by topics, lists search results in concordance style, with the book, chapter, and verse reference and the searched-for words in a brief context. Reference returns each result in a BCV (book-chapter-verse) list.
Q. How can I create a new pane that contains a specific book?
A. Navigate to the Pane menu; click Split Vertically or Split Horizontally. This opens a second copy of the book that is open in the original pane. To open a different book in that space, first close the second copy of the book. On the Book menu, click Close Current. Now on the Book menu, click Open Book and navigate to the book you wish to open.
Q. I just installed the software and can't find it in my Start Menu. Where is it?
A. Look for Zondervan in your Start Menu, and then you'll see Pradis.
Q. The help indicates that some books are Gold Medallion and Silver Medallion winners. Who gives these awards, and what do they signify? Where can I learn more about these awards?
A. Since 1978, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association has awarded books the Gold and Silver Medallion awards based on content, literary quality, design, and significance. Christian booksellers, reviewers, and other industry leaders judge the winners. For more information, please consult the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association website.
Q. When I click on a Bible reference, can I control which pane displays the verse?
A. Yes. If you navigate to the File menu and select Preferences, you'll see a dialog that has several tabs. The first tab is the General tab, where you can select which translation you would like to view your references in by selecting a book from the drop-down list under View References In.
Q. Can I link Pradis with my ZRS and STEP libraries?
A. No, Pradis is a different format than the STEP libraries and is not compatible with them. Pradis offers superior performance and functionality over our STEP reader. Pradis is a new and improved version of Zondervan Reference Software and it is not compatible with the old file format. However, all of the titles in the ZRS format are now available in Pradis, except the Leadership Bible.
Q. Will your books be available in STEP format in the future?
A. Zondervan has decided not to support the STEP format in Pradis. This does not mean we will never do STEP books. However, we have no plans to release STEP-compatible products at this time.
Q. Is Pradis compatible with Logos, PC Study Bible or WordSearch?
A. No, Pradis is a proprietary engine developed by Zondervan Interactive. As the leading Christian communications company, we develop software specifically designed for the products we publish. This allows us to better serve our customers and our authors. Logos, PC Study Bible and WordSearch develop proprietary software and they are not affiliated with Zondervan.
Q. Where is the Undo feature?
A. Pradis utilizes the Back button to accomplish what Undo typically does in other common applications used for word processing or spreadsheets.
Q. How do I install the books?
A. If you have already installed Pradis and you chose to keep the books on the CD the first time, you may wish to install the books later. From your Start menu, select Settings and then Control Panel. Open Add/Remove Programs and locate Pradis. You have the option to Remove or Change programs; choose to Change Pradis. The install menu will take you to a screen where you can choose to Modify your installation. From that selection you can choose which books you would like to install to your hard drive.
Q. Are there any general tips that would make this software easier for me to get to know?
A. Here are some general tips in no particular order:
Icon name: Hold the mouse pointer over a toolbar icon to view the name of the icon. The name will pop up by the pointer. Also, a brief description of the button's function appears on the left side of the status bar at the bottom of the window.
Right-click: A right-click displays a context-sensitive menu with selections that vary, depending on what you are doing.
Back arrow: If you accidentally close a pane, click the back arrow. The back arrow is like a trail of crumbs to let you undo, or backtrack through, a variety of steps you've taken.
Resize pane: Resize windows and/or panes by dragging the vertical margin, the horizontal margin, or the lower-right corner.
Save Study: You can save all of your program preferences and bookmarks, all of your searches, and even the way you arrange the different panes. When you open the program again, you can continue right where you left off.
Active pane: Click in a pane to make it the active pane. The text and the title bar of the book in the active pane are darker than the other books.
Menu shortcuts: You can open a menu, or menu item, with keyboard combinations. To use these shortcuts, press the ALT key, and then press the underlined letter in the menu of your choice. Once the menu is open, you can select any item by pressing its underlined character. To hide the underlines in menus, press the ALT key.
Apply: To view your changes and make them effective without closing a dialog box, click Apply. This is the same as clicking OK. You cannot cancel a change after clicking Apply.
New Study: Each time you open Pradis, you are opening a new study, with the default name My Study.
Check mark: A check mark next to a function name or in a box for a function indicates that the function is turned on. If a box is empty, it means that the function has been turned off.
BCV: BCV refers to the book-chapter-verse organization, or biblical order, of the Bible and other books organized in the same way.
Topical: Topical refers to the way some books are organized by topics: by chapters (topics) with subtopics or alphabetically, as a dictionary.
Verse 0: Commentaries use a verse numbered zero (0) to indicate introductory material. For example, Exodus 0:0 will give the introduction to Exodus.
Q. How do I register this software?
A. You can register your software right here online.
Q. My question hasn’t been answered. Now what?
A. Please click here technical support form and choose Software Technical Support from the first drop down menu.
Have ideas or suggestions for Pradis software that you would like to share with Zondervan development? Email us at pradis@zondervan.com.