Malcolm Webber
I love Logos Bible Software and, when I’m writing, I use it every day. So, when Logos offered to send me an advance copy of the latest and greatest version – Logos 10 – in return for an honest review, I jumped at the chance.
I use Logos primarily for research when I’m writing books. I don’t use many of the major sections of the software such as the Preaching Suite. It’s massive software – it contributes to almost every part of the life and ministry of a Christian disciple and leader. My comments in this review will only relate to the sections of Logos that I regularly use.
Here are the new features in Logos 10 that I’m most impressed with:
New Search
If you have ever used Logos for anything, then you know that its Search tool is both incredibly powerful and incredibly complicated.
I once told a Logos coach that I literally couldn’t use it for anything! He was able to help me get up to speed on it. But now Search is actually usable without learning lots of arcane “search code.”
Also, Logos has added new Search tabs that make it easier to search maps, Factbook, Documents and other tools.
The improvement with Search is a major step ahead and, alone, is worth the upgrade.
Main Menu Bar
The Main Menu bar used to be, by default, laid out horizontally at the top of the screen. Now the default is vertical on the left of the screen. At first I didn’t want to use this since I was so used to the top location. But pretty quickly I grew to prefer it. Try it out – you may like it better. Now you can see the menu labels as well as the icons.
Personally, I’d love to see this more customizable so I could put some items on the left vertical column and some on the top horizontal row.
There are also other user interface tweaks. Overall, things seem cleaner and clearer.
Print Library Catalog
This is a very cool feature. Now you can tell Logos which print books you own and, if those books are in their catalog, results will show up from those books – even though they’re not in your digital library – when you run a search. You still need to open the physical book – unless you buy the digital version from Logos – but this is a very helpful feature. (Note: this is only for Gold or above.)
Speed
Indexing your resources is faster – they say about 15% faster. When you have a large library or an older computer that’s a big help.
Resource Packages
The Resource Packages that come with Logos are very strong. For example, the Lutheran package (at Portfolio level) includes both the International Critical Commentary (ICC) and the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary (AYBC) – these are very substantial and expensive works. Check through the various packages carefully before you order. Don’t limit yourself to your particular tradition. There are some excellent resources in all the packages.
Mobile and Tablet
I was able to test the new features on my iPad. You can now open multiple books in the same layout as well as use linksets between them. This is a tremendous improvement.
Other Features
The following features have been improved:
- Many more Factbook tags. In particular, Church History Themes has been expanded.
- Upgraded Favorites tool.
- The Advanced Timeline Tool has been updated. (Note: this is only for Bronze or above.)
- Machine translation supplied by Oxford Languages (www.oed.com). You can now open a side panel in almost any resource and have passages from that resource instantly translated into more than one hundred languages. Of course, since it’s machine translation, the quality will be far from perfect but it’s a really interesting idea. One downside is that there is a “Monthly Translation Limit” on this feature.
Discounts
Logos 10 is now available with a 15% discount for new Logos users and 30% off for upgraders who own any previous version of a Logos base package.
Bottom Line
If you’re not already using Logos, now is the time to start! Logos does have a steep learning curve. It will take some effort and time to learn to do what you want to do. But it’s worth it. Logos is incredible software. It is extremely powerful. I wish I’d had it 40 years ago when I began to study the Word!
