Handling Hundreds of Modules

For example, I would like to think that most pastors would want a special module layout set of Bible doctrines books and systematic theology books. This is an excellent use of Module Layout sets.

• Module Sets: Specialized Categories
• Module Set: theWord Dictionaries
• Module Set: Parables & Types
• Module Set: Commentaries
• How to select a specific Module Set
• How to Make Module Sets

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Indexing a Thousand Modules

There is a caveat here, though. When you copy theWord modules into a folder on your hard disk that theWord is scanning for modules, and then you start theWord, the program needs to index all those modules for the first time. What is already indexed is not included (unless you move them out, reopen tw, and then move them back into those folders).

When you install three or four modules, that takes a few minutes, depending on the size of the modules. But when there are 500 modules, naturally the program will take a while. Like not even getting up and going to get a cup of coffee while, nor even a going out to eat and coming back in 2-3 hours while. It will take a long time if you have a lot of modules and a lot of large size modules.

My laptop is about 5 years old, and so it is not that old, but you will really need a fast computer, and a fast hard drive. (Mine is SSD, and it still takes a while).

So, my patience is limited. When I want a number of modules in the program to work with them (remember, I have websites that I upload a lot of modules to, so if I want to open each one, that is a problem for me), I will put some 25 modules into the folder first, open the theWord, and let it index them, and then close it out and move more into that folder.

That is a clunky solution, but just so you know of the problem. The real problem is not with theWord program, but with the vast amount of text that it is indexing so that you can search across all of that text and find a single word or phrase. The computer that a person uses is what causes the problem, because we are reaching maximum capacities. No Bible software program is going to be any better here. They are knuckling under to reading, scanning, and indexing large amounts of text.

A Better Alternative Method

What I have done is that I have to figure out a “better way”. It is better for me, but for you, maybe not. My way of working around this problem is simple, instead of having everything in one place (folder) that theWord will read and index, I split things up into many folders.

The way I do this is to make say a folder on my hard drive called, for example, “theWord Holy Spirit” (using TotalCommander by Ghilser is highly recommended by me). I have a general module folder for keeping all of my modules sorted so that I know what I have. This is separate, and not in the directories theWord would normally search for modules.

I search the general tw folder for “Holy Spirit” or just “spirit” and make copies of all those files that have to do with the Holy Spirit into the “theWord Holy Spirit” folder. The problem that arises is what do you do with a module named “Another Comforter by W.T.P. Wolston.gbk.twm”. So when you make these theWord special folders, you need to watch what you are downloading (or scan them after they are ownloaded) and add such a file to the Holy Spirit folder.

Making a USB Installation of theWord

What you do is go to the theWord.net home page, and download the latest version of the program. Install it on your computer, and watch very carefully for the option to make a USB installation of theWord. A USB is a temporary storage device that will hold some megabytes. But when it asks you which device you want to install theWord on, point it to your “theWord Holy Spirit” folder instead.

This makes a self-contained (only within that folder and its child folders) copy of the program, and it works as if it were on a USB drive. It will read all the modules (and index them) when it starts up. But instead of a thousand modules, maybe you only have a subset of 40 modules in that folder. This works really well when you just want to work on a specific subset of everything you have.

I would recommend that you set up a folder and USB install called “theWord commentaries”, and use that to work on sermons and such when you do that.

Actually, I would recommend that you make your first USB install called “theWord USB template” folder, install the program there, and then copy from that folder into the new folders, like “theWord Holy Spirit.”

Note a few things though. First of all, when you download a theWord module from the Internet and just click on it in a File Browser, (if you have theWord normally installed in Windows in the Windows app folders), then the file will be installed there. You need to keep track of where you want a particular file.

Secondly, note that the normal Windows install of theWord has certain folders that it will scan, normally in the Windows C: under apps. Depending on your ability to get around Windows rules, (if you are smart enough), you can edit those folders and copy modules into that. I wouldn’t recommend that though.

Windows has a way to host “guest files” (there is probably some other name they use that is correct, I am just a novice here) in which a program will scan that folder and use those files.

For me, this folder is

c:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\theWord

You can get into that folder without worrying about Windows not showing or allowing file moving into the folder.

What do you do with the Roaming Folder?

Well, just think that you have a dozen topical study USB installations of theWord on your hard drive. This is what I have on my theWord USB installations

theWord Angels\
theWord anthropology and Harmatology\
theword Atonement\
theWord Bibliology\
theWord Commentaries\
theWord commentary production\
theWord Cults\
theWord David Cox writings\
theword dcoxlibrary.com\
theword delete catholicism\
theword delete Psalms\
theWord Doctrine Systematic Theology\
theWord Ecclesiology\
theWord eschatology\
theWord Family\
theWord God Theology Proper\
theWord Holiness\
theWord Holy Spirit\
theword James Commentary\
theWord Person of Christ\
theword Rapture\
theWord Repentance\
theword Sayings on the Cross\
theword Soteriology\
theword TSK for foreign languages\

This is just to give you an idea of how this works.

But theWord will not start if there is no Bible module present. So I use the KJV, and that is included in the program. I have noticed when I delete all the Bibles from a USB install, theWord has gotten (downloaded or is in its installation files) another copy of the KJV. But that really is a necessary file for the USB installation to work (any Bible module will work though, but you have to have at least one).

Secondly, I want Treasury of Scripture Knowledge also in all these USB installations. So if you copy tsk.twm into your theWord Roaming folder, theWord will always scan that folder whether it is being run from the Windows official installation, or from a USB installation (on your hard disk or actually on a USB).

c:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\theWord

So if you copy that tsk.twm file into that roaming folder, you will always have it in every USB installation on your computer. I also like to install Strongs.dct.twm, and usually a Greek and Hebrew Bible. These are just some constantly used files that I use, maybe you will use others.

The Problems of a USB Installation and Multiple Folders

So, I don’t want to deceive anybody, so I must tell you what my problems with this set up is. The main problem is to keep track of what modules I have, and where I have them. Sometimes, I know I have something, but I don’t know where it is, or I cannot find it.

Windows is really slow at finding files in its own system. That is like another go out to dinner with friends thing and come back in 3 hours to see if it has stopped. Basically, that doesn’t work so well for me because the screen saver kicks in and everything stops until you touch a key or move the mouse. (yes, I know you can reset the screensaver in Windows, but where is it? and in other use of the computer, you might want that function if you have to leave for a while and don’t close the system down.)

So Totalcommander is a factor faster that Windows, but you go to a root directory, say “theWord Holy Spirit” and press Alt F7, and it will search. Like I say, I find that faster than Windows by about 15-20 minutes. But if you want to walk an entire hard drive, that is not how to find a file quickly.

Everything

I found a program called Everything that will quickly search a large hard disk and display the results

https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/

It just really finds files. But whereas Windows will take maybe 20 minutes to search a 1 terabyte hard drive, Everything will take about 8 seconds to scan all the files and folders, and you get everything instantly when you search.

Note that you can predefine what kind of files are shown, so I have under Search, Add Filters, two filters, *.twm, and a second one for theWord Bibles, *.nt; *.ot; *.ont. (Bible reading plans are *.rpd.twm.)

But in general, you need to handle the excessive amount of literature that is available in such a way that it is manageable. Hopefully, you can set up your Bible Study system, and not have to constantly spend time finding things to study before you actually read anything.

Handling Hundreds of Modules