Implemented! Custom Bible Reading Plan

[wsbones]

Our church is reading through the KJ Bible next year using the plan, "The One Year ® Bible". Is there a way to create a custom plan that matches it? Or, could it be a standard plan in SS?

It is close to the one that is already in SS, but different enough that weekly home Bible studies using the plan would differ. See attached file.

 

[Brandon Staggs]

It would have to be specifically hard-coded as a pre-set plan. There's no way to produce that exact plan using the current system. As you say, it is similar but not exactly the same as the standard plan in SS.

It could be added as a standard plan in SS but I do not know how I would explain the variation in the plan setup dialog. However, I have an idea that may be better and I will contact you privately.

 

[wsbones]

Thank you. If it's a lot of work don't bother. I can use a paper plan. Perhaps someone else would also benefit?

 

[Brandon Staggs]

I am looking into supporting a 100% custom and manual plan via text file import; that would make it work for any situation when one does not want to build a custom plan with the plan designer or use the standard plan.

 

[Brandon Staggs]

Thread update: Version 7.2 adds support for custom plans imported from text files. Thanks for the suggestion, Bill.

 

[Johnny NL]

Yupppp!!!
working good !

 

[Eric]

Thread update: Version 7.2 adds support for custom plans imported from text files.

I've never used SS's reading plans, since we've always used two different "printed on paper plans". However, for 2020-2021, our church needs a 2-year reading plan. We are not sure exactly how much Bible text we will be able to read and re-read during that time, but the goal is to have approx. 15 minutes per day.

If possible, this is what we'd like in it:

In two years:

NT           4.0x (i.e., 2x per year)
OT w/o Ps,Pr 1.0x (i.e., ½x per year)
Psalms       2.0x (i.e., 1x per year)
Proverbs     12.0x (i.e., 6x per year; ½ of a chapter per day)

I set up pre-edited ranges for (1) OT without Psalms ir Proverbs, (2) Psalms, and (3) Proverbs. (Edit: I guess I didn't need "ranges" for one-book items! Just the abbreviation would have worked.)

It appears to me that the programmed reading plan will do everything except the Proverbs portion, since the presets for number of times per period only go up to 4x, and I'd need 12x per plan period in a 2-year plan. So probably I need to use the custom plan import from text files feature…

I haven't found anything in the Help about how to format the text file for import, but I guess I could export one and then open it and see what format it's in. Probably I just don't know where to look in Help.

At this point this is what I have:

Feature request: Since I can't know in advance how much time this reading plan would take each day, what would really be nice is some kind of graphical interface where I could increase or decrease the reading frequency of given Scripture segments to get to a desired approximate reading time.

 

[Eric]

The good news is that this works out to only 9-11 minutes per day, so if Proverbs were being read in half-chapter-per-day increments, probably we'd be close to our 15-minute goal.

However, I don't think SS programmatically actually does what I want, since it comes out like this (with 4x reading of Proverbs in 2 years):

The problem is that it cuts up the chapters (e.g., Psalm 2 – most of it is read on Day 2, but a few vv. on Day 3). Feature request: an option to make the plan not have any cut chapters except for, say, Psalm 119. It could have some algorithm to calculate what the number of minutes per day would have been with cutting up of chapters, then it could tweak to remove chapters from one Scripture Segment and fill out ones that would have been divided between days to get to a reasonably similar amount of reading time per day. In order to smooth things out, I wouldn't even mind if in exceptional cases there was no NT reading or no Proverbs reading, if that was needed to keep the time consistent. Edit: or maybe SS could allow the user to permit dividing chapters also if they are over X number of vv. long (with a dialog box where the user could try different things to see how it comes out). Some long chapters in the Prophets could be cut up without totally losing the chain of thought.

I guess I probably need to manually go through the whole thing, do a lot of tweaking, and create a manual (custom) plan to import. I'll see now how to import a manual plan.

 

[Eric]

Seems to me that SwordSearcher (8.3.1.72) automatically saves the *.ssplan (reading plan template) and *.txt (reading plan export) files to the regular Documents folder on Windows 10 under the user's profile name, like this: C:\Users\[UserName]\Documents.

I don't see anyway to change that default and nothing comes up asking where to save the files. Would it be possible (or is it already possible) to let the user decide where to save these? I'd like them in a custom folder such as C:\Users\[UserName]\Documents\SwordSearcher User Modules\ReadingPlans.

 

[Eric]

I exported the current plan as a .txt file and opened it in Excel. I see that it puts the reading segments in there in the same order I added them to the plan, which is fine. In some ways that is better than defaulting to canonical order since one can decide to add them in any order.

To modify this would require manually editing 731 entries, which would be very time consuming, but I suppose it is possible.



Is there a way to have SwordSearcher automatically read everything in a given day's schedule via its default audio narrator? I think it would be really nice if you could just click and, say, Scourby would read all of the listed passages in order, jumping from the NT reading, on to the OT, etc.

 

[Brandon Staggs]

I haven't found anything in the Help about how to format the text file for import, but I guess I could export one and then open it and see what format it's in. Probably I just don't know where to look in Help.

It's just a list of verse ranges. Each line is the reading for a day.

The problem is that it cuts up the chapters (e.g., Psalm 2 – most of it is read on Day 2, but a few vv. on Day 3). Feature request: an option to make the plan not have any cut chapters except for, say, Psalm 119.

It favors chapters as ending points, but if you tell it you want to fill x number of days with n number of readings for a text, there is not always a way to make that happen because of the math. Also, the goal with the plan creation is to give you somewhat equal amounts of daily reading time. You're not going to be able to use the automatic plan creation to accomplish what you want to do.

don't see anyway to change that default and nothing comes up asking where to save the files. Would it be possible (or is it already possible) to let the user decide where to save these? I'd like them in a custom folder such as C:\Users\[UserName]\Documents\SwordSearcher User Modules\ReadingPlans.

When I go to export a plan from the Schedule Manager, it asks me for a file name and where to put it, and it remembers where I last exported a plan. I am not sure what would prevent that from happening. It shouldn't save without a prompt.

 

[Brandon Staggs]

Is there a way to have SwordSearcher automatically read everything in a given day's schedule via its default audio narrator? I think it would be really nice if you could just click and, say, Scourby would read all of the listed passages in order, jumping from the NT reading, on to the OT, etc.

This is on the feature request list.

 

[Eric]

Thanks so much, Brandon! It's a pretty neat tool, even though everything I use I ask for more features for! Don't be discouraged by that. It'll get me started, and the ability to import my own plan is great. Thank you!

 

[wsbones]

I posted a reading schedule template and then found a mistake. I will repost it later. Sorry

 

[wsbones]

Here's the correction. Let me know if you find a problem.
-----
Here's a reading plan for I made for next year if you would like to use it. It's approximately 15 minutes/day and finishes in 287 days. The plan is to read a whole book of the OT and then a whole book of the NT (i.e. Gen, Mat, Exo, Mark...) I adjusted some days so that each day's reading ends on a chapter boundary rather than in the middle of a chapter.

Unzip the attached file. Remember where you put the text file. Feel free to modify it. The NT is complete on day 261. The OT is done on day 287. You could add some lines at the end to reread to make a 365 day plan.

Here are the steps to use a text template to make a reading schedule:

1. Open the schedule tool in SS
2. Choose new plan
3. Define custom plan
4. Import from a template
5. Click in the box to the right of the filename input box
6. Select daily reading per line text files(*.txt)
7. Select the file called called "Alt OT-NT books in 287 days.txt" where you unzipped it.
8. Click to open
9. Give a title
10. Pick a start date
11. Save

 

[Claiborne]

What is the best Bible reading plan out there?
I want to read the bible, new and old testament. I would like to have a plan that includes the entire bible, but if some verses (less important) are left out--that's fine. I want a plan that is less than 6 months, preferably 3 months or less. Thank you!

 

[Johnny NL]

What is the best Bible reading plan out there?
I want to read the bible, new and old testament. I would like to have a plan that includes the entire bible, but if some verses (less important) are left out--that's fine. I want a plan that is less than 6 months, preferably 3 months or less. Thank you!

You may use SS Reading plan Schedule, and custom it to your needs !!
I personaly use 2 of them.... Through the Bible in one year, and a second one which I customed just for certain books.
Feel free, try the custom plans, create couple and see which one you like the best !
see the video: https://www.swordsearcher.com/video/reading-schedules.html
Be Blessed.

 

[Johnny NL]

Just a quick reminder.... NOT too late to begin a Bible Reading Plan ! ! !
Bible in a year....
A Blessed commitment unto the LORD !
I also use the Bible Audio.... This is a GREAT day beginner !

 

[wsbones]

Here's a new reading plan I made for myself for next year (if we are still here).

Use the same method in my post above, but use the attached file below instead.
Here's a link to the post above:

https://forums.swordsearcher.com/threads/custom-bible-reading-plan.2600/post-20690

This is a mix of the Old and New Testaments in the following, rightly divided way. It's a 280 day schedule to read the Bible in about 15+ minutes per day:

1. Pentateuch (Books of Moses)
2. Gospels and Acts (Books of Jesus and early church)
3. Old Testament history (Joshua - Esther)
4. Paul's writings (Rom - Philemon)
5. Poetry (Job - Song)
6. General epistles and New Testament prophecy (Heb - Rev)
7. Old Testament prophecy (Isa - Mal)

 

[TerriP]

Here's a new reading plan I made for myself for next year (if we are still here). < I like this part, too

I like it. Copied to an Excel file so I can check it off daily. Hopefully daily. Sometimes well okay a lot of times I don't read as much or as often as I should, or would like to. Busyness!
Thanks, Bill.