Sermon Notes

The short version

Type your notes in the big cream box. Add photos with the buttons underneath. Tap Save note when you are done. Everything is saved as you type, so nothing is lost if the battery dies.

Getting a picture in

• Take a Photo Now – opens the camera straight away. This is the one to use at church for the screen at the front.
• Add My Own Photo – a picture already on this device: your photo library, your saved files, or something you downloaded.
• Add Church Artwork – the pictures built into this app: the cross, the dove, Alpha and Omega, and the rest. Nothing to find or download, they are already here.
• Pictures from Google – search the internet for a picture and drop it straight into your note.
• Lesson slides – the teacher’s own PDF or PowerPoint, or a whole batch of photos at once, each with writing room under it.

Which picture button do I want?

• The screen at the front of the building: Take a Photo Now.
• A picture already on your phone or tablet: Add My Own Photo.
• A cross, dove, or other church picture: Add Church Artwork.
• Something you need to go looking for: Pictures from Google.
• A handout the teacher sent you: Lesson slides.

Working on a picture after it is in

Tap the picture once. A black bar of gold-edged buttons slides up from the bottom of the screen. Those buttons work on that one picture only.

Tap Done when you are finished, or tap the same picture again to close the bar.

Lining up and cropping a photo

After you take or pick a photo, a window opens with gold lines across it. Those lines help you line the picture up straight.

Drag the gold corners in or out to cut away what you do not want. Then tap Add to note. If the photo came out bad, tap Pick another and try again.

Turning a photo into words

Took a picture of the preacher’s slide and want the words instead of the picture? Tap Copy text from photo. The app reads the picture and types the words into your note for you.

It is not perfect. Check the words afterwards, especially names and verse numbers. Some photos give you a Show original and Show tidied choice, so you can compare the raw reading against the cleaned-up one.

It works best on a photo that is straight on, well lit, and close enough that the words are big.

Writing and formatting

Highlight a word or a line first, then tap a button.

• B makes text bold, I makes it slanted, U underlines it.
• Highlight paints a colored band behind the words, like a marker.
• Color changes the color of the letters.
• Font changes the lettering style.
• Size makes the writing bigger or smaller. Large and Extra large are easier on the eyes.

Lists and alignment

Use the bullet button for a dotted list, or the numbered button for 1, 2, 3. Tap it once and start typing. Press Enter for the next point. Press Enter twice to stop the list.

The align buttons push your writing to the left, the middle, or the right of the page.

Undo a mistake

Tap Undo to take back the last thing you did. Tap Redo if you undid one too many.

Scripture and verses

Type a verse the normal way, such as Acts 2:38, and keep going. It turns into a gold button by itself. Tap that button later and the Bible Reader opens right to the passage.

If a verse did not turn gold, highlight it and tap the blue Link Scripture button.

It knows all 66 books and forgives small spelling slips, so Phillipians and Philippians both work.

The boxes at the top

• Title – what the note is called, such as Sunday AM – The New Birth. This is the name you will look for later.
• Speaker – who preached or taught.
• Date – when it was.
• Main scripture – the main passage the lesson came from.

Fill these in first. It only takes a moment and it makes the note easy to find months later.

Saving your work

The page saves as you type. A closed lid, a dead battery, or a page shut by accident will not lose the note.

Tap Save note to file it properly under its title. It then appears in the Saved notes list at the bottom of this page.

Finding a note you saved

Scroll to the bottom of this page for the Saved notes list. Tap any note to open it back up and keep working on it.

The My Bible Notes page shows the same notes laid out with the speaker, date, scripture, and the first few lines of each one.

Starting a fresh note

Tap New note for a blank page. The note you were on is already saved, so nothing is lost.

Using it on more than one device

Notes follow you between your phone, your tablet, and your computer, as long as you are signed in on each one. Write on the tablet at church, open it on the computer at home.

If a note has not shown up yet, open the page on that device and give it a moment to catch up.

Focus

Tap Focus to clear the clutter away and leave just your writing on the screen. Good during a lesson when you do not want to be distracted. Tap it again to bring the buttons back.

Customize buttons

Tap Customize buttons to choose which buttons you want to see. Turn off the ones you never touch and the screen gets simpler.

You can turn them back on any time. Nothing is deleted.

Save as PDF and printing

Tap Save as PDF for a clean copy with the buttons stripped out.

In the print preview, tap Options and turn Headers and Footers off. Otherwise the web address and the time get stamped across every page.

Export to Word

Tap Export to Word for a document you can open in Word, with your photos inside it. Use this when you want to keep editing the note somewhere else, or hand it to somebody who does not use this site.

Email note

Tap Email note to send the note to yourself or to somebody else. Good for passing a lesson along to a family member or someone who missed the service.

Adding and working with photos

Get a picture into the note, then tap the picture once. A black bar of gold-edged buttons slides up from the bottom of the screen. Those buttons work on that one picture. Tap Done when you are finished, or tap the same picture again.

Getting a photo in

• Take a Photo Now – opens the camera straight away. This is the one to use at church for the screen at the front.
• Add My Own Photo – a picture already on this device: your photo library, your saved files, or something you downloaded.
• Add Church Artwork – the pictures built into this app: the cross, the dove, Alpha and Omega, and the rest. Nothing to find or download, they are already here.
• Lesson slides – the teacher’s own PDF or PowerPoint, or a whole batch of photos at once, each with writing room under it.

Which photo button do I want?

• The screen at the front of the building: Take a Photo Now.
• A picture already on your phone: Add My Own Photo.
• A cross or a dove to dress up the note: Add Church Artwork.

Where the photo sits

• Up and Down move the picture past the line above or below it. Tap several times to walk it through a long note.
• Left, Middle, Right line the picture up across the page. A picture filling the whole width has nowhere to move to, so the first time you use these it is narrowed to 60 percent. That is on purpose — it is what makes the move visible.

How big the photo is

• Smaller and Bigger change the width by 15 percent each tap, between 25 and 100 percent. The bar tells you where you are.
• Full width puts it back across the whole page.

Fix the photo

• Crop – drag the four gold circles to keep only the part you want. The faint lines are thirds, a photographer’s guide for placing the interesting part.
• Straighten – a slider for a small lean. Level lines help you judge it, and the white wedges left in the corners are trimmed off for you.
• Corners – for a photo taken from the side of the room. Drag dots 1 2 3 4 onto the four corners of the screen, clockwise from the top left, and the leaning shape is pulled square.
• Clean up – for glare. Sunlight on a glossy screen washes the words out. This pulls the bright parts back, lifts the contrast and sharpens the letters, while keeping the colors. Tap again to go back. Glare that burned out to pure white is gone for good.

This photo — replace or delete

• Replace – swap in a different picture and keep the spot in the note.
• Delete – tap once, then tap again to confirm. Wait four seconds and it cancels itself, so a stray tap cannot lose a picture.
• Done – close the bar.

Test the photo buttons

Tap a picture, then tap Test all buttons in the photo bar. It quietly makes a small test picture at the end of your note, works every button on it, measures what actually happened on the screen, then deletes the test picture and shows you a pass or fail list. If something is broken you will see exactly which button, instead of guessing.

If something goes wrong

• A button does nothing – close the page and open it again.
• The page looks old or wrong – pull down on the screen to refresh it.
• A photo will not go in – it may be too large. Take it again from a little farther back.
• Words came out garbled from a photo – the picture was too dark or too slanted. Take it again straight on with more light.
• A note seems missing – check the Saved notes list at the bottom, and the My Bible Notes page.

Tips for taking notes at church

• Fill in the title, speaker, and date before the lesson starts.
• Snap the slide first, write about it afterwards. The slide will be gone before your sentence is.
• Type verses as you hear them. They turn into buttons on their own and you can read them properly at home.
• Do not fix your spelling during the lesson. Keep up, then tidy up later.
• Turn the sound off before service.