We are pleased to announce that Paratext 9.1 is now available as a beta version. Many teams will be required to use project plans soon, so Paratext 9.1 has significantly improved the tools used to manage tasks and assignments for working with a project plan.
Training Videos
We have produced a set of videos that will let you see these features in action – or show you how to use these new features if you are ready to try them:
What changed since Paratext 9.0?
Here are the main changes:
- Translation Priorities is a new feature that allows teams to define the portions of Scripture they want to finish first. For instance, a team might want to finish Matthew first, then the rest of the Gospels, then the Letters of Paul.
- My Tasks now makes it easier for each member of a translation team to see their most important tasks. It shows what to do next, drawing from the progress plan and associated translation priorities.
- Rich Text in Progress Plans allows progress plans to contain detailed instructions, with hypertext links to external sources if needed. Progress plan creators can leverage this to provide extensive guidance to translation team members.
- Assignments & Progress has added features to help project administrators work more efficiently – bulk assignments, showing why tasks are blocked, and integrated support for translation priorities. It has also improved support for postponing tasks and checks.
- Progress Plan Administration has added progress plan versioning so that an organization’s progress plans can be improved over time without disrupting translation efforts. It makes it easier to update to the latest version of your organization’s plan. It also allows you to postpone an update if you need to stay on an older version.
- Performance improvements (including 64-bit architecture)
We believe that Paratext 9.1 will help translation teams work toward their translation goals, focusing on what they need to do today. It will also simplify project administration, making it easier to produce a plan and to adapt when progress plans change.
Paratext 9.1 was designed in cooperation with a stakeholder group – a group of users in several translation organizations who use Assignments & Progress extensively. They tell us that it works well and is ready for wider distribution. You may encounter some minor problems that we aren’t aware of yet, so there will continue to be some minor changes over the next couple months as we work towards the official release. However, we are confident that it is stable enough for everyday use.
Should you use the Paratext 9.1 Beta?
Yes, if you:
- have a 64-bit Windows operating system (how can I tell?).
- plan to use progress plans extensively.
- want to use My Tasks to help you know what to do next.
You can download the Paratext beta from the Paratext 9.1 download page. Double click the downloaded file to launch the installer. The installer will then guide you through a short installation procedure.
You can continue to use Paratext 9.0 while you try out Paratext 9.1. Just don’t open them both at the same time. If you already have Paratext 8 or Paratext 9.0 on your computer, the installer does not remove it. If other members of your project are using Paratext 8 or Paratext 9.0, you can do Send/Receive with Paratext 9.1 on the same project.
The user experience of Paratext 9.1 is almost identical to Paratext 9.0, except for the changes noted above.
We are grateful to translation teams who work hard to make the Word of God available to people throughout the world. We hope this beta will bless your work.
Your partners in this ministry,
The Paratext development team
