What’s New in Paratext 9.2

Paratext 9.2 includes major feature upgrades for Study Bible Authoring. Older Study Bible projects can be migrated to the new, greatly improved, Study Bible Additions (SBA) project type. The new improvements add greater versatility, fix many old bugs, and provide much greater performance than the older Study Bible project format. We think you will love it! Detailed SBA improvements are linked below.

In Paratext 9.2 (and later), there are three types of Study Bible projects:

• Legacy Study Bible – Study Bible projects that were created in Paratext 9.1 and earlier which have not been migrated to the new format. They show (Legacy Study Bible) in the title bar and It is not possible to create a new Legacy Study Bible project.
• Study Bible Additions – The default new Study Bible project type, created in 9.2 and later.
• Study Bible Publications – The publishable form of a Study Bible project, created by selecting Create merged publication project from the project menu of a Study Bible Additions project. It is intended for publishing, not editing.

Interlinearizer

The Interlinearizer has been improved to make it easier to set up and reopen interlinear projects. Recognizing that there are different reasons for using the interlinear, it now simplifies the process for either guessing translations based on a model text, or creating a back translation, or an adaptation. The interface for the Interlinearizer has been modified to help users select the desired task and to guide them in selecting what is needed to accomplish that task.

Wordlist

Improvements to the Wordlist:

• You can sort the Wordlist by the hyphenation column.
• There is now one set of status checkboxes in the Spelling column heading rather than individual status check boxes by each word in the Wordlist. This makes it easier to methodically go through the list and review words.
• For a Study Bible Additions project, you can set the spelling status of words in Study Bible content separately from the status of words in the project on which the Study Bible Additions project is based.
• The Ctrl + N shortcut opens the Spelling Correction dialog.

Paratext Live

Paratext Live has been improved to allow for real time collaborative editing of Bible translation projects, similar to Google Docs. There is a new backend server for the Paratext Live service which provides greater reliability and performance in collaboration sessions. Because of this, the new Paratext Live will not work with older versions of Paratext. All team members using Live will need to be on 9.2, or all will need to be on 9.1 and older versions. There will be no live sessions possible between 9.2 and 9.1 (or previous versions).

XML Resource Viewer

Paratext 9.2 includes an XML Resource Viewer. This is a new capability to display XML based Biblical resources such as lexicons and commentaries. The main advantages of XML resources is that they can break out of the confines of USFM markup and book-chapter-verse navigation. Paratext 9.2 includes access to two XML resources, Liddel Scott Jones, Abbot-Smith, and more to come in the future. Instructions to download and view these Greek lexicons are below. An XML-based resource editor is currently in development, and will be offered as a Paratext plugin.

Paratext Plugin API 2.0

Paratext 9.2 includes a brand new Paratext Plugin API 2.0 that can be used to create new plugins to extend the functionality of Paratext in new ways. As this API gets out into the hands of our partners’ development teams, we expect to see many new plugins become available for the Paratext community. This offering of the plugin API includes Developer Documentation, the Paratext Plugin API 2.0 Wiki describing how to use the API, and Reference Plugins that demonstrate how to use the API in working code.

Other Changes

• When making a Project Plan, you can see project plans from other projects on your computer. When adding a description for a stage or task in a Project Plan, you can copy any part of the sample description in the Markdown Help dialog and use it as a starting point.
• There is a new Source Language Text available: OHEB/OGRK (the Open Scriptures Hebrew Old Testament and the 4th Edition of the UBS Greek New Testament).
• If you hover over the tab for a project in Assignments and Progress, you can see who is assigned to tasks in the current chapter.
• Find/Replace Dialog:
  • In the Find/Replace dialog, the “Match in” drop-down has been moved from being in the “More >>” section, to being a part of the main dialog.

Thank You for Your Support!

We hope that you really love using Paratext 9.2. Please let us know how it goes for you. To send feedback:

1. Go to the Paratext menu > Help > Give Feedback.
2. Fill out the form.
3. Click “Send” to let us know how we are doing.

Your feedback is invaluable in identifying and fixing bugs. Positive feedback is also very valuable for team morale and for partnership development. So, please share your thoughts.

We are grateful to the many translation teams who work hard to make the Word of God available to all people throughout the world. We hope this software will bless your work.

Yours in Christ,

The Paratext Development Team

(UBS/SIL)