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How Can I Move My BibleWorks Settings and Files to my New Installation/Computer?
Author: KB Admin Reference Number: AA-02765 Views: 25180 Created: 2012-08-05 19:00 Last Updated: 2018-03-20 11:27 100 Rating/ 1 Voters

You can move custom files and notes you have created and added to BibleWorks from one installation of BibleWorks to another. First install BibleWorks on your new computer and apply the BibleWorks executable update. Then use the following instructions for the files you wish to preserve for a backup or to move to another installation of BibleWorks. You may move the individual files from the location listed in one installation to the same location in another. Note that for the Notes and UserLex, the whole folder should be moved rather than individual files per the instructions below.

On a Windows installation, BibleWorks will typically be installed in the C:\program folders (x86) folder on your computer which can be accessed through File Explorer (Windows 10) or Computer/Windows Explorer.

On a Mac Installer installation the location of the BibleWorks folder and file structure may be found through this means (If copying from BibleWorks 9 to 9 or 9 to 10, adjust for the appropriate folder name below):
1. Start BibleWorks, and from the Apple menu (top menu), click "BibleWorks" and then select "Open Program Folder"    A window will appear with the installed folders and files of BibleWorks.
2. Files may be copied to the same named folder in Application Support | BibleWorks | Bottles | bibleworks | drive_c | Program Files | BibleWorks 10

Online backup services like OneDrive, Google Drive and Box.com are free services that allow you to back up folders and files to the cloud. We do not recommend using Dropbox if you will be backing up UserLex files, as Dropbox in testing has adversely affected some UserLex files and rendered them inoperable in BibleWorks.

Book names
If you've edited the book names used in BibleWorks (click Tools>Options>Book Names), you can copy these changes to your new installation by copying the file named "books.bna", which is located in the BibleWorks\init folder. Just copy it to the same location on your new computer (say yes to overwrite the one already there, of course).

Color Files
You can similarly move any color files you have created using the Color Selection tool (also known as the Text Highlighter). To do this just move your color files from your BibleWorks 10\Databases folder on your old computer to the same folder on your new computer. They will all have a .clr extension.

Custom Search Limits
Your Custom Search Limits are contained in the "limlist.udb" file in the BibleWorks 10\init folder.  To retain these in your new BibleWorks installation, copy this file to the init folder of your new installation.

Morphology Color Tagging
If you have saved your own Morphology Color Tagging files they will be saved in the BibleWorks 10\init folder. These files have the extension .mcl. Copy any .mcl files that you wish to transfer from the BibleWorks 10 init folder to the BibleWorks 10\init folder on your target computer.

Time Lines
If you edited an existing timeline or created a new timeline you'll need to copy the *.era and *.erc files used by the *.tl file you edited/created. If you're not sure which *.era/.erc files are used by your timeline, open your *.tl file in notepad and you'll be able to read the names of the files. All *.era files have a corresponding *.erc file with the same name. You will find the files in the timeline folder.

User-created Bible Versions
For details click Tools>Importing/Exporting Information>Version Database Compiler and click Help.
To move any Bible versions you have compiled for use in BibleWorks you must copy all of the files associated with that version from the databases folder in the BibleWorks folder on your old computer to the same folder on your new computer. These file names will begin "XYZ." if your version is called XYZ. They will be found in the databases folder.

Custom Modules and WORDsearch Modules
If you have made custom modules, installed user created modules from the Old in the New unofficial BibleWorks Blog or WORDsearch modules in BibleWorks the files for those modules are saved in the databases folder. To move any modules you must copy all the files associated with that module from the databases folder in the BibleWorks folder on your old computer to the same folder on your new computer. These files will have the file extensions .chd, .chm and .sdx following the name/abbreviation of the module.

User Notes
If you have created any Chapter/Verse notes simply copy the whole BibleWorks 10\Notes folder including its folder name from your old computer to the BibleWorks folder on your new computer replacing the Notes folder in the new installation of BibleWorks. Please be sure to replace the notes folder that is there with the one from your other installation/computer. Click here for instructions.

Version Display Order
If you have made any significant changes to the version display order (by clicking View>Version Display Order) you may want to save yourself some effort by saving these changes to a file (use Save to File in the Version Display Order window) and then transferring the file to your new BibleWorks installation. The default location for Version Display Order files is your BibleWorks10\Init folder. Just copy your file into this folder of your new installation and then open it from the Version Display Order window.

Vocabulary Flashcard Module Files
Hebrew vocabulary list files in BibleWorks 10 have changed.  To save non-Hebrew word lists, including learned vocabulary information, copy desired lists having a ".vrc" and ".vrt" extension from the former BibleWorks "init" folder to the BibleWorks "init" folder in the target installation.  Before copying Hebrew word lists in this way, though, rename the existing BibleWorks 10 Hebrew .vrc and .vrt files to a different name so they aren't overwritten in the copy (in case it might be desired to restore them from the renamed location in the future).

User created files
Any other personal files, like .bww (Editor) files, .qf (Graphical Search Engine (GSE) files), .bwc (Saved Command Line Search files) or .dgm files (Diagramming Module) can be copied to the corresponding BibleWorks directory on the new computer. Typically the ase and diagram folders if you used the default folders.

UserLex files (BibleWorks 10)
If you have created any UserLex entries simply copy the whole BibleWorks\UserLex folder including its folder name from your old computer to the BibleWorks folder on your new computer replacing the UserLexs folder in the new installation of BibleWorks. Please be sure to replace the UserLex folder that is there with the one from your other installation/computer.


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A Note About the User Settings (Initialization) File
Many settings within BibleWorks are saved in a file named for the version of BibleWorks in use, e.g. BW1000.INI, which is located in your main BibleWorks folder. While it is a good idea to back up this file, it should NOT ordinarily be copied from one computer to the next, as settings specific to the first computer may not apply to the target computer, and will often prevent BibleWorks from opening on the second computer to which it has been copied.  This limitation is due to differences between the computers, even though the same version of BibleWorks may be being installed.  There is no alternative, unhappily, than just to reset the former settings individually on the new machine.


Last Updated: RG/MC/August 10, 2017