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How Can I Save My Personalized BibleWorks Initialization Settings (BWn00.ini or BWn00.swc)?
Author: KB Admin Reference Number: AA-02767 Views: 12770 Created: 2012-08-05 19:00 Last Updated: 2017-12-29 11:03 100 Rating/ 1 Voters

BibleWorks, like many programs, provides options to create personal settings for a number of parts of the program. Notes may be saved using the process described here. In addition, one can make more minor changes to fonts, sizes, and options to meet specific preferences and needs. Many of these more minor settings are stored in an initialization file whose name is bwn00.INI, where n is the number of the BibleWorks version in use (for example, bw1000.ini for BibleWorks 10). This file is stored in the main BibleWorks folder, usually c:\Program Files (x86)\BibleWorks n or c:\Program Files\BibleWorks n for non-64 bit Windows, where n is the BibleWorks version number, as before.

The initialization file can be disrupted or deleted.  In such cases BibleWorks creates a new one based on program defaults. The result of this is that when the program opens, it appears much like it did when it was first installed. One will be prompted again to register the program, the Getting Started screen will again display, and all settings changed previously will be as they were at initial installation.

The reasons for initialization file disruption or deletion vary. The file may become corrupted because of power surges, program crashes, etc. (Deletion of the initialization file is offered as a Shutdown Option at a program crash.)  Or a file change may not have been completed: some changes are not put into place until the program has been closed and restarted. (Changes made to fonts are an example of this.)  On rare occasions, crucial updates to the BibleWorks executable file necessarily cause the file to be deleted.

When the initialization file has been deleted, there is no way of recovering it short of a Windows System Restore. That is a drastic response to this condition, and should be taken only as a last resort. A better way to is to perform some preventive maintenance, that is, simply to make a copy of the said initialization file, as follows:

1. Close BibleWorks

2. Use Windows Explorer or File Explorer to search for the BWn00.ini file, where n, as above, is the number (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 etc.) of the version of BibleWorks in use. For BibleWorks 10 it is bw1000.ini.

     On a Mac, the location of the BibleWorks folder and file structure may be found through this means.
        
(If copying from BibleWorks 9, adjust for the appropriate folder name below).
     a. Open a Finder window, hold down the option key, and select Go | Library.
     b. Then browse to Application Support | BibleWorks | Bottles | bibleworks | drive_c | Program Files | BibleWorks 10 and look for the bw1000.ini file.

3. Right-click on the file name and select COPY.

4. Navigate to a backup folder of your choice, right-click on the folder contents window, and select PASTE.  (The file can also be copied and sent as an email attachment to BibleWorks Customer Support as a diagnostic tool for troubleshooting a problem with your program.)

5. To restore this file in an installation of BibleWorks, close BibleWorks and simply copy the backup BWn00.ini file to its original location.

Additional settings for the Search Window and display of verses are saved in the Context File, BWn00.swc, where n is the BibleWorks version number. You can back up the BWn00.swc file by right clicking on one of the 12 tabs in the Search Window above the Command Line. Choose "Save Tabs to Disk", then save the file. To restore this file, right click on one of the Search Window tabs, choose "Load Tabs from Disk", and choose the BWn00.swc file that you had backed up. The context saved in the BWn00.swc includes the following: the display versions; the current  search version; the Browse Mode (single or multiple versions); the current verse; the positions of all list boxes in the search window; current search statistics and hit highlighting information; the Command Line text; accent, vowel point and apostrophe options; Search limits options; and the Cross Version Search option.

Last Update - MC/January 26, 2016