NOTA BENE
11

RELEASED DECEMBER 23, 2015




1. Complete NB for the Mac

The new “bottled” version of NB + Wine contains all that you need to run the world’s most advanced research and writing system on Macs — there is no need to purchase Crossover, or Parallels, or VM Fusion (both of the latter which also require Windows) or any other software. A simple download of a single Nota Bene program will give you a full Nota Bene, in which almost all of Nota Bene’s features should work.

See the general Mac page and the Mac FAQ for details.


COMMENTS FROM USERS

“I have only just begun to put NB+Wine through its paces and am very impressed indeed! In general, [it] is a superb accomplishment. Congratulations on having pulled it off with such outstanding results.”

“The Mac version runs excellently on my computer, and I am so thankful to begin my doctoral work with this great program.”

“By the way, I wrote a colleague of mine about the availability of the new "bottled" version of Nota Bene for Wine and he reported back that he was buying a Mac that very day. It's ..., a long-time Nota Bene user who has written three books with the program. He's been holding off on the switch to Mac, awaiting this moment.”

“I just bought the new 10+ wine version and I congratulate you on a very polished operation.”





2. Centered Page-Layout View
Page-layout view now shows page centered on screen, with proper page borders
  • This is the new default view, but you can use the original NB for Windows style if desired




3. Side-by-Side Page View


Standard mode — first page of document is on the left, even if it is odd-numbered page; focus is on editing with two pages shown side-by-side, and not with final printed composition


Book/Publication mode (showing same document as above) — first page of document, typically odd-numbered, is on the right, so that successive pages show actual printed spreads, with even-numbered page on the left, and odd-numbered pages on the right


NB 11 includes a trend-setting implementation of side-by-side pages:
  • Shift+F2 shows two pages side-by-side (Shift+F5 returns to single-page view)
  • Every Nota Bene feature is available in this view — there are no restrictions of any kind
  • There are two modes:
    • Standard mode — first page is always on the left, so that two pages are shown side-by-side, regardless of starting page
    • Book/Publication mode — first, odd-numbered, page begins on the right, with successive spreads showing even-numbered page on left, and odd-numbered page on right, as in printed book
  • You can toggle between these modes using Shift+F2
  • You can advance backwards and forwards through the file in two ways:
    • Two pages at a time (Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn) — every view shows another two pages
    • A single page at a time (Alt+PgUp/Dn) — this “slides” through the document one page at a time, with (to take the case of forward movement through the file) the page on the left disappearing, the page on the right moving to take its place, and a new page replacing the one just moved to the left, thus making it easy to view transitions between all pages

COMMENTS FROM USERS

“The side-by-side view is a most welcome new feature. It is extremely useful, especially when editing near-complete manuscripts. It will soon be impossible to imagine how I ever lived without it. The different options for what's on the left and on the right are nice, too.”

“The two-page zoom view is one of the most user-friendly new capabilities the program has made in years, kid you not. I cannot tell you how much more efficient it is to be able to observe a document more comprehensively. The brain just likes it so much more than the continuous vertical scrolling of pages that are, to start, often cut off at the bottom and thus missing some of the text. It's why books work so much more satisfyingly than computer screens.”

“The side-by-side is so much better than using fineprint to imitate this, find an error, go back to NB, correct it, run another finerprint etc. So thank you for this.”
4. Enhanced Search Options
A major new capability has been added to search, and a small convenience has been added:
  • A new Find All search option (on the Ctrl+F Find/Replace bar) lets you:
    • Show all search matches in the file in a side dialog bar
      • You can select which elements (notes, annotations, labels, frames, etc.) to search
      • The element which contains the match is shown by an icon in the list
      • A fuller preview is shown at the bottom of the dialog bar
      • You can click on an item in the list, and go to that place in the file
    • Highlight the terms in the file proper
      • Unlike other programs, these can remain highlighted as you edit
    • These two modes can be selected together, or each separately

  • You can now more easily copy a highlighted term to the Find box
    • If a word or short phrase is selected when the Ctrl+F Find/Replace dialog is invoked, that word/phrase will be copied to the Find box

COMMENTS FROM USERS

“I wanted to say that I LOVE the new "find all" feature, with the ability to identify by page # and text snippet where in a file a particular word appears, and the ability to jump back and forth between those pages. For reorganizing sections in a lengthy chapter, this is a great feature!”

“This new feature is a work of genius. It is so much better implemented than the version in Word.”

"While searching a right pane appears with every term used in the file listed. This is just awesome."

"[The Find All feature] is exactly what I was wishing NB could do! You're a mind-reader."

"You can add me to the list of people who LOVE the Findall feature. I would never have been able to do the notes and cross-references for my forthcoming book without it."
5. Note Extraction & Reinsertion

Nota Bene has always allowed extraction of all notes to a separate file, making it easier to view all notes for consistency and accuracy, especially during the final stages of writing. Release 2 now lets you edit these extracted notes, and then reincorporate them back into your manuscript by offering a wide range of very useful new capabilities (this feature was available 20 years ago in NB for DOS, but has now been incorporated, and greatly enhanced, for Windows):
  • Extracted notes (available in all earlier versions of Nota Bene for Windows) can now be reinserted back into the source document after editing
  • Note extraction produces two files:
    • A file with body text, but with all note content removed (file type is N-1) and replaced by “[EXTRACTED]”
    • A file with all the content of all the notes (file type is N#1)
  • Reinsertion takes the edited notes and reinserts them back into the source document
    • Reinsertion of notes has not been possible in earlier versions of NB for Windows
  • While the notes are extracted into two separate files, a whole series of useful new functions are available:
    • You can move notes around, without affecting reinsertion
    • Notes can be deleted in the extracted-notes file (N#1), without affecting reinsertion
    • Notes — including Ibidem citation notes —can be added to the source-extracted-notes file (N-1), without affecting reinsertion


Body text of source file, with notes removed (N-1) file


File with extracted notes (N#1) file


COMMENTS FROM USERS

“THANK YOU so much for the two wonderful features - the extract and reinsert notes was sorely missed, but the new choices are very helpful indeed, and the functions works like a charm. PERFECT!”

“Thank you for bringing back ‘reinsertion of extracted notes.’ Long missing and very useful!”

"This is a dream come true, and just in time! Extracting and reinserting footnotes was something I sorely missed (it makes editing footnotes so much easier, when consistency matters) - and now it is back! It works for a book-size file with nearly 500 notes, and works without a fault. THANK YOU!!!"

“Thank you for enhancing note reinsertion. This makes editing notes for consistency and duplicate information much easier.”

“I’m finishing up the last chapter now and looking forward to the return of my favorite feature from the past: the extract and reinsert footnotes!”




6. Print Annotations as Notes
Annotations become much more useful than ever — rather than showing up only when you put the cursor on them, you can instantly turn all annotations into notes. You can:
  • Select which annotation series to print as notes
  • Specify multiple series of annotations (selecting some, and omitting others)
  • Select which notes series to use
  • Have them print either as footnotes, or as endnotes
  • Add custom text to the beginning of each annotation note, either for general emphasis, or to distinguish them from regular notes (if not choosing a different note series)
Just as easily, you can convert them back to annotations again.

This new option makes it much easier to see whatever comments need to be taken into account as you make further edits.

Special custom text at beginning of annotation series 4 notes

COMMENTS FROM USERS

The mechanism to output annotations (in this case, Orbis keywords) as notes (in this case footnotes, Series 2) works well in both directions. That is, output of annotations as footnotes works and the return of annotations to the NT/8 icon view works equally well. The usefulness of this new feature may become obvious when users see it: instead of hovering over each Orbis keyword icon to reveal its content, the icon is replaced by a fn call number and the fn is printed at the bottom (or as endnotes, if preferred) so you can see the annotations that had been entered on a given page all at once and referred to by number. Good research feature, good work.




7. Send to Email or Other Program
A new “Send To” option lets you send the open file as an attachment (in either NB or RTF/Word format) to your desktop email program, or to include as regular text in the body of the email program
  • If using a web mail program where security prevents directly attaching a file, the name of the open file, along with the full path, is copied to the clipboard so that it can be pasted into the attach-file box in the web mail program
  • Advanced users can also configure this Send-To option to allow sending of text to other programs



8. Popup Files

Popup files (2 of possible 3 popups shown)


NB 11offers 3 “popup” files — little floatable Nota Bene windows that can be used for to-do lists, taking notes when reading PDF files or web pages, or for any other purpose
  • There are four kinds of popups:
    • Specific (named) user files
    • “Saved” scratch pads — an unnamed file where all edits are saved between sessions
    • “Clean” scratch pad — an unnamed file that is blank/reset every time it is invoked
    • Linked files — note/scratch files automatically created for files of particular types (you can specify the file type for these auto-generated linked files, as well as the file type of the files to which they are linked [for example, you could have NB automatically open an .NTS file to go along with all your .DIS dissertation files])
  • For each popup, you have the option:
    • For the contents to be autosaved when you return from the popup to Nota Bene
    • To be automatically reopened when restarting NB
    • To have selected text in the active NB file in which you are working be copied to the popup, without leaving the main NB window
    • To have the popup be always on top, either of Nota Bene, or even in Windows in general (this lets you minimize NB without minimizing the popup, so that it can be available for use when working in other applications)
  • Popups are very flexible:
    • When typing in the popups, you can change print modes, switch languages, enter accents, undo/redo, and otherwise type any desired text modes
    • If you want to format the text in the popups, a single click lets you transfer the file into Nota Bene, where you can use any Nota Bene formatting commands (you can then reopen the popup in the popup window with a single click)
    • You can color code popups to make them easily identifiable
    • You can change the zoom size of each popup
    • And, of course, popups can be resized and positioned anywhere


Popup configuration dialog


COMMENTS FROM USERS

“... This reminds me of the old joke about the man who is so muscular ‘he has muscles in places where other guys don't even have places!’ ... I just installed Release 2 ... ‘In places where other software doesn't even have places’ applies especially to the popup scratchpads. Oh my gosh! 3 of them! The configurability! So far, I've set #1 to open clean every time and stay on top, for when I'm working in other programs (sometimes one must); #2 to be saved between sessions; and #3 to open an existing scratch file (which I can now remove from my Quick Open files list). And of course I can resize and place them at will, and they come up in those spots next time I open them. This is brilliant beyond words, Steve.”

“Thank you for the Popups (and the change to have them clickable in the menu), this is very very useful and saves all the trouble of using other sticky notes and it's seamlessly integreated, too: THANK YOU!”

"The popups are working for me without a problem. In fact ... in fact ... I think I may be in love with them. Don't anyone tell my wife!”

“I [use] the pop-up in order to take notes while reading a .doc or .pdf file, without the full NB screen in the way.”




9. New Color Coding of Files
The configuration dialog to enable color coding; in the background open files are shown with the selected color (on the tab, and with the optional color bar running down the left side)


A new option has been added to make it easier to identify open files (particularly useful when you have more than a single file open at time)
  • A new option allows you to color code files to enable quicker identification of particular files, folder, and types (25 options for each):
    • All files of a particular file type (or extension)
    • All files opened (or saved to) a particular folder
    • Specific files
  • The coding goes from general to specific:
    • If a file is of a particular type for which a color has been selected, it uses the color of that type
    • If a file is from a particular folder, it overrides any type
    • If a color is assigned to a particular file, that color overrides both any applicable type and folder
  • There are two options for designating colors:
      The tab workspace
    • A bar down the left side of the file (three different widths can be shown, depending on how prominent you want to indicator)



10. Redundant File Save
A new redundant (triple safety) file-save option has been added:


Earlier versions of Nota Bene have offered multiple ways to save your work:
  • Traditional (single-copy) backups — when a file is called to the screen for editing, the current version is made into a backup (.BAK file); as the file is saved during that session, all the changes are made to the active (constantly updated) version of that file
  • Autosave versions (up to 99 versions for each file), made every specified number of minutes — each time a file is called to the screen for editing, the most recent backup (from the previous editing session) is moved one link down the backup chain, and replaced by a new file that will be backed up at the specified interval containing the current changes; the last (oldest) file in the chain is thrown away
Now, with NB 11, another even more comprehensive option is added:
  • The first time a file is saved on a given day, an additional backup is made
  • This backup is updated each time the file is saved, unless the file is shorter than the currently active backup, in which case the longer earlier backup is retained
  • Unlike the backup versions above, where new backups overwrite earlier backups as necessary, a new persistent backup is created each day, thus ensuring that you have access to the longest version of that file as it existed each day
  • These backups can be kept around indefinitely, or you can have NB delete them after a week has gone by
This new feature is designed to prevent you from inadvertently deleting large sections of a file, and then saving and closing it, without first undoing it with Ctrl+Z to bring it back.

In addition, NB 11:
  • Makes it easier to see the available versions of each file by making the list of available versions accessible via:
    • Menu: File, File Options, Versions
    • Right clicking on the Workspace tab, and choosing Versions
    • Selecting Versions on the File Open/Save As dialog (this is the only option in earlier versions)
  • Preserves autosave files (._##) for as long as possible, by reusing missing numbers in the chain before pushing the last one off the bottom



11. Enhancements to Ibidem
Some important enhancements have been made to Ibidem:
  • Support has been added for the SBL 2ed.
    • Among other things, the facts of publication go inside parentheses, while secondary publication data goes outside the them

      Both first and second edition styles are available

    • In addition, the journal lists now include a large number of journals, both American and European and Australian, in classics and biblical studies, along with appropriate SBL abbreviations, which are automatically used in both int-text and end-of-paper reference lists (as dictated by the 2nd ed)

      A partial selection of some of the newly added journals

  • Data entered into the Text Identifier field is now output (in addition to, or instead of, the page number, depending on which fields have data) in the major styles

    • If you use a style for which this is not supported, write to us at technical support
  • When updating citations in a file, a page break command is inserted before the bibliography if none already exists (previously, without such a break, the bibliography could come before any notes on that page)
  • Most recently opened databases are now shown on the File drop-down menu (as in version 9 of NB)


12. Enhancement to File Comparison
Differences between two files highlighted


An option has been added to file compare
  • This option has been designed for when you want to compare two files side-by-side
    • If you instead compare the files so that they are both full screen, with one behind the other, you can see the differences easily using the existing Find Diff and Find Next keys, and then toggling back and forth between the two files using Alt+F10—the location of the differences will be obvious
  • The differences in the files are highlighted
  • To invoke this function, use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+?; repeat to highlight the next differences
13. New Keyboard Dialog Bar (Alt+K)
A new Keyboard Dialog Bar has been added to display:
  • Active Keyboard Assignments
    • Normal, Shift, Ctrl+Alt and Ctrl+Shift+Alt states for the active keyboard
    • Automatically updates as keyboards/alphabets are changed
    • Gives immediate help on side dialog bar, away from your text
    • Original Ctrl+Shift+K remains available as an option
  • Character Inventory
    • Unlike the original Shift+Alt+F5 option (which remains available), this dialog stays open as you type, letting you easily insert characters from the inventory
  • Active Phrase Library Assignments (see next point)

Keyboard and character-inventory tabs shown side-by-side (only one can be shown at a time); for phrase library tab, see below

COMMENTS FROM USERS

“I absolutely love the Alt+K Keyboard Bar dialog, which I've just begun experimenting with and suspect I will use a great deal.”

“I LOVE the new Alt+K with instant view of keyboards and phrase libraries (the latter particularly useful)”




14. Enhanced Phrase Libraries
Phrase libraries are now both easier to use and more powerful:
  • Show all assigned phrases from active library on Keyboard Dialog Bar (see above)
  • Individual phrase libraries can be linked to individual files, making phrases context specific
    • If no library is assigned to a particular file, the default library will be used
  • When switching between files, the proper library will be automatically loaded

Shows a file-specific phrase library used to manually create HTML pages; when switching back to a regular academic paper, the appropriate phrase library will be automatically loaded

COMMENTS FROM FRIENDS OF NOTA BENE 2015
(BASED ON EARLY ACCESS DURING DEVELOPMENT PHASE)

“The ability to link specific phrase libraries to specific files is a super idea. It will, I think, be a jaw-dropper for professional writers who use MS Word.”

“I am excited about the potential of this feature. I think it is a terrific addition.”




15. Enhanced Bookmarks
Major improvements have been made to bookmarks:
  • Show text at bookmark location (no longer need to select blindly by number)
  • Bookmarks remembered from session to session
  • Bookmarks can also be shown in the Go To (Ctrl+G) Dialog Bar
  • Optionally show icon in file indicating bookmark locations




16. Enhanced Cursor Options
Some simple changes have been made to help locate the cursor and the mouse pointer:
  • To locate the cursor at any time, press the Esc key
    • Arrow disappears as soon as you type any character
    • This may be the single most useful enhancement in NB 11 — not being able to locate the cursor on a complex page of text can be very frustrating
  • It is now possible to hide the mouse cursor (as distinct from the text insert cursor) when typing/editing
    • The mouse cursor will be automatically redisplayed when the mouse is next moved




17. New Configurable Alt + Home/End Go-To Keys
Alt + Home/End configuration dialog


To make it easier to go to the selected element, the Alt+Home and Alt+End keys are configurable
  • To configure this option, click on the down arrow at the bottom left of the status bar
  • You can go to:
    • Footnotes/endnotes (all series, or series 1, 2, or 3)
    • Headers/Footers (all headers/footers, just headers or just footers, each of which can be further narrowed down to those that affect all pages, even pages, or odd pages
    • Annotations (to any annotation, or only to annotations of the selected type)
    • Other elements, including graphics, images/objects, column tables, table-of-content markers, index markers, labels (for cross referencing), references to labels, bibliographic citations)
    • Sections (chapters), headings (in frameworks/outlines), track changes
    • Manuscript file sections, hard-page breaks, tabs (the original NB 10 assignment; set as the default)


18. New Find File Option
A find all files of particular type or with particular name on any drive has been implemented




19. Enhanced Action Line
The Action Line has been further enhanced:
  • You can now display the entire Action Line stack in the Utility Dialog Bar (Alt+U), and (and execute selected item)
  • Basic file operations on the Action Line (for example, “CA,” “SA,” “ST,”, “RE,” “ME”) now work on path and filenames that contain spaces (it is no longer necessary to put quotes around the path and filename)
  • If you have a directory displayed on screen, but have a filename in the Action Line, the operation will be performed on that file, not on the file on which the cursor is positioned in the directory


20. Orbis Progress Log
A new progress log showing the processing of all files during indexing/reindexing has been added to Orbis:
  • You can view the log during the indexing/updating process, or after the indexes have been (re)built
  • Files that cannot be indexed because they are in the wrong (non-NB) format are noted in the log
  • Orbis simply skips these files now, rather than making you confirm on each one that you want to skip it (as it did previously)
This new log file structure makes it easier to set up a textbase by specifying all files in a particular folder, since Orbis will index all of them that it recognizes to be Nota Bene format files (regardless of their extension), while skipping the others that it does not recognize




21 & More — Lots & Lots of Other New Conveniences!
NB 11 includes a wide range of other enhancements, some larger, and some smaller, all of which will make your work easier. These include (there are additional ones):
  • You can now change the font size of top-level and drop-down menus (Tools, Preferences, Menu...)
  • You can now configure Nota Bene to open a new file directly, without asking you first to name it
    • To give a name when first opening the file, go to File, File Options, New (Advanced Options)
    • You can change the default so the original File, New dialog, where you can provide a name in advance, is shown when selecting New, as previously
  • The Document Pane (Alt+D) has been improved:
    • The list of previously opened files is not expanded to take up all available vertical space (as NB is resized)
    • You can sort/alphabetize by any of the columns to make it easier to find the desired file
  • The Select to Next Char option (Ctrl+Shift+F11) now lets you select up to the next character string
  • When switching document views after pressing Esc to show the cursor location (in the first document), the locator will be properly cleared (and reset, if you have turned on the option to show location when switching views [Tools, Preferences, Cursor])
  • The order of the leader options on the Shift+Tab option have been rearranged, so the most common leader (the hyphen) can be inserted directly
  • Ctrl+Q Bookmark dialog should now allow all actions to be accessed from the keyboard
  • Ctrl+A should now work to select text in various fields in dialogs, including in the Find/Replace dialog
  • An option has been added under Tools, Preferences, Document Views to set up Shift+F5 as a toggle, so that you can go back and forth between the new centered page and the original left-aligned view used in all earlier versions of NB
  • Book, chapter, and verse are now displayed when displaying biblical text entries in Orbis
  • If you enter a 13-digit ISBN number, the ISBN option in Archiva now tries to retrieve records for both the 13 and the shorter 10-digit version
    • Either both, one, or neither will contain full information
    • You can select (check) the desired one before adding it to your Ibidem database
  • A change has been made so that single-letter words are not flagged by the real-time spell checker, thus allowing “I” to be auto converted to “I,” without the latter being flagged as incorrect