I have just installed Equipd. What next?

First of all - welcome to Equipd! I hope it does indeed help you to be "completely equipped for every good work". The following links should help you to get started with Equipd. 

If you have been using Equipd 2.X for a while and are trying to get used to Equipd 3.0 then I recommend you read this article:  Version 3.0 Released and also How do I efficiently navigate around Equipd?

All About Caching for Offline Use

The first thing you will probably want to do is cache the Bible and key publications so that you can use them in Equipd without an Internet connection. I recommend the following articles:

General Usage Topics

Using the Bible

Once you have done that you will probably want to be familiar with these features topics:

Using the Briefcase:

Using the News tab:

Most Common Troubleshooting Articles:

That should get you started! You should check all the Troubleshooting articles, as well as search the forums. Also check out the Important Tips in the box below.

I encourage you to have a good look around these Support Forums - this should be the first place you look when you have any questions, ideas or problems that you need help with.

All the best!

Regards,

Matthew Delmarter

Tip 1 :: What should you do if you have issues with Equipd?

If you experience issues with Equipd please follow these steps:

  1. Check that you have the latest version of Equipd installed.
  2. Have a look on these Forums to see if there are any Announcements of issues, or if there are any Bug Reports or Articles that cover your issue
  3. As a last resort you can email me using support@equipd.me

Tip 2 :: Why Is It Important to Pre-cache the Bible and Library Publications?

There are three really important reasons why you should spend the time pre-caching content:

  1. It allows the Bible and publications to work offline - no Internet connection required!
  2. It will speed up the loading of content
  3. It will protect you from being affected by changes on WOL that may temporarily break Equipd

It is important that users understand that Equipd works by loading content directly from the Watchtower Online Library (WOL). This is one of the ways that Equipd avoids copyright issues - and it also gives you confidence that the material you are reading has come directly from jw.org.

However it comes with a catch.

It means that if the brothers ever make changes to the HTML structure of the pages on WOL it can break Equipd. For example recently the brothers changed the code that identified the Bible verses from id="v1" to id="dcv_1". This meant that Equipd no longer understood how to locate and isolate the verses in the Bible. I had to locate the issue and fix Equipd, and then "patiently" wait 7 days for Apple to approve the update for the App Store. In the meantime users were flooding me with emails about Equipd being broken! This case study emphasises why it is good to check these Support Forums before emailing ... it will clarify for you immediately what the problem is, and it will save me a lot of time responding to emails!

So, by pre-caching the Bible and publications you will not be affected by such changes on WOL. Your copy of Equipd will be loading the cached files from before the changes were made, and everything will still work ok, while I fix the problem and make Equipd work with the changed format on WOL.

Hopefully that explains some basic concepts of how Equipd works and why it is important to pre-cache where possible.

All the best with Equipd! I look forward to working with you over the coming months and years ahead.

Agape,

Matthew Delmarter
Auckland, New Zealand

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