Glossary — A Guide to Digital Note-Taking with Gospel Library & LDS.org

Glossary of Terms and Concepts

Types – There are four different types of notes that can be saved to an LDS.org account. They are journal entries/notes, highlights, links, and bookmarks.
Notebooks – Notebooks are a collection of journal entries, notes, highlights, links, and bookmarks organized together. If you don’t assign your notes to a Notebook they will automatically be associated with the notebook named “unassigned.”
Tags – Tags are words or phrases that you associate with a journal entry / highlight / bookmark to organize them. You can assign multiple tags to each type of entry. For example, you might tag 2 Nephi 2:25 with “Agency,” “The Fall of Adam,” and/or “Happiness.” The key to tagging is to focus on themes you’re interested in. Trying to tag every possible principle in everything you highlight, link, bookmark, or journal would be too cumbersome and time-consuming.
Bookmarks – In both the Gospel Library app and on LDS.org you can bookmark
a resource you are studying. There are several icons used for that functionality but they all include a little bookmark ribbon, or the word “bookmark”. (see the bookmark button image to the left for an example.) Bookmarks can be tagged, assigned to a notebook, or associated with a note on LDS.org, but not in the Gospel Library app. Tapping on the bookmark icon can allow you to easily jump between different sources you have bookmarked, or move a bookmark from one place to another. Bookmarks sync almost instantly from the app to LDS.org.
Highlights – Highlights can be made in the Gospel Library app and on LDS.org. They appear just like Highlighted sections in a physical book would, and will transfer seamlessly back and forth between the app and LDS.org. They can also be tagged, assigned to a notebook, linked to other materials, or associated with a note. Any tags, notes or Notebooks linked to a highlight will appear as a reference in the footnotes for that article or scripture.
Links – Links can only be made in the Gospel Library app, but links made in the app
CAN be viewed on LDS.org. Links allow you to tie one source to another, like linking one scripture to another scripture for clarity. The icon for Links looks like a chain. Maybe one day linking will be possible from LDS.org, but it’s been in the app for years and hasn’t appeared online yet (as of January 2019).
Journal Entries / Notes – Notes are pretty self-explanatory. Use them to record thoughts you have about certain verses of scripture, etc. Journal entries are basically notes that aren’t attached to a highlight, link, or bookmark. They can be tagged and are usually associated with Notebooks. Each journal entry comes with a date. This date is the last time the entry was modified (which includes adding new tags.) So if you want the date the entry was written to be permanently associated with a journal entry, make sure and write the date in the journal entry itself, in the beginning, the end, or in the title. Journal entries don’t have a unique icon, but the “make a note” pencil icon is used for it when it applies.