A convenient, basic word processor in the program allows you to copy out any sections of a text or texts that you like, and create an instant study of whatever subject or concept you are working on. You can print from this tool, and make use of all the standard features such as cut-and-paste, a wide variety of fonts and sizes, and standard text formatting and file operations.

A special "Preferences" menu option allows you to store the ACIP digital texts wherever you choose, and still gain complete access to them. If you want portability, you can copy all or some of the texts to the hard disk of your laptop; if you are short on space, you can leave them on the CD-ROM.

The menu bar at the top of the screen in AsiaView allows you to immediately access important sections of the database - the Kangyur Collection, the Tengyur Collection, the Sungbum Collection, the Reference Materials, Sanskrit Study Tools, or the ACIP Graphics Collections - all at the click of a single button.

With another click you can access automatic search options such as seeing a list of all Tengyur texts by Sanskrit title, by Tibetan title, or by English title. With a different click you can see another list of all Tengyur texts organized under their author’s names, either in Sanskrit or in Tibetan. With yet another click you can access the texts by subject category, again in Sanskrit, Tibetan, or English.

After you select one of these options, you are taken to an operations window. From here you can select any text you want by using a name search tool, and then view a preview of its opening sections in either Tibetan script or roman letters. At this point you can also click on a "text info" tab that gives you various bibliographic details about the text.

If you, at this point, decide you want to work with still another text, you click on a button that lets you open the book either in Tibetan script or in roman letters, whichever you prefer. After the text is open, you can even switch between roman letters and Tibetan letters, or open the same text in both at once.

From here too you can start to search the text for whatever you need to find. When you press the "search" button, a special screen comes up giving you a wide range of options for searching: you can search for single or multiple items; ask the program to find two words near each other; find one word but not another word that is very similar; search only parts of the text; or run advanced routines such as "fuzzy" or "wildcard" searches.

Most important, you can also run a "global" search of all the books on a certain subject, or all the books by a certain author. Each of these tools is vital for finding valuable information within the Asian classics, and you will soon find yourself able to accomplish in minutes what used to require days, or even months, of manual research.

The results of searching come up in a variety of ways. When you are in a single text, you can choose a "highlight" option and skip progressively through occurrences of what you are looking for. With single texts or groups of texts you can choose a "hit-list" option, which builds for you a comprehensive list of all the lines that contain the string you are seeking. When you highlight any line in the hit list, a special window displays a full three lines of context, as well as information about the total hits and the line your current hit comes from.

Once you have found the text or part of a text that interests you, a full "printing" option allows you to print out any part you like, in roman or Tibetan letters. And although you cannot input Tibetan letters directly from the keyboard, you can create any Tibetan document you want by typing the roman input code from the word processor, and then converting it to Tibetan with a special free utility.

Aside from the texts, AsiaView also takes you to reference tools such as catalogs, dictionaries, and documentation in Tibetan, Sanskrit, or English. All of the documentation from past ACIP releases, as well as several samplers of how ACIP data can be used to create sophisticated hypertext essays, are available here with complete links to jump between the subjects of your choice.

A graphics viewer tool included within AsiaView allows you to retrieve and view any one of the special carved illustrations or stylized monastic seals in the ACIP Graphics Collections. You can also use this tool to print out a graphics image, or else use your own favorite word processor to import the picture straight into any document you are working on.

A special "Tools" option in the main menu bar takes you directly
to a number of very useful tools. The first is the ACIP Master Catalog, which gives you all the details about a book: the title in various languages, author, dates, source, pages, file name, and so on. This window also allows you to preview the text either in roman or Tibetan letters. Here too are the routines for adding more texts to the Master Catalog, even those you have typed in yourself, so that they can be accessed by the AsiaView program.

Another tool is the ACIP Input Code Chart, which gives you the corresponding roman equivalents for the various Tibetan letters. This is important since, when you search for words or phrases even in the Tibetan-letter screens, you are still doing so from a roman keyboard.

Perhaps the most exciting option included in the "Tools" menu is "tree management." This option allows you to create your own customized groups of texts for performing specialized searches. For example, you could group your favorite works by century, or by specific geographic areas such as U-Tsang or Amdo, in order to do a study of the unique words of a certain period in history or section of the country. AsiaView already includes a good number of pre-defined trees, and more will be provided with future updates.

Finally, a detailed "Help" option gives you information about every part of the AsiaView program and the Project in general.