Automatically tag or label citations

[JamesAFoster]

I would like to mark citations with information on which research project they are associated with, and I would like to flag papers that I have read (so I don't read them twice!)

My usual workflow is to keep the "to read" papers in a group, one per research project. Then when I am done, remove them from that group (though I could move them to a "already read" group I suppose).

It would be really cool if I could associate an action with a group. That way, I couid add a tag for each research group when I drag a pdf into that group. For example, if I drag a pdf into a MilkProject group, it would be cool if BE could automagically add a %MilkProject tag in Notecard, or perhaps add %MilkProject to a user defined field.

Also, it would be cool if I could drag a pdf to an "already read" group and have it automagically color it with a label that says I have read it (or add a %HaveRead tag, or set a user field to the date that I moved it to indicate WHEN I read it).

Is there a way to do such a thing?

[Jon]

No, but you can do the opposite. Let's say you have a smart group that looks for the text %MilkProject in the field user1. Enter it and that reference will automatically be part of the smart group. You can create Term Lists for any field on the first tab, which can also be helpful (either because of autocomplete text, or by showing the Term List and selecting/double clicking on the list).

The same with color labels. Define a color as "already red" in preferences, and create a smart group that looks for it. Apple the label and it's in your group.

Jon
Sonny Software

[JamesAFoster]

ok, I am still having trouble, even with this "opposite" suggestion.

First, the field "user1" seems to sometimes be "key", and the manual says it is sometimes used to hold the "unique key". So, I will use "user4", which seems to be the first unused one. (what happened to "user2" and "user3"?)

So, I set "user4" to "Project" in Preferences/Refs by double clicking on the Field Label "user4" and entering "Project". Now "Project" shows up in my Main tab of references.

I pick one references and add "%_Milk" in the Project box.

Now I create a smart group with the query "Text/words begin with/%_Milk/Project" and press OK. I didn't change the other two search query entries that show up by default, and which I can't delete. I get nothing, no entries.

So I click on "Any static group". Now I get 32 references, only two of which have "%_Milk" in the "Projects" field. Why???

Also, why am I limited to static groups? I want to list EVERY entry that has "%_Milk" in the "Project" field in the entire Library. How do I do that? The entire library doesn't show up as a search option.

[Jon]

The key fields is mostly for BibTeX users. If you don't use BibTeX you can repurpose it to whatever you want. User2 and 3 are there, and for journal articles are Edition and Translator. Using User4 here is fine.

"Words begin with" is an indexed search, and punctuation is of course not included in the indexes. Set the search to be for "characters".

The entire library doesn't show up because that is the default. Selecting a static group limits the search, and is inappropriate in this example.

Jon
Sonny Software

[JamesAFoster]

Thanks, Jon. I hope this is useful for others, as it has been for me.