Feature Requests: Importing RIS & Adding PDF

[Plato65]

Apologies if these have been discussed before.

1) Multiple RIS import. For various reasons, I end up with a lot of RIS files containing citation details. Bookends allows importing them either by drag & drop or by File -> Import References -> From File or Clipboard. But it only accepts one RIS at a time with either method. Dragging multiple creates the correct number of references but uses the RIS files as attachments, not citation details. My workaround currently involves importing the RIS files to Zotero, which accepts multiple at a time, and then exporting as a collection to be imported to Bookends.

2) "Add as supplement" and "Replace file" options for attachments. I often drag a PDF to an existing citation with an existing PDF for one of two reasons: (a) to update a working paper to a new version or (b) to add the new file as a supplement (e.g., online appendix). If I drag a PDF to an existing reference, Bookends only allows adding it as a new attachment, not replacing the existing one.

Thanks for consideration!

[Jon]

I like the first suggestion, although there would have to be restrictions (e.g. Bookends would have to treat each file as if it were from the same source, otherwise you'd have to deal with the import dialog before each individual file was imported (i.e. you couldn't mix in PubMed and RIS files, or have PDFs in the same drag).

As for the second, your case (b) is what Bookends does now. Adding a further option (such as holding down the Shift key when dropping) raises issues, such as what if the reference has more than one PDF, what if multiple references are selected. It's also something that I doubt few would use. So I wouldn't be inclined to do that.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

Not thoroughly tested yet, but I've added multi-file import via drag and drop. If I don't find any major issues it will be in the next update.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Plato65]

Excellent! That was really fast. Looking forward to it!