Experience with Bookends versus ReadCube Papers

A place for users to ask each other questions, make suggestions, and discuss Bookends.
Post Reply
DrJJWMac
Posts: 345
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 8:04 am
Location: Alabama USA

Experience with Bookends versus ReadCube Papers

Post by DrJJWMac »

I had a moment to compare working in Bookends to working in ReadCube Papers. The friction for me to do certain things in Bookends became glaring. Here are some examples:

* Try sorting a list in the main panel to bring to the top only those files that have attachments or not. → NOT POSSIBLE

* Try selecting a set of references in the main panel and exporting them as a .bib file using a context menu. → NOT POSSIBLE (you have to select files that you want, mark them, and the use a menu option to export the hit list).

* Try shifting the columns in the panel to re-organize them (e.g. as possible in Numbers) —> NOT POSSIBLE.

* Try figuring out whether the paperclip icon in Bookends means there is a valid attachment or there once was an attachment (but it is not here and you will have to go find it manually … (in a second window somewhere else)).

The power of having exhaustive preference settings, editable templates, and AppleScript support is now running aground of the difficulty to do routine tasks within the UI/UX. The one possible remaining advantage for me to continue to use Bookends versus Papers is the ability to split my extensive database into individual libraries to work on my iPad. But even this is washed out with the sync speeds that Papers was able to sustain.

I might hope from this report that thoughts can be given to finding effective ways to improve the UI/UX in Bookends in order to reduce friction.
--
JJW
Jon
Site Admin
Posts: 10048
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 6:27 pm
Location: Bethesda, MD
Contact:

Re: Experience with Bookends versus ReadCube Papers

Post by Jon »

For #1. No sort, but there is an equivalent to achieve the same thing. There is already a group for references with attachments. Create a new smart group (SQL) if you want references without attachments (it's already preconfigured in the "Smart Group (SQL)" menu. So it's a click to see refs with or without attachments.

For #2. The paradigm of dealing with references hinges on hits, not the selections, which has its plusses and minuses. It isn't going to change. However, it's possible we could offer both in this case, I'll see about that. Note, however, that it's trivial to convert the selections to hits. There are menu options to do this, but the way I prefer is to click on the checkbox of ONE of the selected references with the Shift key held down. Now they are all hits, and you can proceed to export them.

For #4. You'll see if the attachment is orphaned immediately in the PDF display pane. And you can right-click there to reattach, which brings up the standard find file dialog, not a second window somewhere else.

For #3. It is possible to change a column's contents by right clicking on it and selecting the one you want to change to. But to do this with two columns (to switch their order) requires 2 clicks, not a single click and drag. So yes, that's not as frictionless as how it works in Numbers.

We've had these types of discussions before where you ask for an easy way to do something, I provide an easy alternative, and you shrug and say it's not what you want. That's fine, I don't want to get into an argument. I'm simply providing you with alternative ways of doing something you may or may not be aware of, and in doing so possibly providing useful information for anyone else who reads this thread.

Jon
Sonny Software
Post Reply