Beginners question

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vinschger
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:28 pm

Beginners question

Post by vinschger »

Hi

I am new to bookends... any recommendations how to start (the manual is so long and it's difficult to get a good overview in a short time). The software is really powerful...

1. if I import a pdf into bookends (drag and drop): what happens if the item already exists in my database. Will I get a warnin or is a duplicate generated?

2. I have not understood the concept of "hidden citations". I have read the according paragraph in the manual, but I do not understand, what a "hidden citation" is and how / when it is useful.

3. if I go to Word, and open floating citations with 2xCMD: I see the list of my bookends entries. If I select one with the arrow keys, how can I use this citation in word? if I double click on it, the entry is opened in bookends but it is not inserted into the word document (do I need to click the insert citation button, but it's not possible to do it with my keyboard?)

4. if I then directly search for another entry, and insert it into the word-document, it is inserted as a seperate citation (with a space between). How can I insert multiple citations that are then result in (1-3) and not (1) (2) (3)

5. is it possible to sort all references in a folder regarding their attachment status? e.g. all attachments with attachment first, and then those without attachment? is is it possible to creat a smart group with all references in a certain folder, that have an attachment or a smart group of a folder with all the references that have no attachment?

6. is there a possibilty to delete all pdfs in the macos documents>bookends>attachment folder that are not used anymore in my bookends library?

7. If I select an entry within bookends. Is there a shortcut to copy the "PMID" and/or "DOI" to the clipboard? Or can I select this only with the mouse over the menu?

Too many questions for the start in this forum... but maybe you can help me... I would appreciate it very much.
I am so sorry, if I should ask things that somewhere are already explained in the manual...

Thanks for your help
Jon
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Location: Bethesda, MD
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Re: Beginners question

Post by Jon »

We have multiple tutorials, PDF and video, to help get you started. And don't tackle the user guide as if it were a novel. It's really a reference (no pun intended). Look through the TOC and find topics of interest.

1. It will be imported -- if the name is already used by an attachment, Bookends will disambiguate it by added a random number at the end of the file name.

2. Incredibly useful. It stores an invisible copy of the original temp citation (in Word, Mellel, and NWP) when you scan. This means you can rescan the document and the final citation will change to whatever you've chosen (e.g. if you've changed the format) and you can unscan, to remove the final citations and restore the original temp citations. Always turn this option on unless your publisher wants a "clean" copy.

3. You really should read that section in the user guide, there's too much to cover in a forum response. Basically, you can do a Copy Citation (look it up), drag and drop it into Word, go to it in Bookends (which you did), read any attachment the reference has, etc.

4. The best way is to group them in curly brackets, separated with semicolons: {temp cite1; temp cite2, etc.}. Alternatively, you can list them in-line with NO spaces between them: {temp cite1}{temp cite2}{etc.}

5. You can add a "Attachment" column (in preferences) and click on its header to sort by attachment names (those without names will bunch together). There is a built-in smart SQL group you can make that finds refs without attachments.

6. Check out File -> Marooned Attachments Manager.

7. No menu shortcut. But of course you could go to the PMID or DOI field and select/copy the information, too.

Jon
Sonny Software

P.S. *Everything* is explained in the user guide, even things that I've forgotten. As I said, the TOC is a good place to start, after you've taken the tutorials.
vinschger
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:28 pm

Re: Beginners question

Post by vinschger »

thank you! these responses helped a lot!!!

4: when inserting multiple citations with "floating citations" one after the other, the citations are inserted but seperated by a space between each single citation like {temp cite1} {temp cite2}, instead of {temp cite1}{temp cite2}. wouldn't it be useful, if floating citation would not add a space after each citation? it´s no problem to delete the space manually after each citation, but it would be a bit faster, if floating citations would do this as a standard?

5, I have been able to switch from "date" colomn to "attachment" colomn view. but I have not been able to add an additional 4th colomn to the 3 existing colomns (author, date, title)

7. shortcut for copying doi to clipboard of a selected item as a kind feature request from my side... or is there a possibility to define my own shortcuts?

thanks to the whole bookends community and to Jon for his support!
Jon
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Posts: 10048
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 6:27 pm
Location: Bethesda, MD
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Re: Beginners question

Post by Jon »

4. The space is put there by Word, not Bookends. If you want them grouped by Bookends, select the 2 or 3 you want to cite and then Copy Citation.

5. Preferences, as I said. List tab.

7. You should be able add the shortcut yourself. Google for how in macOS.

Jon
Sonny Software
vinschger
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 1:28 pm

Re: Beginners question

Post by vinschger »

4+5: thanks! this helped a lot!
7: works perfect! for all other users, have a look here how to create shortcuts for bookends: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-hel ... lp2271/mac

idea for a future release:
when doing an online search, items that are already in my local library are highlighted in yellow (this is simply great). however, if I have a long list of items in the online search, and want to add them all to my local repository, I have to manually de-select all "yellow" and already downloaded items. Would it be possible to have an option "do not download already existing items". When adding search items to a folder, it would be great, if already existing items would be assigned to this folder additionally to the folder they have been saved in the past, but not downloaded again. So duplicates in the library would be avoided (which might cause that when doing a later citation, they are appearing twice in the bibliography). I know that bookends has a feature to delete duplicates, but avoiding them from the beginning might be a nice idea... Jon, what do you think?
iandol
Posts: 465
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:31 pm

Re: Beginners question

Post by iandol »

A small point regarding your (7) — Bookends has a full Applescript interface, so it would be possible to create a script that could take a selection of references and search just the DOI or PMIDs and copy them to the clipboard. You can ask specifically on the applescript subforum for help with that...
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