Feature Requests

[mak]

First of all I would like to say "Thanks" for developing BOT. I have bought it along with my upgrade to Bookends 11 and even on my ipod touch it's already a big help - of course the bigger screen of the ipad should work even better.

Now I've noticed two things that I would like to propose in addition to what's there, or in a different way. After some feature requests have been discussed in the announcement page, I've opened this topic. But I can also write an email if that's better.

- Search Function: As of now we can find references in our database by searching titles, authors, abstracts or all of these. Maybe it's just me, but it would be very very useful for me if I could also search the keywords field. Is it possible to include this?
- Adding references: Especially using the small screens and keyboards of iphone/ipod it's pretty uncomfortable to add references manually when working in the library. Here it would be great to have the auto-complete from internet function - especially (or at least) for ISBN. Maybe it would even be a solution to have an "Add Reference via ISBN" option after pressing the + button in BOT?

I have seen in the BE forum that a barcode scanning function is not likely to be realized, but especially for the small iOS devices this would probably be the most comfortable solution (though very unlikely, I guess).

A last thing I'd like to mention is more a hint than a feature request. While BE follows a clear "try before you buy" policy, it is difficult to find out what BOT can do without buying the app. At least for me it would have been attractive to be able to try a "Lite" version or at least see some more screenshots from both iphone/ipod and ipad screens before buying.

Best regards,
Marcus

[Jon]

Those are good feature requests, we've added them to the list of things to seriously consider. BOT is just at version 1, there is certainly room to grow. The barcode scanning is unlikely to make the list, though. That's really a feature of library software (personal collections of books), which is not what Bookends/Bookends On Tap does.

As for a Bookends On Tap Lite, we've discussed that, and there are some options we are considering. Note that there is a complete user guide for BOT on our web site, with plenty of screen shots and descriptions of what it can do:

http://www.sonnysoftware.com/bookendsontap/docs/

Jon
Sonny Software

[elizabethvc]

I'm a long time user and I have quite a few notes to the various articles in my Bookends file. One of the things that I hoped for (indeed, expected) with BOT was that my notes would transfer and I would be able to use my iPad to add notes, say in the library or on the go. Can I please ask that notes be accessible from BOT?

[Jon]

Notes are accessible in BOT. You can see (and edit) any field in a reference. Please see the user guide for details and screenshots. (BTW, we hope to expand these capabilities in the future).

http://www.sonnysoftware.com/bookendsontap/docs/

Jon
Sonny Software

[mwarner]

Hello,
I was wondering if you could comment on the possibility of future integration with any services like Dropbox. I've found that keeping my attachments and primary BE database on dropbox to be the best way to work across different Macs in different locations, and it would be a godsend to have the ability to open my database in BOT and then pull down certain pdf files to my iPad all via DropBox linking, rather than having to rely on a wireless sync when I am near my primary computer.

Thanks much for developing this app!

[Serge]

Thank you for your feature request.
We can't use dropbox for syncing db file because database engines are incompatible and our sync only moves changes, not the entire db. But this question is on our list of priorities.

[Yodalogger]

Huge fan so far, I've been using it to tag new publications as I commute in on the bus to sync later on with Bookends on my mac.

I was wondering though, as people start to view the iPad as a laptop replacement, have you considered adding the ability to add Bookends citations to a Pages document on the iPad?

Thanks for the great work. Bookends is great and BOT is making me spend more time on the iPad vs. my laptop away from my desk.

[Jon]

This is something we'll be considering going forward. There is no interapp communication in iOS right now, so putting in a temp citation would mean quitting BOT and launching Pages (and presumably pasting manually from the clipboard). Then you'd have to manually go back to BOT. At least that is my understanding of how it would have to work. In other words, it would be too klunky to implement.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Mads]

Hi there,

Thanks for an awesome range of apps that make life so much easier!

I'm wondering if there's any plans to incorporate tools for PDF-annotation in BE and/or BOT?
Such tools would make life yet a little bit easier – and fun!

Much obliged.

[Jon]

For Bookends, probably not. It's easy to open any pdf you view in Bookends with Preview, annotate there (with really nice tools), and Bookends will show the changes.

For BOT, it's something we are considering. We'll be watching closely WWDC for the iOS 6 reveal in a few weeks to see if any useful tools become available.

Jon
Sonny Software

[faust]

I have written my dissertation with Bookends on the Mac, I recently got Bookends on Tap for my iPad and I think it has huge potential!
So here is my feature request, or maybe I'm just missing the point:
If I import a new reference from a pubmed search, I tap the button with the folder icon. My reference is now in the list "all". I change to "last modified", choose my new reference which is top of the list and then by tapping the same button again, I can put the article in one of my subgroups. It would be much easier if I could choose the subgroup at the moment when I'm importing the reference, since I have a few hundred references and heavily depend on subgroups...

regards from germany!

[Jon]

You can import to a static group directly right now. Here's the quote from the User Guide:

Tap the Import icon to import the reference (and pdf, if you downloaded it) into your personal library. You can import to a specific group by tapping and holding the Import button. A list of static groups will appear, and you can choose the one to to which the new reference will be added.

Jon
Sonny Software

[elizabethvc]

One thing I would like - I know that some people organise in one huge bibliography with subgroups. I often use separate files for each paper I am working on, especially if I am collaborating, and I sometimes work on several papers at once. I know you can switch libraries on BOT, but it requires you to actually have the BE computer near to switch - ie I can't switch if I'm out with only my iPad. That's something I'd like to be able to do in the future.

Regards,

Elizabeth

[reltm]

I love the new annotating features in BoT. I seem to have a delay in highlighting, but perhaps that is just on the PDFs I have tried to annotate. I currently use GoodReader but ultimately all my annotated PDFs end up in Bookends so it would be great to have some of these features in BoT directly. Some features that would be great to incorporate are:

1. The ability to see and export/email a summary of all highlighted text and text box notes.
2. Single-page viewing. This facilitates annotating (e.g. highlighting) and still being able to turn the page. GoodReader accomplishes this by making an arrow button available. iAnnotate facilitates this by doing a double tap to temporarily disable annotating mode and switching to page scroll mode. It's just easier than switching out of the modes, turning the page (or scrolling), and then turning it back on.
3. Crop pages -- many pdfs have unnecessary white space. GoodReader deals with this by offering to hide that space by temporarily cropping (diff settings for odd and even pages). iAnnotate deals with this with a horizontal scroll lock so that you can zoom to a desired level and then lock the page to that view.
4. Bookmarks -- facilitates switching back and forth in long documents.

Thanks for your consideration!

[Serge]

Thanks for the suggestions!
I think we will start from (4) and (1).