A couple of questions before buying BOT

[Cassady]

Hello all,

I've had my eye on BOT for ages - but now that I'm finally getting to the point where my library on my Mac is filling up nicely - figure it will be useful to have that library with me at all times on my iPad Air.

Would appreciate some clarity on the following, if someone spots this who might be able to answer them - will really make things easier!

1.) My Attachments folder is just under 9 Gigs. Is that too big to want to pull everything over onto my iPad, or should it be ok >> i.e. Should I synch *without* attachments?

2.) If my main purpose is really to keep track of what is in my BE library, without needing to do any major annotation work, or even online searches (since I think I'd prefer to keep doing that on my Mac) - then is it really a no-brainer to take the plunge >> i.e. is BOT geared to allowing me to quickly do a search of all my attachments to check whether I have the particular article?

2.a) I'm still "building" my BE12 library. In other words, I have plenty of "empty" references, where the PDF is attached, but I haven't auto-completed the reference yet. Let's assume one of those "empty" references, has a searchable PDF with the words "Xanadu" featuring prominently in it. If I fire up BOT, and want to check whether I 'have' that article already, will a search inside BTO, of the term "Xanadu", pick up the empty reference with the Xanadu pdf, thereby confirming that I do indeed have it in my library? >> I.e. can BOT run a search of PDF content?

3.) If I do decide to annotate - can I export the PDF into Goodreader (since the latter has my highlighting colours set up to correspond with my DTPO database), do the annotation, and send it back to BOT, to then be synched (finally) with BE12 again?

[Edit:] 4.) Not quite sure I understand the User-Manual about deleting a reference in BOT: If I delete, AND then clear the Trash - is that reference ONLY removed from my iPad, or will the same reference ALSO be removed (permanently) from my BE12 library, after I sync?

Would really appreciate clarity on the above!

Many thanks!

[Jon]

I won't answer all your questions, I'll let Serge do that. But a few comments:

1. Bookends On Tap Lite has all the features of the full version except for limited references and searching. Please download and try that -- it's free, and should answer most of your questions.

2. You can restrict sync to certain groups, which is one way to limit the number of PDFs synced (as is setting a size limit on synced PDFs).

3. You can't search PDFs in BOT.

4. BOT has pretty good annotation built in. But if you want, you can export/import from BOT and sync with Bookends.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

Serge has added that if you delete from BOT, Bookends will ask to confirm when you next sync (try with BOT Lite).

Jon
Sonny Software

[Cassady]

Serge has added that if you delete from BOT, Bookends will ask to confirm when you next sync (try with BOT Lite).

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon,

As always - appreciate the prompt assistance!

I took the plunge, and purchased BOT. I am hugely disappointed -- at myself, for not purchasing it earlier!
I was pleasantly surprised - it handled the 9GB sync like a champ - 1st time, and everything carried over without a hitch.
I've already made some changes on both iPad and Mac, to see how the two-way sync works, and it went off smoothly.
This is going to prove a very useful tool!

2 things though, one seeking clarification - the other a feature-request.

A.) The "Empty Library" option on the iPad/BOT >> the "Remove all references, attachments, and groups. This action cannot be undone".

As before - is this designed to clean the BOT library ONLY -- deleting things here, will presumably NOT have any effect on the Mac (unlike where I delete a single/individual references, and am given a choice at 1st sync)?

B.) The highlight feature:

Granted, I am probably one of the few that highlight in this manner -- but I have a series of colours that I use when I highlight, both in DTPO (and in Goodreader, as mentioned above). Each colour means something specific, which is why consistency in their use, and (obviously) the colour being used, is important to me.

Now, with due acknowledgement to developers not being able to incorporate each and every little request - this is something I would find particularly useful - but I'm not sure if many others would (I certainly hope I'm not in the minority):

It's very useful that we can use the Custom Colour feature to set the colours.
What is significantly less useful - is that the Custom selection, does not appear to "replace" the default colours that pop up initially, when the Colour selection is tapped from the Colour long-press menu.
In other words, were a user NOT want to use the [Yellow,Red,Green,Blue,Purple,Black] options that appear in the long-press menu before "Custom...", they would need to tap Custom..., and select the preferred colour from the related menu's, or colourwheel. The next time Custom is selected, the whole process needs to be repeated >> assuming a 'new' custom colour is intended, other than the one selected immediately prior.

I realise it must be annoying when people compare products, since BOT is obviously not Goodreader [and no disrespect etc. meant!] - but in the latter, when the Custom colours are selected, they "replace" those quick-colour-selections that appear at the long-press. This allows a user to set-up their own custom colours, in fact, a set of them, and to then use them easily, since they are always readily available from the long-press menu.

I hope I'm clearly explaining what I mean. It might not be high on the priority list, but it would certainly be a fantastic update/addition, if possible!

[Jon]

I'm glad you like BOT. Yes, if you empty the BOT library your Bookends library will not be affected when you next sync.

As for the feature request, thanks for the suggestion. Serge and I will discuss it.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Cassady]

I'm glad you like BOT. Yes, if you empty the BOT library your Bookends library will not be affected when you next sync.

As for the feature request, thanks for the suggestion. Serge and I will discuss it.

Jon
Sonny Software

Thanks Jon - good to know.