Problems and suggestions for iOS

A place to discuss Bookends for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
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jmsole
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:21 pm

Problems and suggestions for iOS

Post by jmsole »

I am using bookends in Mac and iOS, and there are several things that doesn’t work quite well on iOS, or as well as I supposed it should be.

1. When in Safari I download a PDF Paper and with the share sheet I import it to bookends, usually bookends can’t find the right DOI or name to match. If I could to manually change the DOI it could be solve. Now what I do is to import, then look for in “last papers” and there I can add some right information to complete the paper information

2. I have bookends for Mac and for iOS. PDF are saved in a directory in iCloud. When, from the iPad, I import a PDF paper into bookends I can’t find it in the files app (in iCloud). Why? My workflow is to find the PDF in iCloud folder so I can open it with PDF expert, and annotate without duplicating the PDF (as it would happened if I use the sheet menu in Bookends).

3. If i have a lot of collections and it is uncomfortable to navigate through them. It would be great to be able to collapse static groups, smart, online search... so it would be easier to navigate to one of the last items.

4. It would be great to be able to search inside bookends library from spotlight
propofol
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:55 pm

Re: Problems and suggestions for iOS

Post by propofol »

I have the same problem as number 1 above. I often get “orphaned” PDFs in Bookends for iOS that I have added using a share extension from Safari. I then obtain the correct DOI but I cannot see how to “quick add” the metadata for an existing PDF based on DOI. I have tried “autofill from Internet”, but that seems to be solely based on the PDF (which of course didn't work the first time and won’t on subsequent times either).

What would be helpful would be an “autofill from internet” option that would permit the user to input a PMID, DOI, article title, etc, search for that meta-data, and merge it with the existing, orphaned PDF file.
Serge
Posts: 339
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2011 1:09 pm

Re: Problems and suggestions for iOS

Post by Serge »

1. You should enter the DOI in the reference and then do an Autofill From Internet. We will try to add more options to simplify this process.

2. What is the sync method used in Bookends for iOS? If Wi-Fi sync then all files are stored in the local folder. How the PDF is imported? via the internal browser or Share - Open In from other apps?

Thank you for your feature requests, we will see what’s possible.
Jon
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Re: Problems and suggestions for iOS

Post by Jon »

jmsole wrote: Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:11 pmIt would be great to be able to search inside bookends library from spotlight
If you mean Bookends for Mac, the metadata are in a database and aren't indexed by Spotlight. But you have floating citations. Just double tap the trigger key (probably Control) and search Bookends from wherever you are. Once you find the reference you can read the associated PDF, go the it in the Bookends library, etc. If you mean Bookends for iOS, then nevermind. :-)

Jon
Sonny Software
propofol
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2015 2:55 pm

Re: Problems and suggestions for iOS

Post by propofol »

Serge - THANK YOU. It was not apparent to me at all that autofill from internet would use different sources. I thought it was limited to just the attachment. That makes things a lot better. Appreciate the reply.
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