Attachments

[kraxkrax]

Let me report two tiny bugs in BE and a suggestion with regard to attachments (this is not a serious complaint, because I am very happy with my new BE):

1) Renaming attachments: When I am in inspector looking at a ref with 2 attachments, I can rename the first listed file without problem. If I try to rename the second file in the list, it is the first listed file whose name gets changed, not the one I targeted (the send in the list).

2) Automatic renaming: If I attach a file that's already in BE's attachments folder to a reference, I get asked if and how I want to rename it. Clicking OK in the renaming window, however, does not change the file's name. It keeps its former name. I have to rename again from within the inspector. When importing from outside of BE's folder, the file gets copied/moved and renamed without problem.

3) Suggestion: In prefs there are several options for how an attachment can be renamed. The "Author year" option is fine but runs into problems with many refs from the same first author and the same year, obviously. All other options turn out to be impractical due to their length or adding the Christian name at the beginning, thus thwarting alphabetic file orders in the folder.

Hence, could one add a custom option, say
a) to have "Author Year Journal-name", and/or
b) to extend the author list in the file name to 3 or 4 explicit names instead of the "et al" after the first author? The "et al" after the first author produces too many equal file names that one has to alter by adding a "b", "c" or whatever after the year.

In general it's a great piece of software and much more stable and versatile than Endnote. Thanks.

[ozean]

re 3: since my Mac is currently away for repair I cannot check the exact setting, but I am pretty sure that you can assign whatever format you want to generate the name for renaming option (i.e. you can make a custom format for this). There should be some kind of option to do this somewhere, sorry that I can't give a more exact pointer...

[Jon]

Hi,

I'll check out #1 and #2. For #3, I suggest that you do not use a journal format to create the file name. Design one yourself for this purpose (that's really what I intended). Then you can use all of the flexibility of the formatting routines to create a name you like (for example, outputting surnames only and having et al. placed after author number x).

Jon
Sonny Software

[kraxkrax]

Thanks, both. I understand that I can manually edit the file name, but I don't find a customization for the automatic procedure of renaming.

Just adding another question: In Prefs > List I can select the colums to view in the main window. E.g. I select to show journal name, but there is no entry for the title of an edited book.

[Jon]

Thanks, both. I understand that I can manually edit the file name, but I don't find a customization for the automatic procedure of renaming.

No, we're not suggesting you manually edit the file name. Create a format and assign that to be used to create the file name (preferences).

Just adding another question: In Prefs > List I can select the colums to view in the main window. E.g. I select to show journal name, but there is no entry for the title of an edited book.

The items reflect the field names used by journal articles (or perhaps your default reference Type, I'm not sure). Select the field that would correspond in a journal.

Jon
Sonny Software

[kraxkrax]

Thanks, I found it.

[Jon]

1) Renaming attachments: When I am in inspector looking at a ref with 2 attachments, I can rename the first listed file without problem. If I try to rename the second file in the list, it is the first listed file whose name gets changed, not the one I targeted (the send in the list).

This has been fixed in the next update.

2) Automatic renaming: If I attach a file that's already in BE's attachments folder to a reference, I get asked if and how I want to rename it. Clicking OK in the renaming window, however, does not change the file's name. It keeps its former name. I have to rename again from within the inspector. When importing from outside of BE's folder, the file gets copied/moved and renamed without problem.

I've thought about this, and I think it is the correct behavior. Attaching a pdf to a reference that it is already attached to makes no sense (there is a Rename Attachment function if that's what you're trying to accomplish). If you're attaching it to another reference and rename it, the link to the first reference it is attached to will be broken. Leaving the name unchanged prevents that. I suppose I could disable the Rename checkbox in this case to better reflect what Bookends will (or won't) do, but the result would be the same -- reattaching a pdf that's already attached to a reference won't rename it.

Jon
Sonny Software