Hi,
I am currently using PC/Mendeley and am a new user of Mac/Bookends. I am still learning Mac/Bookends, so I have the following (beginner-level) questions and any help is greatly appreciated.
1) I would like to move my Mendeley library (citations+pdfs) on a PC to Bookends on a Mac. What is the best way to do this? (I have the latest version of Bookends).
2) I see that in Bookends you can write "notecards" which can have searchable tags using the top-right search box (starting with %), but also "notes" which can also be searched in the top-right search window. What is the difference between "notecard" and "notes"?
3) Further about the "notes". For example I create "notes" with the word "xxx" for various papers. I then type "xxx" in the top-right search box and click on the magnifying glass to select "Notes". All papers with the word "xxx" in their "notes" show up as expected. Then when I display the "View all" section in the right panel, the word "xxx" is shown in red color. But the red "xxx" occurs in all sections not just the "notes" section (let's say I search for "Cdx-2" then the "2" in the "year" which is 2006 is also in red). I then wondered whether the search was actually only performed for the "notes" section (as supposed to all sections) so I checked using a unique word that is only present in "notes" and for sure the search was correct. I guess I was just a little bit confused since the red "xxx" was in all sections. I had expected that since the magnifying glass was selected as "Notes" the search term should only be red in the "Notes" section. Is this how Bookends was designed or am I doing something incorrectly?
4) In addition to notecards and notes, are there other ways to annotate the pdf? For example highlighting and creating sticky notes (which, unlike notecards, can be linked to a specific location within the pdf document. I find this function in Mendeley very helpful since I do not need to write down for each notecard page# or sectionABC. I can simply look at the list of stickies and click on a sticky and then the pdf viewer will automatically jump to the page where that sticky is linked to)?
5) If Bookends does not have highlight/sticky capabilities, is it possible to annotate the pdf files in another program (iAnnotate, Preview) and being able to view/search/export/email/share those annotations in Bookends? I am planning to use Bookend as a study tool for all my pdfs so annotation is very important to me. I tried Mac/Preview, where I open the pdf in Bookends and then select "Open PDF in Preview". The pdf then opens up in "Preview", then I tried to do some annotations such as highlighting. However, a window then pops up saying "The file xxx is locked. If you want to make changes to this document, click Unlock. To keep the file unchanged and work with a copy, click Duplicate". I then click "Unlock", and another message occurs saying "The file xxx was passed to Preview from another application and is not intended for editing. You can make a duplicate to work from". I click on "Duplicate" and was able to make annotations on a duplicate file; however, as expected it is not the same file and therefore the annotations do not show up in Bookenends.
That's it for now, my apologies for such a lengthy post, and thanks in advance!
New user: questions about Mendeley, note cards, annotation
Re: New user: questions about Mendeley, note cards, annotati
I'll answer below.
1. I don't use Mendeley, so perhaps someone else can comment. If Mendeley can export as EndNote XML, do that, Bookends will import it. If not, export as RIS (Reference Manager format). Bookends will import that (but not the links to the pdfs).
2. Notecards are simple notes (in the Notes field) separated by 2 Returns. Notecards are virtual, therefore, and are very handy for quick viewing, rearranging, citing (drag and drop or right-click), and other things. The User Guide covers all that you can do with notecards.
3. It's how Bookends is designed. The search is only in Notes, but Bookends will highlight the word wherever it occurs. This is by design and is meant to be helpful (it's easy for you to see at a glance if the term "Cdx-2" in the title is of interest or not.
4. You can't annotate in Bookends, but you can open the pdf in Preview, annotate there, and the annotations will show up in Bookends (if you have "Use Webkit to display pdfs" checked).
5. Hm, I've never seen that error message and don't see it when I try to reproduce it. You might contact tech support with more information. Also, make sure that you don't have the Adobe pdf plugin running (see our FAQ for how to disable it if you do).
Jon
Sonny Software
1. I don't use Mendeley, so perhaps someone else can comment. If Mendeley can export as EndNote XML, do that, Bookends will import it. If not, export as RIS (Reference Manager format). Bookends will import that (but not the links to the pdfs).
2. Notecards are simple notes (in the Notes field) separated by 2 Returns. Notecards are virtual, therefore, and are very handy for quick viewing, rearranging, citing (drag and drop or right-click), and other things. The User Guide covers all that you can do with notecards.
3. It's how Bookends is designed. The search is only in Notes, but Bookends will highlight the word wherever it occurs. This is by design and is meant to be helpful (it's easy for you to see at a glance if the term "Cdx-2" in the title is of interest or not.
4. You can't annotate in Bookends, but you can open the pdf in Preview, annotate there, and the annotations will show up in Bookends (if you have "Use Webkit to display pdfs" checked).
5. Hm, I've never seen that error message and don't see it when I try to reproduce it. You might contact tech support with more information. Also, make sure that you don't have the Adobe pdf plugin running (see our FAQ for how to disable it if you do).
Jon
Sonny Software
Re: New user: questions about Mendeley, note cards, annotati
Issue 5 sounds like a Lion issue with Autolock. You can either click "Unlock" or turn off file locking in preferences, under "Time Machine" and then "Options."