Driving me Crazy

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paranous79
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:06 am

Driving me Crazy

Post by paranous79 »

I must have forgotten how to do this, not using Bookends in awhile but....how do you edit multiple references at the same time? I have about 20 references that all need the same Author and Journal names (to start).

When I click on multiple selections in the Library Window, they are highlighted but only the first one gets changed.

I can't believe this is not straightforward? Highlighting multiple references should allow me to change their metadata all at once, no?

I'm either missing something incredibly obvious or there is a bug. I'm sure someone can quickly save me from my ignorance.

Thanks!
Jon
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Re: Driving me Crazy

Post by Jon »

There are many Refs -> Global Change functions you can use. In this case, Change Field is what you want ("Put" the text you want into each field of the selected references.

In addition, if you know you need this, you can create one reference and Duplicate it 19 times. If you are entering a book and its chapters, once you've entered the book you can Replicate as Book Chapter 19 times.

Jon
Sonny Software
paranous79
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:06 am

Re: Driving me Crazy

Post by paranous79 »

Thank you for the clarification. I am glad to see there is at least a way to do this, even though - from a user perspective - it does not seem intuitive, or similar to other programs.

Also, when I try to do this with another field - 'Journal' - say, this is not listed in the drop-down list of possible fields I can change. Maybe it automatically loads a 'Book' template, instead of one for a Journal Article? I assumed all fields should be listed here.

I did change the Reference Type to Journal Article, prior to trying to insert a Global Ref Change here, but 'Journal' is still not listed as a filed I can 'put' a value into.

Thanks!
Jon
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Re: Driving me Crazy

Post by Jon »

What other programs? I did a quick check on several other major reference managers and none behave like this. It seems terribly dangerous to me to have changes made in one reference propagated to any other selected reference.

As far as the fields you see listed, that's based on the default reference Type you have set in Preferences. Change the Type of a particular reference will have no effect, of course, because global changes can be applied to one, many, or all references at once. If the default Type is Journal Article, you'll see Journal listed in the popup. The equivalent field for a Book is Ser. Title.

Jon
Sonny Software
paranous79
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:06 am

Re: Driving me Crazy

Post by paranous79 »

Jon,

I migrated from Sente, which no longer exists, and - if my memory is correct - it had this functionality. I agree with you though that this could lead to major unintended data loss, if one is not careful. I can't remember what fail-safe Sente had to prevent this, but I recall being able to highlight multiple references and change, e.g. all the author fields, or title fields, in one go. It was very intuitive but perhaps - as you say - also dangerous, though I never had a problem with it.

I will change the default Reference Type, as you suggest. I simply did not know that this was the source of the Drop Down list in the Global Refs menu.

I have upgraded to the latest version of Bookends and will try to review the User Guide in more detail.

Thanks.
Jon
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Re: Driving me Crazy

Post by Jon »

I should have mentioned that you can globally add to all selected references with Term Lists, too (e.g. Authors, Journals, etc.). If you drop a term onto the reference list, it will be added to the corresponding field in all selected references.

Jon
Sonny Software
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