Prevent copying citation into word processor automatically

[happycatmachine]

Hi,

How do I prevent the auto insertion of the citation into my word processor when choosing "Copy Citation" from Bookends. I work with multiple things at a time and my insertion point isn't always where I want a citation (more often not where I want it, than when I do). In fact, I always prefer to put the citation in manually anyway.

I'm using (begrudgingly) Microsoft Word as my word processor and do have Bookends installed in Word for the bibliography generation feature. This is probably relevant.

Thanks much.

[Jon]

If you hold down the Option key when clicking the Copy Citation icon, the temp citation will be copied to the clipboard but the switch won't be made.

Hold down the Shift key instead and the switch will occur but the contents won't be automatically pasted (so you can move the insertion point and paste yourself).

Jon
Sonny Software

[happycatmachine]

Thanks Jon,

I appreciate that there is a path however inconvenient and annoying it may be. It's probably more convenient for me to disconnect my word processor from Bookends, and only connect it when it comes time to build the bibliography.

I copy citations from Bookends so frequently that having to press a key (or remember to) is more trouble than it's worth. My use case may be unique to me, but if I had it my way, there would be a checkbox to disable this feature entirely.

Again, thanks for the response and consideration. Much appreciated.

[Jon]

How are you copying the citation? If you "press a key" Command-Y, you just have to make that Option-Command-Y, not exactly a traumatic requirement. Note that in the current version of Bookends this will just switch you to your word processor without copying the temp citation, which is unintended. In the next update it will copy and switch without the paste.

Disconnecting from the word processor works, too. In case you are not aware of it, this can be done without changing your Settings. Use File -> Link To to set or remove a link to any other running app.

Jon
Sonny Software

[happycatmachine]

My habit has been to right-click on an item in Bookends, choose Copy Citation (I know, some see this as inefficient). I have Keyboard Maestro and have written scripts to do many things, but this is one thing that just seems to work for me as is.

I do most of my preliminary (literature review, some synthesis) work in Obsidian. This involves gathering excerpts - cited, and linking them with other notes. It is here that I'm using this feature most of the time. I only am in Word if I'm required to use it for group work and that is when I run into this issue.

There seems to be a problem too that if I have Word open and there is no document open, Bookends freaks out (the right-click menu doesn't go away) until I either quit Word or open a document. So yes, I could conceivably just disconnect Word until I need to generate a bibliography. Most likely the cleanest solution.

Thanks again,

Kelly

[Jon]

I can't reproduce the problem where the hierarchical menu doesn't close when you do a Copy Citation and no Word documents are open. Bookends puts the temp citation in the clipboard and switches to Word, that's all. This sounds like a Word issue, where it isn't handling the AppleEvent. If so, Word should timeout (default is one minute, but Microsoft can set it to be anything). I'll add a timeout on Bookends' end in the next update. If I'm right, that may fix this for you.

Jon
Sonny Software