Sonny Software

This may (or should) be an easy one .. I just can't seem to find it.
I have a couple of different attachment folders (that go with different databases).
When I did a mass "PDF import" (i.e. "get pdf from pubmed for > 100 publications) I copied the attachments to the wrong folder (well, they were copied for me into the default attachment folder, which I forgot to change in "preferences").
Is there a way to move all the pdf files to a different folder without breaking their association to the reference entires??
"Refs/Global change" would be an obvious place to put this option, but there is nothing like it there ...

Thank you!

Hi,

If you reattach one reference from the "wrong" folder, all attachments in that folder will be recognized.

Jon
Sonny Software

Tanks for the reply John.

Jon wrote: If you reattach one reference from the "wrong" folder, all attachments in that folder will be recognized.

I still don't understand.

Is this what I have to do?:
1) go to preferences and change the "Attchament Folder" to the desired location
2) then open the database & reattach one pdf file (to one reference)

Do you say that in this case Bookends would move all the attachments associated with this database into the changed (under #1) folder?

Maybe I am explaining this wrong:
One database has 50% of it's attchemnt in the "right" folder, 50% in the wrong folder (which also holds attchmants from the 2nd databse). How can I get the referecnes assoicated with database 1 to be movedinto the "right" folder?

-- Thanks!

Oh, I see. Just drag the 50% in the wrong folder to the right folder -- Bookends will find them there (Bookends doesn't store the location of each file, it stores the aliases of the folders in which you have attachments). So you can move attachments between "known" folders easily.

Try moving just one, first, and see that Bookends can stil find it.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon wrote:Just drag the 50% in the wrong folder to the right folder -- Bookends will find them there (Bookends doesn't store the location of each file, it stores the aliases of the folders in which you have attachments). So you can move attachments between "known" folders easily.

Thanks again, Jon.
The problem is, that just by looking at the PDF files I do not know which PDF files woud belong to which database (unless I check almost every entry by hand).
Therefore, it would be nice to have the option to do the "moving" of attached files from within Bookends (under "global changes would be a great place, since all changes that are mdae pertain to the one database open).
Is there a way of doing that, or is it a "feature request"?

Thanks!

It doesn't matter which database they "belong to". Just put them all in one folder and Bookends will find them.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon wrote:It doesn't matter which database they "belong to". Just put them all in one folder and Bookends will find them.

Jon
Sonny Software

o.k. -- but that would not help me, since from ithin finder I do not know which files to copy (from their pdf name I do not know which databse they belong to).

Maybe I am not explaining this very well:

I like to have (and currently do have) two databases and two different attchment folders.

Let's say I have one database on cars with 100 attachments (pdf's), and one database on planes with a 100 attachments.

I have two attachment folders, labeled "cars" and "planes" respectively (which I like to keep separated).

Last week, I used the "get pdf" function; I was not aware that it copies the attachments to the default folder (specified in preferences). Therefore, many of the "cars" pdf attachments are now erroneously in the "planes" attachment folder (which is the default attachment folder).

How do I get them into the "cars" attachment folder? If I have to move them manually (from within finder), I have to check each single pdf whether it is a "cars' or "planes" pdf attachment (because from the given file name I cannot infer it) ... ???

Thank you!

So you want to keep two separate attachment folders, then (the easiest is of course to maintain one attachment folder)? Parenthetically, you can have one main attachment folder and maintain two (or more) subfolders in it, one for "cars" and one for "planes".

But to your question: there is no way to automate this. The method that comes to mind would be to open the "cars" database and show the references that you recently attached pdfs to (you can open the reference window and move to the last reference in the database, then "scroll" backwards).

Open the Attachment Inspector. The attachment(s) for each reference will be shown. If you hover the cursor over the image, the full path to the attachment is shown. If it is in the "planes" folder, go there and drag it to the "cars" folder (you can also use the Reveal In Finder option in the action menu to let Bookends find it for you).

Repeat until you've accounted for all the references you recently added pdfs to.

This will work, although it's a bit tedious if you have lots of attachments.

If this hasn't answered your question satisfactorily, please contact me directly.

Jon
Sonny Software