Sonny Software

Don't forget that the keywords are also shown in the Concise View (and in fact you can create your own Concise View now, so you can show them at the top if you want, of wherever).

This reference to creating one's own Concise view (in another thread) has me puzzled, and I couldn't find any reference to this in the manual. I note that I can change the widths of the 3 columns (Groups, "main", and Info), and also the relative heights of the Display and the "main" pane in the middle column. But I can't see any options to change the layout of the Info pane itself once I've chosen Concise view from the View selector in the top right.

It's in Preferences. You can assign an format you have (or make) to the Concise view pane. This means that you can configure the Concise view pretty much any way you want.

Jon
Sonny Software

Oh, I see. That looks really handy. I'm wondering if the Standard view there is available to users for copying and modifying. It seems that a "Standard Plus" view, i.e. Standard with Notes added, would be great, and would get round the problem that in Reference view it doesn't seem to be possible to view Abstract, Keywords, and Notes altogether.

No, the standard view isn't based on a format, it's a built-in display.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon wrote:No, the standard view isn't based on a format, it's a built-in display.

That's too bad. I'm trying to create a concise view that best suits my needs, but I can't figure out how to find out the "in groups" that's available in the Standard Concise display.

Am I missing something, or does the Standard concise view have capabilities that are impossible in other formats?

The standard consise view is not based on a format, so some things (like belonging to a group) that make no sense for formats can't be accessed.

BTW, earlier in the thread you mentioned wanting to show notes. They are already shown in the standard concise view.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon, you rock with the speedy replies. I'm glad to be a paying customer.

As far as I can tell, "in group" is the only item in the standard concise view that's not accessible via formats. Would you consider making it an option in the future via formats, so I can create my own custom concise view that has everything in the original (only organized differently)?

Alternatively, is there another way to determine what groups a particular reference appears in, short of clicking through every group and checking?

Here's my dilemma (and I'm not the person who started the thread, just one who is also interested): the current, standard concise view, while complete, isn't organized in a way that my brain can readily comprehend what's there. I've used Bookends for a few years now, and feel pretty comfortable with the interface, generally, but when I glance over at the standard concise view, my eye jumps around in futility.

On the other hand, give me a standard format and I can tell instantly most of what I need to know. Sadly, it's only most, and not everything.

This wasn't an issue before, because I kept the concise view on the side and the formatted at the bottom: I could see the bibliographic info I wanted at a glance, but also quickly see the other stuff I might want: groups, notes, abstract, keywords. That was everything I needed, in a glance.

Now, however, you've spoiled me. You've given me the marvelous attachment view, and I no longer use the formatted view at the bottom as my default. I want the benefit of the visually scannable, formatted-the-way-I-expect, AND the other stuff, AND the attachment. Like Veronica Salt, I want it all and I want it now! (Humor attempted at questionable outcome. Sorry.)

I wouldn't go on except to try to make my request sound both reasonable and do-able. I hope that adding a "in groups" option to the Format Manager's "fields" menu is a simple change that just needed someone to ask. I'm asking. There might be some technical reason why "in groups" can't be added to a format, and I understand that sometimes a customer's wants don't always coincide with technical possibility. But I do hope you'll consider it.

Hi,

The attempt at humor succeeded (got me to smile, anyway).

It's certainly something I'll consider. One concern is speed, since Bookends will have to examine all the static groups each time it outputs a reference, but perhaps that's not a real problem with today's hardware. And of course it wouldn't work with smart groups. But I'll look into it...

Jon
Sonny Software

I'll second the groups request, but I've mentioned it before.

I'm also trying to utilize font colors to make a concise view that best works for me, but the colors just don't want to work, and its really odd behavior. It will color like half a word out of 5 words that should be colored.