Sonny Software

Hi,
I did a quick search and did not find this listed.

Can Bookends sort attachment within Bookends directory based on specific criteria such as : group name, author, date.?
for example, To save attachment in this format.
Bookends folder>groupname1>date>author_booktitle_serialno.pdf

I know there is a setup to name the attachment but that does not include creating folders (directories).

If there is a way to do this now, could any body let me know how ?

best,
m

No, I fear that this is not possible…

mkhabbaz wrote: I know there is a setup to name the attachment but that does not include creating folders (directories).

You can't have Bookends create them automatically, but you can do it yourself. When the attach dialog comes up, there is a popup menu that let's you create and/or select subfolders in the attachments folder where the new attachment can go. So you could have subfolders (one layer deep) for categories (year, group, etc.).

Jon
Sonny Software

It would be great if Bookend would do this automatically by utilizing the vast metadata it have of a "reference".

This would be especially beneficial in two scenarios. The first, adding multiple supporting files (pdfs, notes, images,etc) to a reference. In this case, automatic fold sorting, would eliminate the need to manually specifying a folder for every supporting file.

The other is when moving (copying) references between groups (for me Group names are names of assignments. papers or reviews). At the moment, this would mean going through the list of modified references one by one.

There also the question of what happens to the folder structure when a reference is in two groups? there could be two answers for this question.
a. basically do nothing. Bookends would keep one location. You would be able to change where the attachments are, but that affects all of the 'aliases'
b. another way to deal with this, is presenting the user with an option (in prefrences maybe) to duplicate attachments to the new locations. This might serve well in case of 'backup' of attachments of groups (projects, papers, etc)

Certainly, it would be great to have an active sync (changes in bookends, reflect directly on folder structure) but also, a command from drop down menu would be more efficient.

Why do you want a folder for every reference or group? The only reason that comes to mind is if you want to quickly locate all such attachments to transfer them. Bookends actually does this for you when you choose to "E-mail" a reference or references. Bookends treats attachments as equals (belonging to no particular reference, or to all), and there is no problem sharing between references.

Jon
Sonny Software

I think that maintaing a structure in the folder of attachments that by its nature only going to expand, would only serve me better as my dependancy on Bookends increases. I think It is convenient because I already did that sorting in Bookends & it would be nice to have the folder sorted similarly. What is important to me is, Bookends would fit in my work flow rather than create an additional step to reach my materials.

I use bookends also to manage my documents (word, excell, ppoint and lecture notes) , so I need to access them while I work in addition to sources (pdfs) and my notes on them. I agree with you, this way (exporting to email), I'll have to go through Bookends to reach any of the attachment every time I need to access an attachment.

It is also true that I can right-click on a reference > click on show in finder, then switch to the app and open it (I need to import or convert, which needs to be done from the application itself, as oppose to just double clicking from finder). This process, can be greatly shortened when the structure of the folder is synced with the structure I made in Bookends.

I keep my 'vault' (bookends folders) on external hard drive, & when I take my hard drive to work, if I have my mac with me, I'll have to keep Bookends running and repeat the previous process (or email process you described) every time I need an 'attachment'. When I dont have my macbook with me, I have to have bookends on that machine at work which sometimes is not possible as they used xp machines.

most of the time I have an idea what I want to find. I do not need a srarch to find it (ex. I want materials related to ARCH201 class or ART101), This feature would give the user the opportunity of employing all metadata database Bookends already has to sort a folder to reflect the users own work style. it will also give an easy access to the user materials from other applications

One other thing that may or may not be helpful. You can have Bookends attach and rename files without actually moving them to it's own folder. In this case you can design any file/folder structure you like and Bookends will maintain it. You probably already new this, but others may not.

Jon
Sonny Software

Dear Jon,
I have two questions/suggestions in this context:
1. I have virtually thousands of pdfs for my BE databases. At the time being I have not used the attachment feature as the attachment folder offers only one sub-folder level and I still want to be able to find the files in the finder. I would therefore need a multi-level sub-folder structure to keep things organized and findable in the finder. Is that possible?
2. I have several BE databases with different Projects/Subjects/Collaborators. And therefore I do not want attachments of different projects in the same attachments folder or folder structure. As is, the attachment folder is defined in the Prefs for the BE application. I would prefer the attachment folder to be defined for each BE database. So that the attachment folder automatically changes when I open a different BE database. Is that possible?
Regards
Hans-Reinhard

hareiko wrote: 1. I have virtually thousands of pdfs for my BE databases. At the time being I have not used the attachment feature as the attachment folder offers only one sub-folder level and I still want to be able to find the files in the finder. I would therefore need a multi-level sub-folder structure to keep things organized and findable in the finder. Is that possible?

It's possible, but there could be a performance hit if there were lots of subsubsubfolders (if you get my drift). This is on my to-do list to look into and see if it's feasible for a future release.

2. I have several BE databases with different Projects/Subjects/Collaborators. And therefore I do not want attachments of different projects in the same attachments folder or folder structure. As is, the attachment folder is defined in the Prefs for the BE application. I would prefer the attachment folder to be defined for each BE database. So that the attachment folder automatically changes when I open a different BE database. Is that possible?
Regards
Hans-Reinhard

I think this should be a global setting. But note there is a popup menu in the attach dialog that lets you choose any folder (in the default folder) to place the attachment, and that would allow you to maintain the attachments in discrete locations.

Jon
Sonny Software