Sonny Software

I can't find reference to this in the manual or forums, but this situation must be very common:

Most book pdfs have useful information in their filename, particularly author, title, and/or ISBN.

When importing such a pdf, is there any way I can automatically have Amazon (or other source) look up the identifiers in the pdf's filename? That is, without having to copy them into the new reference form fields.

Author and title may produce numerous hits, but certainly file names containing ISBN would be unambiguous and immediately produce a hit with full bibliographic information.

I'm beginning to realize there are many hidden tricks in Bookends, and I hope this is one of them.

Hi,

You mean for Autocomplete Paper? If so, no, Bookends doesn't care what's in the file name (they are not structured and vary enormously between sources and users). The only information Bookends will rely on to look up a source is a doi found in the pdf itself (and it has to be preceded by the letters "doi" so that Bookends knows it's a doi).

Jon
Sonny Software

Thanks for the rapid response, Jon.

If Bookends doesn't care what's in the file name because filenames are not structured and vary enormously, then might it care if the filename was simply the ISBN? This best-case scenario would solve things completely.

It would be easy to truncate a filename to contain only the ISBN (prior to Bookends input), which then could be used to look up the bibliographic information in some streamlined, if not automated, manner.

I'm trying to save numerous copy and paste routines here, obviously. Maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks for your consideration.

In theory, sure. But in practice, no. First, how would Bookends be sure it's an ISBN? Lots of web sites assign (seemingly) random numbers to pdfs for download. Second, how many users are going to name their pdfs by ISBN? My guess is a handful (you're one, I know ). Note that if you enter the ISBN yourself in the reference (which is less work that naming the pdf in the Finder to the ISBN) and do a Refs -> Autofill from Internet, Bookends will fill out the reference from Amazon. It's one manual step, the rest is automatic.

Jon
Sonny Software