Sonny Software

Hello everybody,

I am new to Bookends, trying it out after disappointment with Papers3 (because of forced dropbox sync). I'll stop using any software that forces me to sign up for other paid services, which is effectively what Papers3 does, since the free 2 GB dropbox account is too small for most libraries.

I quite like Bookends so far. I have a question about the watch folder, which could make my current setup perfect.

Is there a way to tell bookends the following things:

1. When importing a reference rename the pdf, but leave it in the watch folder.

2. When looking up the watch folder, use the subfolder names of subfolders in the watch folder and create a group with that name, importing the contents into that group. Obviously this should only happen once or if a new folder is created in the watch folder

Is this possible in Bookends? I have all my papers in a box.com account (10 GB free), which I sync with Goodreader on my iPad (used for reading papers). It would be perfect. I could use Bookends for reference management when writing papers, and Goodreader (which is also excellent) for reading.

I guess part of the solution could be to place the attachments folder that Bookends uses into my box.com folder, but the automated group creation would be killer

Any hints appreciated.

Best
A

PDFs cannot be left in the watch folder -- Bookends would keep trying to import them if they were. They have to be moved out, to the attachments folder.

Bookends won't automatically sort pdfs into different folders. However, in the watch folder Config menu, you can manually tell Bookends to import references into any subfolder in the default attachment folder hierarchy.

Finally, note that it is likely that at some point we will move to using Dropbox for syncing databases. Two GB is far more than anyone needs for this. Of course, PDFs are another matter. And even if we use Dropbox for metadata, you would be able to use any other service (like box.com) for attachments.

Jon
Sonny Software

Jon wrote:Finally, note that it is likely that at some point we will move to using Dropbox for syncing databases. Two GB is far more than anyone needs for this. Of course, PDFs are another matter. And even if we use Dropbox for metadata, you would be able to use any other service (like box.com) for attachments.

Wouldn’t iCloud Drive be a more natural choice (eventually)? Or, more generally, couldn’t all cloud based storage solution be used, or does Dropbox offer an API that is specifically useful for this? (I am asking as much out of personal interest as I as about concern for not necessarily letting Dropbox become too much of a must for me.)

iCloud is only available for apps bought from the Mac App Store.

Jon
Sonny Software