Sonny Software

Jon,

I'm getting started as a research consultant and clearly recognize the need for a solid reference management system. So over the past several weeks. I've been reviewing and trying several tools. Initially, I thought Sente would be the tool, but after discovering a few issues and ThirdStreetSoftware's silence is deafening. I participated in Paper3 for iOS beta testing and was very excited about the possibilities. However, their capabilities were not quite polished enough. After using Bookends over the past week, I am now almost ready to commit to Bookends. I have a a few questions first as I look to integrate Bookends into my workflow.

First, I use an old 15" MacBook Pro as my desktop (its a luggable by today's standards) and rely on my iPad while I am away from the desk. Therefore, the ability to sync between them is critical to me. I also use Evernote, Scrivener, and MS Word (v15.14 now). I tend to read and annotate on the iPad, maintain the notes in the reference manager (Bookends), aggregrate notes into Evernote (so I can share with colleagues and correlate with non-literature notes such as interview and experiments), and then move to the Research folder within Scrivener when I write. Since my company uses MS Word, I am bound to compile the Scrivener files into MS Word (although I may need to go to RTF to scan first, since MS Word 16 (v15.14 now) does not support external apps yet).

So after this long winded introduction, here are my questions:

1) Is there a direct way to export note cards in a .opml file with individual notes as distinct items? A Sente user created such a script which I found extremely useful for importing notes into Scrivener. The processs of copying individual notes (CMD-K) from Bookends to Scrivener is time consuming and prone to error.

2) Is there a way within Bookends or Bookends On Tap to capture diagrams, figures, tables? By this I mean, can we select a region of the pdf and capture it much like Grab and include it along with a note (comment) as an annotation?

3) Is it possible to customize the "Open In ..." for Evernote to include the following options:
a) Use Title as the Evernote note title
b) Predefined text (e.g. Review this ...) simliar to the Twitter pre-text
c) Copy cite key, full citation, and then all notes within body of note
While this is all possible today, its is just a very manual process and I'm just looking for a more streamlined approach.

4) Allow the Label field to by added to the column view? I intend to use the Labels to represent the current stage and status within my workflow (e.g. To Be Read, Further Analysis, etc). While the color coding provides this information, to me it would just be helpful to have the actual lables (words) visible. Additionally, when I collaborate and share the library, it explicitly tells my colleagues the status.

Thank you for consideration. I am thoroughly impressed by your participation in these forums and active engagement with your users. This is a key decision factor in my selection process.

dave83 wrote: 1) Is there a direct way to export note cards in a .opml file with individual notes as distinct items? A Sente user created such a script which I found extremely useful for importing notes into Scrivener. The processs of copying individual notes (CMD-K) from Bookends to Scrivener is time consuming and prone to error.

Note cards are simply entry into the Notes field, with each notecard separated by two Return characters. It's trivial to export the notes field. There is no native support for opml in Bookends, but as with Sente, that could be done with a script on the exported notes.

2) Is there a way within Bookends or Bookends On Tap to capture diagrams, figures, tables? By this I mean, can we select a region of the pdf and capture it much like Grab and include it along with a note (comment) as an annotation?

You can do that with any screen capture utility -> file, and attach that picture to the reference (Bookends will display pictures that are attached). If you saved the screen grab as a PDF you could annotate in in Bookends like any other PDF.

3) Is it possible to customize the "Open In ..." for Evernote to include the following options:
a) Use Title as the Evernote note title
b) Predefined text (e.g. Review this ...) simliar to the Twitter pre-text
c) Copy cite key, full citation, and then all notes within body of note
While this is all possible today, its is just a very manual process and I'm just looking for a more streamlined approach.

Sorry I don't use Evernote, but I'm guessing no. You're talking about iOS, right?, and Open in just lets you do that, AFAIK. Maybe someone else can comment on this.

4) Allow the Label field to by added to the column view? I intend to use the Labels to represent the current stage and status within my workflow (e.g. To Be Read, Further Analysis, etc). While the color coding provides this information, to me it would just be helpful to have the actual lables (words) visible. Additionally, when I collaborate and share the library, it explicitly tells my colleagues the status.

You can't do that now, but it's an interesting idea. I'll note that.

Jon
Sonny Software

dave83 wrote:Additionally, when I collaborate and share the library, it explicitly tells my colleagues the status.

With regard to sharing reference information, I've added the ability to output the text representation of the color label in a formatted reference. This has been included in the next update, which I expect will be released shortly.

Jon
Sonny Software

Awesome!! Thanks for the quick reply and implementation. A stark contrast to other developers. I'm getting ready to purchase and then start the process of importing my existing libraries from Sente and Papers from when I was doing my testing. But first I want to get Bookends configured (formats, preferences, etc.) as well as think through the use of either Dropbox, iCloud, or just local storage for my library. I can't thank you enough right now for making this an easy decision.

Question: Do you recommend separate libraries for distinct interests (ie. cybersecurity and genealogy) or a single library with separate groups? Are there any idiosyncrasies with syncing to an iPad with two libraries?

I recommend one library (use groups, smart or static, as logical dividers).

As of now, you can only sync one library at a time with Bookends On Tap. And other functions, like scanning, only work with single libraries.

If you're migrating from Sente and Papers, please see this page for help. And although it doesn't affect you, others may be interested to know we'll be adding easy AppleScript import from EndNote, too, in the next update.

http://www.sonnysoftware.com/bookends/t ... mport.html

Jon
Sonny Software