Sonny Software

Hi I have just downloaded Bookends, Bookends User Guide, and Stuffit. 1) Now I want to get in my first book:
John Cornwell, ed.: Explanations. Styles of Explanation in Science. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
Do I really have to type in all the relevant items for this book? I have done it so many times (not with this book but others) so I don't want to do it again. Is there any ISBN feature?
2) In the User Guide I read I can import RTF lists of my about 5000 books I already have in my Microsoft based DB (which I have to transfer to MAC). How do I tell Bookends where the author, title etc. is within this RTF data?

Hi Herbert,

You can use Internet Search to find books on Amazon or hundreds of university libraries, and there you can do ISBN searches in most of these cases.

Bookends cannot import RTF files (I don't know where you read that it could). It can import ASCII files. If you export from a db (you are coming from a PC, I guess, since you capitalize Mac) you need to create an import filter that recognizes the (hopefully tagged) fields and puts them in the correct fields in Bookends. Import filters are covered extensively in the User Guide.

Jon
Sonny Software

Hi Jon, thanks for your quick answer.
You are right: I'm coming from a PC. Your second answer sounds great. I guess I am able to export my library DB into ASCII files.
I don't understand your answer to my first problem. I don't want to do an ISBN search. The books are stapled beneath my desk. My problem: since I have decided to switch to Mac (OK, no more capitalized) I didn't register my new books and new journal articles anymore in my Windows library application. As I am buying a lot of books and reading a lot of articles I now have a huge backlog. I have to get these items into Bookends. One way is - as far as I see - to type in author, title, etc. Easier would be to type in the ISBN and the software doing all the filling in. What am I getting wrong?

gavagai wrote:I don't understand your answer to my first problem. I don't want to do an ISBN search. The books are stapled beneath my desk. My problem: since I have decided to switch to Mac (OK, no more capitalized) I didn't register my new books and new journal articles anymore in my Windows library application. As I am buying a lot of books and reading a lot of articles I now have a huge backlog. I have to get these items into Bookends. One way is - as far as I see - to type in author, title, etc. Easier would be to type in the ISBN and the software doing all the filling in. What am I getting wrong?

Nothing. Bookends isn't a home library cataloging app and doesn't have automatic ISBN search/retrieval. Lots of other apps do, though. I suggest you look at Booxter. It should do what you want -- and since it exports as BibTeX, you can transfer the hits to Bookends (Booxter may actually be better for your needs. It's not a reference management/bibliography app, but for simple cataloging and retrieval it's fine, and less expensive than Bookends).

Jon
Sonny Software