Bookends for Mac
Reference management and bibliography software.
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Bookends overview
Bookends is a full-featured bibliography/reference and information-management system for students and professionals.
- Bookends uses the cloud to sync reference libraries on all the Macs you use. Access the power of Bookends directly from Mellel, Nisus Writer Pro, or MS Word (including Word 2016): Bookends allows you to scan your existing word-processor files and automatically generate finished manuscripts with properly formatted bibliographies. You can also scan Apple Pages '08, '09, and 5, Manuscripts.app, and LibreOffice/OpenOffice 4 files, or RTF files saved from any word processor.
- Bookends allows you to share your references over the Internet with anyone, on any platform. And with Bookends, you can directly search and import references from numerous sources:
- PubMed
- Web of Science
- JSTOR
- Google Scholar
- Amazon
- Library of Congress
- arXiv
- and hundreds of other online sources
- Bookends also offers a robust assortment of file attachment features:
- Attach any file (such as a PDF) to a reference and view or open it instantly.
- Automatically rename and organize PDF files on-the-fly.
- Automatically download and attach the PDF of an article from the Internet if you have access permission.
- Automatically locate and attach PDF's on your hard drive.
- Annotate and markup PDFs and have the information instantly accessible in notecards.
- Sync your library with Bookends for iOS on your iOS devices, so that you have your references and PDF's with you wherever you are.
What’s new in version 15.1.2
- New UI option to show edit-field outlines — This setting makes the visual distinction between fields more obvious, and replaces the option to provide gray-tinted hint words. It can be set in Settings -> Refs -> Show: Edit-field outlines. This setting has no effect in Dark Mode, where the field boundaries are indicated by a change in color.
- New PDF settings menu — In the PDF viewer, an Action pop-up -> Settings menu lets you configure PDF dispay options.
- New PDFs settings option for how PDFs are displayed in full screen — Selecting Focus on PDF in Full Screen tells Bookends to hide the reference and groups panes so you can focus on the PDF itself (the previous behavior). If unchecked, all of the library window panes are available when in full screen. This setting has no effect when the library window is in widescreen layout.
- Removing a PDF highlight or underline using the Delete key will bring up a confirmation dialog only if it has an associated note.
- Create a synced text file containing your references in CSL-JSON format — This is a one-way (Bookends -> file) sync on demand that is very similar to the existing sync to a .bib file containing references in BibTeX format. Both may be useful to those who use Bookends references with other apps such as LaTeX, Pandoc, or TeXstudio. To initiate, use File -> Create Synced Text File and choose CSL-JSON (the other option is BibTeX). Once created, the menu will read Sync Linked CSL-JSON File (or Sync Linked BibTeX File). When invoked (the shortcut is Shift-Command-L), Bookends will update the text file with references added, deleted, or edited. Note that Bookends stores the file's alias, so you may rename it or move it to another location on the HD and Bookends will still find it. If the file has been deleted or is stored on an external drive that is not mounted, the menu will revert to Create Synced Text File. Bookends identifies references by their citekey, so any references without citekeys will not be synced to the linked file. The hierarchical meny now has the option to Show Synced File in Finder.
- Cited pages entered in formats can now be used in conditional formatting groups — This means that you can adjust the way a final citation appears if there are, or are not, cited pages in the temporary citation.
- When importing multiple PDFs into a group at once, any existing references that match one of the PDFs will be added to the group if they are not already a member.
- The PDF annotation popover has been streamlined — The title bar has been removed -- you can reposition the popover by clicking and dragging anywhere in the background. It can be closed by selecting an action, clicking outside of the popover's contents, or pressing Escape.
- Printing the list of unmatched citation works in Dark Mode.
- Fixed a bug a linked BibTeX file was first created where only selected references were exported.
- Fixed a bug in full screen where the first few rows in the reference list did not respond to clicks.
- Fixed a bug in scanning Pages and .odt documents where cited pages specified in the format were incorrectly output as @@.
- Fixed a bug in the color of the bibliography text when scanning Mellel documents when the window had a light appearance but the system was in dark mode.
- Fixed a bug with scanning text files where the option to output the results as Markdown was not remembered between uses.
- When importing files via a dialog, text files with the extension .nbib will be selectable.
- Fixed a bug where the metadata in an Option-Command-drag to Tinderbox could be truncated.
- Fixed a problem where PDFs that should have been renamed when attached were not.
- Fixed an error that could occur when editing a PDF note
Bookends for Mac
$74.99
In English
Version 15.1.2
Write a detailed review about Bookends
(92 Reviews of Bookends)
Comments
User Ratings
Aug 11 2023
Version: 14.2.2
I am a journalist on a deadline, and I need to add a considerable number of footnotes and endnotes to a manuscript. I read the reviews and bought Bookends.
I have gone through the video tutorials and read through the users guide and these are my thoughts, take them for what they are:
My book is on an old espionage case that was extremely complex. I would say it's about half as difficult to figure out than Bookends. There is no step by step tutorial for someone unfamiliar with this type of software, no quick start guide to get you through the basics. The tutorial reads like it's written for people who already know how it works.
I don't know if there are better programs out there, but if you are on my level, good with tech but new when it comes to footnote/reference software you risk losing your sanity with this program. In thirty years on a Mac, I don't think I've ever seen a more obtuse application (Scrivener was a snap compared to this). This has me ready to take an Alzheimer's test.
I respect and admire anyone who finds Bookends to be easy. I feel the same way about the creators of it, good for them. For a lot of people this is terrific, but for me, on a deadline, it's a disaster. I keep thinking that according to the Bible, God created the Earth in Seven days. I think even he (or she or they) would be scratching his head after ten days with Bookends.
Jan 16 2022
Version: 14.0.4
I really wanted to use this in combo with Mellel. No dice. Bookends is a non-starter for serious doctoral academics. Pls correct me if this is factually inaccurate - but Bookends does not allow for any importation of necessary style guides - you get what's there, end of. Zotero has them all by default. (Bookends has one Harvard style, when at least 75 exist). If you need a specific style for your university.department, you are forced to suddenly become a code editor to tweak the one that's there --- if I were interested in doing all that, I'd just learn LaTex to begin with. Also: scanning workarounds for citations on a 250,000 word dissertation is not an option when Libre + Zotero do it seamlessly, albeit they are not as good for the word processing. --- When Mellel ("By academics for academics"), Bookends, or both choose to accomodate flexibility and realistic options, I'll gladly try again - and happily pay for the luxury. They are onto something here, I need a viable alternative to MS Word and the other litany of stuff out there - not headaches, endless forum searches, etc. completing my PhD. C'mon folks! There really is a market out there if you want us! peace.
May 24 2021
Version: 13.5.4
tried it recently with Microsoft Word, works seamlessly and make work so much easier 100% recommend
Apr 6 2021
Version: 13.5.3
Wow, finally "Set the font and font size for PDF comments in Preferences" Am legally blind so this is much valued fix.
May 27 2019
Version: 13.2.3
Great app. Use it with my Word docs and works flawlessly. Been around forever.
