When there are multiple files attached to a reference, they will all be renamed following the renaming rules (if set) however, this is likely to always be a problem
Either a system for exceptions (a checkbox to not rename attachments for that reference,) assigning a file to rename, or more complex renaming scheme is needed.
That said, why have file renaming when you do not have human readable directory structures? Why not just have a “rename on export/save as” option?
why not search for the titles rather than try to navigate any directory structure?
Do you mean the file names using the file system’s search engine?
This is the solution that one is left with, but this is inconvienent with many similar names, and breaks down with identical ones. Many journal articles themselves have worthless names, and while endnote can change these names, endnote’s renaming scheme does not work when there are multiple files attached to the same citation, as it names all of them the same thing, + a letter.
It is also the case that such searches are not efficient, requiring a lot of resources to index the often changed structure, though you could certainly add the library to the OS’s list of structures to keep indexed. Then, at least in windows, the output of explorer searches is not actually the directory structure, but a temporary library. This poses some navigation/use challenges necesitating further cliicks to actually get to the file’s directory and interact with it normally.
Also you would first have to identify the file name from within endnote, so you must run endnote, search for the document there, then (in windows) use explorer, navigate to the library PDF silo, and run your search for the file name from there.
Of course, these aside, the big reason for wanting to navigate the directory structure is that this is the BEST way to actually access, transport, and peruse sources, rather than citaitons, i tis also the ONLY way to do so from external programs. This is compounded when a person wants to access multiple sources. Use of Endnote’s limited export options compound version control problems and results in mutliple unnecesary copies.
Having played around with endnote a bit more, I see one of their difficulties is that human readable directories would require a change in the database structure. Each file gets its own directory (for some reason I can not fathom,) so a citation with 5 attachments would actually be referencing 5 different directories.
Given the options in creating citations, I am very curious of, If possible, how do you use the same file in mulitple citations. It seems like any attempt to do so would actually create multiple copies of the same documnet instead. This is the case if you drag the same document into the import folder multiple times, or drag the same document from explorer into the attachment area for multiple citations. (perhaps this could be improved if Endnote read the first few pages of PDFs to guess at titles, instead of just looking for meta data.)
At the most basic, you shouldn’t HAVE to search for a file that you already know of. You should be able to browse a meaningful file strucutre and go to it.
I agree that Endnote’s handling of PDFs is not optimal. Ideally I wouldn’t mind so much the directory structure weirdness if I could have more options for attachments in endnote.
Eg I would like to be able to right click a reference and choose “open attachment in file explorer”.
I would also like to be able to select multiple references and choose to attach the PDFs of these references to a single email. Endnote needs to move away from being just a ref manager with some pdf features to being a better file manager as well. The inability to add PDFs by dragging them into the library window is another example of this.
I can add PDFs by dragging them from my computer folders onto the library window (windows version) and have been able to from waaaay back?
ben_ wrote:
I agree that Endnote’s handling of PDFs is not optimal. <deleted some of post> The inability to add PDFs by dragging them into the library window is another example of this.
That is irrelevant to the topic Learnne.