IF YOU WANT TO VIEW A PDF FILE in a separate window, you have to click a reference title for the summary side window, then click the “PDF” tab to see the PDF file and then click “Open this PDF in a separate window”. For each file/reference, you will have a new window each time you want to view a particular PDF file. Then the separate PDF windows will add up. It would be great to have PDF files in tabs collected in one preview window, as well as separate windows (like you can have in Adobe Acrobat). The separate PDF window could be there right from the start as one step when you click on a reference, instead of having to go through three steps. If you are using multiple screens, the separate PDF window with tabs feature could display as standard on a second screen when opening EndNote.
It is normally the case, when you search for a specific term/word and get a search list of papers where that term appears, you want to select and view several of the papers that come up. You want to read the selected papers with as few clicks as possible and arrange them within one separate window to easily browse through and compare. You might want to repeat the search process with another term/word and have a new separate PDF viewer window with tabs for those PDFs, next to the first batch of PDFs. Perfect also if you have multiple screens to work on.
Much of research work is about cross-examining and comparing multiple sources. Being able to order those efficiently to get a clear overview makes the work so much easier.
I fully agree. It is unnecessary and a real frustration when you are trying to correct the imported attributes of dozens of PDFs. The inability to easily edit attributes with the PDF in view is a source of real frustration and the cause of PDFs with inaccurate attributes or only the most needed attributes being filled in correctly. One is constantly opening this extra window to be able to fill in the attributes with the PDF in view and being able to copy from the PDF into the attribute field. This cannot be a hard change to make - have any of your own users counted the clicks needed to import a PDF and fill in the mandatory attributes and seen how many clicks are unnecessary? It is an easy user-experience tasks and the fix is really straightforward.
There are external PDF viewers that can do this for you. For example, using UPDF as the external viewer on macOS, all I need to do is to open the PDF in the external viewer, where it opens in a new tab, while adding closed tabs to the history pane. This is something that could easily clutter EndNote’s interface.
Looking at another of your posts about combining edit and PDF views for altering PDF attributes, I was confused. The reason EndNote restricts access to its interned PDFs is probably to avoid data corruption in its data folder.
You would perhaps be more productive with better dual monitor support. All that would be needed is to pin all “Open reference in new window” actions to the already open second window. That could be optional and likely much easier to implement by EndNote.
I can remember (just about) when monitors were 14 inches. I went up market to a 19 inch monitor and thought I was in heaven! Now I have two 24 inch and one 22 inch high-res widescreen monitors (I do magazine production and video editing).
The problem is, many people are working from laptops. I.e. a single screen. Especially whilst out researching in libraries etc. The laptop screens have improved over the years but most are “only” 13-15 inches.
So it is a bit of a juggling act. The problem is that in recent years the Endnote development has been sluggish at best and nothing significant seem to have been added. So the chances of any of the above suggestions happening is low.
A practical option when using a single (laptop) monitor is to use multiple desktops. When set up correctly, you can easily swipe using trackpads and similar pointing devices to switch between the different desktops and views. A dedicated PDF viewing application will always do a better job than anything EndNote would embed.
I should add that the New Window doesn’t remember its size, position, and the mode (Edit, PDF, Edit & PDF) or where the separator between the edit panel and the PDF panel was last, so you have to select the mode (Edit & PDF) and move the separator again, and again, and again…I count 2 clicks and a drag for every single PDF that needs its attributes edited. You also cannot choose if the edit panel is on the left or right, another minor frustration.
I cannot understand why someone at the company has not tried to edit multiple sets of attributes for an import of a set of PDFs and experienced this. This stuff is really getting old now, but they continue to release new versions completely missing this (what I think is a) basic workflow.