Hi Phil, I honestly can't remember if BibDesk comes with MacTek, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. The native file format for BibDesk is .bib, as a result, you'll just be able to open it and work with it in the same way that you did in JabRef. This is one of the wonderful things of using standards, your data is imminently portable. Moreover, there isn't any messiness or energy lost in the dance of export and import.
In regards to Mendeley. It is a native Mac application (though based on the Qt framework, so cross platform). To import .bib references into the BibTeX database, just click on the "add references button" and select your .bib file. You can set up the .bib sync options in the preferences pane. I actually use them for very different reasons. Mendeley is my main reference management tool since it can also work with Zotero (for references and citations things off the web) and Microsoft Word/OpenOffice for writing. (Which, unfortunately, is a necessity when working with technically incompetent medical doctors.) I also use it to organize/sync my pdf library amongst different computers and share papers with collaborators. It's a very cool program. I use BibDesk when doing literature searches. It's far easier to download the references to a separate .bib file and then go about deleting those that aren't pertinent. I then can then tag all of them with a project description and import my working file into Mendeley for citation. Mendeley has a really nice feature called "Collections" that can be used for organizing the citations and creating project specific .bib files. More importantly, though, the BibTeX files are readable. I've had big problems with EndNote and Zotero creating unreadable BibTeX. (And a few of the people I work with are real hard-asses about it. One of them actually codes all of his BibTeX by hand, which just seems painful to me.) Hope this is of some help. Welcome to the Mac. It is a very nice ecosystem, but getting moved in can be painful. Even after two years, I'm still trying to get all of the boxes unpacked. Cheers, Rob -----Original Message----- From: Phil Underwood [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 9:26 AM To: Rob Oakes Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: JabRef and Lyx on Mac Hi Rob, I'm still having the same issue, even after Julio's suggestion and so am now entertaining your suggestion. BibDesk is the same one that came with MacTex? Do you have a preferred tool? The screenshots of Mendeley look nice. Is it a native Mac application? Also, do you know if there's an easy way to import my existing JabRef *.bib database with either tool? Cheers, Phil On 17 Nov 2009, at 15:31, Rob Oakes wrote: > Hi Phil, > > I've long had similar problems. I was never able to figure out the problem, > though I believe it had something to do with the Java VM on Mac. (Which is > a strange creature.) I finally had to move to another program. > > I understand that "Change Programs" is a poor solution, but nevertheless, > you might want to take a look at BibDesk or at Mendeley (which can sync > references to a BibTeX reference file). > > http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net/ > http://www.mendeley.com/ > > I use both programs and I've been very happy with them. They also instantly > solved by JabRef problems. > > Cheers, > > Rob Oakes > > -----Original Message----- > From: news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Phil Underwood > Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 7:27 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: JabRef and Lyx on Mac > > Hi there, > > I am having troubles with JabRef 2.5 and LyX 1.6.4.1 running with > MacTex-2009 > on Mac OS X 10.6.2. I am new to these tools and the Mac platform, so I > haven't > ruled out the possibility that I am doing something wrong. Are you able to > tell > from the explanation of my problem below whether I have a technical or user > fault: > > I have configured my "LyXServer path" in LyX and "Path to LyX pipe" in > JabRef > both to: /Applications/LyX.app/Contents/Resources/lyxpipe > > I then start a new *.lyx file in LyX. > > I then highlight the references I would like to push to LyX and click the > "Push selection to LyX/Kile" button in JabRef. > > At this point it is confirmed that the two are communicating with each other > as > the predefined 'Bibtexkey' appears in square brackets on the new *.lyx > document, i.e. " [Author2009] ". However, when I view the file in any format > (PDF or PostScript) the reference appears on the document to be simply a > question mark in square brackets - " [?] ", and not the full reference as > expected. > > Any thoughts? > > Cheers, > Phil > >
