How do I cope with my pdf load?
Geplaatst door: Jan Martens in history, research | Het artikel is in totaal 2170 x gelezen, 1 x vandaag
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As promised I will explain how I am strugling to keep an overview of all the references I collect during my historical research about brain stimulation in psychiatry. Ideally, with a web application I should be able to do all the things I want. But none does exactly what I want. Web applications as Mendeley or Labmeeting are great for sharing your pdf with other people and tagging your pdfs. So let’s start how I work.
*) I start using Endnote. I use the online search option in Endnote to find articles about for instance transcranial magnetic stimulation. The interesting ones I add to my Endnote library. I can use them later to create references in Word.
*) Next I export my references to a text file. This text file is imported in an Access database. I created this database especially for this research. I for instance want to know the last time I opened a pdf. I also want to store quotes from the original article together with the meta information.
*) I use Adobe Pro to annnotate the pdfs. You can highlight or underline text with Abobe Pro.The underlined or highlighted text can then be copied into my Access database. I do not have to retype all the text.
*) Another thing that annoyed me was the many mouse clicks I needed to arrive at the pdf. First I click on the link in my database. Then at home I have to login to the library. Then the Pubmed page opens and I have to click the logo of the journal (if it is electronically available). After clicking that logo I have to click again on a different page and then finally I have my pdf. This takes at least 6 clicks. To overcome this I use Greasemonkey. This is an add-on for Firefox. This add-on uses javascript and can automate things. I created several scripts and now if a pdf is available it will open automatically if I click on a Pubmed link.
*) I store my information on an external harddisk to be able to work at different plac
es.
If you want more information about how I work or if you have ideas how I can improve my process please let me know in the comments.
Updated
An example of the Adobe Online Sharing Service.
Links:
Adobe Online Sharing Acrobat.com is a set of online services — file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and web conferencing — you can use to create and share documents, communicate in real time, and simplify working with others. It’s free, so sign up now.
Abobe Pro Pdf reader and manipulation tool
Endnote Reference management software
Greasemonkey Firefox add-on
Labmeeting Online sharing of pdfs
Mendeley Online sharing of pdfs
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22 februari 2009 om 22:26
Very informative post. Did you create the grease monkey script your self and is it open source;)
Zou u dit commentaar, indien u dit nog niet gedaan heeft, willen beoordelen?Does mendeleye become a replacement for your hard disk? Found them to be slow and not very reliable.
Kind regards Dr Shock
22 februari 2009 om 22:40
I found this last week: http://mekentosj.com/papers/
Seems promising, but it’s only for maclovers.
http://www.connotea.org/user/docalex seems also promising, but I don’t know if it can manage pdf’s.
Zou u dit commentaar, indien u dit nog niet gedaan heeft, willen beoordelen?23 februari 2009 om 02:02
I throw my pdfs in a folder on my idisk (so that I can get to them regardless of where I am) and then just use Spotlight to find what I need, since it indexes all the text in a document. I save the file as NEJM2008.Martens.DBS.depr.DBPC.review.pdf. Haven’t tried Mendeley yet.
Zou u dit commentaar, indien u dit nog niet gedaan heeft, willen beoordelen?23 februari 2009 om 11:09
@Dr Shock: I will publish the greasemonkey scripts tonight.
The problem with Mendeley is that I cannot edit the pdf. I first have to download the pdf, then I have to edit the pdf, then I have to upload the pdf again. Also the highlighting and underlining does not appear in Mendeley’s web application. It nevertheless is stored, since the annotations appear again if I open them in Adobe Pro.
I just came across a free new service of Adobe. You can upload and share pdf’s. I just took a quick glance but could not find a way to manipulate pdf’s online. But I will look further into it. I added an example in the text above.
@Shrinkraproy: Unfortunatelly, I do not have an Apple yet. So I have to come up with a solution on a windows machine.
Zou u dit commentaar, indien u dit nog niet gedaan heeft, willen beoordelen?23 februari 2009 om 14:03
Isn’t “papers” an alternative? unfortunately only for macusers….: http://mekentosj.com/papers/
Nature has “my connotea”, webbased and very nice but I am afraid not suitable for pdf: http://www.connotea.org/
Zou u dit commentaar, indien u dit nog niet gedaan heeft, willen beoordelen?4 maart 2009 om 10:18
@Daniël: Excuses, Akismet dacht dat je een spammer was.
Zou u dit commentaar, indien u dit nog niet gedaan heeft, willen beoordelen?18 maart 2009 om 10:00 (subscribed to comments)
[...] store all the information found and needed for his PhD thesis. An interesting and useful post about the management of his pdf load. This post is followed by a post about his greasemonkey scripts he wrote for searching pubmed and [...]
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