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 15.4.2
Intoducing Bookends MCP server: use natural language prompts to perform complex tasks
- Bookends gives gives compatible AI assistants direct knowledge of what Bookends is capable, and provides powerful tools to allow them to process and execute your requests. These enable the AI assistant to fetch information from your libraries (reference information, PDF content and annotations, etc.) as well as control its actions (import/edit references, create groups and folders, format bibliographies, download and annotate PDFs, etc.). You can even ask "how to" questions and get answers straight from the User Guide. There are no pre-programmed prompts, you simply "talk" to the AI assitant as you would to a collaborator: ask questions, issue instructions, and so on. Prompts can be simple: "I'm finishing a journal submission. Find all the references in my Bookends library that have "epigenetics" in the title and format them as a bibliography in Chicago author-date style". Or highly complex: "I'm preparing a systematic literature review on CRISPR off-target effects. Please do the following: Search my Bookends library for relevant references and pull their abstracts and keywords. For any that have attached PDFs with my annotations, extract those highlights — I want to see what I flagged as important. Synthesize the annotated passages into a structured summary organized by theme (mechanisms, detection methods, clinical implications). Create a new Bookends group called "CRISPR Off-Target Review" and move the relevant references into it. Finally, format the full reference list in APA 7th style, ready to paste into my manuscript." You don't know what the combination of Bookends and the AI assistant is capable of until you try it. You can automatically configure Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor, and LM Studio in Settings -> Servers -> MCP Server. The Bookends User Guide has detailed information about how to make the most of the integration of Bookends with your AI assistant.
Many improvements in existing AppleScript capabilities and new commands
- New commands include "download pdfs", "extract pdf text", "extract pdf annotations", and many more.
The Applescript "find path to displayed pdf" now locates PDFs even if they aren't in the default attachment folder
Improved edit pane UI
- Clicking in a collapsed field will temporarily expand so that you can see it's entire contents. The field field collapses again when it is exited and the focus is lost.
Add PDF free-standing notes and text comment by right-clicking and selecting "Add PDF Note" or "Add PDF Text" from the contextual menu
Quick Add has improved cleanup of DOIs that contain extraneous surrounding text
Bookends will import DOIs from arXiv in their new standardized form
- Right-click on them in the edit pane select the http://doi menu option to open the article on the arXiv.org web site.
Unless otherwise specified, Bookends will add "intrash=false" to live SQL searches to ensure only active references are found
Bookends can speak the text in attached PDFs
- Previously this was possible only in reference text fields.
New formatting option: Remove comma after titles ending in ? or !
- Previously, such commas were always removed.
Fixes
- Fixed several edge cases in Mellel scan where in some circumstances a semicolon alone was used to separate citations in a group.
- Fixed a bug in Autocomplete that generated an error when showing reference content rather than its PDF.
- Fixed a bug in the .docx scan that could result in superscripted citations in footnotes.
- Fixed a bug in the automatic sync of a CSL-JSON file when the library window is opened.
- Fixed an error in the Google Books import filter that resulted in a space before the second and subsequent authors' name.
Bookends for Mac
$89.99
In English
Version 15.4.2
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.
