Reference management and bibliography software for Mac OS X

What our users are saying about Bookends

"I've used a lot of reference management software over the years, starting with my own database on DOS through Reference Manager to Endnote on a PC. This is by far the best bibliography software that I have ever seen." - P. West, UK "You already have a number of excellent testimonials, all I can do is echo the "Wow" factor and congratulate you on the latest “get pdf” feature. This seems to work seamlessly and saves a lot of time. It really makes me think differently about the power of Bookends for helping me with my research…the great just got greater! Top notch!" - J. S. Burns, Assistant Professor "WOW! I worked with the evaluation copy for about 5 minutes before realizing that Bookends is the work of a true genius. I am working on my dissertation and was formerly slogging along on a PC with Reference Manager. Now, on a PowerBook with Bookends, I am bibliographically unstoppable!" - C. Mah, student, University of Toronto "I absolutely love the trial version! It is so simple to use. It does all of the things that I think to myself "Man, a computer should be able to figure out what I want to do next..." and that is a rare thing!" - A. Bentley, student, Cornell University "Put me in the queue - it must be kilometres long, of those whose first experience of Bookends was so overwhelmingly positive their trial didn't even last out the first day." - G. Moyse, student, Deakin University, Australia "I recently purchased EndNote before really giving Bookends a fair try. After fussing with Endnote for a while, I went back thinking anything would be easier! After a workout, I am really impressed with Bookends. My copy of Endnote is on EBay - and I know some of my Mac OS X friends in the chemistry department will be joining me soon." - J. Lamb "I've had the demo for a few days and WOW. As a Ph.D. student, this is exactly what I need to make some sense out of a dizzying array of bibliographic data." - J. M. Thigpen "I imported my 17,000+ references from EndNote into Bookends last night. All I can say is "Wow!"…I am delighted with the speed and convenience of Bookends in comparison to EndNote. It will take me a while to stop kicking myself for not converting to Bookends earlier." - A. Ruegg, Researcher "I'm really, really, really liking your program. I've never been so impressed by any piece of software - from usability to usefulness it is incomparable (as a former software tester at Apple, I speak from the experience of likely several thousand apps)." - Brad, Ph.D. student, University of Washington "Downloaded the demo and was very impressed. At first it was a little hard to understand how things worked - but that was because I'd got warped into EndNote's torturous ways of working. Thanks for making such a great program...it does everything I was looking for and more, and I even enjoy using it!" - J. Kitcat, Science & Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex More testimonials…

								Reference Miner
							Version 3.1
				Version 10.3

Search PubMed automatically in the background and have Bookends discover and notify you of publications of interest as soon as they appear. Download the pdf of a PubMed or JSTOR article automatically (requires access privileges), or if you already have the pdf, import the corresponding reference information (author, title, etc.) with a simple drag and drop.

Reference surfing

Use the built-in browser to navigate to web sites containing the full text or pdf of the references you have found. Download both the reference and the pdf or web page in one step. This is automatically available for PubMed, Web of Science, JSTOR, Amazon, Google Scholar, and arXiv, but you can navigate to any site and download pdfs/web pages. You can just as easily automatically create an "Internet" reference for any web page you find, with the title, URL, and date of access already entered.


Get attached

Attach related files to a reference and then access them with a single click. Smart folders let you easily attach groups of related files and notes. Have Bookends rename and organize your pdfs in a central location when they are attached. Search attached pdfs from within Bookends using Spotlight. If an article is listed on PubMed, download the reference information automatically when you attach its pdf. Have Bookends locate existing pdfs on your hard drive and attach them to the corresponding references. Click on a reference and read its attached pdfs and the text in documents created by many word processors (Microsoft Word, Mellel, Apple Pages '08, Nisus Writer) or saved as RTF or HTML.


We really must get organized…

Make static groups, smart groups, virtual groups, and organize them in folders. Apply color labels and ratings. Mark references based on arbitrary criteria. Easily move references between categories. Use global operations to add keywords. Select a name, keyword, or any other item in a Term List to instantly retrieve all the corresponding references. The number of degrees of freedom is, well, liberating.


Write, cite, scan, and publish

References don't exist in a vacuum. When you are ready, insert citations and scan your manuscripts to generate finished versions ready for submission or publication, with full in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies that meet the most exacting requirements. Plug-ins let you access the power of Bookends from within Microsoft Word (including Word 2008).

The word processor Mellel is "Bookends-aware", with special features such as scanned and unscanned citation views, background citation verification, and reference syncing between collaborators, that make managing citations and bibliographies a pleasure (or at least less onerous).

Bookends can also scan manuscripts written with Nisus Writer Express or Pro via a macro, Apple Pages '08, or documents saved in RTF format by any other word processor.


Play nice with others

In addition to word processors, Bookends makes it easy to integrate your work with other applications: import references and pdfs from Safari and other browsers with drag and drop, import references directly from Mellel documents and Papers or Delicious Library databases, embed hypertext links in documents made by applications such as TextEdit, DevonThink, Scriviner, and OmniOutliner so that you can instantly switch to linked references in Bookends.

Import references from EndNote, Papyrus, and Reference Manager databases. Here are step-by-step instructions.


Do you sometimes get that syncing feeling?

Do you use references in more than one location (work, school, home)? Are you a member of group (laboratory, study group, class) and want to share a central database of related references? With database synchronizaton (sync) it's easy. Bookends lets you effortlessly keep your references and groups in sync across a local network or the Internet, so you no longer need to schlep your databases from one computer to another. Sometimes it's better to sync alike and sometimes it's better to sync different.


Serve yourself!

Bookends is also an HTTP server. This means that you can enable Bookends to respond to search queries over the Internet and have it return formatted references (such as bibliographies) to a browser on any platform (with optional password/IP address restrictions). Bookends can return tagged text files suitable for importing into other references managers. You can even let others, on any platform, easily add references to your databases.


Got iPod?

Want to take your references (including abstracts) with you? You can with Bookends. Here are the details.

Try it out for free

• You can try a fully functional (but limited to 50 references per database) version of Bookends before you buy. Download an evaluation copy of Bookends and the User Guide.

• If you decide to buy, fill out our secure order form or e-mail us. We will send you a registration number that unlocks the evaluation copy and lets you enter an unlimited number of references.

Want some independent opinions about Bookends? Try these links:

VersionTracker: Bookends       Reference Miner

MacUpdate: Bookends

Macsimum News: "'Smart Groups' make Bookends worth your time, money" (8 out of 10)

MacScience: Picked as a Reference Management Favourite

Society of Biblical Literature: Review and follow up

and read these testimonials from Bookends users.

This page was last modified: Monday June 23, 2008 at 06:45