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BibDesk is an
open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
reference management software Reference management software, citation management software, or bibliographic management software is software for scholars and authors to use for recording and utilising bibliographic citations (references) as well as managing project reference ...
package for
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, used to manage
bibliographies Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
and
reference Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' ...
s when writing essays and articles. It can also be used to organize and maintain a library of documents in
PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
format and other formats. It is primarily a
BibTeX BibTeX is reference management software for formatting lists of references. The BibTeX tool is typically used together with the LaTeX document preparation system. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The name is a portmanteau ...
front-end for use with
LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
, but also offers external
bibliographic database A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, p ...
connectivity for importing, a variety of means for exporting, and capability for linking to local documents and automatically filing local documents. It takes advantage of many macOS features such as
AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control over scriptable Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in all versions of macOS as part of a package of system automa ...
and
Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...
. First launched publicly in 2002, BibDesk is under continuing development by various contributors via
SourceForge SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirrorin ...
. The original developer was Michael McCracken, and much of the code has subsequently been written by Adam Maxwell and Christiaan Hofman. Also available directly from SourceForge, it is currently bundled with the
MacTeX MacTeX is a free redistribution of TeX Live, a typesetting environment based on TeX. While TeX Live is designed to be cross-platform (running on Unix, macOS, and Windows), MacTeX includes Mac-specific utilities and front-ends (such as TeXShop an ...
distribution of
TeX Live TeX Live is a cross-platform, free software distribution for the TeX typesetting system that includes major TeX-related programs, macro packages, and fonts. It is the replacement of its no-longer supported counterpart teTeX. It is now the def ...
.


Features

BibDesk offers an
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
-like
Cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
-based
graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
for creating, editing, managing, and searching BibTeX databases. It supports BibTeX features such as macros and crossrefs.


Importing

Users can add new items to a BibTeX database, and copy items between databases, by dragging or pasting, or by using one of the included macOS
services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
. BibDesk enables one-click importing of items from several kinds of ''external groups'': *''Search groups'' retrieve items from external
bibliographic database A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, p ...
s, such as
PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...
, the U.S.
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, Web of Science, or any other database searchable via the Z39.50 or
Entrez The Entrez (pronounced ''ɒnˈtreɪ'') Global Query Cross-Database Search System is a federated search engine, or web portal that allows users to search many discrete health sciences databases at the National Center for Biotechnology Information ...
protocols. BibDesk enables one-click importing of references to articles and books listed in these databases and library catalogs. *The ''Web group'' displays a built-in
WebKit WebKit is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as on the iOS and iPadOS version of any web browser. WebKit is also used by the BlackBerry Browser, PlayStation consoles beginning from the PS ...
browser that recognizes bibliographic entries on some web pages (such as
Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
,
arXiv arXiv (pronounced "archive"—the X represents the Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not peer review. It consists of ...
,
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
,
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
, and Wikipedia) and harvests them (using
COinS A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...
, hCite
microformat Microformats (μF) are a set of defined HTML classes created to serve as consistent and descriptive metadata about an element, designating it as representing a certain type of data (such as contact information, geographic coordinates, events ...
, or BibTeX) for easy searching and single-click import. *''External file groups'' retrieve items from a remote URL on the Internet or from a local file. *''Shared groups'' contain items that other BibDesk users share on the local network, discovered using
Bonjour Bonjour is a French word meaning (literally translated) "good day", and is commonly used as a greeting. Bonjour may also refer to: People * Laurence BonJour (born 1943), epistemologist and professor of philosophy at the University of Washington ...
, similar to local sharing of music in iTunes. *''Script groups'' generate their items using any script, either a
shell script A shell script is a computer program designed to be run by a Unix shell, a command-line interpreter. The various dialects of shell scripts are considered to be scripting languages. Typical operations performed by shell scripts include file manip ...
or an
AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control over scriptable Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in all versions of macOS as part of a package of system automa ...
, that returns valid BibTeX or any other text format that BibDesk can import. BibDesk can also import records in RIS format. It can import from other formats with the help of command-line conversion tools such as BibUtils. In addition, users can combine the
Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and ...
extensions
Zotero Zotero () is a free and open-source software, free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials, such as Portable Document Format, PDF files. Features include web browser integration, ...
and Zot2Bib to do one-click importing of references from Firefox to BibDesk using Zotero's ability to harvest references from a wider variety of websites.


Organizing

BibDesk permits articles residing on a user's computer to be linked to BibDesk database entries via
drag and drop In computer graphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to ...
or a menu command or scripting, and BibDesk can optionally auto-file linked PDFs or other external files into a user-specifiable folder. There is a graphical interface for managing custom database fields, as well as a variety of ways to annotate citations. Within BibDesk, references can be organized in groups and smart groups (similar to playlists and smart playlists in iTunes), and in field groups (a simple kind of smart group based on database fields). Multiple groups can be selected to display a list of references in any group (
union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
) or in all groups ( intersection).


Citing

References can be cited in any document by
copy and paste In human–computer interaction and user interface design, cut, copy, and paste are related commands that offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The ''cut'' command removes ...
or drag and drop from BibDesk, or via a macOS service. A custom
URI scheme A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a unique sequence of characters that identifies a logical or physical resource used by web technologies. URIs may be used to identify anything, including real-world objects, such as people and places, conc ...
, x-bdsk://citekey, allows
hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text wit ...
ing to BibDesk references from any other application. In addition, a reference can be opened quickly in BibDesk by first selecting any cite key in a LaTeX document or other text document and then using the provided macOS service "Show Reference With Cite Key" (which, like all services, can be assigned a custom
keyboard shortcut computing, a keyboard shortcut also known as hotkey is a series of one or several keys to quickly invoke a software program or perform a preprogrammed action. This action may be part of the standard functionality of the operating system or ...
). Cite key
autocomplete Autocomplete, or word completion, is a feature in which an application predicts the rest of a word a user is typing. In Android and iOS smartphones, this is called predictive text. In graphical user interfaces, users can typically press the tab ...
is available in some applications (including
TeXShop TeXShop is a free LaTeX and TeX editor and previewer for macOS. It is licensed under the GNU GPL. Details TeXShop was developed by American mathematician Richard Koch. It was modeled on NeXTstep's bundled TeXview.app and developed for the then ...
) via a macOS service.


Searching

A quick search field permits searching any field in a database, or any associated
PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
annotations created in Skim (an open-source PDF reader created by BibDesk's developers), or the entire content of any linked external files. A more detailed "find and replace" window allows finding and replacing text in any field, with support for
regular expression A regular expression (shortened as regex or regexp; sometimes referred to as rational expression) is a sequence of characters that specifies a search pattern in text. Usually such patterns are used by string-searching algorithms for "find" or ...
s. The entries of any BibTeX database that has been opened and saved in BibDesk are made accessible to
Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...
searches anywhere in macOS, so any system-wide Spotlight searches will also search title, author, abstract, and keywords fields of BibDesk databases. Individual references are listed in Spotlight and, when opened, will be selected in BibDesk. BibDesk database entries can also be searched with some other macOS applications such as
Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...
and DEVONthink.


Exporting

References can be exported via a menu command, cut and paste, drag and drop, or a macOS service. Although it was created to import and export in BibTeX format for use in LaTeX documents, BibDesk has a built-in graphical editor for creating custom export templates using
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
's key-value coding, which the user can program to export selected references in any citation style or in any structured text format. Sample templates are included for
plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects (floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a limit ...
, RTF,
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
,
RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...
, and some other
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
formats, and other templates are available on the BibDesk wiki. BibDesk can format entire bibliographies internally either via previews that use BibDesk's export templates or via previews of LaTeX output. In its previews of LaTeX output, BibDesk can automatically produce citations in any of the basic BibTeX styles or in any style for which the user has a BibTeX style (.bst) file. BibDesk does not itself contain citation styles (such as APA, MLA,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
) and does not support
Citation Style Language The Citation Style Language (CSL) is an open XML-based language to describe the formatting of citations and bibliographies. Reference management programs using CSL include Zotero, Mendeley and Papers. The Pandoc lightweight document conversion s ...
(CSL). Users who wish to use BibDesk but need to use CSL can export a BibTeX file to another application that supports CSL, such as
Zotero Zotero () is a free and open-source software, free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials, such as Portable Document Format, PDF files. Features include web browser integration, ...
, or
Pandoc Pandoc is a free-software document converter, widely used as a writing tool (especially by scholars)- - - and as a basis for publishing workflows. It was created by John MacFarlane, a philosophy professor at the University of California, Berke ...
, which when combined with
Markdown Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. John Gruber and Aaron Swartz created Markdown in 2004 as a markup language that is appealing to human readers in its source code form. Markdown is ...
can also serve as a simpler alternative to LaTeX for producing academic writing.


Scripting

BibDesk offers automation using
AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control over scriptable Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in all versions of macOS as part of a package of system automa ...
, and using other scripting languages via AppleScript. Example scripts are available on the BibDesk wiki and elsewhere.


System requirements

The following table shows which version of BibDesk is compatible with each version of macOS.


See also

*
Comparison of reference management software The following tables compare notable reference management software. The comparison includes older applications that may no longer be supported, as well as actively-maintained software. General In the "notes" section, there is a difference betwe ...
compares BibDesk to other software * List of Macintosh software *
Personal knowledge management Personal knowledge management (PKM) is a process of collecting information that a person uses to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve and share knowledge in their daily activities and the way in which these processes support work activitie ...


References


Further reading

* Th
BibDesk manual
says: "If your questions aren't answered in this help file, the bibdesk-users mailing list may have an answer. Your question may have been answered already, so you can check th
list archives
to get instant gratification." * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{Reference management software Free BibTeX software Free reference management software Free software programmed in C Free software programmed in Objective-C MacOS-only free software Personal information manager software for macOS Reference management software Software using the BSD license TeX SourceForge projects