looking for software to manage growing collection of PDF articles

I'm looking for software to help my manage my collection of PDF articles. Is there something that can allow me to srt these, keep notes of thier contents, and then directly access the file. I was doing this in filemaker before but it wasn't as effecient as i would hope and i'm not in a rush to learn real databasing.

I have been looking for a similar program, but have not been able to find one. I have actually been looking to make one myself, using Qt4.

I am not a professional level programmer, so I am not suggesting that I could make one for you. But what exactly are you looking for.

A program that can sort pdf's by its name and date (anything else) keep notes on their contents (would the note be opened in a different window?) and directly access their files sounds like a good exercise for me.

If you could indulge me and give me some specifics, I would really appreciate it. As it would give me something to do.

Thanks!

Look at the following

JabRef http://jabref.sourceforge.net/

Referencer http://icculus.org/referencer/

Mendeley Desktop http://www.mendeley.com/

The last one is my favorite but it is still under development.

Whoa, mendeley desktop looks awesome!

I have been using JabRef for sometime now, no problems what so ever, easy searching, easy import via web of science or sciencedirect!

You could always just drop them into a folder and index them with Tracker. :)

I am using Bibus for this. It is a bibliographic database that integrates well with OOo writer, allowing cite-while-you-write. If you fill out the path where your PDF is stored (local or on a server), you can immediately open the PDF by righ-clicking on the reference.

You could also use Zotero for this. Zotero is bibliographic management software that actually is a firefox plugin. The strength of Zotero is that it can import record data very easily from several web resources. You can attach as many PDF's or other documents to a record that then can also be opened from within the application.

Zotero also supports cite while youwrite via a writer plugin. You may find that this is all you need, and more. For me, I found that Zotero becomes somewhat slower with my large collection (3000+ records), while Bibus still handles this in a snapp way. That is why I decided to continue with Bibus. I use Zotero for importing references from websites, which can then be conveniently exported as ris or bibtex for import in Bibus.

I've been using Mendeley for a little over a week now. I'm really impressed with it. It's a PDF management tool, not a bibliography management tool like JabRef (which I still use for bibliographies), or other aforementioned bibliography management tools.

If you want to manage a collection of PDF files not just for yourself, but for a small group, for another option you can also check out Librarian.

Thanks everybody for the quick response. I'm going to try jabref. It seems like the best solution for me.

Crash.hm said: I'm looking for software to help my manage my collection of PDF articles. Is there something that can allow me to srt these, keep notes of thier contents, and then directly access the file. I was doing this in filemaker before but it wasn't as effecient as i would hope and i'm not in a rush to learn real databasing.

Well maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but Zotero is supposedly very good. It integrates into Firefox.

Do the repositories for Mendeley work for you?

Problem solved. I haven't payed attention to the space between the URL and the trailing /.

I am looking for something like "Delicious Library" that is available for Macs. I am liking whats being offered by Mendeley, but its just too heavy for me who does read a bit of the scientific papers but reads a lot of other stuff. Its a matter of the UI, but there I am. :p

edit

Just installed Mendeley, but it takes too much CPU, so my fan becomes too noisy, and i really afraid of making harm to my laptop. Maybe somebody can advise a command to run with limited cpu resources?

somehing like 'nice', maybe?

Thanks.

Method X said: Just installed Mendeley, but it takes too much CPU, so my fan becomes too noisy, and i really afraid of making harm to my laptop.

Maybe somebody can advise a command to run with limited cpu resources?

somehing like 'nice', maybe?

Thanks.

I don't doubt that your experiencing this, however in my experience my processor usage barely blips after Mendeley is opened, something sounds strange here. I'm not sure what to suggest, contact Mendeley?

earlycj5 said: I don't doubt that your experiencing this, however in my experience my processor usage barely blips after Mendeley is opened, something sounds strange here.

same for me.

earlycj5 said: I don't doubt that your experiencing this, however in my experience my processor usage barely blips after Mendeley is opened, something sounds strange here. I'm not sure what to suggest, contact Mendeley?

Composing right now ;)