ScienceWeblog:Papers vs Mendeley - Revision history

Seth: /* original article */

2011-07-19T17:20:56Z

‎original article

Seth at 17:20, 19 July 2011

2011-07-19T17:20:14Z

Seth at 17:19, 19 July 2011

2011-07-19T17:19:47Z

Mother Nature: moved Weblog:Papers vs Mendeley to ScienceWeblog:Papers vs Mendeley

2011-03-24T11:47:13Z

moved Weblog:Papers vs Mendeley to ScienceWeblog:Papers vs Mendeley

Seth at 10:47, 27 December 2010

2010-12-27T10:47:06Z

Seth at 10:42, 27 December 2010

2010-12-27T10:42:30Z

Seth at 10:35, 27 December 2010

2010-12-27T10:35:18Z

Seth: Created page with 'Papers and Mendeley are two PDF viewer/organizers crafted for scientific publication. I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that you give …'

2010-12-27T10:23:22Z

Created page with 'Papers and Mendeley are two PDF viewer/organizers crafted for scientific publication. I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that you give …'

New page

Papers and Mendeley are two PDF viewer/organizers crafted for scientific publication. I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that
you give Papers a try over Mendeley. It must be purchased after 30 days, but is totally worth it. I use it to take all of my notes,
build all of my reference lists, and of course keep all of my papers.
When I want ideas for a paper I'm writing, I look at what I've already
written on the article. When I want to know what journals to submit
to, I sort my paper collection by journal to see what I read the most
in what category. When I want to know what Japanese researcher to
work with this summer, I type in the word Japan to search PDFs, notes, journal titles, and whatever else to see what
institutions I am reading work from. When I am writing a paper, I collect everything relevant to it in a folder. When I want the bibtex for that library of papers, I export it (though I've had to use Bibdesk as an intermediary to clean the .tex). When I want to share a paper, I drag it into
Gmail.

At this point Mendeley does some things better (it is currently better
with bibtex, it stores non-PDFs, it is cross platform) and some things
worse (search is + better in Papers, note taking is ++ better, reading
is ++, interface is +++, speed is ++ or +++) and some things just
different (the way the two handle auto filling of metadata, Mendeley's
social network thing).

Until a week or so ago I was a little concerned that my preference for
Papers over Mendeley was just the sunk costs speaking. It would be
really hard to switch at this point. But I tried anyway and moved my
entire paper collection over. I gave Mendeley a really fair try, and
came out decisively in favor of Papers. No more regret. Plus the
developers are very transparent about their future plans and it looks
like my biggest qualms with the software are on their short list. I
know it costs money ($40 after 30 days), and Mendeley doesn't, but I
also know that the Mendeley folks are crippling certain features so
that they can start charging soo as well.

So yeah, Papers by mekentosj is worth a try.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 I wrote this before Papers2 and any Mendeley updates.  In the meantime they've both come up a long way.  I can't speak as well for Mendeley except that I saw it recently, briefly over someone's shoulder and it looked flashier---less like straight Java.  Papers2 fixes all the relative weaknesses below, except that it is still Mac only.  And since release, about two months ago, they've released eight updates.  That said, I've used few of its newest features.  And below, where I said I've only bought Papers once.  Well, I've bought it twice now (heavily discounted).
-===original article===
+===original post===
 [http://mekentosj.com/papers/ Papers] and [http://www.mendeley.com/ Mendeley] are two competing PDF viewer/organizers intended for scientists.  I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that
 you give Papers a try over Mendeley.  It must be purchased after 30 days, but is totally worth it.  I use it to take all of my notes,

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''update'''
+===update===
 I wrote this before Papers2 and any Mendeley updates.  In the meantime they've both come up a long way.  I can't speak as well for Mendeley except that I saw it recently, briefly over someone's shoulder and it looked flashier---less like straight Java.  Papers2 fixes all the relative weaknesses below, except that it is still Mac only.  And since release, about two months ago, they've released eight updates.  That said, I've used few of its newest features.  And below, where I said I've only bought Papers once.  Well, I've bought it twice now (heavily discounted).
-'''original'''
+===original article===
 [http://mekentosj.com/papers/ Papers] and [http://www.mendeley.com/ Mendeley] are two competing PDF viewer/organizers intended for scientists.  I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that
 you give Papers a try over Mendeley.  It must be purchased after 30 days, but is totally worth it.  I use it to take all of my notes,

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:19, 19 July 2011
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	'''update'''
		+	I wrote this before Papers2 and any Mendeley updates. In the meantime they've both come up a long way. I can't speak as well for Mendeley except that I saw it recently, briefly over someone's shoulder and it looked flashier---less like straight Java. Papers2 fixes all the relative weaknesses below, except that it is still Mac only. And since release, about two months ago, they've released eight updates. That said, I've used few of its newest features. And below, where I said I've only bought Papers once. Well, I've bought it twice now (heavily discounted).
		+
		+	'''original'''
	[http://mekentosj.com/papers/ Papers] and [http://www.mendeley.com/ Mendeley] are two competing PDF viewer/organizers intended for scientists. I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that		[http://mekentosj.com/papers/ Papers] and [http://www.mendeley.com/ Mendeley] are two competing PDF viewer/organizers intended for scientists. I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that
	you give Papers a try over Mendeley. It must be purchased after 30 days, but is totally worth it. I use it to take all of my notes,		you give Papers a try over Mendeley. It must be purchased after 30 days, but is totally worth it. I use it to take all of my notes,

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 *free (but not necc. for long, see below)
-Papers also does  some things better than Mendeley
+Papers also does  some things better than Mendeley.  In my opinion
 *search is + better in Papers,
 *note taking is ++ better,
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 different:
 *the way they  handle auto-filling of metadata and
-*Mendeley's social network thing (I'm not going to go ahead and call it an advantage.  I tried it this summer, and it is currently too crippled to be as useful as I'd like).
+*Mendeley's social network thing (I'm not going to go ahead and call it an advantage just because it has the words ''social'' and ''network''.  I tried it this summer, and it is currently too crippled to be as useful as I'd like).
 Until a week or so ago I was a little concerned that my preference for
-Papers over Mendeley was just the sunk costs speaking.  It would be
+Papers over Mendeley was just the sunk costs speaking.  It is hard to switch once you have invested so much time into your notes, which I don't think are easily transferable.  I tried anyway and moved my
-really hard to switch at this point.  But I tried anyway and moved my
 entire paper collection over.  I gave Mendeley a really fair try, and
 came out decisively in favor of Papers.  No more regret.
 Regarding the downsides,  the
-developers are fairly transparent about their future plans and it looks
+developers are fairly transparent about their future plans in the forums and it looks
 like my biggest qualms with the software are on their todo list.  Updates come out about once every six months.  I
 know it costs money ($40 after a 30 day free trial), and Mendeley doesn't, but I
 also know that the Mendeley folks are crippling certain features so
-that they can start charging soon as well.  Even worse, their plan is for a subscription service, which means that to get the most of Mendeley, you will have to keep buying it every month.  They said so in an email to me.   I only bought Papers once.
+that they can start charging soon as well.  Even worse, their plan is for a subscription service, which means that to get the most of Mendeley, you will have to keep buying it every month.  They said so in an email to me.   I'm not sure what the subscription will unlock, but I'd guess that every currently free feature will stay free.  Regardless, I only bought Papers once.
 So yeah, consider Papers by mekentosj.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 At this point Mendeley does some things better than Papers.  It is currently
-*better
+*better suited for people who write in tex (Paper's accommodation of metadata is a little weak),
-suited for people who write in tex (Paper's accommodation of metadata is a little weak),
+*it stores non-PDFs,
-*it stores non-PDFs
+*it is cross platform, and
-*it is cross platform
+*free (but not necc. for long, see below)
 *free
 Papers also does  some things better than Mendeley
 *search is + better in Papers,
 *note taking is ++ better,
-*reading
+*reading is ++,
 is ++,
 *interface is +++, and
 *speed is ++ or +++)
@@ Line 28: / Line 26: @@
 There are also ways that the two are  just
 different:
-*the way they  handle auto-filling of metadata
+*the way they  handle auto-filling of metadata and
-*Mendeley's
+*Mendeley's social network thing (I'm not going to go ahead and call it an advantage.  I tried it this summer, and it is currently too crippled to be as useful as I'd like).
 social network thing.
 Until a week or so ago I was a little concerned that my preference for
@@ Line 43: / Line 40: @@
 know it costs money ($40 after a 30 day free trial), and Mendeley doesn't, but I
 also know that the Mendeley folks are crippling certain features so
-that they can start charging soon as well.  So the free-ness of Mendeley, and its advantages, may not last.
+that they can start charging soon as well.  Even worse, their plan is for a subscription service, which means that to get the most of Mendeley, you will have to keep buying it every month.  They said so in an email to me.   I only bought Papers once.
-So yeah, Papers by mekentosj is worth a try.
+So yeah, consider Papers by mekentosj.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Papers and Mendeley are two PDF viewer/organizers crafted for scientific publication.  I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that
+[http://mekentosj.com/papers/ Papers] and [http://www.mendeley.com/ Mendeley] are two competing PDF viewer/organizers intended for scientists.  I've never really bought much software, but if you are on a Mac, I recommend that
 you give Papers a try over Mendeley.  It must be purchased after 30 days, but is totally worth it.  I use it to take all of my notes,
-build all of my reference lists, and of course keep all of my papers.
+build all of my reference lists, and of course organize all of my papers.
- When I want ideas for a paper I'm writing, I look at what I've already
 written on the article.  When I want to know what journals to submit
 to, I sort my paper collection by journal to see what I read the most
@@ Line 10: / Line 11: @@
 Gmail.
-At this point Mendeley does some things better (it is currently better
+At this point Mendeley does some things better than Papers.  It is currently
-with bibtex, it stores non-PDFs, it is cross platform) and some things
+*better
-worse (search is + better in Papers, note taking is ++ better, reading
+suited for people who write in tex (Paper's accommodation of metadata is a little weak),
-is ++, interface is +++, speed is ++ or +++) and some things just
+*it stores non-PDFs
-different (the way the two handle auto filling of metadata, Mendeley's
+*it is cross platform
-social network thing).
+*free
 Until a week or so ago I was a little concerned that my preference for
@@ Line 21: / Line 36: @@
 really hard to switch at this point.  But I tried anyway and moved my
 entire paper collection over.  I gave Mendeley a really fair try, and
-came out decisively in favor of Papers.  No more regret.  Plus the
+came out decisively in favor of Papers.  No more regret.
-developers are very transparent about their future plans and it looks
-like my biggest qualms with the software are on their short list.  I
+Regarding the downsides,  the
-know it costs money ($40 after 30 days), and Mendeley doesn't, but I
+developers are fairly transparent about their future plans and it looks
 also know that the Mendeley folks are crippling certain features so
-that they can start charging soo as well.
+that they can start charging soon as well.  So the free-ness of Mendeley, and its advantages, may not last.
 So yeah, Papers by mekentosj is worth a try.