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BeelGroup / Docear-Desktop

Docear's desktop version (GPL)
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Absolute paths in bib file break portability #479

Open GeorgLink opened 8 years ago

GeorgLink commented 8 years ago

Problem Description The file references in the bib file are absolute. This is a problem when accessing a docear project from different computers through a cloud storage, as the path for the cloud folder might be different. Using Docear portable should have the same issue, when a flash drive gets a different drive letter assigned. Opening PDF files from the mindmap works (relative path information) but not from the references (JabRef).

Desired functionality Docear works truly "portable" and files can be opened from JabRef, even if the absolute path changed.

Possible solution: Use a @ STRING in BibTex file to reference the root folder for where pdfs are stored and concatenate this with the relative folder/file names within each BibTex entry. When opening Docear, update @ STRING to the location that is valid for the current computer that is using the file.

To consider: Can JabRef handle this solution?

More information on @ STRING. https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/73293/how-to-use-string-variables-in-the-note-field-of-a-bib-file

Joeran commented 8 years ago

jabref has a setting for relative file paths image

however, i am quite sure that we tried to use relative file links but it didn't work for some reason.

but, of course, you are right, it's very inconvenient to have absolute paths in the bibtex file. so, if you find a solution that works... great :-).

GeorgLink commented 8 years ago

A reminder for later: I found a passage in our User Manual, that speaks to this issue. http://www.docear.org/support/user-manual/#Synchronizing_between_computers

It would be cool if we could include these steps in Docear and ensure portability.