Folder properties

When you create a new folder, or go to "File | Folders | Folder Properties", the folder properties window will be shown.

• Name: Enter the folder name here. For an existing folder, you can change its name.
• Type: You can only select a folder type when creating a new folder. For an existing folder, this control will be disabled.
• ID: The folder ID number will be shown.
• Location: The current folder's full path will be displayed here.
• Description: You can enter any text to this field about the current folder. It could be a summary, a comment, or a reminder about this folder.
• Mark: Check this box will allow you to select a color flag to mark the current folder.
• Link Folder: This check box is only displayed when creating a new folder. Check it to create a new link folder. If unchecked, a regular folder will be created. For an existing regular folder, this check box is not displayed. For an existing link folder, this check box is displayed but disabled.
• Created by: It will list the user who created this folder, and when this folder was created.
• Modified by: It will list the user who last modifed this folder, and the date it was last modified.
• Web post hide: This check box is not displayed for a virtual folder (search folder and link folder). For a regular folder, if you check this box, all records under this folder will be marked "Web post hide". When you add new records to this folder, the records will also be marked as "Web post hide". If you uncheck this box, "Web post mark" will be removed from all records under this folder. But you can still mark individual records under this folder as "Web post hide" in the future.

Link folders

Like search folders, link folders are virtual folder. It doesn't contain records. A link folder just contain links pointing to the records. In the folder tree, there will be a link icon in the search folder column to indicate that it is a link folder. Unlike search folders, you can drag and drop records into a link folder. Biblioscape will automatically create a link between the link folder and the dropped records. Next time you click on the link folder, all those linked records will be retrieved. So it can be used as a tool to organize records for different purposes.

To create a link folder, go to "File | Folders | New Folder", check the box "Link Folder". Once a link folder is created, you cannot change it to a regular folder. To add records to a link folder, select records and drag drop it to the link folder. To remove records from a link folder, select records and click the right mouse button and select "Remove from Folder".

Link folder vs tagging with categories

They both can be used to organize records in a tree structure. For most people tagging with categories is the best option. The same category can be used to tag records across different modules. Only in cases when you need to use the same in tree strcuture for organizing, link folder will have the advantage. For example, if you need to create two items "Japan" and "Korea" at the top level, then add "History" and "Education" under both "Japan" and "Korea". This scheme will not work with tagging. Because tagging requres each entry must have a unique name. So you have to change "History" under "Japan" to "History Japan". If you want to keep the original scheme, you have to use link folder. Link folder doesn't require the use of unique names.

Quick Find

Biblioscape supports Quick Find by typing letters when a listview or a treeview of records is active. The current record will jump to the one that best match what you have typed within 2 seconds. For example, if there are 200 records in the categories pane and you want to select the category "UN", you can type letter "u". Biblioscape will jump to the category "UN". If there is another category "US" and you want to jump to it, you have to type letter "u" and then letter "s" within 2 seconds you typed letter "u". Otherwise, Biblioscape will jump to the first category that start with letter "S". The searching in Quick Find is case insensitive.

Quick Find is supported in the categories pane, as well as the main treeview or listview in all modules. To use Quick Find, please make sure the listview or treeview control has the focus. If not, select any record in the list to to make it the currently focused control and then start typing.

Search folders

Search folders are saved queries. In the folder tree, there will be a search icon in the search folder column to indicate that it is a search folder. Since a search folder is not a true folder, you cannot drag and drop records into it. When you click on a search folder, Biblioscape will run the query and display the results. Search folders cannot be used to organize your records, they are designed to make your often-used queries easier to access.

You can turn any query into a search folder easily by clicking the "Add search to folder" button at the top of the search pane. Once clicked, select a folder in the prompt window. The new search folder will be created next to the selected folder. Biblioscape will then prompt you to enter a name for the newly-created search folder.

Inherit parent search properties

Biblioscape can make a search folder inherit search properties of its parent. For example, you have a search folder to retrieve all references that are published in 1998. If you drag this search folder under another folder, only references published in 1998 from that folder will be retrieved. A search folder will not only inherit from its immediatly parent, the inheritance goes all the way to the top level folder. With this feature, you can build complicated queries very easily by just drag and drop of search folders. This feature is turned on by default. If you want to disable it, please go to the "Tools | Options" window. On the "General Display" tab, check off the box "Search folder inherits parent properties".

Searching for records

All searching tools are grouped under the search pane in Biblioscape. The followings 3 tabs are available to all modules: Search, Lookup, and Categories. The search tab is likely to be the most often-used one, because your search words will be highlighted in the preview box on the search tab. The Lookup tab gives you an overview of your database records makeup. The Categories tab functions not only as a tagging tool, but also can be used to find relevant records easily.

Fast search

Fast search is a full text search. You enter search words or phrases to find records containing the words entered into the search box. Search words will be highlighted in different colors (other text is underlined and hyperlinked, but at present the hyperlinks are inactive). Since fast search is based on indexed words, it can return search results instantly even when your database becomes very large with tens of thousands of records. Biblioscape searches the entire database. If there are too many hits, you can click the "Refine fast search" button and add additional conditions. For example, you can limit hits to be from certain folders, tagged with certain categories, etc.

Advanced search

Advanced search is an SQL query builder. You can limit searching to a field and combine several searches with logical operators. For example, you can define a query to find references with "boron" in the keywords field and created before 2007-01-01.

Lookup

Lookup lists all references by field. In the drop-down box, select the field you are interested in. Lookup lists all values of that field; for example, if you select "Authors", all authors are listed. Double-clicking on any of the values shows the references with that value. For example, double-clicking "Einstein, A." lists all references with that author.

Categories

Categories are used to classify your records. You can use it to organize your references, notes, etc. in many dimensions. You can simply drag and drop records into a category to tag it. The next time you click on that category, all those records that are tagged before will be automatically retrieved in the main display. So categories can be seen as a searching tool as well. When you hold down the Ctrl key while selecting categories, all the records tagged by selected categories will be displayed. You can also hold down Alt key first, then the Ctrl key, as you select several categories, only those records that have been tagged by those selected categories will be displayed. This is a very convenient way to retrieve relevant records.

Search across modules

In rare occasions, you may want to search across all modules. There are two ways to do this. First, you can use the cross module search. Simply type your search string in the "Look for:" box next to the main menu. Biblioscape will run Fast Search across all modules including references, notes, tasks, charts, categories, deleted, and links. All the hits will be displayed in the same window on different tabs. Second, you can use the same categories to tag records from different modules. When you go to the categories module, all the tagged records from different modules, will be displayed together. This is a really convenient way to find relevant records across modules.

Using categories

Categories is used as a tagging tool in Biblioscape. Although folders is the primary organizing tool in Biblioscape, categories is more flexible. Since a record can only exist in one folder, folders is best used to divide your records into big domains. There is no such limitation for categories. You can use categories to organize your records in many dimensions. The same record can be tagged by many categories. Click here to see a detailed comparison between folders and categories. All the basic features in categories module can be accessed from the categories pane on the right of each module. To ogranize your records by categories, you don't need the categories module. The categories pane on the right is all what you need to create, delete, edit, search, organize categories and tag records in other modules.

Create a category

Go to the categories pane by clicking on the Categories tab on the right. Click the right mouse button and select "New Category". Start typing to enter the category name, and press the Enter key once you are finished.

To create a child category, first select the category where the new child category will be created under. Click the right mouse button and select "New Child Category".

Delete a category

On the categories pane, select the category you want to delete, then click the right mouse button and select "Delete Category". You will be prompted "Do you want to remove the deleted category from all the records that are tagged with it?". If you click Yes, this category will be removed from all the records that have been tagged with it. If you click No, only the category itself will be put into the Recycle bin, while it will still remain as a tag in all those records. You can delete more than one category at once by selecting multiple categories first.

Rename a category

To rename an existing category, select the category you want to rename, and click the category again. The selected category’s name will be changed into edit mode; you can then type in the new name and press the Enter key.

Move category left

You can select a category item and drag it around, but it is not possible to move it to the root level in this way. To do this, click the right mouse button and select 'Move Folder Left".

Set category color

You can assign a color to the select category by clicking the right mouse button and select "Color". A sub-menu will appear. You can then chose a color from the list.

Once you have assigned a color to a category, all the records that have been tagged with this category will be shown in this color in the colored category column.

Expand and collapse the categories tree

You can expand a categories tree by clicking on the "+" button, or by pressing the right arrow key. You can collapse a categories tree by clicking on the "-" button, or by pressing the left arrow key. To expland all the sub-trees, click the right mouse button and select "Expand All". To collapse all the sub-trees, click the right mouse button and select "Collapse All".

Search tagged records

• Single selection: When you click on a category item, all records that have been tagged with this category will be automatically retrieved.
• Multiple selection with OR: When you hold down the Ctrl key and select more than one categories, Biblioscape will retrieve all records that are tagged with each selected category. In other words, the "OR" operator is applied between each selection.
• Multiple selection with AND: When you hold down the Alt key first, then hold down the Ctrl key, and select more than one categories, Biblioscape will retrieve only those records are tagged by all selected categories. In other words, the "AND" operator is applied between each selection.

Using folders

In Biblioscape, all records are stored in folders. A folder may contain many records, but a record can only be in one folder. Folders can be named and organized for different purposes. For example, references are usually collected for a specific project, task, topic, or interest, so it is only natural to organize them this way. Biblioscape allows you to organize your references into different folders. When you add a new reference, it is put into the currently opened folder. Folders are the easiest way to get your references organized. You can create sub-folders, rearrange the folder tree by drag and drop, rename a folder, etc. There are also other ways to organize references such as search folders, and categories. Click here to see the difference between folders and categories.

Create a folder

To create a new folder, click the menu command “File | Folder | New Folder”. You can also create a folder with the right mouse button. First select a folder where you want to create a new folder at the same level. Click the right mouse button to bring up a popup menu, and click "New Folder". The folder properties window will be shown. First enter your folder name. By default the folder type is set according to the last selected folder. You can change the type now. However, once a folder is created, you can no longer change its type. A references folder can only contain reference records; it cannot contain records from other modules (e.g. notes or tasks). You can add a short description about your folder if needed. A folder can also be marked with a color flag. If the box "Web post hide" is checked, none of the records under this folder will be shown on the Web when your database is published on the Web using BiblioWeb.

To create a child folder, first select the folder where the new child folder will be created under. Click the menu command “File | Folder | New Child Folder”. You can also create a child folder with the right mouse button. First select a folder where the new child folder will be created. Click the right mouse button to bring up a popup menu, click "New Child Folder".

Delete a folder

On the folder view, select the folder you want to delete, then click the menu command “File | Folder | Delete Folder”. If the folder is not empty, Biblioscape will ask you if you want to delete all the records under that folder. If you answer “Yes”, all the records under that folder will be moved into the Recycle Bin. The folder itself will not be put into the recycle bin. It will be permanently deleted.

Rename a folder

To rename an existing folder, select the folder you want to rename, and click the menu command “File | Folder | Rename Folder”. The selected folder’s name will be changed into edit mode; you can then type in the new name and press the Enter key. You can also click the folder twice to change it into the edit mode, then edit the folder name and press the Enter key.

Change folder properties

The folder properties window can be brought up by selecting the menu command "File | Folder | Folder Properties". Or you can select a folder, click the right mouse button and select "Properties". You can then make changes and click the OK button to save.

Move records into a folder

First, you can only move records to a folder of the same module. For example, you can only move tasks records to a tasks folder. Select the records you want to move, then drag and drop them to the folder of the same module.

Sort folders

By default, folders at the same level are sorted by their date of creation. This order of display can be changed by dragging and dropping while holding down the Alt key. If you drag record A on top of record B, A will become the child of B. But if you drag A to B while holding down the Alt Key, A will be moved above B in the same tree level. If you need to sort the folders in other than the default order, just click the column header. When folders are sorted, a check mark will be displayed in the column header. Clicking it again will reverse the alphabetical sorting. To remove the sorting, you can go to the menu command "File | Folder | Remove Sorting".

Move folder left to root level

You can select an folder item and drag it around, but it is not possible to move it to the root level in this way. To do this, go to the menu command "File | Folder | Move Folder Left".

Customize folder view

By default, only two columns (folder name and search folder icon) are displayed in the folder tree. If you want to display more columns, go to "File | Folder | Field Chooser...". Then drag and drop a column from the box to the folder tree. If you want to remove a column from the folder tree, just drag and drop it in the opposite direction.

Filter folders

Biblioscape comes with several filters you can apply to the folders view. Go to the menu command "File | Folder | Show Filter Pane". You can select the filter "References only" if you want to display references folders only. Click the Edit filters button if you want to define your own filter or edit an existing one. Click the cross icon button to hide the filter pane.

Select more than one folder

You can hold down the Ctrl key and select more than one folder of the same module. Biblioscape will retrieve all the records from selected folders. If you hold down the Alt key first, then hold down the Ctrl key and select more than one folder, Biblioscape will retrieve records that satisfy all the search conditions. This operation will yield 0 record if two regular folders are selected. If you select two search folders, or one search folder plus one regular folder, you can retrieve records that can satisfy both search conditions.