Leave a Review Bookends
Great for organizing and annotating
Best of the PDF and reference managers for academics.hfancy
Outstanding
Best Reference Manager, easy to work with. Tried all others - this one easy to work with - transferred my whole library. Well done application.sidi 345
Using iOS sync across devices takes more than a day
I came to Bookends as a refugee from the once nearly perfect software Sente, which sadly went out of business. It’s been a difficult transition. Bookends overall is comparatively more wonky and less user friendly. But the biggest problem I have experienced with Bookends is the iOS sync feature. As I move frequently between devices (iPad, desktop at home, and laptop at work), I need instant sync as I pickup on a new device where I left off on an old device. As I use this for teaching and research, the timeliness of accessing highlights, PDFs, and notes matters. I have found that changes in highlights or attachments entered on one device sometimes requires 24 hours or longer to show up on the other devices. This may be out of Bookends’ hands, as it might be an iOS cloud sync issue. As an end-user, I don’t care whose fault it is because it ruins my workflow, and Bookends should address it.Show lesskopyor
Don’t Ask, Just Get It
If you are doing any sort of scholarly research, this is the reference manager. There is nothing else close. On top of that, there is Jon. Jon’s support is beyond magnificent. He’s super patient and you can ask him anything about the product. He must sleep with his computer because I don’t think I’ve waited longer than a couple of minutes to get an answer back. He gets annoyed with me sometimes, but I am an annoying person.Show lessJoeGuru
Great for searching but not organizing.
I like the search function however everything else is useless without syncing. Having to pay to transfer references from one device to the others is not functional. I would like access to my database files on the iPhone and iPad Pro. Then syncing would not matter. I am considering another application over Bookends since the syncing and citation formatting is terrible on mobile devices. The subscription model only works if there will be added features over and above the MacPC version. In this case the application is useless on mobiles. Improve the importing, exporting, and folder organization features like on the laptop version will change my review.Show lesspkjabond
Developer Response
Since you apparently use Bookends for Mac you have wi-fi sync, which will transfer references to your other iOS devices. Your other complains are too vague to understand, what improvements in import/export are you suggesting? We have a forum on our web site and a support email link in the Bookends About section for your suggestions.Best Reference Manager on the scene, but still not that good
Bookends has been the best reference manager available for macOS/iOS for a couple of years now. Still, this doesn’t mean it’s very good. The iPadOS version is actually the better one of the two. But still, it urgently needs a Status Read/Unread function, and nested folders.
It is stable and reliable, but sometimes it can make you want to scream in frustration because the workflow/UI design is so poor.
The macOS version is dated with a clunky interface. It badly needs a total UI revamp. Also, it should be on the Mac App Store, so you can leave a review!
I really want Bookends to work well. I would happily pay more across all platform.Show lessva.....av
Shortcut APA 7th support please
Now the shortcut only supports APA 6th😥ixland
Dropped endnote and didn’t look back.
After seemingly endless glitches and incompatibilities of endnote, I switched to Papers, by Mek & Tosj. Later bought and merged into an almost nonfunctional beta, I had to let it go and transfer my library to a new reference manager (always painful) that would play well with office365. Of the options available, I chose bookends for three reasons. First, very responsive support; support was never high on my list of cool features with either endnote or papers, but bookends changed my view of how nice it is to be an appreciated customer. Second, I frequently shift my writing between my MacBook and iPad Pro, and bookends syncs well and supports this type of workflow. Third, Bookends is a great reference manager and doesn’t try too hard to do too many things beyond that purpose....i.e. it’s not bloatware.Show lesssasha_nola
Great reference manager for iOS
For capturing references and getting the PDF when available on the go, this app is excellent._NM_
Extremely good reference manager
I’m an academic and have used bookends religiously for years. It’s fantastic for annotation and sorting and cataloguing, just all around excellent.Ryan14632
