Is Yep (PDF Organizer) worthy ?

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Yep users,

The new MUpromo offer contains Yep. I am looking for
a PDF organizer and maybe now it is my chance.

Does Yep search inside files ?
Also, is Yep capable of finding PDFs using logical words ? For instance,
imagine that the filename is nytimes-2007-john.pdf and there is
a particular word inside it (let's say "mathematics"). Can you use the search
field for "john.pdf and mathematics" like Spotlight does ?

Thanks for any suggestion,

M.

 

[overanalyzer]

I personally decided on Yojimbo when I was looking for similar features, and it does integrate with spotlight search to be able to find library items from spotlight and/or when Yojimbo isn't running. Yojimbo also can search within the full text of PDFs, notes and webpages you save in it. It can also search your comments and tags for items.

 

[Abstract]

Depends what you need it for.

I had something on my Mac called "Paper" or "Papers" that was interesting for organizing scientific papers. However, the initial work would take me too long, because it asked for date, author, page numbers, journal, and some other info that I don't need each time. I'd rather tag with keywords, which Yep is good for.

I kind of like the idea of Yep, but if something is better (ie: Yojimbo), then I'm not going to bother with Yep.

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Thanks !

I am testing Papers, Yep and Yojimbo and it looks that Yojimbo
has a clear edge.

Papers is nice though...the repositories can help a lot. Maybe
version 2.0 will be the one to get.

Thanks for the replies !

 

[overanalyzer]

Thanks !

I am testing Papers, Yep and Yojimbo and it looks that Yojimbo
has a clear edge.

Papers is nice though...the repositories can help a lot. Maybe
version 2.0 will be the one to get.

Thanks for the replies !

Make sure you're testing Yojimbo 1.5. It was just released yesterday and adds several excellent new features.

 

[Project]

There is a lot to like about Yep, but the inability to search within PDFs is a complete dealbreaker.

 

[anibalcascais]

as long as the PDF is searchable. ie, not a single image, YEP will search inside of it. I think it relies heavely on spotlight for this...

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Well, I have been testing Papers, Yep and Yojimbo.

Papers is nice, specially if you use databases (webmed, webofscience, etc).
I believe version 2.0 will be the one to get (current version is 1.5).

Yep handles well my library (2000 PDFs) but the Search field must be improved because you can not use logical words with it. Ie, Yep finds the file but you must select them all and do a new search inside each one.

Finally, Yojimbo has this capability. You can search for a particular name AND text pattern at the same time. There are a few quirks with its interface but I can live with that. One nice thing is the use of special folders on the menu bar. While Yep does this automatically for you, it's nice to select what you want to see there. The only thing I did not like was the lack of option to add personal notes there. The folder "notes" is pre-defined and it can not be edited. On other hand, any text note you have will be there.

I will keep testing them this week but so far Yojimbo has a clear edge.

 

[akadmon]

as long as the PDF is searchable. ie, not a single image, YEP will search inside of it. I think it relies heavely on spotlight for this...

So how is Yojimbo different/better than Yep with respect to searching contents of PDFs?

I haven't tried either, but I'm leaning toward Yep. Yojimbo is aiming to do more than I need.

 

[Abstract]

Well, I have been testing Papers, Yep and Yojimbo.

Papers is nice, specially if you use databases (webmed, webofscience, etc).
I believe version 2.0 will be the one to get (current version is 1.5).

Yep handles well my library (2000 PDFs) but the Search field must be improved because you can not use logical words with it. Ie, Yep finds the file but you must select them all and do a new search inside each one.

Finally, Yojimbo has this capability. You can search for a particular name AND text pattern at the same time. There are a few quirks with its interface but I can live with that. One nice thing is the use of special folders on the menu bar. While Yep does this automatically for you, it's nice to select what you want to see there. The only thing I did not like was the lack of option to add personal notes there. The folder "notes" is pre-defined and it can not be edited. On other hand, any text note you have will be there.

I will keep testing them this week but so far Yojimbo has a clear edge.

That's interesting.

For the last 30 minutes, I have been testing out Papers to organize my PDFs (academic ones), and it has the same shortcomings as simply naming the PDFs by author name and title, and then putting them into folders. This is my current system. Papers doesn't let me put a single file into 3-4 different folders/categories. With tags, it would be able to. If all Papers will do is download author information for me, then why do I need it? I have the author names when I rename the files. Besides, I can't remember which author wrote which paper. That's why a PDF organizer system should exist.....so I don't have to remember!! What I need is to be able to pull out any file that may fall under 3 or 4 different categories. I hate my current folder system, but Papers is no better.

For example, my main research concern are MOSFETs and HDR brachytherapy. However, I may need to compare MOSFETs to fiber optic dosimeters. Using Papers, I can organize them into individual MOSFET, TLD, and HDR brachy "albums", which is very useful, but identical to just making a many folders. I can't search for a paper meeting all 3 criteria. With tags, I could do this simply by searching with the tags.

Yep seems to have this down pat (although I haven't used it. Yep does seem to work on tags, though). Too bad I can't use the "repositories" like Papers can. I don't know if I really need this feature, but meh, it's nice.

 

[Pittsax]

That's interesting.

For the last 30 minutes, I have been testing out Papers to organize my PDFs (academic ones), and it has the same shortcomings as simply naming the PDFs by author name and title, and then putting them into folders. This is my current system. Papers doesn't let me put a single file into 3-4 different folders/categories. With tags, it would be able to. If all Papers will do is download author information for me, then why do I need it? I have the author names when I rename the files. Besides, I can't remember which author wrote which paper. That's why a PDF organizer system should exist.....so I don't have to remember!! What I need is to be able to pull out any file that may fall under 3 or 4 different categories. I hate my current folder system, but Papers is no better.

For example, my main research concern are MOSFETs and HDR brachytherapy. However, I may need to compare MOSFETs to fiber optic dosimeters. Using Papers, I can organize them into individual MOSFET, TLD, and HDR brachy "albums", which is very useful, but identical to just making a many folders. I can't search for a paper meeting all 3 criteria. With tags, I could do this simply by searching with the tags.

Yep seems to have this down pat (although I haven't used it. Yep does seem to work on tags, though). Too bad I can't use the "repositories" like Papers can. I don't know if I really need this feature, but meh, it's nice.

You could always create a smart folder for "MOSFET and TLD and HDR" (or something like that). The info pane also has a "Notes" tab that lets you add keywords to each paper, which you can then use to create searches/smart collections, as shown in the attached images (shameless own-paper usage warning). Or if you take notes in the section underneath the keywords, you can include them in searches as well.

 

[Abstract]

Ah thanks. So it does technically have tags.

Too bad it freezes after putting the tags in. I'll enter in tags, save the changes, and then the system will hang if I try to switch to another paper.

I had already emailed the company about their 40% student discount (which is fantastic), and just told them about this flaw.

I think I'll be using Yep!.



PS: I found that Yojimbo can't search in PDFs. If it can, it certainly doesn't work for me. Couldn't search using a tag, and a word that I know for certain is in the PDF document.

 

[Vinnie_vw]

The thing that really bothers me about these types of "Databases" (Yojimbo, Devonthink, etc.) is that they always try to lock you into their app. I just tested Yojimbo and when I import an pdf, I really want the default-option to be to open the pdf in the default app I assigned to it. The reason is that e.g. Preview gives me much more options to take notes and annotate than Yojimbo-pdf-reader does. I also don't like that it saves all your data into a database-file, with little ways to access it, except to open Yojimbo. What if I want to put this data on a usb-stick and check it at work on a PC, for instance?

So my questions to you, the experts, are:

• do any of these three apps allow for opening with default-apps (e.g. preview for pdf, word for doc, etc.) by default, e.g. when I double-click on it?
• do the changes I made in the default-apps (e..g preview for pdf) also feedback to the database app?
• do any of these three apps allow for usage outside of their apps, i.e. free access to their database, which, preferably, is formatted for Finder to access individual files?

That's the database I will buy in an instant. Otherwise, Finder (with Spotlight comments for tags, smart/non-smart folders, and open to an ecosystem of specialised apps) will serve just fine.

 

[Pittsax]

So my questions to you, the experts, are:

• do any of these three apps allow for opening with default-apps (e.g. preview for pdf, word for doc, etc.) by default, e.g. when I double-click on it?
• do the changes I made in the default-apps (e..g preview for pdf) also feedback to the database app?
• do any of these three apps allow for usage outside of their apps, i.e. free access to their database, which, preferably, is formatted for Finder to access individual files?

That's the database I will buy in an instant. Otherwise, Finder (with Spotlight comments for tags, smart/non-smart folders, and open to an ecosystem of specialised apps) will serve just fine.

Papers will do all this for you. When you download a PDF from the internet, for example, it will download normally for you, but when you ctrl-click on the PDF link, you get the option of opening the file in Papers. If you want to open the PDF file in another program (i.e. Preview or Acrobat), you can click on the little magnifying glass, giving you the option to show in Finder or open in another program (see attached image). Also, the files aren't hidden a la iPhoto. There is a rather elaborate hierarchical folder setup that the program does (first by year, then by author), but you can access all the PDFs directly.

 

[Pittsax]

Ah thanks. So it does technically have tags.

Too bad it freezes after putting the tags in. I'll enter in tags, save the changes, and then the system will hang if I try to switch to another paper.

That's very odd...I've never had that program myself. I just tested it again in case and it worked fine...

 

[Vinnie_vw]

Papers will do all this for you. When you download a PDF from the internet, for example, it will download normally for you, but when you ctrl-click on the PDF link, you get the option of opening the file in Papers. If you want to open the PDF file in another program (i.e. Preview or Acrobat), you can click on the little magnifying glass, giving you the option to show in Finder or open in another program (see attached image). Also, the files aren't hidden a la iPhoto. There is a rather elaborate hierarchical folder setup that the program does (first by year, then by author), but you can access all the PDFs directly.

Pittsax, I was SO ready to get all cranky on you. The amount of unpractical advice that people dish out online is insane. But… you're completely right. Papers does exactly what I asked for and that makes it a great app.

Thanks.