Docear user manual3/5/2023 Just to re-state this: I’m not going to go through these basics in this how-to, so if you want to learn to use Docear from scratch you really should read the manual. Maintain the bibliographical associations of your annotations and notes, even after copy/pasting/reorganising them.Import file/folder structures from your hard disk, so you can get an overview of your data, files and research materials alongside your literature, and make notes and connections between them.Mix these up, copy and paste annotations multiple times, make further notes on annotations etc.Organise your annotations visually by paper / book / author.Organise your annotations visually by research theme / category / heading.Organise your annotations in multiple ways.Import annotations from PDFs, and cross-sync them (change the annotation in your PDF – it gets changed in Docear, change it in Docear, it gets synced in your PDF).That’s a lot of damage-limitation right there, and this isn’t even mentioning a compelling and unusual combination of features that Docear itself documents very well – so I won’t go over those, but nonetheless, here is my list of: Killer features of Docear No vendor lock-in, no dodgy or dangerous games with your data. You can move away from Docear at any time – you’ll still have your annotations, your PDFs, your BibTeX reference files. It doesn’t mess with your files or do complex or potentially destructive things, use fancy databases etc.If you want to search your entire archive of papers, you can do it using grep on a command line or with any text-search and indexing system that can read your file system (I use Recoll).If you just want to view your Docear file on Android, i0S, or using any mind-map viewer, you can open it (albeit with limited features) in FreePlane, FreeMind, Xmind or the many associated pieces of software that can read these files.If you just want to change a bibliographic reference, you can just use the bibliography manager (or a text editor) to do it on any computing platform without even firing up Docear.You are probably always going to be able to edit and view these files on any platform.What all this means for academics is that In general, Docear conforms with the tenets of Unix Philosophy i.e.: Docear is designed to be modular, clear, simple, transparent, robust, and extensible for users and developers. Docear, JabRef and FreePlane all work together or separably on most platforms.Text-based files enable version control and collaboration (including with your future self).Docear’s plain text-based file formats for are searchable and editable.It’s Open Source software using well adopted, documented and supported file formats.My choices are driven by issues of long-term software sustainability, and focus on cross-compatibility, reliability and stability. There are lots of good reasons listed on the Docear website that compare Docear’s features to Zotero, Mendeley or other reference management systems. Why Docear works for a long-term research strategy To get started with that, first download and install Docear, read Docear’s own very good user guide to understand the basics, then come back and read this 1. If you’re starting a PhD or a research process, and thinking about how to keep up with the literature long-term, you might want to think about using Docear in the ways described here. If you don’t know what Docear is, you could spend 6 minutes watching this video. This guide will outline some ways to use this software with long-term sustainability in mind. With that in mind, I am using Docear to limit the damage that software can do to my literature reviewing and thesis preparation process. My belief about software is that it’s usually a nightmare, and your choice should be driven by considerations of damage limitation. ![]() There are many software systems that purport to be helpful in managing academic literature, and everyone swears by their own. 3.3 Use auto-completion software to make this less painful.3.2 Use keywords for each research project/idea.3.1 Use action-related tags for each annotation.3 How to remember why you took your notes in the first place.2.2 Synchronisation and backup across clients/computers.2 How to take notes that won’t get lost or corrupted.1.2 Why Docear works for a long-term research strategy.
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