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Academics with iPad Pro: How do you keep track of your texts?

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rhyzome

macrumors 6502
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Apr 2, 2012
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For all the academics using iPad Pros, how do you keep your texts organized?

I really like the reading experience in Books but the app doesn’t seem great at organizing a large library of articles and books in many categories/projects etc.

What are your secret strategies to using the iPad Pro as a source library/reader?
 
As a student, I've always enjoyed Goodnotes as my go-to app for keeping PDFs organized and available on my iPad. However, I use Goodnotes because it lets me annotate all over the PDFs. If that isn't functionality you need, there might be a better app! But I think Goodnotes does a pretty good job!
 
I use Notability to write my notes, but I use Goodnotes to keep my PDFs so I can open both at the same time. In addition, I prefer the way Goodnotes work with PDF (I prefer to import the PDFs to my app then modify the ones in my iCloud).

I still don't know how to import a PDF textbook with Notability other than for templates! The option with Notability seems to open the file on the iCloud, so I'm afraid if I modify my file, I will modify the copy on the iCloud.

I've only been using both apps for less than a week or so though, so I might miss some features on either app.
 
Zotero on my Mac. I use the PaperShip app on iOS. I do pay $120 a year for unlimited space because I sync everything. So my highlighted docs are on every device. I highly highly recommend: so much so, that, as a broke graduate student, I am more than willing to pay the $120 per year.
 
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rosyapple said:
I use Notability to write my notes, but I use Goodnotes to keep my PDFs so I can open both at the same time. In addition, I prefer the way Goodnotes work with PDF (I prefer to import the PDFs to my app then modify the ones in my iCloud).

I still don't know how to import a PDF textbook with Notability other than for templates! The option with Notability seems to open the file on the iCloud, so I'm afraid if I modify my file, I will modify the copy on the iCloud.

I've only been using both apps for less than a week or so though, so I might miss some features on either app.
Click to expand...

That’s the funny thing about workflows, they’re a personal preference. I like the ability to modify the file stored in the cloud because it gives me immediate access to the modified file elsewhere. That’s because I supplement my workstation/laptop with my IPP to do annotations though. For your use case the good notes route is probably better, either that or make it a habit to duplicate files in the cloud prior to editing them.
 
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I have been using Papers for the last 5 years. Started with version 2 but switched to version 3 as soon as it became public. It allows you to search, organize, read and annotate in the same app. It sorks well together with Scrivener for writing and the developers even helped us users in writing our own Apple scripts to get the most from the app.
Rumor has it that they will change to a subscription model and if they do I will probably switch to Bookends.
 
Papers3 on mac and iPad since five years
So far very satisfied
However I am consern about updates as the have been problematic before
 
rhyzome said:
For all the academics using iPad Pros, how do you keep your texts organized?

I really like the reading experience in Books but the app doesn’t seem great at organizing a large library of articles and books in many categories/projects etc.

What are your secret strategies to using the iPad Pro as a source library/reader?
Click to expand...

Happy to share my workflow: I use paperpile to manage references, and PDF Expert to read and annotate them on iPad. What links these two together is Google Drive. Paperpile works with chrome, and store all the references alphabetically on Google Drive, and so it is easy to locate them from another app, which, in my case, is PDF Expert. Reason I chhose paperpile ($3/mo) over other reference managers: it is almost platform independent, works wherever the chrome browser works. I use it on my linux laptop, and I am happy with it.
 
I used to use Goodreader but they just didn't seem to keep the updates coming. I've been using PDF Expert to organize my articles and research. Works great for my needs. You can create folders which allow me to stay organized. PDF Expert allows you keep your files in different cloud services as well. After a few months of using the app on my 12.9 pro, I bought the Mac version. Makes viewing files in the cloud seamless. Plus Apple Pencil support makes marking up files on the iPad really easy.
 
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rhyzome said:
For all the academics using iPad Pros, how do you keep your texts organized?

I really like the reading experience in Books but the app doesn’t seem great at organizing a large library of articles and books in many categories/projects etc.

What are your secret strategies to using the iPad Pro as a source library/reader?
Click to expand...

Notability. Our school wouldn’t be using iPads for notes if it weren’t for Notability. The best note app of all of them. Notability by Ginger Labs https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notability/id360593530?mt=8
 
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canesalato said:
i suggest mendeley
Click to expand...
pd_forta said:
How is Mendeley on iPad? I use it a lot on my MacBook, so I wonder if the experience is as good on an iPad. Can you use Apple Pencil with it?
Click to expand...

Mendeley = Elsevier = Evil incarnate. If you care about universities and their libraries you cannot support Elsevier.
Their iPad app is pathetic anyway. No freehand annotation support, your notes are trapped in Elsevier's evil servers forever. There used to be a third party app called Papership to do freehand annotation, but it's been discontinued.

MacLunk said:
I have been using Papers for the last 5 years. Started with version 2 but switched to version 3 as soon as it became public. It allows you to search, organize, read and annotate in the same app. It sorks well together with Scrivener for writing and the developers even helped us users in writing our own Apple scripts to get the most from the app.
Rumor has it that they will change to a subscription model and if they do I will probably switch to Bookends.
Click to expand...

powerplant said:
Papers3 on mac and iPad since five years
So far very satisfied
However I am consern about updates as the have been problematic before
Click to expand...

Papers is currently the most capable app. And it's a little less evil than Mendeley. But only just. poster above is right that updates have been troublesome since v.1. But the original developers have all fled the company following acquisitions. This may mean that the original beauty of Papers might be lost, but also hopefully their original incompetence when it came to updates.
Papers is in the process of merging with ReadCube, which has a terrible Java style pathetic app on the Mac and no real iPad support worth mentioning. This is potentially a disastrous move, and they are running 6+ months behind schedule with the beta program, which doesn't bode well...

ctg7w6 said:
Zotero on my Mac. I use the PaperShip app on iOS. I do pay $120 a year for unlimited space because I sync everything. So my highlighted docs are on every device. I highly highly recommend: so much so, that, as a broke graduate student, I am more than willing to pay the $120 per year.
Click to expand...

Zotero is of course the ethical choice. But they have no iPad app. PaperShip has been discontinued. I truly wish there was a workable iPad client for Zotero.

--> conclusion: it's a terrible scene. I think about this *a lot*, and my 3000+ pdf and academic book library has never fully recovered since the death of Sente (which used to be the best reference manager for Apple's ecosystem) a few years ago. At present I use Papers but it's a very very shaky platform.
 
va1984 said:
Zotero is of course the ethical choice. But they have no iPad app. PaperShip has been discontinued. I truly wish there was a workable iPad client for Zotero.

--> conclusion: it's a terrible scene. I think about this *a lot*, and my 3000+ pdf and academic book library has never fully recovered since the death of Sente (which used to be the best reference manager for Apple's ecosystem) a few years ago. At present I use Papers but it's a very very shaky platform.
Click to expand...

Wow, I hadn’t realized it was discontinued. I must have started using it right around its last update a year ago. It’s been working great, but yeah, it’s hard to recommend when it’s been discontinued. Not sure what I’ll do if it ever stops working!!!
 
Yeah. I guess I am not 100% sure they are discontinuing it, but my understanding is that most of the company behind it has been bought out for another project and that the current app set is just left there to die...as abandonware. I hear (again, could be wrong) that the Mendeley login for Papership has been broken for months and no one is working to fix it. My own emails and tweets to the company have all gone unanswered. It's like a deja vu of Sente.

There would be a clumsy workaround, which is to get Zotero to store pdfs in a folder on iCloud Drive or Dropbox and to organize them by name (I assume it can do that, I haven't checked in a while), and then do annotations on the iPad directly on the Files app or using something like Readdle's Documents. But of course those are just basic pdf viewers, they don't have the advanced search/sort/filter of a full app like Papers or Papership.
 
Funny enough I used sente until a year ago when I switched to zotero and papership.
 
In terms of research i like reading a paper and keeping notes on mac by using Scrivener. There is a scrivener app for Ios but i think its too expensive and even by using split view it is not equally convenient as keeping notes on mac and annotate on ipad.So after i have my notes from scrivener ready i use PDF expert by Readdle for pdf reading/ annotation with apple pencil (you can always create folders to put different pdf in for example i create folder per topic etc). The final annotated paper is synced by using icloud (or dropbox, onedrive etc) so it is available on my mac as well. For papers i use Mendeley for iOS and macOS. i Already own the papers 3 for mac and ipad but i dont think that it is equally good as mendeley because it is problematic when you add a document and has to find metatada in order to insert it in library and be ready for citation/ bibliography (for example to find journal name, vol, issue, date, doi etc).
 
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va1984 said:
Yeah. I guess I am not 100% sure they are discontinuing it, but my understanding is that most of the company behind it has been bought out for another project and that the current app set is just left there to die...as abandonware. I hear (again, could be wrong) that the Mendeley login for Papership has been broken for months and no one is working to fix it. My own emails and tweets to the company have all gone unanswered. It's like a deja vu of Sente.

There would be a clumsy workaround, which is to get Zotero to store pdfs in a folder on iCloud Drive or Dropbox and to organize them by name (I assume it can do that, I haven't checked in a while), and then do annotations on the iPad directly on the Files app or using something like Readdle's Documents. But of course those are just basic pdf viewers, they don't have the advanced search/sort/filter of a full app like Papers or Papership.
Click to expand...
Papership syncing with Mendeley works fine as of last week. Mendeleys own login servers has had some problem of lately affecting the web based saves of references. Professional reference managing on iPad is not good enough but it is a joy to read and annotate scientific articles using a 12.9 ipad (for me) and a pencil!
 
va1984 said:
Mendeley = Elsevier = Evil incarnate. If you care about universities and their libraries you cannot support Elsevier.
Their iPad app is pathetic anyway. No freehand annotation support, your notes are trapped in Elsevier's evil servers forever. There used to be a third party app called Papership to do freehand annotation, but it's been discontinued.





Papers is currently the most capable app. And it's a little less evil than Mendeley. But only just. poster above is right that updates have been troublesome since v.1. But the original developers have all fled the company following acquisitions. This may mean that the original beauty of Papers might be lost, but also hopefully their original incompetence when it came to updates.
Papers is in the process of merging with ReadCube, which has a terrible Java style pathetic app on the Mac and no real iPad support worth mentioning. This is potentially a disastrous move, and they are running 6+ months behind schedule with the beta program, which doesn't bode well...



Zotero is of course the ethical choice. But they have no iPad app. PaperShip has been discontinued. I truly wish there was a workable iPad client for Zotero.

--> conclusion: it's a terrible scene. I think about this *a lot*, and my 3000+ pdf and academic book library has never fully recovered since the death of Sente (which used to be the best reference manager for Apple's ecosystem) a few years ago. At present I use Papers but it's a very very shaky platform.
Click to expand...

Out if interest: why do you consider some of these apps evil? And why is one the ethical choice?
 
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