S. Worthen | Weblog

I don't own EndNote but I've used it, so I've tried to set up a database that starts with all the same fields (so I could easily import an EndNote database if I wanted to) but goes on to includes several which I wanted in particular for myself. Filemaker is good for making very pretty interfaces, which Endnote certainly lacks.

There are certain things I do lack thus far, however, which may prove quite optional, which Endnote can do. Endnote is infinitely better than my database at slurping data into bibliographic formats - more to the point, it comes pretemplated to do so. I've tried to make mine somewhat adaptable, to the extent that my PrimaryAuthor field starts by only containing the last name of the first author (although complete names in FirstName LastName order) with separate fields for the author's first name and suffix. Little things like that. If I'm feeling enthusiastic, I'll post a screenshot or two when I get back to Toronto to show off my handiwork.

Also, Endnote can do connections to major databases. Now, this could be quite useful, but, if the field formats the databases use are publicly accessible (haven't checked) then my boyfriend promised me he could script something to duplicate that feature. But we haven't tried it.

Having invested in the expense of Filemaker, I figured there was no point investing in another database-type solution if I could make Filemaker do most of what I wanted anyways. We'll see... if I get desperate for an Endnote feature I can't recreate, at least I know my current database should be very easy to export to Filemaker - downside would be, of course, I lose all my lovely additional fields, which I'm terribly fond of. And my nifty buttons and scripts and pretty colors and formatting.

Give me a few days and I'll show you more of what I'm speaking of.