Document management for the small office

Referencer

Referencer [11] is a small DMS designed for the Gnome desktop; however, it is not a client-server application, and therefore it is primarily suited to managing smaller document collections on single-user systems. Referencer does not need a database back end; it is found in the repositories of most Linux distributions and installs quickly at the push of a button. Users of other desktops can install and use Gnome Referencer – the dependencies are automatically resolved by the package management tools. For distributions that do not include the program, the source code is available as a tar.gz archive [12].

After the install, a launcher should be listed in the Office submenu. Clicking on it opens a simple program window with only one menu and one buttonbar at the top. Below this, you will find an empty space, neatly divided into two windowpanes with another area below it.

The software organizes documents in libraries. To create a collection, drag folders or files selected with the mouse into the right-hand windowpane. Referencer integrates files as links, which offers the advantage of being able to freely choose the file format. A library therefore also houses different file formats, even including multimedia files.

Users should note that Referencer also stores paths in its libraries on the basis of the links to the original documents. It is advisable to put some thought into defining the directory hierarchies before creating the document collection, because Referencer will not find any documents that you subsequently move to other directories.

Apparently, the software not only lacks a document-tracking mechanism, it also ignores the menu hierarchies when creating libraries and only adds documents from the bottom level of a directory structure in a single operation.

To scan printed originals and for text recognition, Referencer requires third-party programs, because the software does not have its own scanning engine or OCR routine (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Referencer's very simple interface does not include its own scanning and OCR routines.

Keywords

Once the required documents have been added to the new library, referencing can then begin. To do this, you press the Create Tag button to generate a tag manually that you then link to each document. Referencer stores tags in a separate window and transfers them to the left pane. You then select the documents you want to associate with the current tag and call up the context menu by right-clicking. Selecting Tag opens the corresponding list, from which you then choose the appropriate tag.

Depending on how many documents you associate with a tag, the font size of the relevant keyword changes in the left window. Documents referenced in this way can be found far more easily, especially in larger collections.

Import and Export

Referencer imports metadata from the commercial DMS EndNote [13], as well as from the free BibTeX literature management system [14]. Also, the tool can import tags from the science database arXiv.org [15], which makes it easier to associate the appropriate metadata with documents in Referencer. Because these databases primarily focus on scientific texts from the fields of mathematics, physics, biology, and computer science, though, the benefits to the small office are limited.

When importing documents, Referencer attempts to retrieve metadata from the database of the Web of Science service [16]. Because you need to register to do this, and registration is not free of charge, error messages tend to appear here. In the Library menu, you can export libraries as BibTeX files to use elsewhere. You can also export any notes you create as HTML files.

In addition to the references, you can also store a comment for each document, if required. The free text box Notes: – bottom right in the window – lets you enter and save longer notes using the Save function.

Referencer relies exclusively on external programs to display documents. In this way, the program supports far more formats than the internal viewer and will even store file archives in a library. You can then view these with an archiving tool and also unpack if necessary. To view or edit a document, click on the thumbnail view of the file and then on the Play button. Clicking on Open in the context menu that now appears links up the data with the appropriate application for the file format. In the same menu, you can remove individual files from the library or link them with other keywords.

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