BibDesk is a flexible tool especially designed for managing academic papers. The application provides an intuitive platform for importing publications from local as well as online sources and exporting them as HTML, RSS or PDF file types.
BibDesk includes a few features for working with LaTeX files in particular (like a TeX Preview tool) which are widely used in academia.
The Publication Editor (manual method for adding papers in the database) has multiple field presets for storing different types of documents; for example, I added a PHD thesis that requires the completion of the author, title, school, year, address, month, type and keywords form fields.
The Web Search mode (look-up publications online from within BibDesk) can automatically detect and import documents from the websites you visit.
The application also acts as a document exporter as it can convert to XML, HTML, RTF, RSS, DOC and PDF formats.
Considering the amount of effort put into managing academic papers, BibDesk does not include backup or synchronization options. None the less, BibDesk is considered a thoroughly versatile tool that can interest users working with LaTeX files or academic publications.
Pros
- Online document importer
- Share and publish documents
- Export to PDF
Cons
- No database backup or synchronization