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Use RefNavigator to manage your references, notes and pdf files

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1.Introduction

Welcome to RefNavigator! RefNavigator is a professional bibliography tool to help you search scientific references from Internet, organize references, take notes and make in-text citations.

In this document, we will present a tutorial to quick reference management in RefNavigator.

2.  Setup

RefNavigator is very easy to install. Just launch the setup file and always click ''next'':

RefNavigator Installation

The following components will be installed automatically during installation if they are not installed yet:

  • Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0. RefNavigator is running on Microsoft .Net platform thus the framework is necessary for RefNaviagtor. The framework is already shipped within your operating system if you are using Vista above.
  • Microsoft Office 2003 fix KB907417. Setup will also install the fix iif you are using Office 2003 and the fix is not installed yet. The fix is necesssary for RefNavigator Word toolbar.

3.  Main Window Overview

After installation, you can launch RefNavigator and see the following main window:

the main window to manage your scientific articles and notes

  • The first part is the tree window. You can create folders and save your references into different folders. It's as easy as windows file explorer. Right click on the folder tree, you will see more options.
  • The second part is the folder statistics window. When you click one of the labels, related references will be displayed in list window. You can also switch to other views by click ''Organize By'' menu on the top of the organize window. RefNavigator can group references by reference types, by author names, by years or by journals.
  • The third part is the list window. After you select a folder in tree window or click a label in organize window, all related references will be listed in the window. Current folder path or label will be displayed on the left corner of status bar, while the record count will be displayed at the right corner.
  • The fourth part is the preview window. After you select a reference in list window, its detailed information will be displayed in preview window. If the reference is attached to a local pdf file, you can preview the pdf file.

Note: To eable pdf preview feature, you must install Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. Otherwise the pdf preview window is invisible.

4.  Import Exiting Files.

Usually we have already stored some papers on our computer before we use RefNavigator. For example, we store papers in different folders under ''d:\MyPapers''. RefNavigator can import the whole folder and create a reference for each file. The original folder structure will be preserved:

import local pdf files

After importing, you will note that each file is connected to corresponding reference automatically. Now you can preview pdf file in RefNavigator. Usually the imported references only contain some basic information which can be extracted from pdf files. You can double click the reference to edit it or use ''batch edit..'' to edit references quickly.

5.  Import References from Other Bibliography Softwares

If you have used some other bibliography softwares, you can export your references in some popular export styles such as BibTex or Refman(RIS). Then import those references inside RefNavigator:

import references from another bibliography software

6.  Reference Marks

You can define different labels and mark them on references. RefNavigator will list all marked references under folder path "\library\shortcuts" according to its labels. Different labels have different colors:

make marks on your scientific articles

7.  Take notes

You can take some notes for each reference:

take notes while you are reading papers

You can also take notes while reading the full text file. To do that, just right click the reference in the list window, then select ''Open full text with note window'':

take notes while you are reading pdf files

8.  Folder Statistics

When you click a reference folder, RefNavigator shows statistics on current folder to automatically group references. Click the ''Organize by'' menu, you can switch to different views:

automatically group your Pubmed articles

Under any view, you can choose to sort labels alphabetically or accordding to its frequency.

9.  Conclusion

Thank you for your patience to read this document. Hope RefNavigator can help you get more successes in your research career. Enjoy it!

For any questions or suggestions, please email to support@RefNavigator.com.

 

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