After listening to the Mac Power Users episode 286: Launcher Smackdown, I decided to switch from Alfred to Launchbar 6. I used Launchbar for years then switched to Alfred for its more pleasing user-interface. To be honest I never learned the intricacies of Launchbar. Back then I used it primarily as an application launcher. Boy, was I missing out.
After listening to my heroes (Katie Floyd and David Sparks) talk about how good Launchbar 6 was, I decided to give it a another try. I’m really glad I did.
I downloaded Launchbar and was up and running in a few minutes. I had to remap Command-Space (in Launchbar’s Preference Menu) to invoke Launchbar (I moved Alfred to Control-Space). I also decided, if I was going to switch back, I was going to learn the power users tricks—so I downloaded Take Control of Launchbar by Kirk McElhearnI. The book was excellent. I was able to finish reading it in about an hour (experimenting with the features as I read along). Within a few minutes I put together a new customized search template for PubMed. I am using Launchbar extensively while reading, and writing scholarly information (more on this in a later posts). Launchbar 6 is loaded with features. In fact Launchbar's mantra is “1000+ features, 1 interface.” I use Launchbar to act on files, invoke Services or Keyboard Maestro scripts, collect and annotate text, and a whole lot more. I am especially enamored with one of the newer features called “actions.” Actions allow me to act on text or files copied on the mac or dropped onto the app. Using actions I can append information to a note, search Pubmed, or a whole host of other activities directly from the Launcher. Actions are improving my everyday tasks as well as my reading and writing workflows.
A tip of the hat to Katie and David for continually upping my game. Now that I’ve taken a deep dive into Launchbar 6 I know it is once again destined to become an indispensable application in my wheelhouse.
I’ve found having Hazel search for the word “References” within each PDF works the best. When a PDF whose contents contain the word “References” is matched, Hazel automatically launches Papers and imports the manuscript. While importing, Papers fetches metadata, renames the PDF to the convention I’ve specified, and files the manuscript in a specified hierarchy on DropBox–all automatically. Another preference in Papers erases the original file once it’s imported.
I’ve tried other search words for Hazel including “abstract,” “methods,” “results,” and “discussion”–none work as well as references. Most every scholarly manuscripts has references (unfortunately, even the word “references” will not be 100% reliable–in a minority of publications, references will be called a "bibliographies" or "citations").You are probably wondering why I don’t just use the built in unified search window in Papers. My answer: it is faster and less frustrating to find full-text directly through our Library’s web page. Papers unified search will work through a fire wall (using proxy URLs in the search interface) – but it’s hit-or-miss whether a link in Papers will lead to a full-text article or merely a frustrating publisher’s login screen–most usually the latter. My hit rate is much higher on the web. I use Papers built-in search engine primarily to retrieve metadata (after the full text pdf has already been imported).When I’m collecting full-text articles I save EVERYTHING to my Downloads Folder and let Hazel do the rest. When she finds a match, she launches Papers and imports each manuscript without any additional effort on my part. Using this method, I can conduct my search for scholarly information with minimal interruptions - Hazel does the rest.Searching on my own is the most common way I get information into papers, but occasionally a colleague will mail me something they think I should read. For these situations here’s what I do. I have Hazel monitor my Mail Downloads folder (~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads ) and copy EVERY attachment to my Downloads Folder (I do this for a host of reasons–not just publications–I’ll talk about why in a future entry) Once the paper is in the Downloads folder Hazel can work her magic using the rule mentioned earlier. Apple now hides the Library Folder by default. Here is a 
So there it is: how I use Hazel to speed up the collection of information when writing or researching. I hope it’s helpful to you. In a future entry I’ll talk about an emerging trend in research paper management: social networking.Cheers, Jeff