Papers is software for organizing and accessing all your reference PDFs. This application is almost too good to be true for anyone frustrated with filing, naming and finding and viewing large, growing literature PDF collections, and having to use separate apps to search for refs, download them, and import them into usable libraries and then view them or search them - Papers does all of this in one app with an easy to use, iTunes-like interface. It is a revelation to use.
If you have looked for about cheap, but useful, alternatives to ChemDraw which offers the same control of drawing tools, plus files that are fully exchangeable with .cdx and .cdxml (ChemDraw), then ChemDoodle could well be it.
The interface also has some nice advantages over ChemDraw and some free add-ons already, and more promised (and some minor advantages over ChemDraw OSX, for example it doesn’t ’lose’ document windows when you try and open several and it doesn’t cancel shutdown or OSX restart....).
> Has an application workspace which carries various tool palettes with it, in contrast to ChemDraw, where the palettes float separately (a recurring irritation if you use dual screens where they have a mind of their own...and no more playing ‘hunt the ChemDraw palette’ when you have multiple appns and windows open...!)
> Has a link to structure database you can search by name, formula, CAS etc and then just drag and drop the image into your ChemDoodle file.
> Has multipage support via a browser-like tab system, which many may find offers usability advantages over generating larger and larger sheets of space in Chemdraw, and then having to zoom in and out constantly to find things if you are in the habit of running multi-page documents.
> Exports to .mol (and others) but this allows structures to be used directly in Scifinder web version (noting that ChemDraw12 Std for Mac OSX seems not to support .mol output, and so requires round-the-houses third party solutions to get your structure into Scifinder or an Ultra licence!)
> 3D viewing and manipulation of PDB files is built in!
Future updates promise incorporation of NMR simulation tools for free (it already has free multiplet tree generation).
It has versions for Mac OSX, Windows AND Linux, which all perform similarly. I have tested out using ChemDraw files moved between Mac OSX and Linux and they work flawlessly opened with ChemDoodle on either OS, plus files exported out of, say ChemDoodle on Linux, are fully functional when read back on Mac OSX in ChemDraw. The look-and-feel is quite similar between OS versions.
It supports drag and drop images into MS Office and iWork AND into OpenOffice (Linux, OSX, Windows). Unlike, ChemDraw, this application gives you the impression it actually will get upgraded and enhanced regularly.
A free 14-day evaluation is available. And the full version is less than $60 - which offers two installations.
It works like ‘iTunes for your PDFs’, with a main library and the ability to creat ‘playlists’, including ‘Smart’ lists (just like iTunes and other iLife Apps), view PDFs directly within the application, tabbed viewing, full screen ‘ebook’ mode...
Better still, it links to multiple search engines (Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed...and many more) so can search and find references using any author, topic etc combinations, and then directly download the PDF into the papers library AND automatically name and file your PDF (automatically skipping the download, file, name and import type steps needed to achieve this via Scifinder+Endnote). It has iTunes like search and easy ways to compare papers.
PDFs can be imported and Papers renames them all and files them neatly in one location (filed by Year, Journal....), naming them according to your preferences.
Even better, it imports AND exports to Endnote. There is a free 30-day demo licence.
The latest release has also now introduced syncing to iPod/iPhone, so you can sync your libraries and PDFs and read your papers on the road.
Costs €29 or $42, with student discounts available.
On this page:
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•Papers: Literature library-PDF viewer- searching all in one application
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•ChemDoodle: A usable (and very affordable) alternative to ChemDraw with some feature advantages
