<p>I used to store them in a SVN repository, and then I found out about <a href="http://www.mendeley.com/" rel="nofollow">Mendeley</a>, quite satisfying so far except for a few bugs. Different features are available depending on whether or not you want to pay some fee, but the free version is enough for many people -- it seems it would be for you.</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T12:26:08.293Z
Yes, it's quite good.
Alexey Romanov
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T15:48:09.520Z
I've tried several different methods over the past 5 years or so, but have recently settled on Mendeley (at least it's been good to me for a few months now).  It doesn't do absolutely everything I want, but what it does it does really well.
Joshua Grochow
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T17:35:54.343Z
Mendeley really works for me! Also as the other people have pointed out, the discussion at http://mathoverflow.net/questions/2939/tools-for-organizing-papers have the other suggestions for tools.
oldbam
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T10:35:16.413Z
2010-09-22T10:35:16.413Z
Anthony Labarre
<p><a href="http://mekentosj.com/papers/" rel="nofollow">Papers</a> for Mac OS X. It's not freeware, but it's cheapish. It does a fairly job of reducing the effort of adding the appropriate meta-data to the papers it collects. The only problem is that it is so easy to download papers much faster than you can put them into papers, though this will be a problem with any software, I imagine.</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T10:27:19.863Z
2010-09-22T10:27:19.863Z
Dave Clarke
<p>I actually have a script that converts pdfs into plaintext, which sounds stupid but is HIGHLY useful for when I want to grep for something.</p>

<p>I also mark papers up religiously, and make good use of a filing cabinet.</p>

<p>So my workflow would look for something like this: "Pleonastic pronouns, eh? *grep* *look for file in cabinet*"</p>

<p>Am I too young for these things? You decide, you old people with your GUIs.</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T15:09:39.293Z
You can do text searches of your document collection using Papers.
Dave Clarke
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T15:29:17.633Z
@dave I don't doubt it. It's not that there aren't multiple solutions, it's that I just do it this way.
apc
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-23T08:24:30.860Z
I haven't been able to try it yet (not at home and not admin), but you might find pdfgrep (http://pdfgrep.sourceforge.net/) interesting in that case.
Anthony Labarre
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-23T23:25:06.037Z
Actually that does sound sort of awesome.
apc
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T14:33:28.360Z
2010-09-22T14:59:57.840Z
2010-09-22T14:59:57.840Z
apc
<p>There is an increasing number of scientific articles which I look through and somehow I feel a lack of a tool to keep track of the already read ones and my summary notes on it. Or another usage scenario would be to search by an author and see which articles of the given author I have already read.</p>

<p>The question is: Do you use or know of any freeware tools for organizing articles?</p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T10:26:06.507Z
I think this is off-topic, since it does not pertain to TCS.
Sadeq Dousti
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T12:28:54.190Z
I do not think that this is off topic.  I opened a [discussion thread on meta](http://meta.cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/358/close-or-not-do-you-use-any-article-organizers).
Tsuyoshi Ito
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T13:45:38.890Z
I don't think this is off topic either. A very similar question was allowed on Math Overflow. If it's good enough for them, it sure is good enough for me. Secondly, this is a problem that a lot of TCS people face. Just because a bigger set of people face it too doesn't mean we can't discuss it here. In addition, we might have unique problems that people from other fields do not have related to journal/conference versions of papers.
Robin Kothari
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T13:46:22.073Z
Also, this should be CW, because the votes reflect how much everyone likes the particular software recommended in the answer.
Robin Kothari
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T14:03:51.280Z
@Robin: Indeed, MO already had the same question, they already have a bunch of answers, and I don't know if it makes much sense to repeat all of the answers here: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/2939/tools-for-organizing-papers . To get more TCS-specific answers, the question should explicitly highlight some TCS-specific challenges; preferably, by explaining why the MO answers aren't applicable here.
Jukka Suomela
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T14:07:15.010Z
@Jukka: I tried to find a similar question on MathOverflow and I could not find it.  Thanks for the link!  :)
Tsuyoshi Ito
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T14:42:55.863Z
If the exact same question has appeared, as it has, then perhaps it could be closed with the argument that it is a duplicate. But I don't think it should be closed as off topic.
Robin Kothari
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-09-22T17:56:09.130Z
I suppose I am the last vote that ended up closing this. I'm leaving further comments on the associated meta thread in Tsuyoshi's comment. @oldbam, please don't be discouraged; this question has potential. I would re-ask it after considering everyone's comments.
Daniel Apon
<soft-question>
Do you use any article organizers?
oldbam
# Do you use any article organizers?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2010-09-22)

There is an increasing number of scientific articles which I look through and somehow I feel a lack of a tool to keep track of the already read ones and my summary notes on it. Or another usage scenario would be to search by an author and see which articles of the given author I have already read.

The question is: Do you use or know of any freeware tools for organizing articles?

**Tags:** soft-question
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think this is off-topic, since it does not pertain to TCS.  
> **username_2**: I do not think that this is off topic.  I opened a [discussion thread on meta](http://meta.cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/358/close-or-not-do-you-use-any-article-organizers).  
> **username_3**: I don't think this is off topic either. A very similar question was allowed on Math Overflow. If it's good enough for them, it sure is good enough for me. Secondly, this is a problem that a lot of TCS people face. Just because a bigger set of people face it too doesn't mean we can't discuss it here. In addition, we might have unique problems that people from other fields do not have related to journal/conference versions of papers.  
> **username_3**: Also, this should be CW, because the votes reflect how much everyone likes the particular software recommended in the answer.  
> **username_4**: @Robin: Indeed, MO already had the same question, they already have a bunch of answers, and I don't know if it makes much sense to repeat all of the answers here: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/2939/tools-for-organizing-papers . To get more TCS-specific answers, the question should explicitly highlight some TCS-specific challenges; preferably, by explaining why the MO answers aren't applicable here.  
> **username_2**: @Jukka: I tried to find a similar question on MathOverflow and I could not find it.  Thanks for the link!  :)  
> **username_3**: If the exact same question has appeared, as it has, then perhaps it could be closed with the argument that it is a duplicate. But I don't think it should be closed as off topic.  
> **username_5**: I suppose I am the last vote that ended up closing this. I'm leaving further comments on the associated meta thread in Tsuyoshi's comment. @oldbam, please don't be discouraged; this question has potential. I would re-ask it after considering everyone's comments.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2010-09-22. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

I used to store them in a SVN repository, and then I found out about [Mendeley](http://www.mendeley.com/), quite satisfying so far except for a few bugs. Different features are available depending on whether or not you want to pay some fee, but the free version is enough for many people -- it seems it would be for you.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: Yes, it's quite good.  
> **username_8**: I've tried several different methods over the past 5 years or so, but have recently settled on Mendeley (at least it's been good to me for a few months now).  It doesn't do absolutely everything I want, but what it does it does really well.  
> **username_0**: Mendeley really works for me! Also as the other people have pointed out, the discussion at http://mathoverflow.net/questions/2939/tools-for-organizing-papers have the other suggestions for tools.  

---

### Answer by username_9 on 2010-09-22. Score: 1

[Papers](http://mekentosj.com/papers/) for Mac OS X. It's not freeware, but it's cheapish. It does a fairly job of reducing the effort of adding the appropriate meta-data to the papers it collects. The only problem is that it is so easy to download papers much faster than you can put them into papers, though this will be a problem with any software, I imagine.


---

### Answer by username_10 on 2010-09-22. Score: 1

I actually have a script that converts pdfs into plaintext, which sounds stupid but is HIGHLY useful for when I want to grep for something.

I also mark papers up religiously, and make good use of a filing cabinet.

So my workflow would look for something like this: "Pleonastic pronouns, eh? \*grep\* \*look for file in cabinet\*"

Am I too young for these things? You decide, you old people with your GUIs.

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: You can do text searches of your document collection using Papers.  
> **username_10**: @dave I don't doubt it. It's not that there aren't multiple solutions, it's that I just do it this way.  
> **username_6**: I haven't been able to try it yet (not at home and not admin), but you might find pdfgrep (http://pdfgrep.sourceforge.net/) interesting in that case.  
> **username_10**: Actually that does sound sort of awesome.  

---

