In some settings, the bib file is stored in the same directory as the PDF files. Then, one ignore all the above directories and enable "use the BIB file location as primary file directory". In this case, JabRef starts searching for PDF files in the directory of the bib file. It is also possible to achieve this result by setting . as "General file directory" in the library properties.

If JabRef saves an attached file and my loginname matches the name stored in the bib file, it chooses that directory. If no match is found, it uses the "General file directory" of the bib file. If that is not found, it uses the one configured at Options → Preferences → File → External file links ("Main file directory").

Options → Preferences → File → External file links → Main file directory

Adding a custom export filterThe only requirement for a valid export filter is the existence of a file with the extension .layout. To add a new custom export filter, open the dialog box Options → Manage custom exports, and click Add new.

Sharing a Bib(la)TeX LibraryWhen sharing a Bib(la)TeX library, JabRef automatically recognizes a change in the bib file on disk and notifies the user of it. This works well on network drives.Note: the use of a version control system (SVN, git, etc.) is recommended as this will allow for reverting changes.To make the sharing of a Bib(la)TeX library easier, it is recommended to set specific library properties. In the menu Library → Library properties:Select UTF-8 as encoding.Define a General file directory, which will be used to store shared PDF (and other) files.Check Refuse to save the library before external changes have been reviewed.Define a sort order (year, author, title is recommended)..Check Enable save formatters, and defines these actions, to help enforcing a consistent format for the entries.

Mass downloading of articlesHowever, it is still possible to import hundreds or even thousands of entries from these databases. The process depends a bit on the specifics of each database, but in general works as follows: Search the database in your browser, export the result in one of the supported file formats and then import the file into JabRef.

You may opt to download the abstracts along with the cite information for each entry, by checking the Include abstracts checkbox.

All fetchers are contained in the package org.jabref.logic.importer.fetcher. Here we list the trust levels of some of them:DOI: SOURCE, as the DOI is always forwarded to the correct publisher page for the paperScienceDirect: PublisherSpringer: PublisherACS: PublisherIEEE: PublisherGoogle Scholar: META_SEARCH, because it is a search engineArxiv: PREPRINT, because preprints are published thereOpenAccessDOI: META_SEARCHReasoning:A DOI uniquely identifies a paper. Per definition, a DOI leads to the right paper. Everything else is good guessing.We assume the DOI resolution surely points to the correct paper and that publisher fetches may have errors: For instance, a title of a paper may lead to different publications of it. One the conference version, the other the journal version. --> the PDF could be chosen randomlyCode was first introduced at PR#3882.

I just found this solution by inspecting the library file and reading JabRefs documentation about using a free-form search expression. By selecting a read status, a parameter is added to your entry in the .bib file which will look like this: @InProceedings{keyword, author = {...}, title = {...}, year = {...}, readstatus = {skimmed}, } The status will be either “skimmed” or “read”. If nothing is selected, the parameter doesn’t exist. So to create a free-form search, where every unread entry is included, you have to filter entries that do NOT have the status “skimmed” AND do NOT have the status “read”: not readstatus=read and not readstatus=skimmed I hope this is useful to you

Manage field names and their contentModify easily the field names and the field contentsAfter selecting a set of entries, go to Edit → Manage field names and content, to set, append, rename and clear a field.​To select all the entries of the current library, pressCTRL + A.

Types of groupsJabRef has five types of groups:Explicit selection. The group contains entries that were assigned manually. It behaves like a directory on disk, and contains only those entries that you explicitly assigned to it.Searching for a keyword. The group contain entries in which a certain field (e.g. author) contains a certain keyword (e.g. Smith). This method does not require manual assignment of entries but uses information that is already present in the database.Free search expression. Similar to Searching for a keyword, but for several keywords in several fields.Specified keywords. This feature will gather all words found in a specific field of your choice, and create a group for each word.Authors' last names. Groups can be generated for each author's last name.Cited entries. The group contains the entries cited in a LaTeX document, based on its .aux file.

Hierarchical contextThe displayed entries depend on the hierarchical context of the group. When a group is selected, the displayed entries can be:independent of its supergroup and of its subgroups.a union between the entries of the group and of its subgroups.an intersection between the entries of the group and of its supergroup.Independent groupBy default, a group is independent of its position in the group's tree: When selected, the table of entries shows only the group's content (all of its entries).

Groups allow structuring of bibliographic libraries in a tree-like way that is similar to organizing files on disk in directories and sub-directories. The two main differences are:While a file is always located in exactly one directory, an entry may be contained in more than one group.Groups may use certain criteria to dynamically define their content. New entries that match these criteria are automatically added to these groups. This feature is not available in common file systems, but in several Email clients (e.g. Thunderbird and Opera).

Binding to this port makes it possible for a second JabRef instance to discover that the first one is running. In this case, unless specifically instructed to run in stand-alone mode, the second JabRef instance will pass its command line options through the port to the first JabRef instance, and then immediately quit.

Most JabRef installations include the necessary files, so test the extension before proceeding with the following instructions. However, sometimes, a manual installation is necessary (e.g. if you use the portable version of JabRef). In this case, please take the following steps:

To verify if it worked, you can open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat and select File → Document Properties → Additional Metadata → Advanced. In the tree to the right you should see an entry called "http://purl.org/net/bibteXMP". Note: this works only with Adobe Acrobat, not with Adobe Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, you can use pdfinfo instead in order to see the XMP metadata. pdfinfo is part of Xpdf tools and Poppler.

XMP is a standard created by Adobe Systems for storing metadata (data about data) in files. A well known example for metadata are MP3 tags, which can be used to describe artist, album and song name of a MP3 file. Adding metadata to MP3 helps other people to identify the songs correctly independent of file-name and can provide means for software (MP3 players for instance) to sort and group songs.With XMP support the JabRef team tries to bring the advantages of metadata to the world of reference managers. You can now choose to "Write XMP metadata to PDFs" in the Tools menu of JabRef, which will put all the Bib(la)TeX information into the PDFs.