Auto export of preferences to bib libary location

Help
1

Hi,

I am running JabRef on Mac.
I have memory stick mode enabled though I cannot find the preference file jabref.xml.

How do I automatically store the preference file along side with the bib library?

Thanks.
Best, S.

2

Hi,

there is currently no auto export of the preferences, however you can manually export the prefs as xml in the Preferences window at the bottom left

grafik
grafik1113×732 31.8 KB

3

That explains why I didn’t find it.
I am aware of the manual export.

When I change preferences and click save, it says ‘Preferences recorded’.
Where are they actually recorded, i.e. where is this global preference file?

4

Global prefs are stored (on mac) here https://stackoverflow.com/a/675880
On Windows they are stored in the registry

5

Thanks for the link. There are indeed jabref related files in ~/Library/Preferences.
I.e.

$ ls *jabref*
org.jabref.bibtexkeypatterns.plist       org.jabref.customizedbibtextypes.plist
org.jabref.customizedbiblatextypes.plist org.jabref.plist

However none of those plist files contains my user settings.

6

Actually, you can export/import them from commandline as well:
https://docs.jabref.org/general/commandline#export-preferences-x-filename

7

I also looked into the code, for memory stick mode the file jabref.xml is always created relative to the executable

Edit// But there might be a bug, on Windows it was not created hm

8

Yes, that is how I exported the preferences for now, though it also shows some errors:

$ /Applications/JabRef.app/Contents/runtime/Contents/Home/bin/JabRef -n -x jabref.xml
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [d]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [d] starting at position 16 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [thread]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [thread] starting at position 25 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [level]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [level] starting at position 35 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [logger]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [logger] starting at position 47 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [msg]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [msg] starting at position 54 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [n]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [n] starting at position 56 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [d]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [d] starting at position 16 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [thread]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [thread] starting at position 25 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [level]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [level] starting at position 35 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [logger]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [logger] starting at position 47 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [msg]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [msg] starting at position 54 in conversion pattern.
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized format specifier [n]
ERROR StatusLogger Unrecognized conversion specifier [n] starting at position 56 in conversion pattern.

Moreover, running a find on the /Applications/JabRef.app not show a jabref.xml.
Weirdly, my settings seem to be restored when closing (I sometimes need to Force quit) and reopening the app.

9

You can ignore the status logger messages. It’s a known problem due to our external logging library.

Moreover, running a find on the /Applications/JabRef.app not show a jabref.xml .
Weirdly, my settings seem to be restored when closing (I sometimes need to Force quit) and reopening the app.

Yes, although you select the memory stick mode, they are saved globally as well.
I also noticed that I did not find a jabref.xml file when using the installer for windows.
Maybe some permissions stuff, I created a bug report Some keyboard shortcuts are no longer working. · Issue #6403 · JabRef/jabref · GitHub

10

Alright, thanks.
For reference here is the bug report: https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/6401