# Button or action to clean all non-required fields of an entry

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/button-or-action-to-clean-all-non-required-fields-of-an-entry/1083>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [March 15, 2018, 7:54am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/button-or-action-to-clean-all-non-required-fields-of-an-entry/1083 "2018-03-15T07:54:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![miwurster](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/miwurster/32/379_2.png) [@miwurster](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/miwurster)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 7:54am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/button-or-action-to-clean-all-non-required-fields-of-an-entry/1083/1 "2018-03-15T07:54:20Z")

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I usually export or move references from my master bibtex file to separate ones, for example, when I’m preparing a bibtex file for a conference paper. In case of conference papers, I usually drop all non-required fields to have a clean and condensed reference list. At the moment I do this manually, which is really annoying 🙂  
Therefore, it would be very nice if there is an automated action to do this.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/button-or-action-to-clean-all-non-required-fields-of-an-entry/1083/2 "2018-03-15T15:35:48Z")

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Hi,

there are some ways to do this in an automated way:  
Cleanup actions: You could manually define clear actions for all non requuir files  
And convert to bibtex format (useful if you use biblatex)

Sub Library from aux file. Will generate a library from your aux file, so only containing cited references

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miwurster](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/miwurster/32/379_2.png) [@miwurster](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/miwurster)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 10:10am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/button-or-action-to-clean-all-non-required-fields-of-an-entry/1083/3 "2018-03-16T10:10:39Z")

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Hey, thanks for the reply and the hints. But unfortunately that would mean that I have to setup those actions for all entry types by myself. And actually I assumed that JabRef is already aware of the mandatory and optional fields for the known entry types, as the “Tame the Beast” doc shows (see [http://texdoc.net/texmf-dist/doc/bibtex/tamethebeast/ttb\_en.pdf](http://texdoc.net/texmf-dist/doc/bibtex/tamethebeast/ttb_en.pdf), page 14ff).  
Thanks for your opinion,  
Michael