By 1.) dragging a PDF with XMP metadata onto JabRef or 2.) Lookup -> Search for unlinked local (PDF) files JabRef extracts XMP metadata and adds it to the corresponding entry.
Query: is there a way to re-read/update XMP metadata from the PDF later on? Or in other words: we can Write BibTexEntry metadata to PDF but can we also read metadata from the PDF a any timepoint?
Cheers!
Yes, there is a the option to “parse metadata from pdf”, which opens a metadata merge dialogue. You need to attach a pdf to an entry, then open the entry editor, go to the “General” tab and then click the “Parse metadata from pdf” button. See here in this screenshot:
Thanks for your prompt reply!
I see, I overlooked that option.
Perhaps a query-after-the-query: any chance we could do this over more than one file at a time, i.e. select the entries and have their PDF’s metadata re-read?
Thanks and regards!
I think you would need to remove and then re-add or re-link those files to JabRef.
Not sure, if a more elaborate effort to implement this feature is justified.
I don’t know exactly about your workflow, but there are also more specialised tools out there that can read multiple files at the same time. I can recommend https://exiftool.org/. The following is mentioned in its feature list: “Ability to read tags from multiple files simultaneously, allowing metadata to be compared and combined between files”. There is also a GUI here: ExifToolGUI
Thanks! I’m using JabRefs excellent Groups feature - that sorts entries by keyword, including nesting. The attached PDFs at times get their keywords updated in an process outside of JabRef.
So yes, I could rebuild the library from time to time; would have been nicer if it could have been done differently.
Thanks!