Hello!
I know I can set foder where my articles are stored. I’d like to ask, is there any way to set “ignored folder” in which it won’t search for articles when I use the “Search for unlinked local files”? Something similar like .gitignore file in git.
Please vote if you support this proposal:
You might be able to filter out unwanted files with “Use regular expression search” in Preferences > Linked files > Autolink files. However, I think this only applies to file names, and not paths.
Do files in the unwanted folder or folders have the same naming convention as the articles you want to automatically link?
Sorry to respond so late. They do have similar pattern, nothing I could distinguish easily by filename pattern (I could add something to the name but distinguish it by path would be much easier for me).
@evkamat For the find unlinked files dialog there is an option to filter unwanted files if you put a .gitignore file in the root search folder
Ah, splendid. Can I ask you how to activate the option to filter by .gitignore file? I set up my .gitignore file into root of my search folder but nothing changed.
When I open the “Search for unlinked local files” dialog I see only this boxes:
Directory:
File type:
Last edited:
Sort by:
And then the box with search results.
I have version:
JabRef 5.15–2024-07-10–1eb3493
Linux 6.16.3+deb14-amd64 amd64
Java 21.0.2
JavaFX 22.0.1+7
I set up a test directory as shown below.
.
├── Chocolate.bib
└── pdfs
├── .gitignore
├── ignore
│ └── Keen_2001.pdf
└── Keen_2001.pdf
I added these lines to .gitignore (trying to cover potential syntax errors).
ignore/.*
ignore/*
ignore/**
ignore/**/*
I checked JabRef before and after running git init in the root directory. JabRef always found and auto-linked both copies of the pdf.
I could not find this option in the ‘Find unlinked files’ dialog or in preferences. As an alternative, I tried the ‘Use regular expressions’ search option for linked files, and could not find a pattern that excluded the ignore subdirectory. Look-around expressions and even plain capture groups don’t seem to work in this context. I might be missing something about how to use the *, **, ., and .. prefixes because I was not able to make any of these selectively identify only one copy of the pdf.
I checked JabRef’s documentation and did not find any information about .gitignore or the menu items under ‘File > Git’.
That UI option was removed for some reason I can’t remember. I will dig more into it in the next days.
@ryan-carpenter @evkamat can you please test the latest dev version? https://builds.jabref.org/main/
The .gitignore file is now correctly interpreted in the directory.
There is not yet an UI option to specify it, but I prepared some user documentation
I am unable to get the portable version working and I don’t want to tamper with quite good working 5.15 version which I need for my work. So I’m unable to test it.
The debug for files downloaded today in JabRef-portable_linux.tar.gz writes this (It was too long for normal message):
jabref_debug.txt (32.4 kB)
I have linux testing: 6.16.7+deb14-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.16.7-1 (2025-09-11) x86_64 GNU/Linux
Okay that log doesn’t really show anything wrong. So I assume JabRef is not starting at all?
Sorry for late reply, yes it did not start at all. But I downloaded current version today and although it had some problem with custom .bst file, after I solved it, it started.
And yeah, in the latest version the .gitignore file works. Thank you! 
Side note: With the custom .bst file it’s quite unfortunate. I added it a long time ago and it cannot be read even by the older version of JabRef. For the start of the portable version it works if it’s not among the “Selected” styles but I don’t know how to remove it from the Available list in “Preferences → Entry preview” - but that’s different problem, not much concerning me right now.
@evkamat Thanks for your reply. Can you please share some info regarding the bst file or the bst file itself?
Regarding the removal of available styles, I think it’s not yet possible! I will create an issue for this