Reference dialogue--open automatically?

[arathe]

Hi...

I'm using keyboard shortcuts to quickly insert bibliographic references from Bookends. I need to insert a page (or page range) into virtually every reference. Currently, after inserting the reference field, I double-click on the field and insert the page(s) after an @. What I'm wondering: is it possible to set the reference insertion behavior so that after inserting a reference field the reference's properties/dialog box automatically opens? That would save me a lot of clicking. =)

[ealvarez]

I don't think it is possible. You would need some kind of macro. Would be a nice feature but, for now, clicking appears to be your best option

[arathe]

Thanks for the response. Oh, well.

[nicka]

A better workflow might be to use the 'Copy Selection and Modifiers...' command in Bookends, which opens up a dialogue in Bookends that you can type the page number into, then puts the result into Mellel when you press return. That way you don't even have to type the '@'.

[kjmatthews]

Why not use a program like TextExpander to type a keyboard shortcut that inserts {ProseReferenceInformation@} into the document and positions the cursor after the @. Then you can convert the curly braces into reference objects (Edit > Bibliography > Convert Text to Citations) before you scan the document. This saves you a lot of typing, which I think it what the OPer was after. It's okay if the ProseReferenceInformation is inexact — Bookends* will try to match it and ask you if it can't positively figure out which reference you're referring to.

I use ";#" as my keyboard shortcut. It's wonderful.

*This assumes you're using Bookends.

[arathe]

Thanks, nicka & kjmatthews... I'll play around with both of these suggestions.