Emacs Paper

Emacs Paper is a major mode for browsing and editing BibTeX files, with support for importing data from arXiv and Inspire, and a local cache of downloaded PDF files.

The intended workflow for Emacs Paper is that one keeps a main BibTeX files with all references. Emacs Paper can then be used to import entries to this file.

Installation

Download emacs-paper.el to a suitable location and load it using load. To get full functionality

(load "path/to/emacs-paper.el")

(set-variable 'ep-main-bib-file "path/to/main/refs.bib")
(set-variable 'ep-pdf-dir "path/to/pdfs/")
(set-variable 'ep-pdf-file "path/to/pdfs/papers.xml")

Emacs Paper uses the package deferred.el to download PDF files in the background, if available. deferred.el can be installed from MELPA by package.el.

Usage

The following table shows the basic commands and their key bindings

Key	Function	Description
n	ep-next-entry-recenter	Next entry
p	ep-previous-entry-recenter	Previous entry
M-p	ep-scroll-down	Scroll down
SPC	ep-scroll-up	Scroll up
e	ep-edit-entry	Edit current entry
k	ep-kill-entry	Kill the current entry.
w	ep-copy-entry	Copy the current entry.
y	ep-yank-entry	Create a new entry from BibTeX entry on top of kill-ring
C-c C-e	ep-new-entry	Create a new entry in the current buffer and edit it.
u	ep-inspire-update-entry	Update current entry with data from Inspire
a	ep-arxiv-update-entry	Update current entry by getting any missing fields (including abstract and comments) from arXiv.
b	ep-bib-find-file	Open current file as a raw BibTeX file
I	ep-import-marked-entries	Import all marked entries to the main Emacs Paper buffer.
g	ep-goto	Find this entry online. Query the user about how to look for the entry.
RET	ep-goto-pdf	Open PDF file, downloading it first id necessary
f	ep-search	Search the main Emacs Paper buffer and Inspire.
i	ep-import-entry	Import current entry to main Emacs Paper buffer
l	ep-inspire-latex-entry	Copy the LaTeX entry from Inspire corresponding to current entry to the kill ring.
m	ep-mark-entry	Mark or unmark the current entry
o	ep-sort-entries	Sort entries.
r	ep-regexp	Search current Emacs Paper buffer using a regexp
s	ep-bib-save-file	Save BibTeX file
C-/	ep-undo	Undo
q	ep-quit	Close Emacs Paper buffer
	ep-bib-load-file	Load a BibTeX file and display it in a new Emacs Paper buffer.
	ep-check-arxiv	Show new entries from arXiv. Asks for a category (default is set in ep-arxiv-default-category)
	ep-add-pdf	Manually associate a PDF file to an entry.

When editing an entry (by pressing e on an entry) the entry is opened in a new buffer in a version of bibtex-mode. To close the edit buffer and save any edits, press C-c C-c (ep-ep-edit-done). To close without editing press C-g (ep-ep-edit-quit).

To edit multiple entries, open the raw BibTeX file press b. When the file is close Emacs Paper asks if it should reload its buffer to pick up any changes.

Customisation

There are a couple of variables that can be customised. Here are some of the more important ones, for a full list see the customisation menu

Variable	Description
ep-main-bib-file	Path to the main BibTeX file
ep-pdf-dir	Directory for storing PDF files.
ep-pdf-file	File used by Emacs Paper for associating PDF files with BibTeX entries.
ep-arxiv-default-category	Main arXiv category (default is hep-th)
ep-open-pdf-cmd	Shell commands used to open PDF files. On Linux xdg-open \"%s\" works, on Mac try open \"%s\"