Bib(La)TeX export settings on a per-workflow basis

Feature requests
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Currently, PaperPile allows for exporting subsets of a library as a *.bib file in either BibTeX or BibLaTeX format, which is a global setting. We can also specify particular settings for each of these options.

It would be extremely helpful to be able to choose the export format and associated settings on a per-workflow basis, rather than as a global option. So, for example, when exporting a folder as a bibfile for Overleaf, we could choose between BibTeX or BibLaTeX and the various settings only for that exported file on this popup:

Screenshot 2023-09-23 at 2.56.28 PM
Screenshot 2023-09-23 at 2.56.28 PM1252×578 26 KB

Reasoning: I work on projects which variously require using either BibTeX (via natbib) or BibLaTeX as the citation tool (i.e., conference & journal papers whose templates require the use of a particular package). This means I can’t make a single choice for all exports between the formats. Currently, the only way to use PaperPile for these projects is to switch between export formats for my whole library depending on which project I’m working on, which is a breaking change for the projects which require the other format.

[I made this feature request on Twitter, but thought it would be useful to see if other people wanted this or had thoughts on design/implementation decisions]

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@jowenpetty Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing your use case that forms the basis for this request with us. Your suggestion makes sense as BibTeX and BibLaTeX formats differ and with journals having different package requirements, this would affect BibTeX export workflows. We’ve added your suggestion to our feature tracker and if others on the forum would like to weigh in, that would be helpful.

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While I can’t directly influence PaperPile’s feature implementation, I can suggest a workaround that might help in the meantime. You could maintain separate sub-libraries within PaperPile for each project, each with its preferred citation style settings. Before exporting for a specific project, you could temporarily switch the global setting to match the project’s requirements, export the .bib file, and then revert the setting back. This isn’t as seamless as having per-workflow settings, but it could reduce the frequency of switching back and forth.

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Yes, this is what I currently do