JabRef
v6
v6
  • JabRef Bibliography Management
  • Installation
  • Getting started
  • Collect
    • Add entry manually
    • Add entry using an ID
    • Add entry using reference text
    • Searching externally using Online Services
    • Add entry using PDFs
    • Add PDFs to an entry
    • Browser Extension
    • Import
      • Custom import filters
      • Import inspection window
  • Organize
    • Edit an entry
    • Groups
    • Keywords
    • Mark and grade
    • Comment on an entry
    • Searching within the library
    • Complete information using online databases
    • Manage associated files
    • Manage field names and their content
    • Best practices
    • Cleanup entries
    • Check integrity
    • Find duplicates
    • Merge entries
    • Save actions
  • Cite
    • BibTeX and biblatex
    • Pushing to external editor application
    • Export to Microsoft Word
    • OpenOffice/LibreOffice integration
  • Share
    • Sharing a Bib(la)TeX Library
    • Shared SQL Database
      • Migration of pre-3.6 SQL databases into a shared SQL database
    • Export
      • Custom export filters
    • Send as email
  • AI functionality
    • AI providers and API keys
    • AI preferences
    • AI troubleshooting
    • Running a local LLM model
  • Configuration
    • Customize the citation key generator
    • Customize entry types
    • Customize general fields
    • Customize key bindings
    • Library properties
    • Entry preview setup
    • Manage external file types
    • Manage protected terms
    • The string editor
  • Advanced information
    • Main Window
    • Entry Editor
      • Links to other entries
      • The Bibtex / Biblatex source tab
      • The 'owner' field
      • Time stamp field
      • LaTeX Citations Tab
    • About BibTeX and its fields
    • Strings
    • Field content selector
    • URL and DOI links in JabRef
    • Command line use and options
    • Automatic Backup (.sav and .bak) and Autosave
    • XMP metadata support in JabRef
    • Remote operation
    • Custom themes
    • Journal abbreviations
    • New subdatabase based on AUX file
    • How to expand first names of an entry
    • Debugging your library file
    • Resources
    • License
    • Knowledge
      • MS Office Bibliography XML format
      • Comparison of the Medline (txt), Medline (xml), and RIS format
      • EndNote Export Filter
  • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Linux
    • Mac OS X
    • Windows
  • Discussion Forum
  • Contribute to JabRef
    • How to Improve the Help Page
    • How to translate the JabRef User Interface
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  1. Cite

Pushing to external editor application

Inserting a citation directly in your editor.

PreviousBibTeX and biblatexNextExport to Microsoft Word

Last updated 1 month ago

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JabRef allows you to push any entries in your main window to an external editor through the push-to-external application feature. It works with Emacs, LyX/Kile, Texmaker, TeXstudio, Vim, and WInEdt.

To push as citation, first select the entries in your entry table that you would like to push. Then, either:

  • go to Tools → Push entry to external application​

  • Press CTRL + L

  • Click on the dedicated button in the taskbar (left of the Generate citation key button)

By default the external editor used to push citations is TeXstudio. You can select another application in Options → Preferences → External programs. Under the Push applications section, click on the Application to push entries to field. This will cause a dropdown menu to appear, from which you are then able to select from a list of all the external editors you have configured.

You can configure the citation command at "Cite command". JabRef intelligently parses the value you gave here. In the example, the congiration \cite{key1,key2} means, that the cite command is \cite, the keys are enclosed by {...} and that multiple keys are separted by a comma (,). With that, you can even support Pandoc's Markdown citation syntax. Configure it with [@key1,@key2].

Once you have made your selection and click Save, the push-to-external application button icon will change to match that of the selected external editor application.

When you click on the push-to-external application button, JabRef will export your selected entries to an open LaTeX file in the selected external editor application. As an example, here is what happens when you export one entry to TexStudio.

As long as you continue using the same external editor application, clicking on the push-to-external application button for subsequent exports will just add new citations or extend an existing citation with additional entries. Following the example above, here is what happens when you export a second entry to TeXStudio on an existing citation, which is extended to include the new entry in your LaTeX document.

Hints on Emacs

On Windows, you can install emacs using choco install emacs. Then, start emacs. Afterwards, start the emacs daemon with following command:

C:\tools\emacs\bin\emacs.exe --daemon

There are the tools and gnuclient. Both support . Additionally, gnuclient supports . As default configuration, JabRef uses emacsclient. JabRef passes -e as parameter, because JabRef adds the emacs command after the given parameters. For a discussion on the use of emacsclient, see . The parameter -n (for --no-wait) is also passed, but that is not necessary.

If that does not work, hints are provided at .

emacsclient
GNU Emacs
XEmacs
a stackoferflow answer
https://emacs.stackexchange.com/q/35545/12933
Preferences: External Programs: Configuration
New Application After Select
Initial Push to External Export
Subsequent Push to External Export