[OS X TeX] Bibtex alias

[Herbert Schulz]

> On Mar 25, 2015, at 8:33 AM, Henk Verkuyl <hjv1 at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> I just started with a new paper in Latex/Texshop and so a well-known discomfort is on its way. I opened bibtex and put in some references in the paper.  Now the problem. It is not possible to use an alias for bst, bib and personal styles: these files require to be put in the (new) folder of the new paper. Otherwise there is no typesetting possible. 
> 
> This is uncomfortable because when I want to work on another paper in process, I have to bring the files to the appropriate folder. So, there is a lot of toing and froing if you are working on two or more papers at the same time. Is there a way to have all the relevant files (such as natbib.bst, natbib.sty and personal bib/bst, etc) in one folder and use an alias that can be recognized by TeXshop?
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Henk Verkuyl

Howdy,

First, there is no need to have copies of natbib files since they are part of the TeX Live distribution installed by MacTeX.

Place personal .bib and .bst files in ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bib and ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bst respectively. Note: ~/Library is the Library folder in your HOME folder---NOT /Library which is the Library folder at the root of your HD. In recent OS versions ~/Library is hidden be default. To open it Click the Go Menu in Finder and hold down the Opt key to see an extra item for Library which is ~/Library. You will have to add the texmf folder there (if you haven't already done so) and then a bibtex folder inside that, etc. Then TeX will automatically find the files.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)