Reliability and trustworthiness
I am working with a folder containg 20k+ references (never again!). The data is locked in to RefWorks because of the size of the folder (never again, as I mention). I am attempting to export .ris files with 1000 items per export.
Paging through the data, it takes on average 1 minute to move from page to page. If something goes wrong, you cannot maintain your place in the list, the display returns to the beginning, showing 50 per page.
The export usually downloads a .ris file to the downloads folder. However, frequently, instead, the file isn't doanloaded and instead the application exits RefWorks to display the file, which you can then "save page as". There is no way you can predict that this will happen. At fits I managed to dowmnload 14 files before it occurred. Since then it has happened after doanloading 2/3 files.
I am now towards the last few thousand references. To get back to where I stoped will take around 30 minutes. It is likley to happen again, in which case it will take another 30 minutes to get back. If I could I would charge Ex Libris for the time I have wasted on this task (for the third time, never again).
Would I recommend this product? Simple answer: no. Software needs to be reliable and trustworthy. I nnow realise i am using the application at the limit of its capability but I have invested so much of the task into it I have no choice but to persevere
Extra bandwidt on the server side would help page through the data, the labelled functions, such as "assign to folder" and confirmation messages "1000 records assigned to folder ..." also need to function and be truthful.
I could go on ...
Best regards
Colin
Better handling of large number of references is in the RefWorks roadmap