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Any gem that is not put in a specific chest or tray is filed in the default chest named Unfiled. If you want a different default chest, it is easy to change the default under the Find menu. Just select the chest or tray you want to be your default and click Set as Default. Bold face type will now denote the new default menu.
It is as easy to utilize the saved gems as it is to store them in a chest. There is a Find feature that searches based on ALL or ANY words that you wish. It will even search for a specific phrase. Unfortunately, the Find function searches the entire database, so you cannot search just a single chest. Once the gem has been located it can be easily dragged and dropped into any open document.
When a gem is chosen eGems puts a copy of the bibliography onto the Clipboard so that can be pasted, if needed, into the open document. If you have the eGems menu opened there are two icons located at the bottom of the eGems screen that give you more control over using the gem information: the left one is for gem data, while the open book (the right one) is for bibliographic information.
Since eGems was originally designed for researchers it includes bibliographic formatting for the bibliographic section of the gem. Thus, when the user wants to be able to include the correct bibliographical format for a document, it is available. Additionally, eGems remembers the bibliographic format from the last gem used, allowing the user to create a large number of gems from a common source with a minimal amount of typing.
There are a few shortcomings that hopefully may be addressed in future versions of eGems. The first would be the ability to search for data by using a range of dates. It is possible to search for gems on June 1, 2000, but not between May 25, 2000 and June 15, 2000. The second would be a way of choosing a default bibliographic style for gems, rather than having to select the style every time. Finally, I would like to have the ability to use the FIND function more selectively: by chest or chests rather than searching the entire database.
Gemteq offers a 30-day free trial of eGems Collector Pro and after that it costs $59.95 US for the download edition. A boxed copy can be purchased by calling 1-877-22-eGems.
I would give eGems 4+ stars out of a possible 5. It is a program that will benefit everyone who stores and wants to easily retrieve electronic documents and graphics.
-- by Tanya K. Metaksa
