Customize Fields

An Ibidem bibliographic database has predefined fields that are used for storing specific kinds of bibliographic data. When Ibidem generates citations and reference lists, the program uses information that you have entered in these fields in very specific ways. In a bibliographic database, you generally cannot and should not make changes to the predefined fields, because this would affect the way that the program processes the data in these fields. However, you can add fields to a bibliographic database, or change the order in which they appear. Custom databases (i.e., non-bibliographic or IbidPlus databases) and fields that you add to a bibliographic database are not used for generating citations or reference lists, so you have more flexibility in editing these fields.

The Fields tab of the Properties dialog is used to add a field or to edit, copy, delete or reposition an existing field. You can also add an auto date field that will automatically insert the date when a record is edited. Click File, Properties to open the Properties dialog, then make sure that the first tab -- the Fields tab -- is selected.

The following settings and options are available:

For specific instructions on using this dialog to customize fields in the following ways, please follow these links:

Add a New Field

Add an Auto Date Field

Edit or Change a Field

Copy a Field

Delete a Field

Reposition a Field

If you receive a message that the database is locked, follow prompts to unlock it and then click the Rebuild Indexes button at the bottom of the Control Nexus to rebuild the database indexes.