Of late I was looking for a nice yet free reference manager. The following are the reference manager softwares I have used.
1. Endnote
Pros: The best software I have used (the trial version is a good one). It has now features like metadata extraction from PDF files. Handling references and taking to the word or openoffice is very easy and convenient. Formating changes can be seen as and when you do the changes. I enjoyed the ability to do custom formating.
Cons: A very high price tag for commercial version. I cannot afford with the salary I have. I feel they can reduce the price and sell it to more people but still can get profit instead of selling to a few. May be the cost of making the softwares is much. Anyhow I cannot afford to buy and I was searching for something as good as Endnote and cheap as well.
2. Mendeley
Pros: The free version of Mendeley is similar to the commercial version but with more capabilities and storage. After I realized that I cannot afford Endnote, I had no other choice other than Mendeley. I was impressed on the metadata extraction protocol available in Mendeley.
Cons: All the PDF links are stored somewhere in C:\drive. Though you can locate it and export it, the software becomes too slow when you have large number of references say 300 or 400 . The earlier version of Mendeley I used often crashes in the middle of work. I found that the newer version has much more capabilities and robust. The storage limit for free version, the dilatory response when you have large number of references and the data handling by the software kept me away from using it.
I have not extensively used Zotero or Jabref but tried once or twice. There may be many features that are impressive in both of these softwares, other than what I was looking for. I was looking for metadata extraction as I have so many PDF files collected over the years but not added or sorted into reference managers. Because metadata extraction was not available when I came across (may be it is available now and I have already settled with citavi and hence didn't check; Visitors are advised to check for the updated version).
5. Citavi
The first time I saw this software I immediately liked as in the case of Endnote. My liking to this software doubled or multiplied several times after learning more and more about the software.
Pros: Meta-data extraction, showing PDF files within the software, search through the web from within the software, formating the references, data management, planning and organising and on and on ......
Cons: One of the most important setback is the startup time for the software. Though their system requirements is only 1 GB ram and I have 4 GB ram in my laptop, I feel that software takes sometime to load. I wish in the future they will optimise the hardware resources available and accelerate the performance of the software. There is a limitation for the number of references in free version and this sahll be increased a bit (I understand if it is too much then no body will purchase; as far as a project is concerned 100 is just little). The of plugin/addon (whatever is the technical name) for Libre office (I am not using MSword, again it is too expensive for me to purchase) would be better if the formating of references can be seen in the Libre writer itself instead of opening the file from citavi and saving as a copy, though it is not a big problem. I still have to learn how to insert notes from citavi to Libre office effectively.
Every software has it's own advantages and disvantages and I appreciate all those software development guys. I understand the amount of efforts anyone put for developing each software.
Though all the software's mentioned above are good in organising and quoting the references, I recommend CITAVI because I like it. As simple as that. I consider it as the best free reference manager software available. It has most of the features that I wanted to be in a reference manager. A nice package and is available free of cost. Now I am using "Citavi" and will settle with it. May be I will buy the licence soon. :-)