| We
have incorporated a feature in the ReferenceWorks
software that allows you to add information to your ReferenceWorks
Library. For example, you can add any number of "books"
and each book can have any number of remedies.
This is great for adding information about new remedies and remedy
families that you learn about in seminars or in your clinical practice.
More information can continuously be added to these remedies over
time. Input from various different homeopathic teachers will enhance
various dimensions of a remedy. In addition, one can include cases
and details of management of new or old remedies, that most older
Materia Medica’s don’t have. Instead of having seminar
notes that are difficult to keep track of, here is a place to put
it all together for quick reference.
Here's how you can do it:
FORMATTING
Remedies
Your notes must be organized into remedies and all information must
be associated with a remedy. Each file can, and usually will, have
many remedies. You designate remedies by using their abbreviation
(it is possible to use the full name if it is unambiguous, but the
abbreviation is more unique and reliable).
New, Unknown-to-ReferenceWorks, Remedies
The list of remedies in ReferenceWorks is fixed and can't be added
to; however we have set aside some remedy abbreviations that start
with "zyy" (i.e. Zyy-a, Zyy-b, Zyy-c to Zyy-p) that can
be used for a new remedy.
Families (or other non-remedy specific information)
Often you hear information in seminars that can't be associated
with a specific remedy. You have to place this information under
one of the two pseudo-remedies "zz-book" or "zz-family".
You could simply start the file with #zz-book and do no other organizing
if you wanted to include all of the material in a file, but don't
want to list it under any remedy.
Sections
If you want the information to be listed under a specific section
you must use a section name from our approved section name list.
Information not associated with any section will be listed in the
"General" section.
Crosshatches # Designate Remedies and Sections
The start of a new remedy or section is signified by a cross hatch
sign (#) as the first character of the line. Crosshatches can never
start a line except to designate a new remedy or a new section.
When the program encounters a second cross hatch it ignores all
the following information; two cross hatches at the start of a line
result in the whole line being ignored. Semicolons cannot follow
a crosshatch anywhere on the same line.
Emphasizing Information
To emphasize a line put a bullet (•) at the start of it.
CAPITALIZED words will also be emphasized.
SAMPLE
Here's what your
file might look like:
This would put four remedies into the book: Abrot, Mosch, Zinc-val,
and zz-family. The information that is not organized under a section
will be put under the General section. You can see that the first
line of the zz-family remedy is bold because it has ∫ on either
side of it.
Then saved as a txt file and added to Referenceworks and the result
(for zz-family):
SAVING YOUR
NOTES
Text Files (.txt)
ReferenceWorks is happiest with text (.txt) type files; you will
need to direct your word processor to save in this format.
Text files are very simple and contain no formatting information.
However you can specify italics and bold type in text files by surrounding
the word or phrase with ƒ or ∫, respectively. I.e. "∫Bold∫"
will be displayed as "Bold".
The easiest way to emphasize words is to type them in all capitals.
You can emphasize a line by starting it with a •. ReferenceWorks
doesn't understand tabs and converts them into a single space -
to offset text use multiple spaces.
RTF Files (.rtf or .rtfd)
Files that can contain images can be saved in Rich Text Format (RTF).
However files saved as RTF contain a great deal of layout information
that you don't see. This layout information sometimes confuses
ReferenceWorks, so we suggest RTF only be used when there is no
alternative. The only formatting information that ReferenceWorks
uses from an RTF file is pictures, font, size and style. ReferenceWorks
doesn't understand tabs and converts them into a single space -
to offset text use multiple spaces.
Microsoft Word seems to save rtf files in any usual format that
we are unable to read. Try to save your rtf file in a different
word processor.
INCORPORATING
Adding Your Finished Notes
To incorporate your file into your library, simply choose "Add
User Book" from the ReferenceWorks File menu. Merging your
notes in the library takes a lot of computer power. The time
it takes depends on how much RAM you have (the indexes are more
than a gigabyte and ReferenceWorks works best if you have about
1.5 gigabytes of RAM free); for most people it will take about an
hour. If there is not a lot of spare RAM, you will notice
a slowdown of all of your programs until indexing is finished. I
usually add my books when I am done for the day. Once it finishes
it is a good idea to restart your computer. If ReferenceWorks encounters
an error - usually an incorrect remedy abbreviation or section -
it will tell you and stop.
Updating Books
When you add material to ReferenceWorks, it creates a duplicate
of the file in your Documents/ReferenceWorks folder. Then you can
go back to adding to your notes and when you are ready, simply choose
"Update User Books" which automatically updates the version
in the ReferenceWorks library.
If you select "Update User Books", ReferenceWorks compares
the dates of the original book and the copy in your documents folder;
if the date of the original is newer than the copy that ReferenceWorks
used, it will replace the copy and rebuild the indexes.
Deleting Added Books
At this point it is a bit complex to remove a book that you have
added. You have to remove the book’s index from the Indexes folder
and the copy of the book in the books folder. Basically search
for the name of the file and remove everything but your original.
WARNING - Windows
Users
ReferenceWorks needs more virtual memory to index the library than
Windows usually sets aside, so before you add any books you must
change your settings:
Right click "My Computer" and select
"Properties"
Choose the "Advanced" tab.
Click the "Settings" button in Performance
section.
Choose the "Advanced" tab.
Click the "Change" button in the Virtual
Memory section.
Click the "Custom size" radio button.
Enter 1200 for the Initial Size.
Enter 2200 for the Maximum size.
Click OK in all dialogs.
APPROVED SECTION
NAMES
(Remember that they need a # in front to be recognized).
Text
Introduction
Natural History
Proving
Case
Characteristics
Themes
Generalities
Ailments
Mind
Vertigo
Head
Eyes
Vision
Ears
Hearing
Nose
Smell
Face
Mouth
Throat
External Throat
Stomach
Abdomen
Rectum
Stool
Bladder
Kidneys
Urethra
Urine
Male
Female
Respiration
Cough
Expectoration
Larynx and trachea
Speech and Voice
Chest
Heart and Circulation
Back
Extremities
Sleep
Chill
Fever
Perspiration
Skin
Bones
Nervous System
Relationships
Non-homeopathic uses
The Book
I use the "Text" section for any general or information
from mixed sections.
I use "The Book" when I have information that I want to
have twice: once sorted into remedies and again in the way it was
presented. I used this for Massimo's course notes; I put the whole
course under the section "The Book" and then break the
material apart and organize it under each remedy.
The "Relationships" section by default is not searched
in normal searches; it has to explicitly be searched (because it
has information about OTHER remedies and so would mess up the analysis).
APPROVED REMEDY
ABBREVIATIONS
(Remember that they need a # in front to be recognized).
Can be found in ReferenceWorks in the materia medica window or in
MacRepertory under the help menu.
THINGS THAT
CAN GO WRONG WITH ADDING BOOKS
Check the Error Log
ReferenceWorks writes the errors it encounters into the user/library/application
support/referenceworks folder. Read it to get the details. It will
tell you if a remedy or section abbreviation is wrong, etc.
Text vs RTF
It is possible to use rtf files but everything works FAR better
when you use text files (save as a .txt).
In a text file to make something bold surround it with ∫;
to make italics put a ƒ on either side of the text. (On a Macintosh
∫ is option b and ƒ is option f.
RTF in Word
Word uses its own version of RTFs that we can't make sense of. If
you must save as rtf use any other program.
JPGs
If you use an RTF file save your pictures as jpegs.
Left Overs
When you add a book ReferenceWorks makes a copy of it. If
there are errors with the file and you don't correct the original,
or rename the original, the copy will continue to be read in each
time you try to add ANY book. If you don't want to use the
book, you have to delete the copy as well. (In documents)
One Remedy
Strangely ReferenceWorks isn't happy if you add a book with only
one remedy. We are looking into why it gets unhappy, but in the
meantime always include at least two remedies in each book you want
to add.
In general you will find it far simpler to add books with many remedies,
rather than many books of a remedy or two.
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Some opinions:
“These programs are a revolution and offer homeopathy tremendous
potential. They have been invaluable for me in my research on plant
Families – not to mention their daily use in my clinic. I
am very happy with them.” Rajan Sankaran,
MD
“This version was very easy to install and now I’m
exploring all of the new features for my next project, a volume
on plant families. Reference Works is incredible and as far as I’m
concerned, it should be named Really Wonderful!” Franz
Vermeullen.
“Reference Works is a truly incredible achievement. It is
a mature program which combines state-of-the-art computer programming
with a deep understanding of the needs of homeopaths and inner workings
of homeopathy.” Roger Morrison, MD
"I have used other programs, but my results were not nearly
as impressive. Now I strongly encourage all of my students to buy
Mac Repertory and Reference Works. They are clearly the best homeopathic
software available." Massimo Magialavori,
MD.
"These programs are far more powerful, more three dimensional
and yet easier to use, than anything else available. They are great
teaching, and of course study tools. They make learning small remedies
a piece of cake." Miranda Castro, FSHom.
"Mac Repertory's Concept searches are perfect for studying
Materia Medica. Reference Works is great for discovering families
- so many beautiful graphs! It's a tremendous tool that has helped
me to do research that would be impossible without it." Jan
Scholten, MD
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