Many services - including other reference managers - offer .ris import and export options.
By importing your .ris file into Papers from an external database, you'll be able to easily import all the metadata of your references.
In order to import your .ris, the Papers application offers two different options: you can simply drag and drop your .ris file directly into your library where it will import, or, you can use our import menu option located at the top of our app:
By design, .ris files only contain metadata; there is no way to include PDFs within a .ris file.
However, if you have PDFs that need to be imported as well, no need to worry. Once you've imported your .ris file and the metadata of your citations/library has been imported, you can import your PDFs separately and they will match with the metadata present in your library, provided vital metadata information such as DOI and/or a PMID is present.
To import your PDF, you can use the same two options covered above: you can simply drag and drop your PDFs directly into the app, where it will match and merge with the metadata already there, or, you can use the same import menu option that you used to import your .ris file.
You can also manually attach PDFs (or supplements) by navigating to the "Files" section of a selected reference:
(updated May 16th, 2023)