Use this menu to merge an external BibTEX file with the current file. This is very similar to the ``Add" option, except that the new entries come from a file and are not keyed in manually. The ``Imp" mode supports manual and automatic sort in much the same way as the ``Add" mode. Note that ``Imp." mode can be used to sort an unsorted database file, by merging it into an empty database using the ``sorted" option. It can also be used to weed out duplicate entry names in an old file (see below). ``Imp." is disabled in link mode.
The Import option works in conjunction with the current pattern (see below). If a pattern is in force, only entries which conform to the pattern will be added to the current file. Entries with empty names will not be imported in any case. BibDB will also not allow importing entries with duplicated names. You will be prompted to either rename a duplicated entry, skip all duplicated entries, ignore that particular entry or abort the merge process.
When importing entries into a new database file, BibDB will also copy the input file's header (all the text in the file up to the first entry), except that a sort environment, if present, will be filtered out. If the ``AddToNewFiles" sort option is appropriately set, BibDB will also add a sort environment containing the current sort parameters to the file.