How to recreate a bib file with only the references that were used?

Usage

1. Check .aux file contains \citation commands instead of \abx@aux@cite. If it is the later case, simple replace all \abx@aux@cite with \citation using your favorite text editor.

• Note that one can download the .aux files from Overleaf > Logs and output files > Other logs & files.

1. Setup the bib tool configuration throught the resource file ( bibtool-cfg.txt).

• If you want the key to preserve case, add preserve.key.case = on

1. Run bibtool from terminal

bibtool -x <aux file> -r <bibtool config> <source bib> -o <output bib>

• Sample:

bibtool -x output.aux -r bibtool-cfg.txt main-full.bib -o main.bib

Post bibtool hints

1. To remove unnecessary entries, one may use notepad++ to delete the lines using the appropriate regex string.
2. URL entry: url.*},\n
3. Arxiv entry: archiveprefix.*},\n.*},\n

Alternative tools

1. JabRef
2. Emaxs + Reftex

Reference

• CTAN
• Bibtool Manual
• Stack Exchange