biblatex creating cite command (author, year, page(s) )

Question

Is there a command for citing in biblatex that somewhat can do what \citeauthor does but with a little bit more. I am looking for something like \cite[85-86][2017]{mehlich2017}. So the output is something like

(Mehlich, 2017, p. 85-86)

Or that it can take the year itself from the biblatex eintry so its just \cite[85-86]{mehlich2017}. I tried looking at the documentation, but I am not sure how I would create a command, since I don't seem to find one that does what I need.

I am using biblatex and the memoir class and currently using this basic setup (I've used this for quite some time, and I don't think its this one creating problems). Thanks in advance.

\documentclass[11pt,openright,oneside,british,a4paper]{memoir}
%  Packages
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{import}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[colorlinks=true, allcolors=blue]{hyperref}
\usepackage[backend=biber,
  style=chem-acs,  % Citation style as (AUTHOR YEAR)
  sorting=none,            % Sort citations as YEAR-NAME-TITLE
  sortcites=true,
  %dashed=false,
  maxcitenames=3,         % Increase/decrease to include more/fewer authors in cites
  maxbibnames=5,          % As above, but in the bibliography
  uniquelist=false,
  uniquename=false,
  doi=false,
  isbn=false,
  eprint=false,
  autocite=superscript,
  biblabel=brackets,
  hyperref=true]{biblatex}
%\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{bibliography.bib}
\title{Your Paper}
\author{Me}
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{document}
\maketitle
Your introduction goes here! Simply start writing your document and use the Recompile button to view the updated PDF preview \parencite[85]{mehlich2017}
\end{document}

Answer 1

The style chem-acs (of the biblatex-chem bundle) is a numeric style. That means that the works in the reference list/bibliography are identified by numeric labels. Hence, most 'normal' \...cite commands produce numbers with this style. Of course style-independent commands like \citeauthor (cf. §3.9.5 Text Commands of the biblatex documentation) will still do what the usually do.

If you want to cite using author-year labels, I suggest you use an author-year style instead of a custom command with a numeric style. The simplest author-year style for biblatex is probably authoryear.

Since not all options of chem-acs are supported by authoryear and it is not clear if you need all of the options that are loaded in the example document anyway, I suggest you simply load biblatex as \usepackage[backend=biber, style=authoryear]{biblatex} and add further options as needed.

For citing I suggest you use \autocite and \textcite. For specialist use you can try all the other commands listed in §3.9 Citation Commands.

\documentclass[british]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{biblatex-examples.bib}
\begin{document}
Lorem \autocite[380-381]{sigfridsson}
ipsum \autocite[12]{worman}
dolor \autocite{sigfridsson}
sit \autocite{nussbaum}
But then \textcite{sigfridsson} showed that \dots
\printbibliography
\end{document}

---

As to why loading biblatex just as \usepackage{biblatex} did not get you a lot further: That is because if you don't specify a style option, biblatex defaults to style=numeric, which broadly behaves like chem-acs.

Answer 2

One answer in change authoryear biblatex citation style could be adapted for your purpose

\documentclass[11pt,openright,oneside,british,a4paper]{memoir}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[colorlinks=true, allcolors=blue]{hyperref}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{biblatex-examples.bib}
% ===== Patch citation commands to include entire label in the citation link =====
% BEGIN_FOLD
% Define the delimiter between name and year
\renewcommand*{\nameyeardelim}{\addcomma\addspace}

% Define new bib macro
\newbibmacro*{cite_p}{%adapted from authoryear.cbx
    \iffieldundef{shorthand}
    {\ifthenelse{\ifnameundef{labelname}\OR\iffieldundef{labelyear}}%
        {\usebibmacro{cite:label}%
            \setunit{\addspace}}%
        {\printnames[labelname_p]{labelname}%
            \setunit{\nameyeardelim}}%
        \usebibmacro{cite:labelyear+extrayear}%
        \iffieldundef{pages}%
        {}%
        {}%
    }
    {\usebibmacro{cite:shorthand}}}

% Redefine \parencite
\DeclareCiteCommand{\parencite}[\mkbibparens]%adapted from authoryear.cbx
{\usebibmacro{prenote}}
{\usebibmacro{citeindex}%
    \usebibmacro{cite_p}}
{\multicitedelim}
{\usebibmacro{postnote}}

% Modify the string pp.
\DefineBibliographyStrings{english}{%
    page={p\adddot},%
    pages={p\adddot},%
}


% END_FOLD
\begin{document}
\noindent This is sample citation label using \verb|\parencite| \parencite[85-86]{aksin}

\printbibliography[heading=subbibliography]


\end{document}