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I am trying to switch from natbib to biblatex for references, but I'm facing some issues and I can't really understand the problem. The .bib file I am using is automatically created by Mendeley, it is in the same folder as my tex file and I am using TexStudio.

Here is a MWE:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}

\usepackage[
    backend=biber,
    style=alphabetic,
    sorting=ynt
   ]{biblatex} 
\addbibresource{LawsCosmology.bib}


\begin{document}
Lorem ipsum


\cite{Earman2004}
\nocite{*}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

And here is the error message I get:

Process started: bibtex.exe "Ref Laws Cosmo"

This is BibTeX, Version 0.99d (MiKTeX 21.8)
The top-level auxiliary file: Ref Laws Cosmo.aux
I found no \citation commands---while reading file Ref Laws Cosmo.aux
I found no \bibdata command---while reading file Ref Laws Cosmo.aux
I found no \bibstyle command---while reading file Ref Laws Cosmo.aux
(There were 3 error messages)
Process exited with error(s)

Also is there any bibliography style that resembles the APA style for biblatex?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

Mico
  • 506,678
Floyd
  • 131
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    You either need to change backend=biber to backend=bibtex or, better yet, figure out how to run biber instead of bibtex. (biber and bibtex are both external programs.) Incidentally, what makes you think that style=alphabetic will format the bib entries according to APA style? (For sure, sorting=ynt is not compatible with APA guidelines.) Have you thought about maybe using style=apa? – Mico Aug 03 '23 at 08:46
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    you are explicitly telling biblatex to use the biber backend: backend=biber,. So why are you using bibtex? See https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/154754/2388 (do not switch to the bibtex backend, biber is much better). – Ulrike Fischer Aug 03 '23 at 08:47
  • @Mico thanks for the comment. Nothing makes me think that "alphabetic" will format the references in APA style. This is just an example apparently and that's why I am asking if there is an option for apa style with biblatex. The problem is that once I replace ''alphabetic'' with ''apa'' I get a bunch of errors and the text doesn't compile properly. – Floyd Aug 03 '23 at 10:19
  • As Mico and Urlike have pointed out, you (or your editor) was running BibTeX when the document needed Biber. https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/154751/35864 tells you how to configure many common editors to run Biber. – moewe Aug 05 '23 at 06:09
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    If you want a style that is roughly like APA (as in: it is an author-year citation style), replace style=alphabetic, sorting=ynt with style=authoryear,. If you want real APA style, replace it with style=apa,. If you get any errors from any these things, first clear out the temporary files (.aux, .bbl, .bcf, ...), then recompile and try to fix the errors starting from the first. If you need any help, show us which errors you get and share a document that reproduces the errors. – moewe Aug 05 '23 at 06:11

0 Answers0