bibtex
I'm trying to use bibtex in Texniccenter, using the Bibtex in 60 seconds found here: http://www.hep.man.ac.uk/u/jenny/jcwdocs/latex/bibtexbasics.html
Step 5 says: When processing the file, you need to do: latex filename, bibtex filename, latex filename, latex filename.
I'm using Texniccenter, but I don't know what this step means or how to perform it. Under the Build>Define output profiles… tab I have "Do not use Bibtex in this profile" box unchecked. Do I need to change other things?
(Converting my and Ulrike's comments into some form of answer.)
I'm not quite sure what you are expecting to happen here. I suspect that by 'LaTeX encodings' you mean items which are included as control sequences (for example \rightarrow). A lot of these are math symbols, and comprehensive coverage in this area is hard to find at the font level. So even with UTF-8, LaTeX users will tend to stick to the symbolic names here. Moreover, the title don't need to contain only characters. It is quite possible to insert a graphic:
title = {Tiger: {\includegraphics[width=1cm]{tiger}}}
or a chessboard or an exotic symbol. So if you want to build a database which use only UTF-8 chars a human will have to go over such special titles and decide what should be used as replacement.
Thus your best approach is going to be some custom scripting, taking items you do know how to convert and changing them. At the same time, anything else can be flagged for human intervention, which will be the only way in many cases.
TeXShop doesn't do the BibTeX run by itself.
Here's how the window should appear
Choose BibTeX from the dropdown menu
Click on the "Typeset" button (or hit Command-T)
Then return to LaTeX and compile again.
You can run BibTeX when you need it, you don't need it to be run at each LaTeX run; only when references are added or removed.
Best Answer
If you have an installed version of Perl or can install it (e.g. from http://www.activestate.com/perl/) then you can use the program latexmk.exe, which comes with any TeX distribution. Create a new output format by copying the "LaTeX->PDF" one:
The Perl script
latexmkcontrolls the number of runnings and the use ofbibtex/biberand/ormakeindex.The screenshot shows the window with german text but it is selfexplanatory