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Research Guides

EndNote

Training

Please contact me for EndNote training or help. My contact information is listed below in the left column. I will receive phone messages.

What Citation Management Does

EndNote is desktop software that will help you manage and organize your references during the research and writing process. Using EndNote, with just a few clicks you can copy bibliographic references from library databases and (a major benefit) add formatted citations to your documents.

Recommended for beginning: video overviews for Macs and Windows , get EndNote software , create library file , add references (probably the main work), and cite in Word .

Most of the description is this guide is based on EndNote X8 on the PC configured with the tabbed panel at the right, using Chrome as the browser and Word 2013. The greatest differences will likely be with EndNote on the Mac and lesser differences with the internet browser.

Mac EndNote and Word 365 notice

The online version of Word 365 does not seem to work with EndNote 20. After downloading the Word app (so that it runs directly rather than through a browser) the EndNote tab and tools appeared in Word. (To install Word, sign on to the campus version of Office.com and there should be an Install apps list at the top right of the screen with installation options.)

Mac EndNote notice: macOS Catalina Compatibility

The EndNote vendor has a recent notice (July 24, 2019) about EndNote compatibility on Macs that have updated to macOS 10.15 Catalina. The basic details are that EndNote X9 will be required, that earlier versions won't work, and that X9 itself needs to be updated with the updates that the EndNote vendor will provide. See the notice here EndNote for Mac: macOS Catalina Compatibility. When I updated EndNote from X9.2 on the Mac, the updater within EndNote did not seem to recognize there was an update available, so I used the link above and used the link from there to manually update. If you have EndNote Libraries saved as a package, and the new 64-bit version of EndNote will not convert the libraries, please see these instructions. It appears that the EndNote libraries need to NOT be in synchronizing folders (for example, synchronizing to iCloud). If they are, you could copy them to another location before opening with EndNote to convert the files.

Quick Videos

Things to know

  • (Mac Users) If you have EndNote Libraries saved as a package, and the new 64-bit version of EndNote will not convert the libraries, please see these instructions. It appears that the EndNote libraries need to NOT be in synchronizing folders (for example, synchronizing to iCloud). If they are, you could copy them to another location before opening with EndNote to convert the files.
  • (updated for 2019) Configure EndNote with the library's OpenURL server
  • Citing a corporate author (click the "Type a reference" tab and see step 4)
  • Research Notes and Annotated Review style adding and viewing your notes
  • Viewing citation style details (check Viewing/Editing a Style)

Some additional uses of EndNote:

Getting the EndNote Software

The Library in partnership with the CIS and the Office of Graduate Studies has made Endnote available for free through a campus-wide site license. All A&M students, faculty, and staff can order the software from the TAMU Software Store . For personal copies a link to download the software will be sent to your email account approximately one hour after your order is placed. Departmental copies can be ordered through the TAMU Software Center . To place a departmental order, click the Forms menu and then select the IT Self-Service website link. On PC’s be sure to extract the downloaded file before installing. EndNote is also available on the Student Computing Lab computers, including the public computers in the A&M Libraries.

Access to EndNote After Graduation

Your copy of the EndNote desktop software should continue to work after graduation and in fact you should be able to get the decimal point updates within the major version (so, for example, being able to update from X8 to X8.1). You will not be able through A&M's site license to freely update to the next major version (for example, from X8 to X9) if you are not presently affiliated with A&M. You can keep your EndNote libraries and any associated full text, though you will need to be sure that you have your own copies of that data.

If you create an EndNote Online account, that account has more limits. The full version of EndNote Online (with no limit to the number of references or file attachments) is authorized for two years from when you set it up to sync from a new major version of EndNote desktop. Another level of access (without the unlimited references and unlimited file attachments) however with the same number of accessible citation styles (3300+) is good for 1 year from the last access from the university internet network. The same 1 year access may be activated when accessing EndNote Online from another university with a Web of Science subscription. There is also a free version of EndNote online with up to 50,000 references, 2GB of file attachments, and 21 available citation styles. If your level of access decreases (say you graduate and the synched level decreases to basic, I was told that you get to keep unlimited references and that any existing file attachments will stay available to you, however, you will not be able to add file attachments beyond a total of 2GB of file attachments). If you do not have a RefWorks account, you might want to consider getting one while you are a student at A&M. RefWorks cannot be used to automatically synchronize references with EndNote desktop (though you could transfer references between EndNote and RefWorks) however A&M's site license gives alumni full access to their student RefWorks accounts.

EndNote and the PC

Some navigation options with EndNote

  • When you want to right-click an item, it is important that it be selected (left-clicked) first. If the item is not selected before right-clicking, the right-click will be acting on whatever item is selected.
  • You can sort in the library panel by clicking any label (such as Author, Year, or Title) at the top of the columns and reverse sort by clicking again. If you click into the library (select an item), you can move through the list by typing the first letter of the first word in the sorted column. You can also quickly type the first few letters and the selection should go to that item. This also works in the style selection windows, including in Word.
  • EndNote submenus may not be selectable unless the appropriate panel is selected (an item in that panel is selected). For example, under the References menu, the submenu Edit Reference is not selectable unless a reference is selected in the library panel.
  • If more than one window is open within the overall EndNote program you can bring any given open window to the front using the EndNote Window menu.
  • If you have a reference selected in the library panel, you can move to the next or previous record using the up and down arrow keys. If you double-click a reference, you can move to the next or previous record using Ctrl + Page Down or Ctrl + Page Up. This allows reading through a sequence of records.

EndNote and the Mac

EndNote on the Mac has some differences with EndNote on the PC. Most of this guide refers to EndNote on the PC, including menu selection.

Image shows EndNote screen on a Mac. Three things indicated are using the EndNote menu to check for updates; screen layout options button at top right; and style selection shows only in the Preview panel.

  1. Select the citation style at the lower right on the Mac (unlike at the top left on a PC). A layout that includes Preview has to be selected to see the style selection list.
  2. The screen layout options are different than on the PC and the Mac does not have the 3-tab panel often used on the PC.
  3. Firefox is recommended as the browser for transferring references from databases to EndNote.
  4. When transferring references from databases to EndNote
    • ​export the references from databases
    • navigate to the downloaded file in Finder
    • right-click the file and Open with the EndNote application.
  5. With EndNote X7 and more recent and Word 2016, there is now a ribbon in Word and that is likely easier to use than the earlier toolbar and menus.
  6. If you don't have Word 2016, when adding citations in Word, use the EndNote toolbar (Word View menu + Toolbars + EndNote submenu) or the Word Tools menu + EndNote submenu.

EndNote and the iPad

There is a free EndNote app for iPad. Vendor information .