EndNote X7 allows sharing an EndNote Desktop library with up to 14 other people. EndNote X8 allows sharing with up to 100 others. X8 also shows Library activity (who has edited the Library). Library sharing requires that all who are sharing have EndNote X7.2 or higher. All who are sharing have to have EndNote Online accounts connected to their desktop libraries. The person sharing the library initially has to have the desktop library synced with EndNote Online before sharing. The others sharing have the option of creating an EndNote Online account (if they do not already have an account) when accepting the sharing invitation. Sharing a desktop library includes sharing the PDF attachments and allows editing PDF annotations. (Sharing from EndNote Online does not share PDFs.) More about sharing EndNote Desktop libraries.
Information about creating and general use of an EndNote Online account are listed in the EndNote Online section.
When inviting others to share a group of references, the email addresses have to be the addresses that the others use to sign on to their EndNote Online accounts. Comparison of sharing from EndNote Desktop and EndNote Online.
Sharing in the following (present) section is not interactive sharing where those sharing can edit data that another could see in shared references; it just describes some other ways to "let someone else know" of references from an EndNote library or to view the references in a copy of an EndNote library or to import the references into their own library..
The simplest means of sharing from EndNote desktop might be copying formatted references. This will copy selected references in the citation style that is selected in Endnote desktop. To copy formatted references, first select some references. One way to do that is to show the references in the main library window; then click a reference to start, then shift+click the last reference to select the sequence or ctrl+click to select additional specific references. Another way is to click Ctrl + A to select all. Then click Edit + Copy Formatted (or Ctrl + K). Then paste the references in Word or email. These will be text copies of the references.
To allow viewing of references as they appear in an EndNote library (showing all data fields) or to allow copying of references into the other person's EndNote library, you could use a compressed library to transfer the references to the other person. If you create a compressed library, it can be emailed or distributed as a file and then opened by another EndNote user. To create a compressed library, from EndNote desktop, click the File menu + Compressed Library. The compressed library window should open and you can decide to include all references, references in a group or group set, or references that are selected and also whether to include file attachments. The Create & E-mail function probably depends on whether your computer is set up to start an email program that is configured for your email account. If that will not work, to email the compressed library attach the file to an email. Another EndNote user can use their copy of EndNote to open the compressed library. This will uncompress the library. The other person could simply view that library or they could import from that library into their own EndNote library. To import from another library, open the destination library (one's own library) and then click the EndNote File menu + point at Import + click the File submenu. The Import File window should open. Choose the EndNote library that was created from the compressed library. For Import Option choose EndNote Library. Choose for Duplicates whether to Import All, or to Discard Duplicates, or to put Duplicates automatically in a Duplicates Library. Text Translation has to do with translating fonts, not with translating words.
An EndNote trainer recently recorded an online class about collaborative writing in Word. She is showing writing in Word with the document on OneDrive. This results in each person editing a document to see any other real time edits much like Google Documents. It is possible that the update time is not as immediate as with Google Documents, however, it does make real time collaborative editing with EndNote possible. The class session is a WebEx recording and WebEx might need to be installed in order to view. (video: Collaborating on Word Documents )
There is an error in the session at 17:47 (recorded in the session). Others have commented online about the error message (not speaking of this EndNote training session) that the error might be resolvable by adding a reference to another document using EndNote (even a document on the local computer). Another possible recommendation is to save the document that is being edited on OneDrive (perhaps even if the document has already been saved on OneDrive). The EndNote trainer is seeking to resolve the error and the video may be changed in the future.
