EndNote Desktop

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Create a Library

  1. Start EndNote and click on File and New .
  2. Name your library. All library file names should end in the .enl file extension.
    • Number of Databases/Libraries allowed= Any number
    • Number of Records= any number, recommended not over 100,000
    • Reference Types = 45+ 3 unused
    • Number of Fields (individual pieces of information) per Record = 52
    • Field Length = 64KB (16 pages); 45 pdfs in Link to FILE ATTACHMENT field; 1 image (any size) in FIGURE field.
  3. Optional: You may customize the way records display in the EndNote Library window.It can be helpful when displaying your records to see whether the item is a book or journal article (ref type), URLs, pdf attachments, etc.

    1. Click Edit, Preferences, then Display Fields to customize the library window display.
    2. Select desired fields from the drop-down boxes.
    3. Click OK to apply your changes.

Build a Library

Importing Citations electronically

Many databases support a Direct Export feature for electronically importing records into your EndNote Library. Due to a security feature, Direct Export will not work with Safari.

If there is no Direct Export, save records as a text file (.txt) and import them manually into your EndNote Library. Check Importing Citations into EndNote for directions for your specific database.

Online Searching within EndNote

    You can perform searches of PubMed, MadCat (UW-Madison Online Catalog) and many other library catalogs directly through EndNote.

  1. (EndNote X2.0.1) Click Online Search Mode (Temporary Library) icon to collect online serch results in a temporary window. Previous versions automatically collect results in a temporary window.
  2. Click Tools, then Online Search.
  3. Select the desired database from the list. U Wisconsin-Madison is the correct choice for UW-Madison's MadCat Catalog.
  4. Click Choose.
  5. Enter your search terms in the search window and click Search.
  6. Records will show in the displayed window. You may view the contents of a record by clicking on the title.
  7. Click Copy All References to button to transfer these records into the EndNote library of your choosing.
    (Optional) Click on individual records to transfer selected records to your EndNote library.
  8. Click References, then Copy Reference to... and select the destination EndNote Library.

Manually creating a new reference

  1. Select New Reference from the References menu at the top of the screen.
  2. Select appropriate reference type from the Reference Type drop-down menu.
    This is very important because Reference Type determines how a style will format that citation.
  3. Enter information in the appropriate fields.
  4. Close record to save.

Guidelines for entering information in an EndNote record

Enter data without formatting. The Style used when printing your list of references will add whatever formatting is required by that particular style.

Example: Do not use bolding, underlining, italics, punctuation, etc. Capitalize in sentence style (first word, proper nouns in English, all nouns in German, etc.)

Exceptions: Use formatting for words that could not be interpreted by a style, such as superscript, subscript, capitalization of proper nouns, and use of italics forgenus species names, etc. Use commas between the last and first names of authors.

Author Guidelines

  • Personal name is recorded in the following order:
    Lastname, Firstname Middlename
  • Initials are separated by a space or period:
    Lastname, F.M.
  • Multiple authors: Each author should be entered on a separate line, or separated with a semi-colon
  • Corporate names are entered as you want them to appear without commas. Enter a comma at the end for proper formatting:
    Apple Computer Inc.,
  • Date of Publication: Enter dates as you want them to appear. EndNote does not re-format dates.
  • Year: Enter the year information only here. This used for sorting by date.
    2001
  • Date: This field is used for month, day and year if available. You should enter this information in a numeric format, instead of as text. Use the format of yr/month/day:
    95/05/21     NOT May 21, 1995
  • Pages: Enter number(s) only. The output style will determine if it is p. or pages.
  • Enter page ranges in a variety of formats. The output style will determine page ranges:
    142-149 OR 142-9

Keyword Guidelines

Keywords can be single words or multiple word phrases. Use upper case for the initial letter of each word. Each keyword should be entered on a separate line or separated by a semi-colon.

Example:DNA Fingerprinting
Example:Genetic Engineering

Organize Records

Custom and Smart Groups

Use Custom Group to identify groups of references on broad topics or purposes (research projects, grant numbers). You are limited to 500 custom and smart groups per library.

  1. From the Groups menu, choose Create Group.
  2. Enter Group Name (max. 255 characters), followed by <ENTER>.
  3. Select references in the library.
  4. From the Groups menu, choose Add References to, then select group name.

Smart Groups are created from search strategies and updated every time you add new references to your library. To create a Smart Group :

  1. Select Create Smart Group from the Groups menu.. A search dialog appears.
  2. Enter your search strategy
  3. Click Create.

Tagging Records

Tagging records with keywords allows easy retrieval of a subset of your EndNote Library. You can tag a record manually with multiple keywords or globally add keywords to a group of records.

Adding Keywords to Records Globally

You can do this to all the records showing in the display window or to selected records. To select a sub-set of records within a library, either do a search within EndNote or highlight the items desired from the display window.

  1. Click Tools, then click Change and Move Fields.
  2. Select Keywords from the IN: box.
    Note: Words can be added to any field within an EndNote record. Simply select the desired field from the In: box
  3. Click in the desired radio button in the Change: box.
  4. Type keyword(s) in the right hand text box. Separate multiple descriptors with a semi-colon and no spaces
    Example: plastics;polymers
  5. Click OK.

View/Edit Records

Viewing records

  1. Double-click on any field of a record in the library display window to view full record.
  2. Click the right or left arrows to move through records.

Editing Records

You can edit any field in an individual reference by clicking on the record in the display window. Use the editing toolbar at the top of the record window, which includes fonts, sizes, bolding, italics, subscript, superscript, and symbols.

Note: Do not add any formatting to the record itself which is a function of the output style, such as underlining journal titles, parentheses around volume or issue, etc.

Globally Editing Author, Keywords or Journal Names within individual records

  1. Click Edit in the top menu, then click Change Text.
  2. Select Author, Keywords or Journal/Secondary Title from the IN: box.
  3. Type the word you wish to replace in the Search For : box.
  4. Type the replacement Author, Keyword or Journal name in the Change the Text to: box.
  5. Click Change. (WARNING: This can not be UNDONE. )

Share/Export Records

Exporting references to another EndNote Library

  1. Display the desired records for exporting in the current display window.
  2. Click File, then Export.
  3. Select Text File (*.txt) from the Save as Type: drop-down menu.
  4. Select EndNote Export from the Output Style: drop-down menu
    If you do not see EndNote Export on the drop-down menu click Select another style and choose from the list.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Open the EndNote library where you wish to import the references.
  7. From the File menu, choose Import.
  8. Click Choose File button to select the file and click OK.

  9. Select EndNote Import f rom the Import Options list.
  10. Click Import.

Copying an EndNote Library

  1. With a library open, choose Save a Copy from the File menu.
  2. Name the new library and choose where to save it.
  3. Click Save.
    The new library does not open. It is simply saved to disk, where you can then open it with EndNote.

Compressing an EndNote Library

Save your complete library (the filename.enl file as well as its associated .DATA folder and all of its contents) to a single compressed filename.enlx file in order to easily back up your library or send a copy to a colleague. Later, restore (unzip) the compressed library with EndNote.

Note: EndNote libraries larger than 4 gigabytes (GB) or 65,535 files (64 K) cannot be compressed with EndNote’s Compressed Library commands.  

To save to a compressed library file:

  1. Open the library in EndNote.
  2. From the File menu, select Compressed Library (.enlx), then Create.

Other Sharing Options

Sharing records between EndNote Web and EndNote Desktop

Moving EndNote records into RefWorks

Moving RefWorks records into EndNote

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