EndNote

EndNote is a reference management software that can be used on Windows and Macintosh computers. It allows you to create a collection of bibliographic records and files to use for your research and writing.

Edit your document safely (video)

This video is for EndNote 20, but there are no significant changes to the Cite While You Write function in EndNote X9.

Edit your document safely using Convert to Unformatted Citations

While you are writing, you may find that some sections of text need to be edited and rearranged to improve the flow. The citations you insert with EndNote are directly linked to your EndNote library and there is a lot of coding underpinning these links. If you copy and paste text containing EndNote formatted citations, you will end up corrupting your library and could potentially lose it. You need to temporarily make those links inactive to edit safely.

  1. Go to the EndNote toolbar in Word.
  2. Click on Convert Citations and Bibliography.
  3. Select Convert to Unformatted Citations. The reference list will disappear and your citations will appear in curly brackets, e.g. {Martin, 2018 #17}.
  4. Edit your document as needed.
  5. Click Update Citations and Bibliography to convert back to formatted citations. Your reference list will reappear and your citations will return to their normal format. If you click on them they will be highlighted in grey because they are actively linked to your library once more.
  6. Save.

Never edit text that includes live EndNote formatted citations. This can corrupt your library and you could lose it.

Never store your document with unformatted citations. Always update citations and bibliography to reinstate the EndNote coding before you save and close your document at the end of an editing session.

It is a good idea to unformat your citations and reformat them periodically as you are working. It's like shutting down your computer and restarting it to fix glitches. This is a way of shutting down your document and restarting it to refresh the connections between your document and your EndNote library.

Combine the chapters of your thesis using Convert to Unformatted Citations

It is a good idea to work on sections or chapters of a longer work separately. However, there comes a time when they need to be combined. If you copy and paste text containing live EndNote formatted citations, you will end up corrupting your library and your document. You need to make those links temporarily inactive to edit safely. The Convert to Unformatted Citations does this so you can edit safely. As an extra precaution, work with copies of the original chapters.

For this example, I am using three chapters. All three are combined before reactivating the EndNote formatting. If you prefer, you can also work one chapter at a time, reformatting the master document after each addition to make sure that it’s worked, then unformatting ready to add the next chapter.

  1. Start by making a copy of each chapter. If something goes wrong with one of the copies, you still have the original file.
  2. Create a new blank document with the file name for your completed thesis. This will become your master document as the following chapters are added to it.
  3. Open this new master document and the of chapter 1.
  4. Go to the EndNote toolbar in the copy of Chapter 1 and open the Convert Citations and Bibliography menu Select Convert to Unformatted Citations. This will remove the bibliography at the end of the chapter and citations will appear in curly brackets, e.g. (Martin, 2018) now appears as {Martin, 2018 #17}.
  5. Select all of the text of the copy of Chapter 1, copy it and paste it into the master document.
  6. Go back to the copy of Chapter 1 and click Update Citations and Bibliography in the Endnote toolbar.
  7. Save and close the copy of Chapter 1.
  8. Open the copy of Chapter 2 and convert the text to unformatted citations.
  9. Select all of the text of the copy of Chapter 2, copy it and paste it into the master document on the page after the end of Chapter 1.
  10. Go back to the copy of Chapter 2. Update Citations and Bibliography, save and close it.
  11. Open the copy of Chapter 3 and convert the text to unformatted citations.
  12. Select all of the text of the copy of Chapter 3, copy it and paste it into the master document on the page after the end of Chapter 2.
  13. Go back to the copy of Chapter 3. Update Citations and Bibliography, save and close it.
  14. In your master document, go to the EndNote menu and select the Update Citations and Bibliography command. Your combined bibliography for chapters 1, 2 and 3 will appear at the end of the master document and the citations will have returned to their usual format in round brackets.
  15. Save the changes to the master document. It is now the master copy of your complete thesis with a single combined bibliography at the end.

You may need to do further editing to format headings and spaces. If you need to move sections of EndNote formatted text as part of this editing, convert the text to unformatted citations first. Update citations and bibliography after the text is moved to where you want it.

 

Make at least one back-up copy of your full thesis and store it in a separate location to the original.

 

Never store your document with unformatted citations. Always update citations and bibliography to reinstate the EndNote coding before you save and close your document at the end of an editing session. If you can't complete the compilation of your thesis in one session, update citations and bibliography of your combined document, and save before closing. When you come back to this, convert the combined document to unformatted citations and continue combing as above.

Safely remove the links to EndNote ready to submit your document

When you use Cite While You Write (CWYW) in Word, the document is formatted with field codes that allow EndNote to format your in-text citations and create your reference list. This formatting actively links your document to your EndNote library. It is necessary to remove these links before submitting a copy of your work for marking or review or publishing.

There are 2 ways to do this:

  • Convert to PDF. When you convert an EndNote formatted Word document to PDF, the field codes are removed. You can use this option if no one is going to need to do any further editing or formatting to the document.
  • Use the Convert to Plain Text command to remove the EndNote field codes. This does not alter the Word formatting, but it does cancel the active links between your in-text citations and your EndNote library and your reference list. It will still be a Word document, so you can now edit it as needed.

 

Convert to Plain Text

  1. Open your formatted document.
  2. Go to the EndNote tab in Word and select Convert Citations and Bibliography to bring up the menu.
  3. Select Convert to Plain Text.
  4. You will see a warning message, explaining that this will preserve your original document (with EndNote field codes) and create a new, unsaved document (without EndNote field codes). Click OK to continue.
  5. A copy of the document, without field codes, appears in a new document window.
  6. Save this plain text document with a different name to distinguish it from the original document.
  7. Double check the formatting of this plain version - including custom margins, headings, line spacing and figure placement. This document should be formatted in the same way as the original, but Word can be unstable with long documents, so it's always wise to check.
  8. Make any edits to your citations and bibliography that were not possible when the EndNote formatting was live.
  9. Save your changes.

NOTE: If you are using a Mac, Convert to Plain Text is under Tools.

 

IMPORTANT: Convert to Plain Text cannot be undone, so it is important to keep the original document if you decide to make changes, such as including or removing citations using EndNote.

Using a synced library to work on the same document on different computers

References in the synced library will have different record numbers to the original library. Record numbers are used to link citations in your document to references in your library. If you are transferring a document between computers to work on it, you will need to update the links between the library and document each time.

  1. Save the EndNote formatted document to the computer before you work on it.
  2. Open the document.
  3. Go to the EndNote toolbar. Click Update Citations and Bibliography.
  4. Rematch any references that need it.
  5. Continue working with your document.

NOTE: Please also use this technique if you are using a shared library to collaborate on a document.

The Track Changes function in Word

Your supervisor or reviewers may want to use track changes when reviewing your work.

Clarivate advises that EndNote versions 9 and later are compatible with Track Changes, however a number of users have reported problems [corrupt documents] when Track Changes are used to edit and provide feedback on draft documents.

Options:

  1. Use the Convert to Unformatted Citations option to unformat your document. References will appear like this: {Grey, 2016 #23}. There will be no reference list on the bottom of the document. A separate reference list can be created for your supervisor.
    Track changes should be accepted before reformatting your document.
  2. Use Convert to Plain Text to make a copy of your document that has no Endnote formatting. Send this copy to your supervisor or reviewers. EndNote formatting cannot be restored in documents converted to plain text, and suggested reviewer changes need to be made manually in the original EndNote formatted version.

N.B. Never remove EndNote Field Codes from your original document!