You can use groups and groups sets to organise your references by categories of your choosing. Groups can be added, deleted and changed without affecting the All References area of your library. References can belong to multiple groups. All references belong to the All References group as well as whichever groups you assign them to. Group Sets act like a subject heading to place your groups under.
Create a Group
From the Menu bar:
OR
From the Group Pane on the left:
Add a reference to a Group
OR
OR
Create a Group Set
From the Menu bar:
OR
From the Group Pane on the left:
Add an existing Group to a Group Set
Create a new Group within a Group Set
Create a Smart Group
Smart Groups are groups that have an inbuilt search query. When a new reference is added to your library, it is checked against the search query. If it matches, it is automatically added to the smart group.
It is now also possible to combine groups through the Create From Groups option
A printable copy of these instructions: Using Groups and Group Sets to manage your library (PDF)
A video you can watch: Creating Groups, groups sets and smart groups (YouTube – UCSF)
It is possible to edit a single field in a batch of selected references in one go. This can save you time when you are tidying up your library, or organising it to make it more searchable. For example you can:
NOTE: This type of editing is not reversible, so use it with care.
Here are 2 examples of how this function can be used.
Add a keyword, or group of keywords to a batch of references
The Keyword field of an EndNote record is searchable. If you add keywords to your references, you can find them by searching your library for those keywords.
Label a batch of references with the database, search terms, and the date you searched.
If you are doing a systematic review, this use of the Change/Move/Copy Fields function can be useful in managing your search results, data mining and screening. If you label your references like this, you can generate a Subject Bibliography in EndNote that has the search details and the article abstracts in a single document. (See the Bibliography page of this EndNote guide for details)
For this example, I’m using the Label field to record the database, search string and date searched. This field is never populated with data from database records, so I can safely use Replace Whole field with.
NOTE: If you are using other fields such as Notes or Database, which are sometimes populated with information from the database record, it is a good idea to use either Insert after a field’s text or Insert before a field’s text. This keeps any text already in those fields and gives you the opportunity to review it.
EndNote can cross check references of the same type and identify pairs with multiple matching fields, using Find Duplicates. There are defaults set for this function, but you can set your own preferences for dealing with duplicates.
Setting duplicate handling preferences
There are several fields available for comparison: Author, Year, Title, Secondary Title (=Journal Title), Volume, Issue, Pages, Section, Publisher, Place Published, Tertiary Title, Short Title, Subsidiary Author, Reference Type, Label. Choose the ones that best suit your own needs.
Find Duplicates
Use this function to identify duplicate references in your library and deal with them. It will only compare pairs of references.
When you delete the unwanted duplicate records, they go into the Trash group. To remove them completely, right click on Trash in the Groups pane and select Empty Trash. Please note: The Empty Trash function cannot be undone.
Working in the temporary Duplicates group
If you have 3 or more duplicate records for a single reference, and each has unique information in the additional fields, the temporary duplicates group is useful. It allows you to go through the records and copy the unique information from the duplicates into the one record you want to keep. Then you can manually delete the duplicates without losing anything useful.
A printable copy of these instructions: Dealing with duplicates (PDF)
You can annotate the PDF attachments in your EndNote library. The options are:
Add a sticky note to the PDF
NOTE: Sticky notes can't be moved around the document. They stay where you first put them.
Highlight, underline or cross out text in the PDF
OR
Remove sticky notes, highlighting, underlining or strikethrough text
Caution: If you click Remove, you will delete the PDF attachment.
There is a search panel above the reference panel of your EndNote library. You can use this to locate specific records within your EndNote Library. Search on words that have been added to any of the fields of a record for a reference, as well as within the text of PDF attachments. There are additional things you can search on such as when you added the record to your library.
If you can't see the search Panel, click Show Search Panel on the toolbar beside The Quick Search box. This search panel can be shown or hidden.
Elements of the search panel:
For more information on using this function, go to Searching for References under Searching and Sorting in EndNote in your EndNote library's Help pages.