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EndNote 21

Setting Up Your Library

The most important thing to know about using EndNote is when creating a new library, your library must be saved to the hard drive of your computer. Libraries saved to iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, university networked drives, or other cloud locations will corrupt over time. This is the most common cause of all errors in EndNote.

Stop and familiarize yourself with how to save to your hard drive before using EndNote. Please note that your desktop is not the same as your hard drive.

Windows/PC

  • Your default hard drive is the C: drive. Please save your EndNote library to this drive.
  • If you are not sure how to find the C: drive, watch this video. Please note your screen may differ from the video.
  • Windows typically saves to OneDrive by default.
  • Learn about how to change your OneDrive settings here.

Apple/Mac

  • Your default hard drive is the Macintosh HD drive. Please save your EndNote library to this drive.
  • If you are not sure how to find the Macintosh HD drive, watch this video. Please note your screen may differ from the video.
  • Apple typically saves to the iCloud by default.
  • Learn about how to change your iCloud settings here.

EndNote Library Set Up

Once you understand how to save a file to your hard drive, you can follow these steps to set up your EndNote library:

  1. Create & Save a New Library
  2. Import Journal Terms
  3. Syncing Library to EndNote Account
  4. Finding Full-Text with EndNote

Create & Save a New Library

 New user (Windows)

  • If you are a Windows user, you will see a prompt the first time you open EndNote
  • Select Create a new library
  • Select a location on your computer to save your EndNote library.

New user (Mac)

  • If you are a Mac user, you will not see a prompt the first time you open EndNote. The only thing you will see is a bar at the top of your screen that looks like this:

  • Select EndNote 21
  • Select Create a new library

Returning user/I already have a library

If you already have an EndNote library, but would like to create a new one:

  • Select File
  • Select New

Important Information for all users

  • Your library will consist of a .enl and a .data file. Both of these files must have the same name and stay in the same location for EndNote to work.
  • Your library must be saved to the hard drive. See above for more information.
  • If you wish to save a static backup copy of your library, select File and then select Compressed Library. 

Import Journal Terms List

This step imports thousands of journal titles and their various abbreviations so that EndNote can render them correctly in bibliographies.

  1. In the EndNote toolbar, select Library
  2. Select Open Term Lists
  3. Select Journals Term List
  4. Select "Lists" tab
  5. Select Import List
    • Mac users: You must find EndNote in the Mac applications folder. We recommend using your search feature to find the EndNote folder, find the folder "Terms", and double clicking to see the terms list.
  6. Choose Medical.txt
  7. Select Open 
  8. Click OK
  9. Click Close

Syncing Library to EndNote Cloud Account

You can only sync one library per computer. If you have a previously synced library from an earlier version of EndNote, it will remained synced in EndNote 21.

  1. Open EndNote
  2. In EndNote toolbar, select Edit (Windows) or EndNote (Mac)
  3. Select Preferences (some versions of Mac may say Settings)
  4. Select Sync
  5. Enable Sync
  6. Create your account or authenticate existing account
    • We do not recommend using your CU Anschutz email or password to create your account. We recommend using a personal email and new password, so if you ever change institutions, you will not use your EndNote library.
  7. Make sure "Sync Automatically" is checked
  8. Close the dialogue box

To initiate the first sync:

  • In EndNote's upper left corner, click Sync Configuration
  • Select Sync Now

This will initiate the sync. EndNote will remain automatically synced so long as "Sync Automatically" was checked in the Sync preferences (see step 7). 

Finding Full-Text with EndNote

Users have two basic options to find PDFs with EndNote: automatically downloading with EndNote, and manually porting PDFs.

Automatically downloading with EndNote

EndNote can automatically download many of your PDFs into your EndNote library. Currently, using this feature usually find the PDFs for 40-50% of citations. To use this feature:

  1. In EndNote, go to Preferences
  2. Go to Find Full Text
  3. In the "OpenURL Path" box enter: https://cuanschutz.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/openurl/01UCOHS_INST/01UCOHS_INST:01UCOHS
  4. In the "Authenticate with" box enter: https://proxy.hsl.ucdenver.edu/login
  5. Highlight the citation(s) you want PDFs for
  6. Select "References"
  7. Select "Find full-text"
  8. If you are asked to authenticate, skip this step. You do not need to enter your University credentials for this to work.

You will see a running dialogue in the left panel on EndNote's progress. If a PDF is located, you will see a paperclip in the file attachment column (you must have "file attachments" displayed.) If a link to an online article is located, you will see a chain in the file attachment column.

Manually porting PDFs

  1. Please follow steps 1-4 for automatically downloading with EndNote above
  2. Highlight the citation you want PDFs for
  3. Right-click and select "OpenURL Link" to be taken to library holdings.

Sometimes this still fails to find the full citation in library holdings. If it does, please follow the next step in that case.

  1. The final option is to find the citation in a database via the Strauss Library Homepage. For example, open PubMed from the library homepage, find the citation in PubMed, then click the "Article Linker" button to be taken to library holdings.

If a full-text option is still not available, you can order the PDF through interlibrary loan.

If you have questions about this process, please sign up for our EndNote classes. If you'd like to arrange a group session for your department, lab or group, you can use the Special Classes Request form and we'll work with you to meet your schedule.

Restore or Recreate Desktop Library from EndNote Cloud

Scenario: You have previously been syncing your desktop EndNote library to your EndNote cloud account. Your hard drive has been wiped clean/lost/you got a new computer, and you need to reestablish your library on the clean hard drive.

  1. Install EndNote by following the instructions on the Download/Install EndNote page.
  2. If you have access to the original desktop library, make a backup copy from your desktop library.
    1. Open EndNote
    2. Select File
    3. Select Compressed Library
    4. Save your library somewhere where you can access it. We recommend putting the date in the name of this backup copy, as it is a static snapshot of your current library. 
  3. If you do not have access to the original desktop library, make a backup copy from the EndNote Cloud.
    1. If your library was created in EndNote 20, X9, or a previous version:
      1. Log into EndNote online (myendnoteweb.com)
      2. In the toolbar at the top, hover over Format
      3. Select Export References
      4. Next to References, select All references in Library
      5. Next to Export style, select EndNote Export
      6. Save your library somewhere where you can access it. This will create a backup of your individual citations, but not any organization (groups, group sets). We recommend putting the date in the name of this backup copy, as it is a static snapshot of your current library.
    2. If your library was created in EndNote 21:
      1. Log into EndNote web (https://web.endnote.com)
      2. Select the check box in the top bar (next to the icon of a page with a paper clip) to select all your references
      3. Select Export All References (icon of a folder with an arrow pointing up)
      4. Select Export
  4. Open the EndNote program on the new computer. Follow the instructions in Create & Save a New Library.
  5. Please set up your new library by:
    1. Import Journal Terms
    2. Finding Full-Text with EndNote
  6.  We will now sync the online and desktop versions.
    1. In EndNote toolbar, select Edit (Windows) or EndNote (Mac)
    2. Select Preferences (some versions of Mac may say Settings)
    3. Select Sync
    4. You should see your credentials populated already.
      1. If not, click the "Enable Sync" button and fill in the same credentials you used to set up your EndNote account to begin with. These credentials are the same you would use to log into your EndNote cloud account.
    5. Make sure “Sync Automatically” is clicked.
    6. Select any "save" or "apply" options and close the box.
    7. In the EndNote Desktop toolbar, select Sync Configuration
    8. Select Sync Now

You should then see your empty desktop library populate with citations and groups/group sets.

Adding & Deleting EndNote Styles

Adding EndNote Styles

EndNote comes with many styles pre-downloaded. To add a new style from Cite While You Write:

  1. In Word, select the EndNote 21 tab
  2. Select the Style dropdown menu
  3. Select Select Another Style at the top of the dropdown
  4. A menu will appear showing all available styles in alphabetical order. Please note that "AMA" style is listed under "JAMA".

If the style that you need is not available in the dropdown, you can find more styles online.

  1. Visit Output styles
  2. Search for the style you need using the search bar
  3. Once you have found the correct style, click the Download link
  4. A .ens file will be downloaded to your computer. Double click on the file, and it should automatically import into EndNote.

Deleting EndNote Styles

  1. Close EndNote
  2. Using File Explorer (PC) or Finder (Mac) find the "Styles" folder in the EndNote application folder
    1. For PC, the default location would be C drive > Program Files (x86) > EndNote folder > Styles
  3. Open the Styles folder and delete the styles you do not want