Transferring References from Word to Endnote

One of the most depressing questions I get asked, often during training sessions is along the lines of:

“I’ve typed my bibliography in Word. Is there an easy way to transfer it to Endnote?”

The reason that this is depressing is because the answer is simple: No.

The problem is this. There are hundred of styles in which references can be presented. The full install of Endnote contains hundreds (probably thousands, I’ve not counted them) of styles, each of which have the bibliographic information for the references arranged in a different order.

All of this information has to be read into the different fields (e.g. Author, Journal Title, Chapter Titles, etc.) in Endnote references. Already this is starting to look like a bit of a problem; there is no way of processing this information, from an arbitrary style into an Endnote reference.

This is a known difficult to solve problem in computing known as a many to one problem. We have information in many possible places, and we want to put it in one given place. There is no general solution to this problem.

So, what can be done?

The best solution is to use Endnote from the start, so you do not have this problem at all. However, real life is not always that simple.

The next best solution is to hope that you can find all your references on the web, and start searching for the books and articles on the library catalogue or Web of Knowledge. This should sweep up most of the less obscure stuff and, of course, allows you to download immediately the references to Endnote. (If you are unsure how to do this, consult the Endnote manual: http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/its/info/guides/92Endnote.pdf).

Thirdly, you can try using some of the techniques that are suggested on Duncan Branley’s web site http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/duncan/. The Endnote stuff is at the foot of the page. It looks a little old, but does, I believe, still work.

Finally, you can just type the references into new Endnote references in the software.

Whichever of these ideas you use, I’m afraid they still cause work. The best solution is to start by using Endnote, and then it will not arise.

Full Install of Endnote Files

It is a mildly annoying fact that, upon a new Endnote install, not all the files are installed. I think this is because, some versions back, Endnote decided that a full install was too much work (or took too long), and only a sub-set of the full range of connection files, filters and styles were made available.

This may be fine for some large organisations, but is irritating for those of who are, for example, in an institute which is too small to qualify for the list, such as Durham University.

In order to install the full set of connection files, filters and styles you have to, at least on a Windows machine, modify the installation of Endnote.

To start, go to Control Panels | Add or Remove Programs, and wait a while whilst your computer generates the list.

Scroll down the list until you find your Endnote install, and click on it. Click on Change.

The Endnote installer will launch, and you should get to the Application Maintenance dialog.

Select Modify and click Next. The Select features dialog should appear.

The three components of interest here are the Additional connections, Additional Filters and Additional Styles bits. These are marked with red X’s to show they are not installed.

To install, click on the drop down by these additional features and select Entire Feature will be Installed….

Do this for each feature (it is best to do all of them) and click next. Click Next on the next dialog box and the features will then be installed. It may well take a few minutes before this is completed.

If your Endnote is delivered via MDS, all the available files will be deployed.

If you are uncertain which files are installed, go in Endnote to Tools | Online Search

In the Choose a Connection dialog, scroll down to see if Durham U is present.

If it is, you have the full set installed. If not, than you may wish to follow the procedure outlined above.

Which Version of Endnote?

There are, now, a significant number of versions of Endnote around, and some very old CD-ROMs floating around the university.

Every once in a while, people ask me why their version of Endnote is not working with a given word processor.

The compatibility details are given here:

http://www.endnote.com/enword2k7.asp

I will summarise below, starting with Windows machines.

Word 2010: Only Endnote X5 and Endnote X4 will work with Word 2010.

Word 2007: Endnote X, X1, X2, X3, X4 and X5 are all compatible with Word 2007. Earlier versions are compatible but may need some fiddling about by the user to make them work properly. The details are on the web site above. It is not recommended that versions earlier than Endnote 8 are used.

Word 2003: Endnote 5, 6 and 7 are (more or less) compatible with Word 2003, but there are some issues, so they should only be used with caution. None of these versions are supported either but CIS in Durham, or the producers of Endnote, so it is probably worth upgrading. Later versions are compatible with Word 2003.

Now, Apple machines:

Word 2011: Endnote X4 is compatible with Word 2011, but Endnote X3 and earlier version are not.

Word 2008: Endnote X1, X2, X3 and X4 are compatible with Word 2008. Endnote X and earlier are not compatible with Word 2008.

Word 2004: Endnote X1, X2, X3 and X4 are compatible with Word 2004.

Word 10.*: These are not compatible with versions later than X1.

Should you upgrade?

I think that if you have a version earlier than X1, upgrading would be a good option. Similarly, if you have or will soon move to Word 2010/2011, then you will need X4 or later.

Unless you would like some of the more advanced tools available in the later versions (such as groups, full text download), if you have X1 or later, it works, and you do not intend upgrading in the near future, sticking with what you have is probably a good plan, at least for the moment.

Endnote on Networked Drives

A problem that I’ve just found the solution to is one where the Endnote library is stored on a network drive, and suddenly stops working.

This is not something I’ve seen or heard about very often, but it does happen. I’ve seen it maybe twice in the last year, and it has never happened to me, even though my libraries are on the university networked drive.

I think two things can happen. Firstly, you network drive can fill up, either because you add some more files (for example, saving the document), or because when Endnote talks back to the drive the network connection is briefly lost, and so is a bit of the library.

Either way, the next time Endnote open the library, you get a message informing you that the library is damaged and needs repairing.

Recovering the library is done from Tools | Recover Library. You need to select the original and the destination library, and Endnote attempts to copy one to the other.

This does work, but Endnote does not seem to like doing this with the libraries on a networked drive.

If you are in this position, take a back up, move the library (and the [libraryname].DATA folder) to a non-networked drive (say c:) and do the recover from there.

If nothing else can convince you to take regular back ups of your Endnote library, that should.