Endnote and Travelling Libraries

I occasionally get asked about send Word documents with Endnote references to other people without Endnote.

This does work.

The reason it works is because the Word document carries with it what is called a ‘travelling library’, Essentially, Word packs all the information that Endnote gives it up into the document. Someone without Endnote reading the document does not see all the Endnote bits, but does see the references correctly formatted.

Now, as you may well already know, nothing is quite that simple, and occasionally things do go wrong. Also, if you are asked to submit plain text, you need to remove all the Endnote related bits of processing that go on to render the formatting of references.

You might know that Endnote inserts its information through things called ‘field codes’.

To remove the field codes, make sure you work on the final final copy of your manuscript. It is also advisable to make a back up copy of that.

To remove the field codes, use Control-A to select the whole document.

Then, hold down the control and shift keys and press F9. The field codes will be removed.

Your references and bibliography are now plain text.

Any modifications will need to be done in the original, and the same procedure followed.