The EndNote tab in Word
When you install EndNote a tab will be created in Microsoft Word that allows it and EndNote to interact. This tab is also available for Pages, OpenOffice and Google Docs (if you have EndNote 21).
If you don't see the tab option in Word after downloading EndNote, have a look at our troubleshooting page.
We'll go through the most important aspects of the tab below.
Styles
The referencing style being applied to your document is seen in the Styles area of the toolbar
The list of styles available from the drop-down should match your favourite styles in EndNote. If the style you want is not in the list, choose Select Another Style.
Insert Citation
Insert Citation allows you to add references into Word.
- The Insert Citation icon has two parts: an upper part (the magnifying glass) and a lower part (the words Insert Citation).
- Clicking on the upper (magnifying glass) part brings up a search window that allows you to search your EndNote library to find a reference.
- Clicking on the lower (Insert Citation) part shows a drop-down menu, allowing you to place a reference you have selected in your EndNote library straight into the Word document using Insert Selected Citation(s).
Edit & Manage Citations
Edit & Manage Citations allows you to add page numbers to in-text citations, change the way they display, and apply suffixes and prefixes. You can also remove citations in this mode.
- If you select an in-text citation in your document and choose Edit & Manage Citations, a window will open (see pic below):
- Under the Citation heading the in-text citations in your document are displayed in order. The name of the EndNote library where the citations came from is listed next to each citation.
- The Edit Reference drop-down allows you to remove an in-text citation (choose Remove and then OK at the bottom of the window).
- Edit Citation allows you to change the look of an in-text citation. You can add a prefix, such as (see also Smith, 2020) or page numbers (Smith, 2020, p. 57).
- Note that when you type text into the Prefix box you must put a space at the end of your text.
- Type numbers into the Pages box, eg 57, or 57-58. You don't need to type p or pp.
The Formatting drop down menu lets you:
- Default displays the whole citation within parentheses: (Smith, 2020)
- Display as: Author (Year) puts the author(s) outside and in front of the parentheses: Smith (2020)
- Exclude Author hides the author: (2020). You would use this option if you had already typed the author's name before inserting the citation.
Instant Formatting
- When Instant Formatting is set to On, any reference that is inserted will be automatically formatted into your chosen style.
- When Instant Formatting is set to Off, references inserted into Word will appear in unformatted style, enclosed in curly braces with a hash plus the record number after the year of publication. The reference list will also disappear.
- You'll normally want formatting set to On because instant formatting is very convenient. If your Word document is very large though, and contains a large number of references, turning off the instant formatting will improve the performance of EndNote and Word.
- To return unformatted references to a formatted state, press the Update Citations and Bibliography button.
Changing the Layout of your Reference List
Normally, EndNote will format your reference list using the same font, font size and line spacing as the rest of your document. However, if you wish, you can change this using the EndNote toolbar in Word.
- Click on the small arrow icon in the bottom right of the Bibliography section of the EndNote tab, or clicking on the Confgure Bibliography button in Word for Mac:
- The Configure Bibliography window will appear. Click on the Layout tab.. This will let you change the font and font size of the reference list, add a title, change the indenting of the list, and adjust line spacing
Traveling Library
Sometimes you will have citations in your document that were inserted from an EndNote library that is different to the one currently open, or which were inserted some time ago and have since been deleted from your library. These will appear in the Edit & Manage Citations window as belonging to a Traveling Library.
When you have Travelling Library references, problems can arise when EndNote tries to update the citations and bibliography, generating error messages like the one below:
To fix this issue:
- Select a traveling library reference in your Edit & Manage Citations window, and click on the drop-down menu on the right. Select Update from My Library. If none of the suggested references that appear match what you need, move on to the dot point below.
- For any left over travelling library references, use Export to EndNote>Export Travelling Library (PC) or Tools>Export Travelling LIbrary (Mac).
- When you use Export Travelling Library the references will have different record numbers to the ones in your document, which means that when you update citations and bibliography you will still get the red error message for traveling library references. However, the error window will now have the correct reference as a suggestion.
Making a Plain Text Version of your Document
Sometimes EndNote and Word will not be able to make the text of a reference look exactly as you want it to. When this happens you can create a plain text copy of your document, which will allow you to make the changes you need.
Plain text copies are also used for submitting articles for publication in academic journals, and for final PHD thesis submission.
- To create a plain text document, go to the EndNote toolbar in Word and select Convert Citations and Bibliography > Convert to Plain Text.
Note: Don't make the plain text copy until you are finished using EndNote on the document.
Merging Chapters in a Thesis
If you are writing a thesis or a book, you will often have one Word file for each chapter. And, if you have inserted citations using EndNote, each of these chapters will have its own reference list at the end.
If you want to merge these chapters so that there is only one reference list, follow these steps:
- Save a backup copy of each of the formatted chapters, including any appendices that have EndNote references in them.
- Then, using these backup files, unformat each of the chapters & appendices using Convert Citations and Bibliography > Convert to Unformatted Citations. This changes all the in-text citations to unformatted style (see Instant Formatting, above) and removes all the reference lists.
- Create a new, blank Word document.
- In order, from the start of the thesis to the last chapter, copy and paste each of the unformatted chapters into the new document. You can add page or section breaks between the chapters if you wish. At this stage, don't paste any sections that you want to appear after the reference list, such as appendices.
- Once all the unformatted chapters are merged together into one document, select Update Citations and Bibliography. This will format all the in-text citations and create a reference list at the end of your document.
- At this point, you might see some of the error windows mentioned in the Traveling Library section of this guide, above. Follow the processes outlined in the link below to solve this issue.
- Now, paste any remaining unformatted sections, like appendices, which you want to appear after the reference list. You would normally have a page or section break in your document between the reference list and the following sections.
- Again, select Update Citations and Bibliography.
- You are now finished. You may still need to do some word processing on it, for example adding title, abstract and table of contents.