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EndNote: Creating Custom Fields

All your EndNote questions answered

Creating a Custom Field

 

EndNote references come with several custom fields that you can rename to represent aspects of the reference that might be important to your work. In the video below, the author uses an example of patient location for her medical research, and we have created a field in our demonstration called Image Copyright..

One of the advantages of creating a custom field is that you can add it to the display area in EndNote, which then allows you to sort the references in your library according to information from that field.

To create a custom field:

Go to Edit > Preferences (EndNote>preferences or EndNote>Settings on a Mac) A pop up window will open.

Choose Reference Types from the left hand menu in the pop up window

Edit > preferences > reference types

Then hit the Modify Reference Types button on the right of the pop up window.

Modify reference types

Choose a common reference type eg: journal article

Reference type journal article

Scroll down through the fields of journal article until you find a blank custom field

Blank custom field

Then give that field a name (for example, "Image copyright")

Custom 3  - Image copyright

Then click the Apply to All Ref Types button and hit OK

Apply to All Ref Types

Finally, click Apply

Click Apply

When editing your references now you should see the new field

Image copyright field in edit mode in EndNote

If you want to have this custom field as part of your EndNote display, right click over the headings above your EndNote references

Title field in display

Then select the custom field you edited from the drop down menu (it will still be called Custom Field, and not the name you gave it)

Custom Field 3

You can now sort by this field

Image copyright - created field in EndNote