How To: Importing references from RefWorks

Do you have a colleague who uses RefWorks or have you used RefWorks yourself and are you wondering how to get your references from RefWorks into EndNote? You're not the only one, many people are having trouble importing references saved from RefWorks. One of the frequently asked questions at EndNote is: "How can I import references from RefWorks into EndNote". The answer to this question lies in using the right export format and import filters. Now let's see how we get started with import these references.

Step 1: Take the right export format in RefWorks.

1.1 In RefWorks, go to the References menu and select export.

1.2 Pick the references you want to export. Verify that the Bibliographic Software button is selected. If it's selected, click on the Export to Text File button.

1.3 See the confirmation that your selected references have been exported.

1.4 Now a new window in your webbrowser wil open that will show your references in a structured format. In case the references don't show right away, click the "Download it" link.

1.5 The last step is to save the references as a text file to a location on your desktop. To do this select "Save As" from the File Menu. Make sure that your remember where you saved it, because you need to look up this location for importing into EndNote.

1.6 Now we can go to EndNote to import the file that we just saved from RefWorks.

2. Choose the right import filter in EndNote.

2.1 Open EndNote, and open an existing library or create a new library.

2.2 From the File menu in EndNote, choose Import.

2.3 From the pop-up window click the "Choose File" button and locate the file we saved from RefWorks.

2.4 From the "Import Option" list, select the import option "Reference Manager (RIS)". You don't need to adjust the settings for Duplicates or Text Translation unless your Operating System is using a language setting other than English.

2.5 When you're done, click the "Import" button. EndNote now presents the imported references in your library window. You can view all references in a library by clicking "All References" on the left side of the screen.

Now you know how to easily import references into EndNote that were saved from RefWorks. This gives you the possibility to collaborate with your colleagues even if they don't use the same Referencing Software.

EndNote Tutorial, Part Nine: Groups

We start this week with the conclusion of our EndNote Tutorial. This last part of the tutorial will deal with groups in EndNote. You will learn how to organize your library so that you can keep a good overview of all your references. You can create custom groups for a set or subset of references. You can also create "Smart Groups" in your library. In the video you will see what those are and what their purpose is:



To see previous parts of this tutorial, click the links below for each part:

Part 1, Overview
Part 2, What's New
Part 3, Preferences
Part 4, Online Search
Part 5, Importing a Text File
Part 6, Manual Data Entry
Part 7, Journal Names
Part 8, Transferring References

Want to learn more than these video's explain? Please take one of the available Webinar Classes. from EndNote.

EndNote Tutorial, Part Eight: Transferring References

Today we are already at the penultimate part of this EndNote Tutorial, Transferring References. In this part you will learn about Transferring References from your desktop version of EndNote to EndNote Web and vice versa. Watch the video below to learn more:



To see previous parts of this tutorial, click the links below for each part:

Part 1, Overview
Part 2, What's New
Part 3, Preferences
Part 4, Online Search
Part 5, Importing a Text File
Part 6, Manual Data Entry
Part 7, Journal Names

Or sign up for one of the EndNote Webinar Classes.

EndNote Training: Take a Webinar!

Ever wanted to know a little more about EndNote than what's shown in the videos or the manual? Take a Webinar!

These Webinars are given on a regular basis and really give you a good insight into EndNote's functionalities. The Webinars are interactive to, you don't just listen, you can get the answers to the questions you have straight from the Webinar teacher.

On top of that the Webinars are free of charge, all you need is an Internet connection and Web browser. Below you see the kind of training that EndNote gives with these Webinars and you can see when you can take a Webinar.

Building Your EndNote Library
- Get acquainted with EndNote and learn about the user interface and setting up preferences
- Learn four ways to add references to your library including manual data entry, online search, direct export, and importing text files downloaded from online sources

Using EndNote’s Cite While You Write
- Search your EndNote library to locate references
- Edit citations to suppress author names, years, or add page numbers
- Change styles instantly

EndNote Micro Classes
These short 30-minute classes for the beginner cover one of the four following subjects:
- Direct Export: Search online databases for references and export the results into your EndNote library.
- Find Full Text: Let EndNote locate and store full text articles for your references automatically while you  continue to work.
- Edit Citations: Exclude an author/date, add a prefix/suffix or page numbers to your citations.
- Working with Journal Names: Use term lists to synchronize the correct full/abbreviated journal names with your EndNote bibliography.

EndNote Web for EndNote Users
- Navigating the user interface
- Integration with the Web of Knowledge
- Collecting and sharing your references
- Using Cite-While-You-Write to insert citations and create bibliographies in Microsoft Word
- How EndNote Web complements EndNote on the desktop

Advanced Classes

To atend one of these Webinar Classes, click here (you have to register with EndNote)
To quickly calculate the correct time that a Webinar will take place, click here 

And if you just want to stick to folowing my tutorial then click here for part one, and here for part two.

Special EndNote tips & tricks!

Here are a couple of really good tips, tricks and workarounds from LibraryFit. These will come in handy when working with EndNote and provide solutions for problems you may encounter along the way.

Direct export using the Macintosh

This will work with Firefox as the browser, but not with Safari. Firefox will give you the option to open the file, and will ask which program you wish to use. Select EndNote as the program.

Word processor compatibility

In response to user demand, backwards compatibility has been improved, and EndNote X3 is compatible with Word 2000 and Open Office.

Direct export from Google Scholar

This will work better if you go into the Scholar Preferences, go to the Bibliography Manager settings, and select RefMan instead of EndNote. When you do your search, you will now see links "Import into RefMan". Click on these links and the references will import directly to EndNote.

Find Full Text

If you are not working in the biomedical area, find full text will work more quickly in EndNote X3 if you go to the Preferences>Find Full Text, and uncheck the "Pubmed Link Out" option. Certain databases have licensing agreements which prohibit use of the find full text feature. These include Ebsco, JSTOR, Swets.

EndNote Web

Version 2.8 is in beta and should be released soon. The ability to insert references into a Word document from a folder which another user has shared with you should be available next year [but they have been saying this for a while!] This problem with shared folders is significant for students who want to use EndNote for group projects. It is suggested as a workaround that one of the students should get a new email account (from Gmail, Yahoo, or wherever) and then set up a new EndNote Web account. The username and password can then be given to all the group.

Locating a Corrupt Citation in a Word Document

The normal procedure when dealing with possible corruption is to unformat the citations. A corrupt citation will not unformat. But how do you pick up an unformatted citation in a lengthy document? Go to the Word preferences for "Field shading." Change the setting from "When selected" to "Always." Now you can scan through the document and look for greyed areas of text. This way you can more easily pick up the corrupt citations which failed to unformat.

Dealing with a Corrupt Word Document

If the user is able to open a new Word document and insert EndNote citations correctly, then the corruption is probably limited to the document that they are working on. Click on the "backwards P" symbol on the Word toolbar to display all the hidden formatting symbols. Copy the document, except for the final paragraph symbol (the "backwards P" again). Paste it into a new document. Can you now insert citations correctly? In corrupt documents, the corruption is often contained in that final paragraph symbol. If the document is divided by section breaks, there can also be corruption in a particular section. The same procedure applies: copy the document section by section, omitting the final paragraph mark in each section.

Word’s Normal Template is Corrupt

If the user opens a new Word document, but is unable to insert EndNote citations correctly, then the default Word template (the "normal" template) may be corrupt. To fix this, first close Word. Go to Windows Explorer and make sure that you have set the Folder Options so that you can view hidden files and folders. Then locate the normal template (in the MicrosoftTemplates folder under the Application Data). It will be called "normal.dot" or "normal.dotm". Remove this file from that folder and save it somewhere else. It contains all the preferences for Word, so don’t delete it at this point: just move it elsewhere. Also, look for any temporary files in that folder with names beginning ~$. Delete these. Now restart Word. Word will recreate the normal template (without any of the preferences). Does this fix the EndNote problem? If not, you should close Word, go back to the templates folder, delete the new normal template and retrieve the old normal template. This will restore your Word preferences. Of course, it won’t fix the EndNote problem.

Doing a Clean Reinstall of EndNote

Uninstalling EndNote from Control Panel will not remove all EndNote files from your computer. Sometimes you need to delete all the files, especially if you want to delete the preferences.

EndNote files may still be present in these locations:

* an EndNote folder in the Documents area
* an EndNote folder in your Application Data
* in the Program Files/Common Files/ResearchSoft folder
* in the Program Files/Common Files/Thomson ResearchSoft folder
* in the Program Files/EndNote… folder

You also have to run regedit to open the Registry Editor and delete the EndNote folder under: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareISI ResearchSoft

Now restart Windows.
Then reinstall EndNote.

If you have any questions about the tips above or other EndNote issues, feel free to contact me.

Want to know more about EndNote X3?
Or any updates of the EndNote program?

Getting EndNote files from the new PubMed!

Those of you that use PubMed in connection with EndNote may have noticed that the PubMed website has changed a little bit recently. To make sure that you are still comfortable with using EndNote and PubMed, I'll give you step by step instructions on how to get the references from PubMed into your EndNote library:

1. Start by going to the PubMed website, http://www.pubmed.gov/
2. Perform your search for references (either normal or advanced search)

3. Now select the references that you would like to import into EndNote by clicking the check boxes.

4. Click the "Send to:" link at the top right corner of the window.

5. From the "Send to" menu, choose file.

6. From the drop-down list 'Format' choose the option "Medline".

7. Click "Create File" and save the file to a location of your choosing.

(you may have to turn off your browsers 'pop-up blocking' to see the save file message)

You have now exported a file from the PubMed database to a location on your computer. Now to correctly import this file into EndNote, take the following steps:

8. Open the EndNote program.

9. Go to the File menu and choose Import.

10. Click Choose File... to find the pubmed_results.txt file on your computer.

11. From the Import Option list choose PubMed (NLM). If you do not see PubMed in the list, choose Other Filters and browse to PubMed (NLM).

12. Click import to import the reference(s) into your EndNote library.

Now you can continue your research in the way you were used to, by getting references from PubMed into EndNote. You can of course still connect to the PubMed database and search for references from within EndNote and EndNote Web. That process has not changed and it is still a quick and easy way of getting references into your EndNote library.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a message on this Blog!

To check out more EndNote Updates, click here.

And to learn more about EndNote X3, read this article.