Many students have heard of EndNote. Perhaps their lecturer or another student has told them to use it or said it’s very helpful. However, most students don’t really understand what it does, how it works, or how long it takes to learn to use the program. We recommend that students become familiar with referencing in general, and APA referencing in particular, before they attempt to use EndNote. If you are unfamiliar with referencing please visit the University's pages on referencing to learn more. If you are ok with referencing please read on.
To begin with, you will need to download the program. Please make sure that you download the correct version for your operating system, Windows or Mac.
Before you start using EndNote, we recommend that you attend one of the Online Library Workshops on how to use the program. If you would prefer to read through the documentation on EndNote then you should work your way through this guide, beginning with the Getting Started pages. There are also many YouTube videos on how use EndNote that are published by the company that makes the program.
If you are trying to import a file into EndNote from Primo Search or a database and it asks you to select an import filter choose the RefMan RIS filter from the list.
By default, EndNote will select the last word in the author field as a surname. Therefore, an organisation such as Charles Sturt University will appear as University, C. S. in the reference if it is not entered correctly. To enter an organisation as an author put a comma at the end of the organisation's name (eg. Charles Sturt University,) in the author field.
If the organistaion already has a comma in it, such as Charles Sturt University, School of Biomedical Sciences, you will need to put a double comma where the comma needs to appear (eg. Charles Sturt University,, School of Biomedical Sciences).
Check the reference preview to make sure that the name is displaying correctly in the reference.
As websites will not have an option to export the information into EndNote, you will need to add the reference information manually using the following steps:
When you first launch EndNote you may be prompted to setup EndNote Online or to sync your account.
You only need to setup an online account if you are going to be using EndNote across multiple devices.
Our library guide has information on how to set up an online account if you need to.
When you are entering a new reference the first thing you need to do is tell EndNote what reference type you are working with (eg. book, journal article, report, etc.).
Sometimes the item you are working with does not have an exact reference type that fits it. In this case, we recommend that you try each reference type to see which displays the reference best. It is helpful to use the reference preview to see what it is going to look like.
If you need further assistance please contact the library team for your faculty.
If your reference list is not formatted correctly you may need to change the referencing style that you are using (see FAQ below). If you have the correct style and the list still looks wrong you may need to contact the library team for your faculty.
There are thousands of referencing styles available for EndNote. EndNote comes preloaded with over 500 referencing styles.
To check which style is closest to the one you need:
If none of the styles in the Style Manager are suitable you can search for a style using the EndNote help menu:
When you insert an EndNote citation into a Word document all of the reference data is inserted into the document in the form of coding. Therefore, when you make changes in EndNote you will need to 'refresh' this coding to reflect any changes in your EndNote library.
To do this just click on Update Citations and Bibliography button in the EndNote toolbar in Word:
To attach a PDF to a record in your EndNote library:
This means that your browser is trying to open the file and cannot read it properly.
This usually happens in FireFox. If this is the case try using a different browser, such as Google Chrome.
If you want to back up your EndNote library please follow the information on this page: Creating a backup.
If you are being asked for account credentials when launching EndNote this means that either the program is not installed correctly or it is trying to access EndNote Online.
If you installed EndNote from a website other than Charles Sturt University your copy of EndNote will not be licensed. You will need to uninstall EndNote and download the program from the Library.
If this is not the problem, then try this:
If neither of these solutions work please contact the library team for your faculty.
When EndNote is installed correctly on a computer with Microsoft Word already installed, an EndNote toolbar should be added to the Word ribbon. If the toolbar does not appear, or is missing after having worked previously, on a Windows PC try the following:
If the above did not work:
If neither of these options work, or if you are on a Mac PC, please contact the library team for your faculty.
If you are studyng law and are using the AGLC referencing system EndNote may not be useful to you.
Although EndNote can be customised to be used with AGLC, this will essentially break EndNote for any other referencing style.
As a law student we recommend that you use EndNote as a storage tool for all of your references, but not as a referencing tool as it is more effort than it is worth.
If you would like more information on referencing in law please see our law library guide.
If you have further questions about AGLC referencing or using AGLC with EndNote please contact the law librarian in the Faculty of Business, Justice & Behavioural Science Library Team.
There are terms and conditions (T&Cs) that you have agreed to when downloading and using EndNote through Charles Sturt Library.
These T&Cs outline that the software is licensed to you only while you are studying at Charles Sturt. This means that upon graduation you are required to remove the EndNote version supplied by the Library from your computer. However, the library file itself will always remain in your possession. Therefore, if you go on to study at another university and they provide you with EndNote, or you decide to purchase a personal copy of the program, you will still have access to the library file. You should also be able to import the library into one of the free referencing tools available such as Zotero or Mendeley.
There is information on how to combine chapters or multiple documents on the EndNote library guide. If you are having trouble with this please contact the library team for your faculty.
If your library has become corrupted and will no longer open follow the instructions below:
If the above did not work please contact the library team for your faculty.
If your question is not in the FAQs above you can search for a solution on the Clarivate Knowledge Base for EndNote.
Charles Sturt University acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which its campuses are located, paying respect to Elders, both past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations Peoples.
Charles Sturt University is an Australian University, TEQSA Provider Identification: PRV12018. CRICOS Provider: 00005F.
