EndNote

We recommend that you have a single EndNote library. You may create a separate EndNote Library for a research project or a systematic review that requires keeping research content separate.

We also recommend regularly Backing your library up (Compressed library).

Step 1: Create a folder for your EndNote Library

• Create a folder on your computer local hard drive, NOT cloud based or your computer desktop. You can also save your library to an external hard-drive or USB 
• Give this folder a distinctive name

Note: in some personal computers/laptops the Document folder and Desktop sync with OneDrive by default. OneDrive is cloud based and is not suitable for storing your working EndNote library.

Step 2: Create your EndNote Library

• Open EndNote from the Start menu on your computer
• You may see a popup asking you "Setting up your EndNote account". Ignore the message
• EndNote X9 users: if prompted to upgrade your EndNote to version X9.3.3, do so. DO NOT upgrade to version 20
• EndNote 21 users: if prompted to upgrade to EndNote 21.xxx version update it
• Select File menu  >  New ...  to open the Create a New Library pop-up
  • The first time you use EndNote 21, you will get a pop-up prompting you to "Create a new library" or "Use an existing library," choose "Create a new library" to jump to the next step
• Name your library, for example: Nick's EndNote Library 
• Save your library in the EndNote folder you created
• When using a computer in the Tech Centre, you may save your EndNote Library temporarily in C drive: C:\Users\username\Documents 
• After setting up your EndNote library, you may consider creating an EndNote Online or EndNote Web account
• (Mac) EndNote will automatically create an EndNote Library and save it within your Documents folder. You can either move that library (move both the "My EndNote Library" file, AND "My EndNote Library" data folder) to your newly created EndNote folder (Step One above) and then rename both of them, or create a new library as above and delete the default ones

Video tutorial

• EndNote X9: Create an EndNote library 

EndNote files

Your EndNote Library has two parts that work together.

Once your Library is created, you should find the following two items in your EndNote folder:

• An EndNote Library file with a file name extension .enl and 
• its associate .Data folder containing other information and saved pdfs

• The two parts must be in the same folder

Can I create as many EndNote libraries as I want?

• You can have more than one library but it is far easier to maintain a single library and organise it using tools described in Organise your Library
• If you have multiple EndNote libraries and wish to consolidate them, you can merge multiple libraries 

Personalise the Library layout

Click the links below to find the layout of each EndNote version.

Change which fields are displayed in the content panel

Method one

• In the Library content panel, right click on one of the column headers to bring up the list of fields
• From the pop-up list, you can unselect or select the display fields. For example, right click on Rating and unselect it, and then select DOI.

Method two

• EndNote 21: You can also move your cursor to the column headers, a computer settings icon will appear, click to open the Preferences box

• All versions of EndNote: Select Edit > Preferences > Display Fields
• Click the dropdown arrow for the column you want to change and select the preferred field
• Below is our recommended field display:

• Click OK to save your selection

EndNote 21: Open a new tab

• EndNote allows you to open a group in a new tab: right click a group, select Open in New Tab

EndNote offers more than 6,000 referencing styles. You can easily select the specific style required for your research output. 

APA 7th should be included in your EndNote Library. Occasionally, people cannot find APA 7th in their EndNote Choose a Style box. If this happens you can add it manually to your EndNote style folder.

The following instruction shows you how to add APA 7th (or other Reference styles) to EndNote:

• Right click APA 7th.ens style file (see below)
• Choose Save link as ...  and save to desktop
• Right-click, then either Copy or Cut the file
• EndNote (PC): Navigate to C:\Program Files (X86)\EndNote "version"\Styles and Paste the file
• EndNote (Mac): Navigate to Applications\EndNote "version"\Styles and Paste the file
• You should then be able to select APA 7 from within EndNote as normal
• You can do the same with other Reference styles, many of which can be found at Endnote Output Styles
  • Search by keyword, style or publisher
  • Download the style to your computer
  • Save it to the EndNote style folder, as above

If your new style does not appear in the Choose A Style list check whether the style folder is currently linked to your library.

• EndNote (PC): within EndNote go to Edit > Preferences > Folder Locations > Style folder
• EndNote (Mac): within EndNote go to EndNote > Preferences > Folder Locations > Style folder

• If the style folder is not at the location you have just pasted the Reference style file to, click Select Folder to locate that folder
• Windows PC: Some security settings will not allow you to save Reference style files to C:\ drive. In this case you can create your own Styles folder on the computer and Select Folder to that folder

​Note: The location of the Styles folder can vary depending on the configuration of your device

AUT Library also provides a modified Harvard style for AUT students and staff:

You can download this Harvard_AUT style by following the same procedure for Add APA to EndNote on this page.

• Right click on the file above
• Save it to your desktop or temporary location
• Move it without opening it to:
  • EndNote (PC): C:\Program Files (X86)\EndNote "version"\Styles and paste the file
  • EndNote (Mac): Applications\EndNote "version"\Styles and paste the file
• Select Harvard_AUT from the Choosing a style box in EndNote

What is this?

The Journals Terms List controls how your Journal Titles appear in your references. It can automatically switch between abbreviated and full Journal Title names as needed by the reference style selected and can also correct Journal Title capitalisation, provided it can match your title with a title on its list.

• There are several Journal Terms lists available, the Medical one is particularly useful for Health students.
• The list provides non-abbreviated, APA-compliant versions of abbreviated journal titles indexed in MEDLINE
• Users of Vancouver referencing will also find the list useful as it can translate full journal titles into the abbreviated titles Vancouver requires

Step 1: Delete existing terms

If your library already contains medical references you probably already have entries in a journals term list. We strongly recommend these are deleted to avoid duplications that may prevent accurate matching of correct titles or abbreviations.

• Open your EndNote library
• EndNote X9: Click Tools > Open Term Lists > Journals Term List
• EndNote 21: Click Library > Open Term Lists > Journals Term List
• Highlight the first title in the Term List dialog box, select all by scrolling to the last title with the <Shift> key pressed (or press <Ctrl+a> [PC] or <Cmd+a> [Mac] to select all)
• Click Delete Term > Close

Step 2: Import a journals term list

• Open your EndNote library
• EndNote X9: Click Tools > Define Term Lists
• EndNote 21: Click Library > Define Term Lists
• Highlight Journals, click Import List
• Locate and open the EndNote Terms Lists folder:
  • Windows/PC:   C:\\Program Files\EndNote X9 (or 21)\Terms Lists 
  • Mac:                  Applications\EndNote X9 (or 21)\Terms
• Highlight the terms list you want, such as Medical, click Open
• When the list has been imported you will see a message like "xxxxxx terms inserted into the ‘Journals’ terms list"
• Click OK, then Close the Term Lists dialog box

Note: This list is specific to the library you have added it to. If you have more than one library you need to repeat the process for each one.

Optional: Disable automatic updating of journals term lists

EndNote automatically updates the journals term list every time a reference with a new title is added to your library. You may wish to disable automatic updating as this can interfere with accurate matching of correct titles or abbreviations.

• EndNote X9 and 21 (PC): Click Edit > Preferences > Term Lists
• EndNote X9 and 21 (Mac): Click EndNote X9/21 > Preferences > Term Lists
• Uncheck the options Update lists when importing or pasting references and Update lists during data entry
• Click OK