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EndNote referencing software

How to use EndNote 21, 20 and X9 Desktop for Windows and Mac, EndNote Online (Web) and EndNote for iPad and iPhone, thesis and publications writing, advanced tools, output (referencing) styles, syncing, sharing and collaboration, common issues and trouble

About output styles

Output (referencing) styles are:

  • downloadable files that control the appearance of citations and references
  • can be created and modified using EndNote's style editor
  • the style name can refer to the discipline or journal that defined the format.

Important Check the output styles installed with EndNote before downloading additional output styles.

Additional output styles

EndNote comes with many output styles. Additional styles are also available to download and install.

Important Check if there is an existing style before editing or creating your own style.

Other output styles may be found through a web search.

Install a style

To install a new or updated output style:

  1. Download the style. 
  2. Open the downloaded style. It will open in EndNote.
  3. Click File > Save as.
  4. Save the output style. By default, "Copy" is added to the end of the name. Rename it if you wish.
  5. Go to Word. Select Style in the EndNote tools.
  6. Click on Select Another Style. Select the style you added.
  7. Click Choose.
  8. The document will then format in the selected style.

Edit and create output styles

You can edit and create your own output styles.

Insert footnotes with EndNote

You can use EndNote for footnote styles. You need to:

  • use a footnote specific output style e.g. Chicago (17th edition) notes and bibliography
  • insert footnotes using the Word tool.

Insert a footnote

  1. Select the footnote output style from the EndNote toolbar.
  2. Click in the Word document at the location for your footnote reference.
  3. Click on the References tab on the ribbon at the top of the screen, and then select Insert Footnote.
  4. A footnote number will appear. The Word cursor will move to the footnote location.
  5. A footnote appears at the bottom of the page.
  6. Use the EndNote toolbar to insert the citation into the footnote.
  7. Repeat this procedure for each footnote.

Note: It is generally not easy to change from a author-date or numbered style to a footnote output style.

Change to author-date or numbered style from footnote style

  1. Create a copy of your document.
  2. Convert your Word document to unformatted citations.
  3. In the EndNote toolbar, click on Converted Citations and Bibliography and select Convert to Unformatted Citations (Windows) or Tools and select Convert to Unformatted Citations (Mac).
  4. The references should now look like {Anderegg, 2013 #732}
  5. Copy and paste each reference to the relevant area within your document.
  6. Once they are all copied, delete the footnote numbers within the document.
  7. Select the author-date or numbered output style you want to use from the EndNote toolbar. 
  8. It should update to the selected style. If the style doesn't update, click Update Citations and Bibliography.

Correct author names with APA style

If EndNote is including initials to names in the in-text citation, it is:

  • correct if there are publications with authors with the same last name.
  • incorrect if there is only one author with the last name.

To correct author names:

Replace name in EndNote references

  1. Search for every record with the author’s name in your library.
  2. Select one version for the name e.g. Last name, full first name
  3. Replace any variation with the preferred format.

Remove variations from Author Terms List

  1. Select Library > Open Term Lists > Authors Term List.
  2. Look for all entries for the author. Notes: This may also be First name, Last Name format.
  3. Delete all but the preferred form of the author’s name.

In your Word document, click Update Citations and Bibliography and check the references.

Abbreviate group author name

To reduce a long corporate author name to an acronym within the in-text citations, you will need to manually edit the citations in your document.

  1. Use either the Edit & Manage Citation(s) function from the EndNote toolbar in Word, or right click, and select Edit Citation(s).
  2. Go to More to get the full options.
  3. Change the Format to Exclude Author.
  4. In the Prefix field, type the acronym followed by the punctuation required by the style.
  5. Insert a space after the acronym.  
  6. Click on OK.

You will need to do this for each citation that needs to be abbreviated.

Watch Abbreviating corporate authors in in-text citations (YouTube, 1m6s) for more information.