Just wondering if anyone else has had major problems with end note messing up references in a paper?

I've been writing a report for a while, and have about 20 pages with references in them. This week, end note seems to have shuffled them all about...so now I will have to go through, check every single reference to make sure it is the correct one and then update it all.

Has this happened to anyone else, and does anyone have any advice for how to stop it happening again (other than backing up every day!)?

Also...is it ok to keep separate end note libraries for different subjects, and to add references from more than one library into one paper, or is it best to keep them all in one library?

Thanks in advance,

Nicola

hi nicola,
i have a friend who once had this problem. i strongly believe that it's got to do with using different libraries at the same time. the thing is, endnote works like this: it gives each reference in your library a number. in the order that you put them in, NOT alphabetically. so the first book/article you entered is number one, the second number two, etc.
now if you use several libraries you will have several number ones and twos.
and if you make a new library in the middle of writing, it will not put the references in in the same order you originally did, but rather alphabetically (i think).

so suddenly other articles have the same numbers. in cite-while-you-write you don't put down the actual reference but just its number. so if the numbers are confused/changed, it will all mess up.

Hi Shani,

that does make sense, as you can see the numbers going in as you add them, and they then switch to the author and year. Well, I suppose I'll put all my references into one library and then redo ALL my referencing - what a pain!

It does seem pretty silly that you cant use two libraries as I'm sure I'm not the only person who wants to keep references for different subject matters separate!

Nicola

hey nicola,
i suppose that's why you can put keywords in. then through searching by keyword you get your subject specific selection. this has the added benefit that some articles can easily go into several categories by giving them several keywords...

if you really do want to keep separate libraries, why don't you just make sure you have one "master" library where there is everything, and always cite from here. as long as you do that strictly, you can keep as many separate libraries as you like.

I used End note for about two years, until I realised how useless it was.

I'm a historian, which is one of the subjects End note is bad at, to begin with.

But also, I have good visual memory and bad organisational skills, so I keep everything on paper and generally I can find things.

Writing down you references every time takes longer but it helps your memory, and keeps you awake. Endnote makes you lazy.

A tip: use "auto-text" in "Insert", for the most common references, especially if you use footnotes.