Library Guides: EndNote 20 for Mac: Sharing EndNote References

Sharing EndNote References

EndNote 20 is a desktop application and it is not recommended to share an active Desktop Library via email or cloud transfer.

If you wish to share your EndNote Library by electronic transfer, you should first save the Library as a compressed library or .enlx file. The recipient should then import this file into an existing EndNote Library through the relevant import option.

However, there are other methods of sharing EndNote Libraries. Options for safely sharing EndNote references are detailed below.

Options for sharing EndNote References

A compressed EndNote Library (.enlx file) is a transferable version of an EndNote Library that compacts an active EndNote Library (.enl file) and its associated data file (.data file) for web transfer.

Sharing Instructions

Sender

Open the relevant EndNote Library you wish to share and compress it by selecting File and then Compress Library (.enlx)
Send this compressed EndNote Library to the relevant Recipient through web transfer.

Recipient

Open the relevant Compressed EndNote Library that you have received from the Sender and save it temporarily
Then open the main EndNote Library that you work with.
Select File and then Import
Choose the relevant EndNote Library received from the Sender (.enl file)
Select Options and then under Import Options, select EndNote Library
Select Import and the references from the Sender's EndNote Library should populate into your main EndNote Library.
Once the references are successfully imported, remove any additional EndNote Libraries on your computer beyond the main one you work with.

EndNote Online is the web cloud version of EndNote 20 Desktop that allows you to sync and share references.

Sharing Instructions

Sender

Within your EndNote 20 Desktop Library, identify the references you wish to share and place them in an EndNote group.
Go to the log in screen for EndNote Online and Log in or Register with your RCSI email address.
Return to your EndNote 20 Desktop library.
Go to EndNote 20 - Preferences - Sync and ensure that the E-mail address and Password are the same as you have used to log into EndNote Online. Select Enable Sync.
Within your EndNote 20 Desktop Library, Select Library and then Sync.
Return to EndNote Online and the groups from your EndNote 20 Desktop Library should begin to populate.
Within EndNote Online, select Organize and Manage My Groups.
Find the relevant group(s) for sharing and select Manage Sharing and Start sharing this group.
Enter the email addresses of the recipients and the level of access you would like them to have and then click Apply.
Whenever you wish to make changes to the shared references, select Library and Sync from within your EndNote 20 Desktop Library.

Recipient

Go to the log in screen for EndNote Online.
Ensure that the email address and password you have used to access EndNote Online and EndNote 20 Desktop Library are the same.
You should notice a shared group on the left side of the screen under the heading Groups Shared by Others.
You are free to download or sync the references in this group to your EndNote 20 Desktop Library.

XML is a file type that allow for the simple transfer of data.

Sharing Instructions

Sender:

Go to your EndNote 20 Desktop Library or a relevant folder therein and select File and then Export.
Under "Save file as type", select XML and save the file to a location you will be able to easily access again.
Transfer the XML file to the recipient as an attachment.

Recipient:

Open and download the .XML attachment from the sender to a safe location.
Open your EndNote 20 Desktop Library
Select File and Import and File
Under Import Option, select EndNote generated XML
Select the recently downloaded .XML file.
The references contained in the Sender's file attachment should begin to populate in your own EndNote Library.
You will need to then manually organise them into an EndNote Group.