EndNote

EndNote allows you to import PDFs to your Library, and will automatically create an associated record with bibliographic details.

• Go to the File menu and select Import and then File, for a single PDF, or Folder, for a folder containing multiple PDFs.
• If importing a folder, you can choose to include files in sub-folders and also to create a Group Set into which your files will be added in EndNote.
• Click Choose and navigate to the folder on your computer which contains the PDFs.
• With the import option as ‘PDF’ select Import.
• The bibliographic details of the articles are completed for you where possible.
• Always check the reference. Any missing data can be added manually.

EndNote can be set up to import from a selected folder on your computer automatically:

• Go to the Edit menu and select Preferences and then PDF handling.
• Check the option Enable Automatic Importing and select your folder by browsing.
• From the options at the top of the dialogue box, you can also choose to have the files re-named automatically upon import if you wish.

PDFs added to the folder selected will automatically import to an Imported References group in EndNote. The Imported References group is a temporary group that is replaced each time you import another set of references. It is removed when you exit EndNote, although the references remain in the library. It is advisable to move your imported references into a Group, or they will remain in the Unfiled group.

EndNote for Mac is unique compared with Windows when importing PDFs to create references. You can drag and drop saved PDF files onto the EndNote icon in your Mac’s Dock. This is a quick way to get references into EndNote. The instructions for this are:

• Make sure EndNote is open and running.
• Find the saved PDF file(s) on your computer that you wish to import. Select and highlight each of them.
• Drag and drop the PDFs onto the EndNote icon on the Dock.
• The icon on the Dock will flash quickly and then the EndNote workspace will open. EndNote processes each imported file separately and they will appear in the Imported References folder separately, with the total imports appearing together in the Recently Added folder.

Like Windows, you can also import a folder of PDFs into EndNote for Mac. Go to the File menu and select Import. Browse for the folder of PDFs you wish to import from Finder on your Mac. Highlight and select the folder. Click Import. EndNote will process the folder and will add the PDFs to your EndNote library, creating the reference for each PDF as well.

Bibliographic details will be entered automatically only where there is sufficient metadata in the PDF for EndNote to be able to identify the item. Where bibliographic details are not entered, there are a couple of options to consider:

• Enter the bibliographic details by editing the record.
• Import a record for the item by exporting from online databases or searching from within EndNote and then attach the PDF file to the record.