All guides: EndNote Desktop: Add references

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Exporting references to your EndNote Desktop library

About importing references

You can import references into your EndNote Desktop library from various search tools such as LibrarySearch, library databases (e.g.Scopus, Proquest Central and many more), Google Scholar and via the Capture Reference bookmarklet / plugin using EndNote Online. Click on the other tabs in this box for specific instructions.

Tips when importing references:

Always check each exported reference to ensure that no information is incorrect or missing.
You can make quick corrections/changes to fields by selecting the reference, then clicking on the Edit tab in the right pane, making the corrections/changes, and pressing the Save button.
You can add your own notes within the Research Notes field of any reference (go to Edit tab) to identify important references you came across.
You can also add a star rating to your reference. Right-click on any column heading in the middle panel of your EndNote Desktop library, and tick the Rating field to display it. Then give the reference how many stars you wish.

Note: When you import references from any search tool, they will appear in the Imported References folder within your EndNote Desktop library. They will also appear in the All References (master) folder. Each time you export references to your library, the previous references will be replaced with the new references within the Imported References folder, but will still remain in the All References folder.

To import references from LibrarySearch

Ensure your EndNote Desktop library is open.
Go to the RMIT University Library homepage. Using the LibrarySearch search box on the homepage, do a search on your own topic.
Mark the references you want to export from LibrarySearch by pressing the pin icon on the right of each reference.
Go to My Favourites by pressing the pin icon on the top right corner of the screen.
Tick the references you want to export (send) to your EndNote Desktop library.
Click the ellipses icon (three dots) to the right of My Favourites just below the search box.

Image: Copyright © Ex Libris. Used under licence.
Click EndNote (RIS) Export.
Click the Encoding drop-down list. Select the UTF-8 option. Press the Download button.
The Primo_RIS_Export.ris file will download to your computer.
Open the Primo_RIS_Export.ris file you just downloaded -- this will export (send) your selected references to your EndNote Desktop library. Note: Only the information of the references will be exported (e.g. title, author, etc.), not the actual full-text PDFs. To attach the full-text PDFs to your references, see: Attaching full-text (PDFs).

Note: When you open the .ris file, if you are asked what program to open it with, select EndNote (you may need to browse the list of programs) and tick the option to always use this program to open these files.

Major library databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, ERIC, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, Scopus, JSTOR, IEEE, Web of Science and Emerald allow direct export of references to your EndNote library. In other words, you can import references from many library databases into your EndNote Desktop library. Some examples of the words used by popular databases include: Send to; Export citation(s); Export; Export/Save; Save; Save to; EndNote.

To import references from Scopus

Ensure your EndNote Desktop library is open.
Go to the RMIT University Library homepage and click on the Databases tab. From the list of popular databases, click Scopus. Alternatively, you can select a key or recommended library database from the list of library subject guides.
Do a search on your own topic.
Select the reference(s) you would like to export by ticking the box next to the corresponding number. To select a page of references, click All > tick Select this page.

Image: Copyright © Elsevier. Used under licence.

Image: Copyright © Elsevier. Used under licence.
Select Export.

Image: Copyright © Elsevier. Used under licence.
From the File types window, click on EndNote (RIS).

Image: Copyright © Elsevier. Used under licence.
This brings up a window that shows you what data has been, by default, automatically selected for importing (i.e. Citation information). You can select additional data to import (e.g. Abstract & keywords) or deselect data you do not wish to import.

Image: Copyright © Elsevier. Used under licence.
Press the Export button.
The scopus.ris file will download to your computer.
Open the scopus.ris file you just downloaded -- this will export (send) your selected references to your EndNote Desktop library. Note: Only the information of the references will be exported (e.g. title, author, etc.), not the actual full-text PDFs. To attach the full-text PDFs to your references, see: Attaching full-text (PDFs).

If you wish, you can choose to sign in to Scopus to save your Export selection. Simply tick Save as preference for future sessions. You will automatically export your references to your EndNote library by selecting Export and My RIS settings.

To import references from ProQuest Central

Ensure your EndNote Desktop library is open.
Go to the RMIT University Library homepage and click on the Databases tab. From the list of popular databases, click ProQuest Central. Alternatively, you can select a key or recommended library database from the list of library subject guides.
Do a search on your own topic. Note: The Advanced Search is often useful – e.g. to search within a specific part of an article.
Select the references you would like to export by ticking the box next to the corresponding number. To select a page of references, tick Select 1-20.
Click the ellipsis icon (three dots) to the top right of the reference (three dots).

Image: Copyright © ProQuest. Used under licence.
Click the EndNote icon.

Image: Copyright © ProQuest. Used under licence.
The Export/Save box will appear. Press Continue.
The ProQuestDocuments (dated).ris file (e.g. ProQuestDocuments-2024-04-03.ris) will download to your computer.
Open the ProQuestDocuments (dated).ris file you just downloaded (e.g. ProQuestDocuments-2024-04-03.ris) -- this will export (send) your selected references to your EndNote library. Note: Only the information of the references will be exported (e.g. title, author, etc.), not the actual full-text PDFs. To attach the full-text PDFs to your references, see: Attaching full-text (PDFs).

To import references from Google Scholar

Ensure your EndNote Desktop library is open.

Go to the RMIT University Library homepage and click on the Google Scholar tab. Press the Search Google Scholar button.

To import an individual reference into your EndNote Desktop library without logging in to Google Scholar:

Using the Google Scholar search box, do a search on your own topic.
Click on Cite within the reference you want to export (send) to your EndNote Desktop library, then click on EndNote.

Alternatively: Click on the three horizontal lines at the top left corner > click on Settings > select EndNote for the Show links to import citations into option (beneath the Bibliography manager heading) > press the Save button. Then click on Import into EndNote within the reference you want to export.
The scholar.enw file will download to your computer.
Open the scholar.enw file you just downloaded -- this will export (send) your individual selected reference to your EndNote Desktop library. Note: Only the information of the reference will be exported (e.g. title, author, etc.), not the actual full-text PDF. To attach the full-text PDF to your reference, see: Attaching full-text (PDFs).

To import multiple references simultaneously into your EndNote Desktop library and log in to Google Scholar:

At the top right corner, click on Sign in and log in with your RMIT student / staff credentials. You are now signed in to your Google Scholar account -- you can Sign Out when finished. Being signed in will enable you to export multiple references simultaneously into your EndNote Desktop library. It also authenticates you as an RMIT student / staff member, so you can have full access to the Library's online resources via Google Scholar.
When you log into Google Scholar for the first time, you need to enable your Google Scholar library. Click on My library at the top right corner. Then, from the Getting Started page, press the ENABLE button to enable your Google Scholar library.

Tip: Step 2 (enabling your Google Scholar library) only needs to be completed once, i.e. the first time you sign in to Google Scholar using your personal account or RMIT University credentials.
Using the Google Scholar search box, do a search on your own topic.
Click on Save (white star icon) within the reference you want to export (send) to your EndNote Desktop library. Then press the Done button. This will change the white star into a blue star and saves its corresponding reference to My Library. Repeat for each reference you want to export.

Tip: Clicking on Save (blue star icon) again, then pressing the Remove article button, changes the blue star to a white star and removes its corresponding reference from My Library.
Click on My Library at the top right corner.
You will see a list of all the references you have saved (starred) in Step 4d. Tick the references you want to export (send) to your EndNote Desktop library.
Press the Export icon (upside-down arrow on a line) and select EndNote.
The citations.enw file will download to your computer.
Open the citations.enw file you just downloaded -- this will export (send) your selected references to your EndNote Desktop library. Note: Only the information of the references will be exported (e.g. title, author, etc.), not the actual full-text PDFs. To attach the full-text PDFs to your references, see: Attaching full-text (PDFs).

Note: When you open the .enw file, if you are asked what program to open it with, select EndNote (you may need to browse the list of programs) and tick the option to always use this program to open these files.

Capturing web references using EndNote Online

You can create a new reference for webpages, blogs and other online research materials.

Note: EndNote Online's Capture Reference bookmarklet / plugin has been retired by Clarivate/EndNote and removed from the Downloads tab in EndNote Online. Capture Reference is not available for downloading and installation anymore, and no longer supported by Clarivate/EndNote. Users who already have the Capture Reference bookmarklet / plugin installed from previous times will still be able to use it. Users who do not have the retired bookmarklet / plugin can manually add web references to their EndNote Desktop library. See the Manually creating references box on this page.

You need to have an EndNote Online account before you can capture webpage information. See the instructions in the Setting up EndNote sync to set up your account.

If you ALREADY have the Capture Reference bookmarklet / plugin installed from previous times:

Find a webpage you want to capture in your EndNote library. Note some details, such as the author(s) name and the page title. Now select Capture Reference in your Bookmarks/Favourites bar (if prompted, enter your EndNote Online login details).
A pop-up window opens and EndNote will import any publication data it can detect in the webpage.
Make sure Web Page is selected in the Reference Type drop-down list.
Type in any other useful bibliographic information in your reference, e.g. author names(s), publisher, year etc.
Select the radio button for EndNote (this will add the reference to your EndNote Desktop library), then press the Save To button.

Image: Copyright © Clarivate. Used under licence.

Tips:

You can add additional information to your reference. See the Minimum fields tab within the Manually creating references box on this page.
For webpages, add in the Access Year and Access Date.
The webpage title and the URL address will be automatically captured.

Manually creating references (manual input)

References can be manually created in an EndNote Desktop library. Manual creation is needed if the reference you are using is not in LibrarySearch, library databases or Google Scholar, and if the reference cannot be captured by EndNote's Capture Reference tool. In such cases, the reference cannot be exported to your EndNote Desktop library.

Examples of a reference that may require manual creation would be: a report from a government department's website; an image from a website; artwork from a gallery or museum; podcasts; YouTube videos; social media posts; company or industry reports; and unpublished works such as lecture slides, students' own work or manuscripts.

To manually create a reference in your EndNote Desktop library:

Create a new reference: References > New Reference OR click the new reference icon in the middle panel.
The default setting for new references is Journal Article. If you are using something else, you can change the reference type within the Reference Type drop-down list, e.g. Book, Book Section [for book chapters in edited books], Conference Paper, Web Page, etc.
Fill in the content for the fields you need. See the Minimum fields tab to see which fields need to be completed when manually creating a reference.
Go to File > Save or press the Save button on the top right corner.
Close the reference:
- Windows: click the white cross to close the reference.
- Mac: click on the small red dot at top left to close the reference OR press together the Command [⌘] + W keys. If a pop-up message asks you if you want to save changes to the record, press Yes / OK.
The reference has now been manually created.
Click on the new reference to see the Summary and Edit tabs containing various functions.

Image: Manually create a reference in EndNote Desktop on Windows. Copyright © Clarivate. Used under licence.

reference that has been manual inserted in endnote desktop on mac
Image: Manually create a reference in EndNote Desktop on Mac. Copyright © Clarivate. Used under licence.

You can:

Preview what your reference looks like in your chosen referencing style within the Summary tab, e.g. APA 7th -- located beneath the Copy citation button.
Manually attach a file (e.g. a full-text PDF) by pressing on the Attach File button within the Summary tab. Once attached, you can attach more files or click on the attached file to open or rename it.
Add your own notes within the Research Notes field of any reference to identify important references you came across. Simply select the reference, then click on the Edit tab in the right pane, add your notes and press the Save button.
Add a star rating to your reference. Right-click on any column heading in the middle pane of your EndNote Desktop library, and tick the Rating field to display it. Then give the reference how many stars you wish.

Tips:
- List author's last name (family/surname), followed by a comma then first name, e.g. Benton, Tim
- Write organisation names in full, followed by a comma, e.g. RMIT University,
- Enter each author name on a separate line by pressing ENTER.
- Add a space between author initials, and a full stop after each initial, e.g. Smith, J. O.
- Use sentence case for journal article or book titles e.g. Nanotechnology: Photons make light work.
- Within the reference's record, add some of your own keywords for searching later, e.g. specific wavelengths.

Note: The reference will appear in the Recently Added folder within your EndNote library. It also appears in the All References (master) folder. Each time you manually add a reference, the new reference will be added within the Recently Added folder, but will still remain in the All References folder.

Minimum fields

For references to display correctly in most referencing styles, a certain number of bibliographic elements or minimum fields are required.

Your referencing style may require more fields. Refer to the Library's Easy Cite referencing guide for more details.

Webpage	Journal article	Electronic article	Book	Electronic book
Author or producer of site (personal or corporate) Title (of site) URL Year (date of publication or of last update) Access Date (date you accessed the site)	Author Title Journal Volume Issue Year Pages DOI – Digital Object Identifier (if applicable)	Author Title Year Periodical Title (Journal title) Volume Issue Pages Date accessed URL (or database name) DOI – Digital Object Identifier (if applicable)	Author Title Year Publisher City Edition (If not the first)	Author Title Publisher Year (copyright date) Date accessed URL (or database name)

Library subject guides

EndNote Desktop