EndNote 20 Basic course

In EndNote it is possible to import references from PDFs saved on your PC and to link the PDFs to the references in EndNote.

EndNote uses the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for this, a unique and persistent number which is included in many electronic publications. It is not possible for EndNote to extract data from PDFs without a DOI. These PDFs are only linked to the library. In such a case the bibliographic description must be added in another way.

Importing data from PDFs goes as follows:

• Click in an EndNote library on File – Import – File
• Choose PDF as Import Option
• Choose at Import File the PDF on the PC
• Click on Import

Now a reference of the publication in question is saved in EndNote and the PDF file is linked to this record in the field “File attachments”.

It is also possible to save a complete folder with PDFs into a library.
Then you start the process with File - Import - Folder instead of File - Import - File.

You can arrange that EndNote keeps a specific folder up to date.
If new pdfs are added there, EndNote imports them into the library.
This can be done via Edit - Preferences - PDF handling. The next screen will appear:

Mark Enable automatic importing and choose the folder with PDFs which must be kept up to date.