The .Data folder stores additional information about your EndNote library, and any electronic documents that you may have attached to EndNote records. It must remain with, and be copied with your Library, in order to preserve links to attached electronic files, e.g. PDFs.
Back-up your files
When you create a new EndNote library, the program creates a library (.enl) file and an associated (.Data) folder, e.g.:
- References.enl
- References.Data
Figures, Groups, Attachments and other significant files are stored in the .Data folder which is in the same folder as your primary library file. This folder is an extension of the library, so remember to backup, move, copy, rename, or delete the associated (.Data) folder along with the primary library file.
If you use EndNote on more than one computer, you should consider storing your working EndNote library on a 'thumb drive' or portable device, and regularly back up the library (.enl) file and associated (.Data) folder in another location. This will ensure you are always working with the most up to date version of your library.
The File > Save a Copy command can be used to create a copy of the current EndNote library and the associated .data folder, e.g. References Copy.enl, References Copy.Data (folder).
Set a default library
You can set a library to open automatically whenever you start EndNote. This will save time when you are working with your own EndNote library.
- Open the Library you wish to set as the default
- Select the Edit menu
- Select Preferences
- Click Libraries
- Click Add open libraries
- Click OK
Organise your library
Keywords
It is useful to assign keywords to each entry as you put it in your library. EndNote can create a keyword term list which will link to the keyword field and help you to use keywords consistently, e.g. (adolescents versus teenagers) to group relevant documents together. The keywords will assist you to retrieve the references when using EndNote's search command.
Separate keywords with a semicolon; or a backslash \ or put them on separate lines.
Some fields of research have published thesauri of keywords, such as the MeSH medical subject headings in PubMed and the "Thesaurus of psychological index terms" published by the American Psychological Association, that you may wish to adopt for your library.
Creating Groups
You can create custom groups to help organize your library. You can have up to 500 custom groups. To create a custom group:
- Open the Library
- Select the References menu
- Select Groups
- Select Create new group
You can add references to a group by dragging and dropping them from the References Window into the required group. Clicking on the name of a group will display the contents of that group.
EndNote automatically creates a group for All References, and temporary groups for Search Results, and Transferred References. You can add selected references to more than one group. Deleting a reference from a custom group does not delete it from the library. Deleting a reference from the All References Group deletes it from the library.
For more information on Groups see p.10 of the Training Notes.
Research notes
The Abstract, Notes, and Research Notes fields can each hold up to 64 KB, equivalent to about 16 pages of plain text.
You may wish to use the Research Notes field to store your research notes or quotes (including page numbers) to which you may later refer. The search function in EndNote allows you to search for terms or phrases in selected fields.
Sharing your library
Compress your Library and Linked PDFs for Easy Backup and Sharing
EndNote X4 allows you to compress the library file and .data directory for easy backup or sharing:
- Open the EndNote library
- Select Compressed Library
- Use the file dialog to customise and save an EndNote Compressed Library (filename.enlx)
To restore a compressed library file:
Open the filename.enlx file in EndNote, and the .enl file and the .data folder will be automatically extracted to the same folder where the .enlx file is located. Use EndNote to open the filename.enl file as you normally would to use the library.
