I recently “crossgraded” from RefMan to EndNote (7.4 in the lab - 7.5. at home), and I am still struggling a bit. Even though - the transfer of the RefMan library to Endnote went perfectly well. And the general handling is pretty similar. No problem.
I have worked with EndNote and generated an bibliography in a paper with CWYR - no problem either.
All of a sudden / out of the blue Endnote doesn’t want to open my (so far one and only) library (containing some 25.000 citations) any more. I get that well known message that the .Data folder cannot be found. I cannot see it either, if I look with Windows Explorer. I see only my MAIN.enl database, as I call it.
“Recovery” does not work - it copies “0 references” to the “-saved” library. The alternative method (with making that txt → enl. file transition on the desktop) does also not work because I am asked to transfer my .data folder to there - but I cannot find that data folder? I am moving in a circle…
I have no groups in my Endnote, nor do I have any PDF pieces there - only plain references (mainly from PubMed).
I must admit that I had not checked on the .data folder before the problem occurred. It worked, and this was enough for me…
since I used to work from two computers, I kept the library (MAIN.enl) on a portable hard disk. There is no folder called “MAIN” there. Only the library is there (currently about 32 MB). It did successfully work from there up to now, and I am not aware that I ever deleted anything there, e.g. that ominous “.DATA” folder…
Would de-installing and re-installing ENDNOTE perhaps help?
Reinstalling will not help. Without the .DATA folder and contents, the .enl file is useless. It is a pointer that points to the .DATA folder, where all the database files reside. In fact, with a .DATA folder but a lost .enl file, you can create an empty file “libraryname”.enl in the same folder as the “libraryname”.DATA folder, and it will open it. The otherway around doesn’t work. If you moved the .enl file without the .DATA folder, it is lost.
Always make sure endnote is closed before removing the drive too. (and back it up – best to compress it (file, compress library) which creates a .enlx file with everything.
Do you still have RefMan and Endnote on your home computer? (If you don’t have Endnote download and install trial version as you will need the program and Refman on the same computer.)
Suggest you redo the conversion (on your home computer) but this time when you use Endnote to open the Refman library file, when prompted to “convert your attachment links to relatives”, click “yes” – this’ll import the PDFs into Endnote which will be in the.DATA folder. Then if you want to move your now converted Endnote library and .DATA folder to a portable device first go to the toolbar and File > Compressed Library. The resulting file consolidates both the library and.DATA folder.
thank you for these helpful tips and hints. I guess, I’ll better start from scratch. It is no big deal to quickly fill the database with references from PubMed / Medline.