I couldn’t agree more. Like the new non-customizable toolbar, the compulsory ratings field at the head of the reference window is a great annoyance, because this is where the name of the Author should be. While all other non-active fields can, naturally, be hidden by using the +/- buttons, there is no way to get rid of the irritating “Rating” field. Even iTunes, which also has this feature, allows users to opt out of having the Rating field displayed. While some users may like the feature, and they are of course free to have their own preferences, it is unreasonable for the Rating field to be thrust upon the rest of us. Like the toolbar, all display fields should be fully optional and customizable without exception. Only then will Endote be good enough for th fully range of users who work with it. One should always be able to opt in and opt out of these things.
I couldn’t agree more. Like the new non-customizable toolbar, the compulsory “Rating” field at the head of the reference window is a great annoyance. Why a professional academic would want to “rate” publications in her or his personal database is a mystery to me but it appears that there are some amongst our ranks who wish to do so and they are entitled to their preferences. But why thrust this “feature” upon us all? In Endote, all other non-active fields can, naturally, be hidden by using the +/- buttons, or customized for selective display. But there is no way to get rid of this irritating “Rating” field. Even iTunes, which also has this “Rating” feature, allows users to opt out of having the “Rating” field displayed. Like the toolbar, all display fields should be fully optional and customizable. No exceptions. There is no reason why Endote cannot be useful to the different kinds of user needs that the diversity of personal and professional conventions and and preferences by simply allowing all users to opt in and opt out of these things. Not having certain features in a program is one thing. I am sure we could all thing of things that we would like the developers of our favorite programs to incorporate in to them. But having existing features forced upon you in a software environment that stifles the workflow by putting in place a regime of non-optional and non-customizable rigidty is simply unacceptable. While some users may like the feature, and they are of course free to have their own preferences, it is unreasonable for the Rating field to be thrust upon the rest of us.
All of this suggests that the pathological urge to hastily issue annual releases of poorly tested and conceived upgrades in the pursuit of rapid revenue, a problem which unfortunately pervades many sections of the software industry, also exists among the good folks at Thompson Reuters. Endote X6 is clearly a product of lazy and hasty work, the sort of 60% effort that might get an otherwise capable student in my class a C but will leaving him wishing that he had spent more of his time at his desk and less of it at the beer keg, so that he could have earned the A that we all know he is capable of. But since we have no good alternative here (I have tried Sente and other programs on the Mac and they have even more problems), we are at your mercy. Be kind to us. I would recommend spending the next two or three years doing some real research and development on this program, rather than cashing in with another poorly thought out version next year. I am happy to pay for this program but I have a low tolerance for chicanery, as it would seem, do many customers on this forum. You may be laughing all the way to the bank but it is we who must suffer.
I couldn’t agree more. Like the new non-customizable toolbar, the compulsory “Rating” field at the head of the reference window is a great annoyance. Why a professional academic would want to “rate” publications in her or his personal database is a mystery to me but it appears that there are some amongst our ranks who wish to do so and they are entitled to their preferences. But why thrust this “feature” upon us all? In Endote, all other non-active fields can, naturally, be hidden by using the +/- buttons, or customized for selective display. But there is no way to get rid of this irritating “Rating” field. Even iTunes, which also has this “Rating” feature, allows users to opt out of having the “Rating” field displayed. Like the toolbar, all display fields should be fully optional and customizable. No exceptions. There is no reason why Endote cannot be useful to users with diverse personal and professional conventions and and preferences by simply allowing all users to opt in and opt out of these things. Not having certain features in a program is one thing. I am sure we could all think of features that we would like the developers of our favorite programs to incorporate into them. But having existing features forced upon you in a software environment that stifles the workflow by putting in place a regime of non-optional and non-customizable rigidty is simply unacceptable. While some users may like the feature, and they are of course free to have their own preferences, it is unreasonable for the “Rating” field to be thrust upon the rest of us.
All of this suggests that the pathological urge to hastily issue annual releases of poorly tested and conceived upgrades in the pursuit of rapid revenue, a problem which unfortunately pervades many sections of the software industry, also exists among the good folks at Thompson Reuters. Endote X6 is clearly a product of lazy and hasty work, the sort of 60% effort that might get an otherwise capable student in my class a C, but will leave him wishing that he had spent more of his time at his desk, and less of it at the beer keg, so that he could have earned the A that we all know he is capable of.
But since we have no good alternative here (I have tried Sente and other programs on the Mac and they have even more problems), we are at your mercy. Be kind to us. We do pay you for your product. I would recommend spending the next two or three years doing some real research and development on this program, rather than cashing in with another poorly thought out version next year. I am happy to pay for this program but I have a low tolerance for chicanery, as, it would seem, do many customers on this forum. You may be laughing all the way to the bank but it is we who must suffer.
I’d just like to second what “hugster81” wrote in the previous post. Just updated to EndNote v6 (user since v1 I think, anyway for about 20 years). I use EndNote to manage references for scientific publication. I use it on a Mac. I’m disapointed by the inability to customize toolbars, like many other Mac Apps. But I’m expecially disapointed that I cannot remove the “rating” item in the reference window. Maybe some will use this, but I never will (and from talking to several colleagues, I get the feeling I’m not alone). Endnote is used by a diverse group of people for different things - some appear to use it as a reading list and maybe ratings help to prioritize this activity. For those of us, like me, who do not use it this way, having the ability to simply disable the display of this item would seem to be a reasonable solution. Please implement this soon! Thanks for listening.
I too second hugster81’s well-made points. I am seriously considering downgrading from X6 back to X4 after discovering that the absurdly juvenile rating field can’t be got rid of or moved, while the (to me) not very useful read/unread feature means that my whole library is now appearing emboldened.
Please don’t add features for the Facebook generation without checking whether they actually add value, and without including an off switch for grown-ups who actually need your product for real research use.
Can we have a patch to disable these “features”?
The rationale for having a rating window at all seems to be that some users would like to decide which papers they want to read, or have read and “liked”. The first reason does not justify imposing this feature on everyone else. As to the second reason please let us remove this concept from serious research. I may offer some view of a paper in my literature review or discussion but I don’t need a rating for that.
If you wish to cater for those few individuals who want to rate so be it, but please make this field optional. It will be first change I will make to my new X6 installation!
Another unnecessary “great idea” from designers that users don’t want. Please make it possible to disable ratings and eliminate that field showing up in the record display.
EndNote version X7 allows users to hide the Ratings field if they choose to.
Jason Rollins, the EndNote team
Just to note, the designers didn’t come up with this idea. Users asked for it (probably those that like Facebook and other social media?) – Just not all of us users really wanted it!
We get an answer that it can be done, but not how. Thanks?
So, for others like me that wasted time looking for the simple answer: open a refrence, click on the Options cog on the top right, untick “Show Rating Field”. Bye forever useless folly.
It is even easier to right click in the display bar and untick and tick what you want (up to a max of 10 items I think). (but I realize this is in the library display as a column and not the reference window, sorry, but the forum won’t let me delete the post).