EndNote 20.3 problem with pdf attachment

EndNote EndNote General
1

Hi all,

I upgrade to EndNote 20.3 in macOS Monterey. After I upgraded to 20.3, I could not attach a pdf anymore. When I attached a pdf, EndNote reported successful attachment. But, no pdf is created in my library. I wonder if there is anybody has the same problem.

Best,
vattha

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2

Same problem. I tried to use Endnote x9 to open the same library and there was no problem with the attachment function. It seems that this is a bug in Endnote 20.3.

3

Yes, this is absolutely nuts and I have reported it to them. Here is my last email…

EN 20 has become basically unusable!! The ONLY way to RELIABLY attach a pdf now is to open the database in EN19 and attach it (easily as usual). Then when you open EN20 it is all fine, but if you try to attach the SAME pdf in EN20, it never succeeds — when you immediately check it, it is there, but as soon as you save the record, it becomes an unopenable pdf.

Honestly, I have loved EN and I can not live without it, but I am tired of constantly fighting with EN20, and the silly behaviors that just drive me crazy and kill my productivity. Thank goodness the file format has not changed. I am going back to EN19, and recommending to my whole group and colleagues that they do the same until the next version is released that fixes all these annoyances.

Here is an email on other issues with EN20 that I hope get resolved soon…
Look, this is a little general, but EN 20 updates are always bug-ridden. In the latest, vs. 20.3, the following can be noted, for example…

  1. PDFs often refuse to attach; you have to export as a pdf from Preview and then they exported version may work! [The original opens just fine in Preview, but not in EN20]
  2. The main window doesn’t open with the same settings anymore! We have to reorder by, e.g., year, and scroll to the top every time we open it now!
  3. If you add a file or save a reference, the search screen is suddenly gone and you get the whole database window again – you have to search again to get back to the thing you were just working on!
    In general, I have to say that it looks like your testing is getting lax – all these things just creep in and are honestly annoying – they don’t destroy EN’s usefulness for us, but are certainly making it frustrating. Could you please try and do better testing before a release!? [I used to be a beta-tester for you (and in fact wrote an early reference manager, even supplying EndNote with my original import and export scripts!!!)
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4

There is a temporary solution to prevent Endnote 20.3 from automatically deleting newly attached pdf files: after attaching a pdf file, “save” the library by pressing Command + S on your Mac.

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5

I also just found a temporary solution. First, I attached the pdf without checking copying the pdf to the library. Next, I converted it to use the relative link.

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