I see that Endnote 4 for Mac will be released some time later this year. If I buy Endnote 3 now, will there be an upgrade option? Will I have to buy Endnote 4 at full price?
Yes - if you buy EndNote version X3 now you will be eligible for a free upgrade to version X4. You will likely be asked for your proof of purchase.
We hope to have the Macintosh version of X4 out very soon - in the next couple of weeks.
Jason Rollins, the EndNote team
Endnote X3 for Mac only started shipping on August 26, 2009, i.e., less than a year ago. I received an email in late 2009 stating that Endnote X.x.x, the version I have would not be able to recognize the year 2010 and implied that there would be no future support to make that work. Hence, I bought Endnote X3 upgrade on December 31, 2009. I have yet to install it. If Endnote X4 for Mac begins shipping before August 26, 2010 or soon there after will I have to pay full price again?
Also, will Endnote 4 for Mac be compatible with Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac?
BTW: My first use of Endnote for Mac was version 4.
Bump. Anyone care to respond?
Just as another user:
Yes, I suspect that you will have to pay the upgrade price, if you bought X3 in December. Upgrades come out about once a year and the window for getting one automatically varies, but you can always ask. I doubt that you can count on Endnote4 being compatible with 2011as I think only X1 and later are compatible with Word2008.
On the otherhand, Thomson has said that X4 will have a free patch to ensure compatiblilty with word2011, (eventually) and if you like, you can volunteer to beta test it, if you have X4.
Thanks Leanne!
Multiple cost upgrades within a year is too costly, especially for some students and subjective as to the value of “new features” versus bug fixes and platform compatibility. The news announcment by Thomson Reuters about the release of Endnote X4 for Mac in August 2010 did not state anything about free upgrades if X3 was purchased between a certain timeframe. I sent them a message and I got confirmation that they received my inquiry but they did not answer the question.
As for compatibiity with Office for Mac 2011, there’s a new discussion at
It will be interesting to see when TR decides to make any version of EndNote for Mac compatible with Word for Mac. My understanding is that Zotero 2.x works fine Word for Mac 2011. 
I understand the cost implications of being a student and not being able to afford to upgrade every year. Our institution doesn’t upgrade software everytime there is a new release, Endnote or Microsoft for that matter!!
–but I still fail to see why, if one is willing to pay to upgrade to a new version of Microsoft Office, you wouldn’t expect to pay for the new version of Add-on software like Endnote which is so integrated into it? Why, because Microsoft changes its interface so significantly that it doesn’t work with existing software, should Endnote developers have to eat the cost of producing a new version of their software to maintain compatibility? It obviously isn’t a quick fix, or they would have it out there within a few weeks! (which is the other side of the coin, that users complain about - you can’t upgrade due to cost, they can’t get a compatible upgrade cause it isn’t yet available - but that is another thread!)