I’ve seen similar posts related to this problem with older versions of macOS but not regarding Catalina 10.15…
There are fewer than 500 references in my library and EndNote hangs from several seconds to full moinutes on every click. For the price of this software, this is a serious problem.
Have just upgraded to Catalina and before than updated Endnote 9.3.1 and am having precisely this problem too. My library is have as big. Please can Endnote sort this out?
I have the same problem. EndNote X9.3.1 is running very slow on MacOS Catalina 10.15. It takes up to 20 seconds to save a new reference (created manually with an attached PDF file). I have moved my EndNote library, and corresponding PDF files and styles inside the Application folder to prevent these files from synch process to iCloud (backup), but the problem remains. I am in touch with Clarivate support expecting to solve this issue.
I would like to confirm that updating Java fixed the spinning wheel for me. Before I had a spinning wheel whenenver I was dragging a reference to another group, now I can drag multiple references and it’s as quick as I expect it to be.
Java 8 Update 231
Endnote X9.3.1 with about 1500 references
Mac OS 10.12.6
Macbook Air End 2010
Credit goes to ScrippsOcean
And a note to Clarivate support: the fix was published by the above mentioned user back in May, yet no official update or even a note to update Java? Please improve support!
I have found EndNote X9.3.1 to be astonishingly faster: my library has 54K entries, almost all with PDF attachments and is decades old (started with EndNote 2). I previously switched to Windows because of poor performance on macOS, but now, the macOS version runs circles around the Windows (X9.2) version and is appreciably faster than Bookends on macOS.
Could this be a local issue? One thing I do is to keep my (larger) EndNote library(-ies) out of the iCloud-backup folder that can slow things on macOS. EndNoteSync can effectively back up your database. As a precaution, I use rsync (runs in the macOS terminal and there are plenty of YouTube tutorials) to back up my EndNote libraries with ease. You can even create cron (another handy Unix utility) tasks to do this periodically.
I could not be happier with the newest macos update.
I am having the same problem. And updating Java did not solve it.
I am having the same issues that others have described. EndNote9 is painfully slow to run after updating to Mac iOS Catalina 10.15.1 and EndNote X9.3.1. Any help appreciated!
EndNote has been irritatingly slow on all MacOS versions for me since X7 was released. I also have colleagues experiencing this issue. It has been immensely frustrating, especially of late where the application is almost useless. I can only use the application for inserting citations into Word.
Critical functions that are unusable for me due to the long time it takes to perform related tasks:
Adding a reference
Updating a reference
Moving from one reference to an other reference using the mouse or cursor keys
Attaching PDF file
Saving PDF file after making annotations
I have tried several recommendations here with little improvement:
Updated to EndNote X9 - No change
Reduced library clone to 14 references - No change
Updated to the latest Java - I can now quickly update a reference without waiting or seeing the beach ball/spinning wheel.
Reduced output styles and connections to one each - No change
Moving library from iCloud folders and preventing iCloud syncs for the folder - No change
Java 8 Update 231
Endnote 9.3.2 (bld 15235) with about 14 references
Mac OS 10.15.1
Macbook Air Early 2013
System runs latest Final Cut Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop, SPSS, MAXQDA…perfectly.
Maybe this helps someone
I run EndNote X9.3.2 on macOS Catalina 10.15.1 with both Microsoft Word (16.30) and Apple Pages (8.2.1).
With MS Word I experience the same issues as described below.
With Apple Pages — however — EndNote is extremely fast and reliable.
A conclusion might be: it is more a MS Word—EndNote than a macOS—EndNote problem.
In my experience, Endnote on MacOS has been slow for the last 3 versions. EN is not slow when interfacing with Word, reference inserts and bibliography updates are as fast as they used to be.
The problem lies with the EN software itself. The following is very reproducible: select any article within any list in your library. Hit the down arrow to move to the next article and continue doing that. After about 10 selections, you start to see a very noticeable delay between the keyboard arrow and the list selection. Opening a reference then takes several seconds. It’s all downhill from there. In the end, it becomes totally unworkable.
This happens with any EN database: large or small, pdfs, no pdfs, Word active, Word not active, it doesn’t matter. You can easily reproduce it even on the tiny example datasets they include with the software.
I suspect this behavior is probably due to a memory leak that Clarivate is unable or unwilling to fix.
When you contact Support, they always try to pin the blame on the user: is your library on a shared drive/network/cloud? (No, it isn’t). Is your database large? (Well, about 4000 records, but it occurs even in small libraries with less than 100 records). Do you have a lot of pdfs in the library? (No, not a single one). At that point, they stop responding and drop your case.
Apart from the fact that EN still looks the same (and does the same) as they version I started to work with in 2008, they always force you through (paying) upgrades whenever MacOS makes a meaningful version upgrade. So you pay and get nothing new in return.
Maddening! So frustrated with this! Unfortunately there are few alternatives out there…
I’ve been having the same issue on 9.3.2 on Catalina. Frustratingly slow.
However, for what it’s worth, I just disabled EndNote online sync (under preferences), restarted EndNote, and things are moving much much faster. Hoping it stays this way!
Well, it appears to run very smoothly for a few minutes, but then I begin to get the spinning beach ball. Only shutting down and reopening EndNote appears to fix this, but I have to do it every 10 minutes or so.
Yes, this is exactly the problem that I have.
Come on Clarivate. Time to fix this thing.
My experience too. I haven’t found a solution that holds up longer than a short session, then quitting Endnote, and restarting it: repeat. I wondered if it was my machine, but it is fully loaded (MacBook Pro 2016, 16 GB RAM, 1TB storage).
The problem is with EndNote, as others are attesting.
PS: Don’t follow the advice of their help staff, who will make you run through endless hoops that do not avail, like relocating your library, rebuilding it, etc.
Ok…I’m at my whits end. Been workign on my dissertation again for the past week after taking a medical break. I don’t know what happened to Endnote in the time I was gone, but I’m about ready to throw my computer out the window. Literally every 5 minutes while I’m typing in Word I get the beachball. Anything I do in Endnote itself is beachball beach ball beachball. Add a reference beachball. Open the reference, beachball. Add the PDF, beachball. I swear I’ve lost at least an hour if not more of work this past week just staring at a beachball because of Endnote. I know it’s not my machine. What can I do to get this working or is it really time to invest in changing away?
I’m on
macOS 10.15.2
MacBook Pro 2017; 2.8 GHz Core i7; 16 GB Ram
Endnote X9.3.2
Word 16.32
I’m guessing no one else is having that many issues on catalina?
I had the same problem of sluggish running of EndNote X9. I’ve clean installed X9 and updated later; but I had the problem as all in this post have experienced.
Now, I’ve resolved the problem by just clean installing EndNote X9.3.2 (latest version) at once (meaning, without updates) today, Feb. 5, 2020. All the Preferences, Connections, Styles, and Filters etc. stay as the default. Probably, the latest version may be OK with Catalina. My Mac specs are
macOS Catalina Version 10.15.3
MacBook Pro Processor 2.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
EndNote X9.3.2 Bld 15235 (University Subscription)
Hope you all resolve the problems!^^
I had the same problem of sluggish running of EndNote X9. I’ve clean installed X9 and updated later; but I had the problem as all in this post have experienced.
Now, I’ve resolved the problem by just clean installing EndNote X9.3.2 (latest version) at once (meaning, without updates) today, Feb. 5, 2020. All the Preferences, Connections, Styles, and Filters etc. stay as the default. Probably, the latest version may be OK with Catalina. My Mac specs are
macOS Catalina Version 10.15.3
MacBook Pro Processor 2.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
EndNote X9.3.2 Bld 15235 (University Subscription)
Hope you all resolve the problems!^^
I’ve been using Endnote for almost 25 years, and formatted up to 700 pages with thousands of references in one session. With Catalina I have encountered som kind of bug. Endnote works very slowly, even when only handling references without PDFs. When trying to update bibliography it goes extremely slowly, and with some more pages it simple tells me it times out.
I have EN X9.3.2 and Word for Mac 16.34 on a MacBook Air 2019 with 16 GB ram.
I have also been having this issue. Endnote X9.3.2, new MacBook pro with Catalina 10.15.3, and Word 16.34. EndNote peformance quickly degrades until it is unusable. I contacted technical support late last year about this and they said they were looking at the issue. I have emailed them 3 times this year for an update and they won’t respond to my emails. Really poor customer service by this company.