File is already open for writing and cannot be opened again

EndNote EndNote How To
1

Hi,

If I have a Word document open (using Cite While You Write) whenever I add a citation from the web (e.g. ris file) Endnote tries to open a new version of itself and I get the error message ‘file is already open for writing and cannot be opened again’. I then have to close down Word, close down EndNote and open the ris file again, in which case it saves perfectly.

Then going the other way, if I then re-open Word and try to insert the reference into my document, it tries to open a new version of EndNote and I get the same message. Again I can get past this by closing down Endnote, closing down word, reopening Word, inserting the reference again; or closing down Endnote before I reopen Word.

It’s driving me mad.

I am using cite while you write in MS Word, EndNote 7 on my laptop, which I also sync with EndNoteWeb.

Thanks in anticipation of your help.

2

The error message normally come up if your EndNote library is saved on a network or cloud drive.

Please check the location where your EndNote library is saved. If it is saved on a network drive or any cloud storage device such as iCloud, Dropbox (which is set to take auto backup), then I suggest that you move your library (You will need to move both the “.enl” file and “.Data” folder) to either Desktop or Documents and try opening the library.

If the issue persists, then it sounds like the library might be damaged. I suggest that you recover the library by following the instruction from the Knowledge Base article below:

http://endnote.com/kb/82291

Now, try opening library after recovering it. However, if this does not work, please contact Technical Support directly for more assistance.

For help using EndNote

Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Eastern (GMT -5)

+1-800-336-4474, press 4

or via the web

http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/techsupport/

3

@kleedham wrote:

… I then have to close down Word, close down EndNote and open the ris file again , in which case it saves perfectly…

 .

Can you clarify why you are opening an .ris file to insert a citation? Files such as .ris should first be imported* into Endnote then you can insert the citation from the Endnote library – not from the…ris file itself.

*Go to the Endnote toolbar and choose File >Import >File. In the Import File pop-up box, locate and select your .ris file; designate “Reference Manager (RIS)” as the Import caption filter; and change the Duplicates setting to “Discard Duplicates”. Click the Import button to begin importing. If the references do not import into Endnote there might be a mismatch between the tags of the import file and the import filter. If this happens, please attach a sample of 5 to 10 records to enable checking of the tags.