My wife and I both use EndNote and share a large EndNote library. We have a kind of master file where we make additions and corrections, but our day-to-day work is done on two copies that we create from time to time from the master. I am wondering if it is possible, given this approach to file sharing, to make use of individually created Groups. Does anyone know which file in the information data folder holds information on groups? Might it be possible to protect such a file when we download new copies of the master, so that our respective groups are not lost? I guess, in a nutshell, I want to know if using the groups feature is really compatible with sharing a common EndNote Library. Many thanks for any suggestions.
I do not recommend to protect or individually manage files in .Data folder because if you do that, very likely, the synch between .enl file and files in the .data folder will be lost. Then, you won’t be able to opne the .enl file which is a big problem.
I’m not sure how you do “two copies that we create from time to time from master”, but I guess you make a duplicate from the master with a unique name, like Master-Rob Aug, then bring it with flash drive to work place, come back home and copy some added records back to the master?
You would make “newly added by Rob” group in the duplicate, add records into that group at work place, come back home, and copy these records back to the grand master at home computer. Would that help identifying which record each of you added?
Group is definitely useful feature to categrize thousands of records into small group.
I am not certain why you don’t just keep your individual groups, since the same record can co-exist in two groups (or more). Since you already copy the master from time to time, you just ignore your spouses groups and work with your own? If you need to bring new records home to add to the master, you would need some mechanism to copy them back to the master, and add them to your group structure.
myoshigi and Leanne, many thanks for your advice on this. I much appreciate it.
Leanne, if I understand you correctly, you are suggesting we both build our groups in the common (master) EndNote file, and just do actual work with our respective set of groups. There may be some merit to that, but a downside I can see is that, to create a viable set of groups (which would evolve over time and through use) we would be both spending a lot more time working on the same master than we do at present, with therefore increased risk of write conflicts, etc. We use the master as a place to centralize corrections and new additions, but otherwise try to stay off it. Anyway, I will continue thinking about this.
One thought that occurs to me as a possible addition to EndNote is a way to export groups, so that they could be (at some level) independent of a specific library…
Best,
Ian
Oh you CAN do that in X3. In X3 you can export parts of libraries with and without attachments. That would be the perfect solution for you! You can compress a set of references in a group, export just those and opean and use that sub-library. Then you just need a to export and import new records (discarding duplicates), back into the your master and make sure the records are moved to your respective groups (or to both groups if needed).
Message Edited by Leanne on 09-02-2009 11:16 AM