how insert multiple refs into one bracket?

Endnote X1, instant formatting off, Word 2004, Mac osx 10.5.6, powerbook G4 1.25GHz 2GB RAM: 

when I add a reference to an existing string of citations, be it formatted (First et al, 2004) or not [First, 2004 #179],  the reference will be added: [First, 2004 #179; Second, 2006 #56]. 

However, when I repeat this action to insert further references, one of two things happens:

a. the next reference replaces the previous ones, and I’m left with [Third, 2008 #222]. (useless)

b. the next references are created outside the brackets:  [Fourth, 2008 #223][Third, 2008 #222][First, 2004 #179; Second, 2006 #56] (hopeful)

when I format option b., the first brackets in line are formatted, but some are not:

(Fourth et al., 2008; Third et al., 2008)[First, 2004 #179; Second, 2006 #56]

this is the first time this happens. there was no space between any of the brackets, I checked that. 

please explain how to avoid this behavior. (please don’t tell me I need to label all the papers I want in those brackets with a unique label, search in endnote for that label, and insert them all at once.)

thanks

ps the message is said to contain invalid html and was changed by the program. i hope it still makes sense.

Make sure you don’t have the previous reference selected when you insert a new reference and that your cursor is outside the previously formated refererence.  (which might explain the replacements).  For subsequet inserted references, if there is no space between the brackets, it shouldn’t be happening, but it also sounds like you might have inadvertantly turned CWYW off, if it is not automatically formating.  You can turn it back on (and hopefully this will also combine the references) by selecteing the format bibliography tool, and going to the third tab of the dialog and turning CWYW back on.  You should only have to do this once.  (unless you routinely unformat your references, which turns it off again).

I notice you said there was no space, so you should also checkthat tracked changes aren’t on, (with showing final) which could mean that there was deleted text separating the references, but was hidden. 

(P.S. The invalid html msg often happens here, if you have copied and pasted items from word, expecially endnote formated text)

 

 

 

Message Edited by Leanne on 03-19-2009 08:01 AM

Hi Leanne, 

I turned CWYW (instant formatting) back on as you said (I had it turned off upon advice from here because CPU goes crazy) and endnote did the same thing, fuse the first two refs and ignore the rest.  

so something like [ref1][ref2][ref3; ref4] should be recognised as belonging together, you say. With my setup they seem not to. 

If I take care to insert with the cursor just before the ] bracket, ref5 is integrated nicely [ref3;ref4; ref5], but trying to insert ref6 exactly the same way will replace the whole thing [ref6]. I had not selected the whole set of references, they turn dark grey when I select them and they were still light grey. 

Gudrun

ps sometimes it works to delete the middle brackets and put ; in between: 

[ref7][ref8] > [ref7; ref8] 

but somehow it won’t let me do that here. If I try to delete the middle ] bracket, it will delete the whole ref7. Maybe there is some formatting I don’t know of. 

Message Edited by schmunzelm on 03-19-2009 09:35 AM

Very strange.  I see where the advice to turn it off was given elsewhere in the forum with your Word version. I don’t have any experience with Mac versions, however. 

Are you saying that with CWYW on, you have square brackets with both your unformated and formated references and that they are grey? or with CWYW off, they are light grey?  Having the same choice, might confuse endnote into trying to reformat a formated reference (which also might account for some CPU problems!).

And you don’t have tracked changes on, do you?

Hi Leanne, I noticed that the two refs I tried to join were still sort of formatted - even though they were in [] brackets and appeared unformatted, everything turned light grey when clicking somewhere between the brackets. This should not happen, they should appear as plain text when unformatted. 

So, I ran unformat citations again, a few times. This completely unformatted one reference (no grey any more) but not the other. I might have a corrupt reference or so?

I did have track changes on when inserting a reference, to make that visible to my coauthors. I turn tracking off before formatting, otherwise the document gets blasted with changes. (a note on the side - It would be great if those changes were not anonymous, so that if I forget, I can still click “accept all changes from this reviewer”)

corrupt reference, does that exist? won’t format, won’t unformat. 

I would delete the suspect references and reinsert them. 

If anonymous, are you able to hide all the “reviewers” and see the “anonymous”? 

I would avoid using [] and switch ot {}. 

Is you show changes, are you sure there isn’t a tracked change, even a space between references. 

  1. ok, I’ll reinsert them and hope that this happens not too often. I’d like to just know whether there is a way to avoid this, something I didnt know and how I might have confused the program? probably “track changes while inserting refs”. If I know that I can’t do that, that’s fine with me. 

2. oh well, it behaves differently now: I tried formatting while track changes was on. This time, the changes were assigned to me, not to anonymous. I don’t understand, nothing has changed since I last used these documents and programs. well, so there is no way and the document is lost when I click on format bibliography while tracking changes. (is there an undo for formatting?)

  1. How do I switch to {}?  What I tried and did not work:

a. assign {} in endnote prefs

 b. format bibliography

c. unformat bibliography

d. I’d expect to have all {} but I still have all [].

 e. mix of [] and {} seem to my common sense like one of the things to absolutely avoid (much less has caused confusion in the past), so I think I stay with [] for this paper

why would I want {}? 

  1. I wanted to track changes. You’re saying I cannot track changed citations. that’s fine too if I know it. 

thanks 

@schmunzelm wrote:

  1. ok, I’ll reinsert them and hope that this happens not too often. I’d like to just know whether there is a way to avoid this, something I didnt know and how I might have confused the program? probably “track changes while inserting refs”. If I know that I can’t do that, that’s fine with me.

 

[LMW]If CWYW is off, tracked changes should be fine.You can always seach for your brackets with tracked changes showing and accept those that affect references. 

2. oh well, it behaves differently now: I tried formatting while track changes was on. This time, the changes were assigned to me, not to anonymous. I don’t understand, nothing has changed since I last used these documents and programs. well, so there is no way and the document is lost when I click on format bibliography while tracking changes. (is there an undo for formatting?) 

[LMW] you can undo formatting, but you need to click on the drop down arrow of the undo button scroll down and undo a huge number of steps. 

 

  1. How do I switch to {}?  What I tried and did not work:

a. assign {} in endnote prefs

 b. format bibliography

c. unformat bibliography

d. I’d expect to have all {} but I still have all .

 e. mix of and {} seem to my common sense like one of the things to absolutely avoid (much less has caused confusion in the past), so I think I stay with for this paper

why would I want {}?

 

[LMW] You would have to search and replace the with the {} in the UNFORMATED references.  if you switch preferences then endnote won’t format the references any longer.  {} are less commonly used than so it is more likely to be unique.  If you change the preferences while the references are formatted, it will switch them for the formatted references though.  You definately want them all the same…

 

  1. I wanted to track changes. You’re saying I cannot track changed citations. that’s fine too if I know it. 

 

thanks 

By the way, the other way to fix this problem would be to unformat everything and edit the ][or]<space[ with ;<space> and then format.  (making sure there aren’t any separated references left). 

Message Edited by Leanne on 07-14-2009 09:58 AM

[LMW]If CWYW is off, tracked changes should be fine.

yes, I made a test document and inserted random refs before and after formatting. works an infinite number of times with tracked changes turned on and off. So what I tried should work nicely, and my guess is that there is something wrong with the one string of references. 

 

[LMW] you can undo formatting, but you need to click on the drop down arrow of the undo button scroll down and undo a huge number of steps. 

 

ok

  

By the way, the other way to fix this problem would be to unformat everything and edit the ][or]<space[ with ;<space> and then format.  (making sure there aren’t any separated references left). 

 

I tried that, it won’t find any ][even though][ is right there

 

Looking at the document after select all, unformat, but the “unformatted” references were still “fields” and highlighted, suggesting that endnote code was still embedded in them. In fact if you Alt+F9, they had curley bracketed EN.CITE information. Unformating all the references a second time, brought them back to an unformated version - except for the offending reference which is still highlighted and still has EN.CITE info in it. When unlinked the fields on that (which on a PC is ctrl+Shift+F9- probably apple+shift+F9) (they all looked like [Author, Year #RecNo]) the fields were removed, and the document reformates just fine.

Somehow the code got corrupted. Make sure if you are working on a formated version and insert new references, that you are outside the reference, with no spaces between the old and new reference. If CWYW is off, and you reformat, it will combine them. If it is on, then it should automatically combine them. I suspect trying to insert them IN a formated reference is what corrupted the reference.

I recommended the following:
Just to be sure your current version is completely clean, I would make a copy of it. I would unformat all references (select all and unformat). I would probably do it twice, just to be sure. Delete the residual bibliography. There should be no references in () and if you Alt+F9, there should be no curley bracketed funny EN.CITE stuff. (If after formatting you see the funny EN.CITE stuff, hit Alt +F9 again.) Then I would unlink all fields. You can do this by selecting the remove field codes on the Endnote toolbar (which should only remove Endnote formatting, which is preferable if you have other fields embedded), or globally using the command I gave above, which completely cleans up codes. Reformatting should work much better and it might also solve the hang-ups you were having before, with CWYW on?

This worked.

1 Like

yep, this worked, the ref was probably corrupt, and I should insert new references right next to a bracket, not inside any brackets. When I 1. unformat the bibliography (a few times if necessary, checking for EN.CITE if necessary, and the alt+F9 worked on the mac, fn+alt+F9 on powerbook) and 2. remove the field code (I did that via word tools menu), citations are normal text and fast to work with; I think I’ll routinely do that. Endnote will still be able to format anything that looks like [Greenspan, 1997 #65][Streisinger, 1989 # 4] into a single (), even if field code not there. 

ok I start to like endnote because there is a way to turn it off once I started using it. Also, support was very great and fast, thanks, Leanne.