I am working with Endnote X2 – haven’t got the patch yet, so perhaps it addresses this problem. I have new references in a smart group. Once I’ve looked at them I add them to a custom group. Fine so far, but I now want to empty the smart group so that next time I run an online search I only see the new references. If I do delete the references in the smart group they are removed from the custom group as well, and are put in the trash, so they are being removed from the library too. (I thought you could only delete references from the library in the ‘All References’ mode.) How can I empty a smart group without affecting the custom groups?
Smart Groups are working exactly as designed in X2. The options to “empty” a Smart Group are to delete records - they go to the trash - or - delete the Smart Group altogether - this does not remove records from your library. A Smart Group is essentially a saved search that is run automatically so editing the results goes against the basic defintion of the feature.
You might try using the “Added to Library” and “Last Updated” fields to help keep track of newer items as they are added to your EndNote library.
Jason Rollins, the EndNote team