How to sort references by the first name of authors?

EndNote EndNote How To
1

 I know we always sort our references by the last name of authors like that:

  1. V.G. Akiyama,…

  2. M.B. Choi

…

Can we switch the order from the last name to the first name?

1. M.B. Choi

2. V.G. Akiyama

…

I am now using X4 and Word 2010. Has anyone done this before?

2

Don’t think so.  

Why would you ever want to do that?  

The first name and SN are in the same field, hence I don’t think one can sort on something that is inside the same field.  

3

Thanks for replying fast.

I am in Vietnam and Ministry of Education here has a regulation for all thesis. My students have follow this regulation and they ask me how to sort their reference by the first names. I have tried but I cannot.

4

I think the SN/FN asian name conundrum is possiblycoming into play here? --where the Surname/Family Name is listed First  maybe?  I would contact tech support or hope a friendly moderator comes thru the forum?

www.endnote.com/support

5

@apple wrote:

 

Can we switch the order from the last name to the first name?

.

Unfortunately, Endnote (as of version X7.4) currently does not have an option for sorting author names by the first name. You might submit this on the Product Suggestions section of the forum and file an inquiry with technical support http://endnote.com/support .

Until the developers implement such a feature a possible workaround is to: 1) use a custom field* to act as a secondary “Author” field for the bibliography. (This custom field is meant to hold the author(s) first-name(s) [your example shows the use of initials for the first-name] and follows your style’s guidelines for a given reference type.); 2) change the Endnote output style’s bibliography template(s) to use the custom field instead of the current Author field; and 3) change the output style’s bibliography Sort Order to sort on the custom field, then by other fields as required by your style guidelines (e.g., Year, Title).

* Note: The same custom field must be used must be used across the Endnote reference types. So, for example, if you decide to use Custom 8 in the Journal Article reference template, Custom 8 must also be used for Books, Book Sections, Conference Papers, etc. Also, after modifying the reference type templates export a copy of the reference table.XML file as a backup. (In the event of a mistake or crash the file can be imported to reinstate your reference type templates, reflecting the modifications you made previously.)