keep Reference ID numbers when copying from one Endnote X3 library to another

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1

Hello:

I wonder if if might be possible to force Endnote X3 to keep the Reference ID numbers assigned to references when copying these references from one X3 library to a new X3 library.

Could someone provide some insight please?

Thank you

2

Not without some pretty labor intensive trickery.  That field is auto assigned to ensure that two records don’t get the same record number.  In X4 that number is much less important, as the program is more savy to identifying the records, independent of the number. 

You could export the records to a text file with a output style that includes the record number and import it back so that original record number is put in a different field (maybe Label with a preceding “location” to identify the library it came from. 

Otherwise, you can save the library to a new name and delete the records you don’t want in your library, retaining those you do, with the original record number.

so it depends on why you want to keep them? 

3

Thanks Leanne.

I had already thought of the file renaming option and I think I will go with this solution.

The reason for wanting to keep the Ref IDs is that we are using the Endnote library and custom fields in it to screen references for relevance to a systematic review of the literature (3 screeners colaborating on the same library; 1 custom field per screener).

I wanted to select a subset of all references and send these to my collaborators so that each screener could independently (and without being biased by other screeners’ relevance judgements) screen their references.

Thanks for your reply and suggestions.  Much appreciated!