Well I think my tolerance for this software is running out. Unless there’s some miracle hidden folder with my library stashed somewhere, Endnote just went and deleted a library that took weeks to assemble. With all the highlights, annotations I made and references gone with it, I’m ready to switch to another citation manager.
So some background, had a library with 130 references in it, highlighted, labeled, and grouped. If the Endnote application is open, and you take your USB out before closing it, Endnote goes nuts, even if you put the USB back in unlike MS Word. So I started to always close the application and then take the USB out.
Well I did just that and this time Endnote/Windows came up w/a message. Didn’t read it (thought nothing serious) and when I plugged my USB back in, the library was gone. Completely gone. I mean deleted, vanished. I searched everywhere using search function, I looked for .enl files, nothing. Opened up Endnote and looked at most recent, still there but opened and no pathway existed. Went on my computer hard disk, nothing. Went in recycle bin, nothing.
Weeks of effort now flushed down the drain by endnote.
Sigh so all I have left is a synced online library. Thank GOD I synced the one I lost and not the others because Endnote conveniently gives only one library that can be synced at a time and no others. This is a very common complaint I find as many researchers manage multiple projects.
So I’d like to know how to export that library back to Endnote and make a new one. Also how to export those references and groups, annotations, highlights to a different citation manager. I hope to God this is possible. i can’t believe Endnote would do this to me. Am I the only one to have experienced this frustration? This isn’t the first time I had a problem. Though I managed to fix previous issues somehow mysteriously.
Sorry for the emotional rant, it’s just incredibly frustrating and jarring. I don’t want to use Endnote ever again knowing this can happen again.