I have some modified styles I want to back up. However no software (including Windows Explorer) can see any files in the Program Files (x86) > EndNote X > Styles folder created by EndNote since late 2009, even though there are several such files in the Styles folder. Only files created before 2010 are visible. I can see and use these files in EndNote. I can even see the file in the Windows “Save As” dialog box in EndNote. But Windows Explorer and my backup software can only see the files created before 2010. Even stranger, files created before 2010 and modified after 2009 show up in Windows Explorer and in my backup software with the date when they were last modfied in 2009 instead of the more recent modification dates in 2010 and 2011. It is almost as if Windows Explorer and my backup software were accessing some archived version of the folder. EndNote correctly lists the modified date in its dialog boxes. I am baffled. I am not sure if this is an EndNote problem or some strange Windows glitch, but I have googled and can find no reference to such strange Windows behavior. How could Windows even remember what the folder looked like in 2009? Does EndNote X record newer output styles in some strange way? This problem is preventing me from backing up my output styles.
I have checked and double checked that I looking at the exact same folder in each case. There are no hidden files.
I am using EndNote X with Windows 7 Professional on a ThinkPad T510.
Starting with Vista, Windows will not let you modify files in your Programs File folder. It makes a folder under your user profile and places the files there. Then when programs access those folders Windows makes the files appear to the software. You should be able to find the files in the following folder, or a folder similar to this:
There they are! Endnote is the only program I have that stores editable files in Program Files instead of AppData, so I was not aware of this. I started out in Windows XP when I first installed EndNote X, and most of my edits were done back then, so this had not been a problem until recently, when I began making some edits again. Thank you so much for your help!
To avoid this problem with EndnoteX and Vista/Windows7 move your styles folder to a location you can write to (and your connections and filters folders, if you edit those too) to a location you have control over (say MyDocuments) and then edit your preferences>folder locations to point to those folders. You will now be able to edit and save (recommend Save As so you still have the original) those modified files.