Up until yesterday, in Endnote X3, when I click the Author field at the top of my reference library, it would sort my references according the author’s last name. Today (after changing none of the settings), when I click Author it sorts according to some patten that I can’t fathom. All other fields sort correctly.
When I do a manual sort (Tools>Sort>First Author) I get the correct sorting again. If I sort according to (Tools>Sort>Author) I get the same issue that I found when clicking Author. There is no option for me to change the quick sort Display Fields to First Author, only Author.
Did you check the “Sort Options” to see if “Author” is first sort criterion and the sort order is “A to Z” (ascending)? Go to toolbar and select TOOLS, SORT LIBRARY which will display the sort order of various fields.
Note that for “Sort First by this” should designate AUTHOR (not First Author). Also look at the adjacent square icon which displays the desired sort order: A Z (ascending) or Z A (descending). To change the sort order click the icon. Then click OK and the references in your library window should automatically sort in the order you designated.
Thanks, but the Sort Options menu way of sorting things does work if I select Sort First by this: First Author, but not if I select Sort First by this: Author.
The problem I have is that while I can go through the menu and run the sort based on First Author, I would much prefer to be able to sort it by clicking on the Author field in the Reference Library screen, as I’ve always done (until it stopped working today). It makes it a lot more straightforward if first I want to search for something by Year, then by Author, etc, without having to go through the menus.
Sounds weird. wonder if there is some caching problem. If you sort from the library display on year and go back to author, what happens?
complex sorts from the display are pretty hard to manage. Just like sorting your detailed folders in windows. it is one or another “field”. Providing the sort options is the only way to make the more complex decisions - at least so far.