Hello. I am at a Swiss University, and I have been using EndNote for almost 20 years, and have published >300 papers with it. My biggest complaint has always been the “single-user” issue. I typically write papers cooperatively with my postdocs and students (my lab’s headcount is ca. 30). When somebody in the lab opens EndNote, it is closed down for everybody else. We have never been able to find a good workaround.
I seem to understand that X6 changes all that. This would be indeed “huge”, and I am certain that I could convince my university to acquire a site license because of that. But first I need to understand: what would be the best strategy for setting up a cooperative, team-wide multiuser EndNote database?
Beyond my own lab, I am currently writing a review (for Science!) together with a colleague in Stanford. I am interested in finding out whether I could share my new EndNote X6 database with him. Would he need to have an X6 license as well?
EndNoteX6 (still doesn’t) perform record locking functions that would allow multiple users to edit one library at the same time. However, multiple users can access one EndNote library simultaneously as long as the library is restricted to read-only or locked status. This will allow the user to perform searches, copy information to their documents, and format their papers. Use Windows Explorer to change the Properties of your EndNote library; select the Read-Only attribute for the .ENL file and the .DATA folder.
The simplest way to set up an EndNote library for shared network access is to use the network’s system of file permissions to control the type of access allowed for users and groups. Except for the person who posts the database, grant all users read-only access.
One person should be assigned the responsibility for maintaining and updating the library at a separate location; this user should be granted full access to the file. Then, periodically post the updated library on the network for all other users, with read-only access.
In my lab, we have asked IT to run a script to coy the Read/Write folder to the the Read Only location every night. Everyone in the lab points automatically to the RO version, unless they need to make additions or corrections to the library. I actually prefer to have them create a mini-library which can then be imported )with discard duplicates on, or import it and they resolve the duplicates perhaps keeping the more recent record, if more correct.
Perhaps the facilty you are refereing to is the ability to share references in Endnote Web in collaborative writinjg. You can sync your endnote desktop libarary with the endnote web libarary, and this now includes the PDF files. see http://technology.ptsem.edu/?id=1732 for one tutorial. - orthis Youtube presentation from Endnote support.