Upgraded to Win7 - Endnote X3 now crashes Word on exit

EndNote EndNote General
1

I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 Professional and everything went very smoothly. Before doing so I checked this site to see if there were any expected problems with EndNote on Win7, but there was “nothing reported.” However, I have noticed that the menu option (right-clicking an in-text reference) is unexpectedly gone in MS Word 2007. This means I can no longer edit citations/references, a feature I used very very much. 

Also, I cannot exit MS Word 2007 upon using a document with EndNote references without first getting an EndNote error message (“Unspecified error” - might be “un_known_ error”) and then having Word crash. I have to forcefully shut it down. 

I’ve tried repairing EndNote but that did not solve this problem. I tried repairing MS Office 2007 but that too didn’t change anything. Repairing both Office and EndNote (in that order) restarting Windows in-between also did not have any effect. So obviously this is a problem with compatibility between EndNote X3.0.1 and Windows 7. 

Did anybody have the same problems? Did anybody find a solution? Is Thomson Reuters working on this problem? As it is right now, EndNote is quite useless - I cannot use it and have to go back to typing my references (or, potentially, purchasing another reference management software).

Please advise. Thank you.

Per Bylund 

2

Vista, XP and some prior Windows OS versions allowed for “rolling back”  the OS for programs that worked correctly on an earlier version of Windows.  If Windows 7 has this option, you could try rolling back the OS for EndNote to Vista, XP, or other. to see if this addresses your problem. 

To rollback the compatibility, locate the EndNote application file, select it, then right-click your mouse/trackpad to display a properties menu.  (If you have an EndNote shortcut icon on the desktop you can place the cursor on the icon then right-click.) This will bring up the EndNote’s “Properties” box.  In the “Compatibility” tab, click the “Run this program in compatiblity mode for” option, then use the pull-down menu to select the desired OS.  Click the APPLY button then close the properties menu box.

Restart your computer.

3

Thanks, but I tried that and it doesn’t work. Windows 7 is supposed to have a greatly enhanced compatibility function for running individual applications as were they installed on a previous Windows platform. So I’ve tried running EndNote X3.0.1 “on” the Windows Vista SP2 platform, which is what I had before the upgrade.

In this case, however, I’m pretty sure that it is one (or more) of the EndNote Add-Ins that doesn’t work for Word 2007 on the Windows 7 platform. The error message is only in Word (but originates from EndNote) and my lacking right-click menu options also suggests it is the EndNote part of Word that is incompatible. (I have noticed no problems with the stand-alone EndNote program.) So I would have to run the Office package in compatibility mode - and that certainly doesn’t make much sense!

I contacted Thomson Reuters about this issue, but they only replied that they are currently “testing” to see if there is any incompatibility. Since Windows 7 has been available for the public since three weeks and was available for computer manufacturers and software developers since May or June, I doubt Thomson Reuters are very anxious to provide a solution. Perhaps they are working on the next version and rely on this incompatibility to generate increased sales?

Per Bylund 

@crazygecko wrote:

Vista, XP and some prior Windows OS versions allowed for “rolling back”  the OS for programs that worked correctly on an earlier version of Windows.  If Windows 7 has this option, you could try rolling back the OS for EndNote to Vista, XP, or other. to see if this addresses your problem. 

 

To rollback the compatibility, locate the EndNote application file, select it, then right-click your mouse/trackpad to display a properties menu.  (If you have an EndNote shortcut icon on the desktop you can place the cursor on the icon then right-click.) This will bring up the EndNote’s “Properties” box.  In the “Compatibility” tab, click the “Run this program in compatiblity mode for” option, then use the pull-down menu to select the desired OS.  Click the APPLY button then close the properties menu box.

 

Restart your computer.

4

I’m sorry to hear your troubles with Win 7. IT staffs in my institutin (as with other mid-large corporate users) have been doing “wait and see” regarding Win 7 upgrade, so I can’t be of any help. I’ve looked at Microsoft’s Win 7 site, and they emphasize “Win 7 is simple”, but my XP is also simple, fast, and smooth. I couldn’t find any features I feel interested trying to make my productivity better other than improved search. Many corporate users may be feeling the same way. But I’m sure Microsoft will stop supporting XP and make it purposely obsolete. Other MS-associates will also sell PC/laptops only with Win 7. That’s the time I would consider upgrade. It’s not a solution, but how about using OpenOffice temporarily? At least EN X3 has been working just smooth in my Vista Ultimate 64bit, so I imagine it would work better than Word 2007. Reading all the troubles around Word 2007 here in this forum, I’m very much determined I will skip Office 2007.

5

I am using endnote 9 on my Win 7 platform and can not get it to recognize endnote.

Is there any compatibilty issue with older version of endnote?

thanks

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I don’t think they ever even said it would work with Vista.  It is no longer a supported version, so if it works great (although some have reported some problems with X3 and Win7) and if it doesn’t – see the previous parenthetical comment!   

7

Hello Per,

Just wanted to let you know, we have tested EndNote X3 with Windows 7 and Word 2007 on a few different machines, and do not experience the problem you’re describing.  Right-clicks on citations do have the Edit Citation option, and Word 2007 exits properly without any error messages.  As this problem seems specific to your machine, I’d suggest trying a different user account to see if it’s an issue with something account-specific, checking to see if there are additional addins within Word that may be causing conflicts, and contacting tech support for additional suggestions.

8

Thanks for this input. It really helped in trying to locate the problem.

I found in the logs that the problem has to do with my Word 2007 Add-Ins, specifically the CWYW add-in. It exists twice as registered in MS Word, and as soon as I try to disable either one or both the result is a crash. I tried uninstalling EndNote X3 (and restarting the computer), but the Add-Ins still show in Word - and they are enabled/active. So I guess I will have to try to find them somehow in the registry and/or the system directory. Any thoughts on how to completely remove the EndNote components so that I can restart my computer, repair Office, and then reinstall EndNote X3 (this, I think, should fix my problems).

Per Bylund 

9

I found a solution and am posting it here in case somebody else finds him- or herself in the same troublesome situation as me.

 

The problem seems to have been caused by my having had EndNote X2 installed prior to X3 and then upgraded from Vista Business SP2 to Windows 7 Professional. Somewhere something went completely wrong, installing the CWYW dotm’s a total of three times in Word 2007. This made Word crash upon exit every time and in the logs I found that the problem had to do with wwlib.dll, i.e. the Word add-ins. It was obvious after some investigation that it was the EndNote add-ins (CWYW). 

 

I uninstalled X3 and noticed that this simply restored X2 (!) whereas the program was not registered with Windows - only the file folders under /Program Files were restored. So I couldn’t uninstall X2 since it wasn’t installed… I found the old installation files and reinstalled X2 in order to update and restore all registry keys that are needed for X2, so that I would be able to uninstall X2 as well and then, hopefully, install X3 and get back to normal.

 

Installing X2 resulted in the add-ins in Word being updated to X2, but there were still six of them (3x2, EndNote cwyw.dotm and EndNote Web cwyw.dotm three times each). Uninstall went okay, but it didn’t solve my problem with Word - it still crashed, and it still believed I was using EndNote add-ins. For some reason it was able to activate these add-ins every time I started Word even though the files were no longer there…!

 

Then I found a solution on http://www.lazynetworkadmin.com/knowledgebase-mainmenu-6/2-windows/119-wwlibdll-or-add-in-crashing-word-2007, prescribing that I hack the registry a bit: 

 

1.      Close Word

2.      Open Regedit

3.      Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data

4.      Delete the Settings Key and any other keys EXCEPT “Toolbars” and “SettingsWordMail” Leave these two alone.

5.      Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\File MRU

6.      Delete any instance of the offending add-in

7.      Done, restart Word and the problem should be gone. 

 

Doing this actually reset Word and it did no longer load the EndNote add-ins. And I could easily install X3 and - surprise! - I got all the functionality back, including the right-click menu options.

10

Thanks for sharing your solution. I think installer needs to forcefully remove previous versions/registry when major upgrade version is installed. I know doing so will cause many users complaint, like “my preference all went back to default!”, but after all, it’ll be cleaner.

Along with this thought, there should be some kind of “preference keeper” function, such that users can transfer EN preference from one machine to another. Right now, some are in registry, and very difficult to retrieve for users with less computing experience. Also, the saved search is hidden in Application data folder in Documents and Settings folder. That’s also a bad palce for PC beginners.

Message Edited by myoshigi on 11-13-2009 05:05 PM

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Thanks for the suggestion! I just deleted the settings key, and Word no longer crashes upon exit.

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I am having this exact problem, except:  I do not have any traces of X2 left on my machine except a few files.  I have not tried uninstalling X3 yet, though…I will try this if need be.  However, I am also loathe to fiddle with the registry!  In looking at the instructions bylund provided, I do not understand what step 6 (“Delete any instance of the offending add-in”) means.  In my File MRU folder, all I have in there are about 50 things named “Item 1,” “Item 2,” etc., and in the “Data” field for each is just a pathway to a file I have recently opened – I see nothing about any add-ins there…?  Is there any additional detail anyone can provide on exactly what I should be looking for before I try all this?  THanks!

13

it would help to pose your question in a new thread.  I tend to ignore it - when I see the “solved” with the thread. 

We found that X installed into the users Documents and Settings and when uninstalling from an administrator or other account, they were left behind.  – furthermore, the folders they are strored in, are often “hidden” and so searches don’t necessarily find them.