EndNote 20 on macOS

Dear EndNote users,

I wonder if anyone had the chance to try out EndNote 20 on macOS already? Many people have problems running previous releases of EndNote on macOS. Did the developers make a stable version this time, i.e., is it worth upgrading? Do you experience sluggishness? Can the new version manage large databases (>1500 titles + attachments)?

If you have any experience, please share.

Thank you!

I don’t think they have released Endnote20 on the Mac platform yet.  

They are working on EndNote 20 for Mac now. Looking forward to it!

EndNote 20 is now available for MacOS

I installed it yesterday. Sync remains a problematic issue. Freezes all the time. The option of multiple tabs does not seem to be available on the Mac version. The option of displayiing a preview of the citation available in EndNote 19 has been removed from version 20. Compared with Endnote 19, v. 20 does not not seem to have gone very much further in terms of functionality. Unless some future updates add some of the missnmig features, there is not much benefit in the upgrade, unless you want the app for the new interface, which is really nice.

I installed it yesterday. Sync reemains a problem. Freezes all the time. No multiple tabs available as in Wiindows. No citation preview as in EndNote 19. Unless some updates are coming to supply the missing features, apart from the nice interface, there is not much to gain in updating. 

It is out. Seems stable to me. I don’t care much for the main interface page, however. Each reference is double space separated from the one below and above, so that you get about half as many references visible compared with previous versions. I contacted Endnote support and there is no way to change this, although they did acknowledge that this is an issue others have complained about and are working on a fix.

It is out. Seems stable to me. I don’t care much for the main interface page, however. Each reference is double space separated from the one below and above, so that you get about half as many references visible compared with previous versions. I contacted Endnote support and there is no way to change this, although they did acknowledge that this is an issue others have complained about and are working on a fix.

See the screenshots below for the comparison.



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I had trouble finding my PDFs on the new interface with EndNote 20. No more double click to open the PDFs, I was directed to use Commend Alt P as the shortcut to get them to open. 

Yes, the “All references” window wastes a lot of space. I’m dismayed that the user has not control over the spacing.

Even worse:

  • To inspect a reference, one no longer has a small preview pane at the bootom of (or next to) the Refereces window. Instead, Endnote 20 opens a large pane next to the Refereces window. It takes up almost a quarter of the entire screen on my 16 inch MacBook Pro! Another waste of precious screen real-estate.

  • When editing a reference, the Edit window is no longer identical to the window for entering new references but is now idetical to the preview pane (but now in Edit mode). 

  • The Edit pane (in Edit mode) does not link to the Term Lists. They work perfectly when entering a new reference but there is not connection between the Edit pane and the Term Lists. 

Altogether, some serious setbacks in UI design. But Endnote 20 is much faster than the previous versions and it does not slow down in the course of a session. 

Yes, the “All references” window wastes a lot of space. I’m dismayed that the user has not control over the spacing.

Even worse:

  • To inspect a reference, one no longer has a small preview pane at the bootom of (or next to) the Refereces window. Instead, Endnote 20 opens a large pane next to the Refereces window. It takes up almost a quarter of the entire screen on my 16 inch MacBook Pro! Another waste of precious screen real-estate.

  • When editing a reference, the Edit window is no longer identical to the window for entering new references but is now idetical to the preview pane (but now in Edit mode). 

  • The Edit pane (in Edit mode) does not link to the Term Lists. They work perfectly when entering a new reference but there is not connection between the Edit pane and the Term Lists. 

Altogether, some serious setbacks in UI design. But Endnote 20 is much faster than the previous versions and it does not slow down in the course of a session. 

Yes, the “All references” window wastes a lot of space. I’m dismayed that the user has not control over the spacing.

Even worse:

  • To inspect a reference, one no longer has a small preview pane at the bottom of (or next to) the References window. Instead, Endnote 20 opens a large pane next to the Referenes window. It takes up almost a quarter of the entire screen on my 16 inch MacBook Pro! Another waste of precious screen real-estate.
  • When editing a reference, the Edit window is no longer identical to the window for entering new references but is now idetical to the preview pane (but now in Edit mode). 
  • The Edit pane (in Edit mode) does not link to the Term Lists. They work perfectly when entering a new reference but there is not connection between the Edit pane and the Term Lists. 

Altogether, some serious setbacks in UI design. But Endnote 20 is much faster than the previous versions and it does not slow down in the course of a session. 

Once you click on a reference, there is a small menu you can use a dropdown menu to open.  I don’t mind that but the waste of real estate with the double spacing is terrible.  If. you forget a reference so you can’t use the search to find it and so must scroll through your references, the waste of space means a lot of extra scrolling.  A real problem with a lot of references

Could someone, please, upload screeshots of EndNote 20 running on a Mac? I would like to check out how it looks like, wothout downloading the app itself.

Thanks!

And of course, in addition to taking away certin functionality, this latest version of EndNote isn’t even supported on the M1 Mac architecture, which - as of November of last year - every new Mac has been and will be relying upon. So you either have to depend on running Word in emulation mode (and who knows how long MS will provide this option in view of how they’ve already released an M1-compatible version of their Office suite) or you can’t run EN at all.

This is yet another example of how this software is effectively one step up from Abandonware at this point. An active, serious development team interested in supporting the product would have ensured EN compatibility from the day the M1 Macs were released, especially since the release of the M1 Macs basically coincided with the release of a supposedly ““new”” version of EndNote.

If this kind of neglect and outright thumbing their nose at Mac users in particular continues over next six months to a year, I’m switching to an alternative, actively updated and supported software solution - no matter how inconvenient that might be in terms of immediate consequences - and not looking back.

In addition to taking away certin functionality (according to some users), this latest version of EndNote isn’t even supported on the M1 Mac architecture, which - as of November of last year - every new Mac has been and will be relying upon. So you either have to depend on running Word in emulation mode (and who knows how long MS will provide this option in view of how they’ve already released an M1-compatible version of their Office suite) or you can’t run EN at all.

This is yet another example of how this software is effectively one step up from Abandonware at this point. An active, serious development team interested in supporting the product would have ensured EN compatibility from the day the M1 Macs were released, especially since the release of the M1 Macs basically coincided with the release of a supposedly ““new”” version of EndNote.

If this kind of neglect and outright thumbing their nose at Mac users in particular continues over next six months to a year, I’m switching to an alternative, actively updated and supported software solution - no matter how inconvenient that might be in terms of immediate consequences - and not looking back.

Contemporary UI interfaces, not just EndNote 20, has this horrible trend of enlarging everything and creating lots of empty spaces. This makes sense if the UI is intended to be a touch interface, but for one in which we navigate by mouse/trackpad, this is terribly wasteful. The irony is that today we have much larger monitors than 20 years ago, but because of the inefficient use of space, our displays contain just about as much information as they did in the past. 

EndNote UI, as well as other programs, should aim to display information density with clarity and ease of use.

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This is a real trend and there is a talk (Delphi related) discussing it:

https://summit.desktopfirst.com/talks/opening-keynote/

Best advice: Skip EndNote 20 if you have X9. It will only disappoint on Windows and macOS.

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I agree. Endnote 20 has nothing like the capabilities of Endnote 9. It is a horrible interface, functionalities have disappeared.  Do no buy it. I am asking for a refund.

Is there a good description how to downgrade from EndNote 20 to EndNote X9.3.3 on macOS Big Sur (11.2.3)? If yes, PLEASE post the URL!

I have just updated to EN 20.0.1, but although there is progress, MOST of the serious issues in working with it are unresolved.