EndNote X8 Keeps Crashing on Mac

Hi all,

I was experiencing significant crashing and sync issues with Endnote X8 today, and I managed to solve the crash and get back to work. 

I had noticed that my entire library had been duplicated 5 times. I have 1717 references stored, I opened EndNote to find that I had over 11,000 references today. What joy! Every time I opened the program my overall references would get shorter and shorter until the program ‘quit unexpectedly’. 

What DID NOT WORK:

Reinstalling EndNote X8

Updating EndNote X8 to X8.1

Coming to the support forums

What DID work:

  1. Disabled my Macbook Pro wireless internet connection, preventing EndNote from Syncing.

  2. Went through ALL of my references and deleting extraneous duplicates, 5 per reference. 

  3. Reenabled my wireless internet connection, allowing EndNote to sync with the online service.

  4. Once syncing was complete, exiting EndNote and restarting my Mac and the program to ensure the issue had been resolved. 

I think I lost a few references, however, I’d rather lose a few references than not be able to use the program. 

Best of luck. Hope this helps!

I have been having the same problem for months. I have a mac pro lap top and endnote X8.0.1. I have to force close repeatedly during the day. I love having the groups of studies but this is getting ridiculous…

It gives a bit relief to find so many Endnote users having the same problem I am having for months. It constantly freezes at start and have to force quite each time (MacOS Sierra). Had tried to rebuild my library twice now but the problem comes back after a while. I have more than 2,000 references in my library. I had doubted that maybe my library is just too large, but from this thread small libraries suffer just the same. Sometimes I become so frustrated that I start to search for alternative software to replace Endnote. It is supposed to improve your productivity and now it has beome a heavy drag. I contacted Tech Support before and they acted like they never knew this is a problem. 

Thanks for sharing!

I am having the same problem and it is so frustrating!!! I have downloaded Zotero now after many weeks of trouble with Endnote and think there is no other solution for me than to switch to this (or another) software. I would really appreciate if Endnote could solve the problem though!  But I am starting to lose my patience. 

They know about this because it reports to apple every time it crashes on my computer. I called EndNote and they told me that it is a problem with Apple handling the PDFs attached to the EndNote. Apple is to fix it but has not done so.

Go figure! acting more like Microsoft!

I called EndNote and they said apple knows about this and is working to fix. Slow slow slow-- reminds me of Microsoft.

Said it has to do with handing PDFs in EndNote

I am sorry to hear that? Where do you keep your library  comparebox.pk/Movies/Vidya-Balan-Arth-Movie-Trailer-And-Release-Date

I’m pretty sure that PDF is a red herring (has little or nothing to do with crash issues). Using word2011 instead of word2016 may be a work-around to avoid crashing. Details below.

I think the pdf problem is a seperate issue that has nothing to do with the crashes of word2016 (15.x) and/or Endnote 8.1.

Assuming the pdf issue has to do with “highlighting text is misaligned”, mentioned elsewhere. This is a known-issue that has been reported to Apple, and happens with other software besides Endnote.

Here is why I think the pdf issue is not related to the crashes or word2016 and/or endnote… Have mac osx 10.12.6 with all updates, and it has both word2016 (with all updates) and word2011 with all updates (= version 14.7.7 (170905) = the final update for office2011, since support ended Oct 10, 2017).

Word2016 crashing several times daily when using Endnote 8.1. But one same computer, Word2011 is working fine. If the pdf problem was causing the crashes, then why does word2011 seem to work fine on same mac where crashes happen with word2016? That’s why I think the PDF issue has nothing to do with most of the crashes reported on this forum that have been going on since at least May 2017.

Note: I don’t know if word2011 will work on osx-10.13 (high sierra): probably not. But if you have 10.12 or eariler, you can try word2011. If you do not have word2011, you can still download the installer and the culumulative updater for office2011 (you probably want to install *only* word, and not excel-2011, not power-point-2011, and certainly not outlook-2011 !).

Installer for Office2011 and culumulative updater is at the 2 links at macadmins.software site and the links are also 

in attached Word2011-as-workaround.txt file if they don’t come through below.

http://officecdn-microsoft-com.akamaized.net/PR/MacOffice2011/en-us/ MicrosoftOffice2011.dmg

https://support.microsoft.com/help/3212225

 I used to have a site-licened word2011, and when re-installing the installer found the old site license for it.)

I’m not sure if word2011 will work on high-sierra (10.13), but still seems to work fine with newest endnote 8.1  on 10.12 (sierra) and earlier 10.11. However, there will be no more security updates for office2011, so using word2011 should be seen as temporary workaround until the crashes with word2016/endnote8 seem solved. 

I would be interested in hearing if others have found that using word2011 lessens crashing or not. If it does, then we should try to submit detailed bug reports, including steps to reproduce the crash, crash reports. etc.

@sertoli wrote:

I called EndNote and they said apple knows about this and is working to fix. Slow slow slow-- reminds me of Microsoft.

Said it has to do with handing PDFs in EndNote

Sorry I don’t have any help regarding the crashing of Endnote itself.

But using word2011 instead of word2016 may be a work-around to avoid crashing of word. I don’t think using word2011 will help with the crashing of endnote8, but using word2011 instead of word2016 seems to reduce crashing of word (when using endnote cwyw). Details below.

The  pdf problem is a seperate issue that may contribute to crashing of endnote, but seems to have little if anything to do with the crashes of word2016 (15.x). That is, Assuming the pdf issue has to do with “highlighting text is misaligned”, mentioned elsewhere. Endnote folks say that this has been reported to Apple, and happens with other software besides Endnote.

Here is why I think the pdf issue is not related to the crashes or word2016. Have mac osx 10.12.6 with all updates, and it has both word2016 (with all updates) and word2011 with all updates (= version 14.7.7 (170905) = the final update for office2011, since support ended Oct 10, 2017).

Word2016 crashing several times daily when using Endnote 8.1. But one same computer, Word2011 is working fine. If the pdf problem was causing the crashes of word, then why does word2011 seem to work fine on same mac where crashes happen with word2016? That’s why I think the PDF issue has nothing to do any crashes of word reported on this forum. .

Note: I don’t know if word2011 will work on osx-10.13 (high sierra): probably not. But if you have 10.12 or eariler, you can try word2011. If you do not have word2011, you can still download the installer and the culumulative updater for office2011 (you probably want to install *only* word, and not excel-2011, not power-point-2011, and certainly not outlook-2011 !).

Installer and updater are 2 links at macadmins.software  and also in attached word2011-workaround.txt file

http://officecdn-microsoft-com.akamaized.net/PR/MacOffice2011/en-us/ MicrosoftOffice2011.dmg

https://support.microsoft.com/help/3212225

I’m not sure if word2011 will work on high-sierra (10.13), but still seems to work fine with newest endnote 8.1  on 10.12 (sierra) and earlier 10.11. However, there will be no more security updates for office2011, so using word2011 should be seen as temporary workaround until the crashes with word2016/endnote8 seem solved. 

I would be interested in hearing if others have found that using word2011 lessens crashing or not. If it does, then we should try to submit detailed bug reports to endote, including steps to reproduce the crash, crash reports. etc.

word2011-workaround.txt (2.66 KB)

I’m new to endnote as of today.  I’ve got a Mac with High Sierra and word 2011.  In my 1 days use I’ve not had any random crashing of either endnote or word (possibly because my library is very small). However, every time I try to make a smart group on end note it just shuts down.

I’ve had the exact same problem! Mac OS X High Sierra, Word 2016, just upgraded EndNote to X8 and every time I try to create a smart group it crashes (i.e. the application closes unexpectedly) immediately when I press the button ‘create’.

When I re-open EndNote, the smart group has not been created.

UPDATE: updating to EndNote X8.0.1 solved this issue. However I had to update following these instructions:

http://community.thomsonreuters.com/t5/EndNote-General/X8-on-Mac-keeps-prompting-for-update-even-after-update-has-quot/m-p/135600#M26781

That would be a crash… Since reverting to X7, designed by the previous Thomson Reuters team, 0 issues. Was reimbursed for X8. What a buggy product since Clarivate bought it all and “streamlined” personnel.

After upgrading my MAC os to High Sierra 10.13.2 I find out that Endnote X7 is not compatible and just would not open, so I have just paid for the upgrade to X8 to find that this crashes instantly with any attempt to interact with it.  This really is not fair, although I have submitted my PhD thesis I have my viva next week, so desperately need to be looking at my stored references. I also need to be subitting manuscripts and rely on Endnote for that.

I’ve tried the upgrade fix, no joy.  I’ve tried syncing with a cloud version but they do not match and contain fewer references.

Please tell me there is a solution, otherwise I will attempt to take my 2000 references and switch to another referencing manager!!

Are people still having this problem??

I am running OS 10.13.3 but have older versions of OS 10 running on my other computers (and the same thing happens).  Endnote continuously crashes and I am unable to add references to a group or even a PDF to some of my references. I have rebuilt my database and am running it off my desktop.  The program crashes even without a database loaded so this is not a database issue.  

I just downloaded the trial version of the lastest version of the shiny Endnote 8 on my MBP, running High Sierra 10.13.3.

I’m experiencing the crash on startup that everyone is talking about. I have only inputted 5 references so far.

I like what Endnote is supposed to do, but this type of unreliability with something so important (my daily research and writing) for a whopping $250 USD… is something that is giving me second thoughts.

Can anyone give any advice? Is there a solution or something better? 

It’s so frustrating when a brand new product struggles with such basic issues (it won’t start!). 

I just downloaded the trial version of the lastest version of the shiny Endnote 8 on my MBP, running High Sierra 10.13.3.

I’m experiencing the crash on startup that everyone is talking about. I have only inputted 5 references so far.

I like what Endnote is supposed to do, but this type of unreliability with something so important (my daily research and writing) for a whopping $250 USD… is something that is giving me second thoughts.

Can anyone give any advice? Is there a solution or something better? 

It’s so frustrating when a brand new product struggles with such basic issues (it won’t start!). 

Hi everyone,

I was experiencing the same thing. I’m on a Mac and was using the latest versions. I’m in the last six weeks of my PhD thesis (I have about 2000 footnotes) and was about to have a nervous breakdown because of the issues I was having with Endnote 8. I tried everything suggested here and am a long time Endnote user - and it’s been a rocky relationship.

So… I went back and installed Endnote 7, uninstalled Word 2016 16, installed Word 2016 15.39, and now life isn’t as terrifying as it was. So far, so good!

I would strongly suggest you do this while they fix Endnote 8 (if they ever do).

Good luck!

I am desperately trying to complete my PhD dissertation at Virginia Tech.  I upgraded my MacBook Air to High Sierra and EndNote X8 recently and I wish that I hadn’t.  X8 seems to continually crash on my system.  I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling EndNote, in addition to Office 2016, but nothing helps.  I am at a sufficicient stage of despiration to be willing to downgrade my system back to Sierra / EndNote X7, however I need an install code for my institution’s (Virginia Tec) EndNote X7 license.  Who do I contact and how do I get this code?

X8.2 on macOS is so slow and so unstable as to be useless. I’ve opened tickets/cases with support only to have them deflect blame to Apple. Yes, PDFkit has issues but not issues that would cause these problems. I’m left to conclude that EndNote is not suitable for it’s intended purpose and will have to move on to another product (Mendeley or Zotero). It’s really pathetic.