X2--Folder Locations

We’re using EndNote X1 and X2 on Windows 2000 and XP.

I work on a team where most of us use EndNote X1. We’ve configured each version of EndNote to point to a central location for EndNote Styles & Libraries. (In that central Style location, for example, I’ve included only the Output Styles that we use on a regular basis. If a user needs a different Output Style, I copy it into that central location. We rarely use additional Output Styles so this works well for us.)

A new user just joined our team and when she installed EndNote, she installed X2.

I reconfigured her install (as I have done with the other installs) to point to that central location for Output Styles. However, when she uses the drop-down menu to select the Output Style, the ones that we’ve listed in that central Output Styles folder are not displaying. She can display them by clicking ‘show all styles’ or ‘select another style’. Still, I’d rather avoid having to ask users to do that.

How can we configure X2 to show only the Styles that appear in that central Output Styles Folder? I have pointed to it, but it’s not picking those styles up. Any ideas?

Hello,

EndNote X2 uses dual content folders.  This means that it uses the content files in the EndNote X2 program folder and the folder set in the EndNote Preferences.  So on a default Windows install the two Styles folders would be “C:\Program Files\EndNote X2\Styles” and in the user’s “My Documents\EndNote\Styles” folder.  If the same style exists in both locations, EndNote X2 will using the one in the My Documents folder.

So if you do not want the user to have access to the styles in the Styles folder of EndNote X2, you would need to remove them.  I would recommend renaming the Styles folder and then creating a new empty Styles folder.

Peter,

Don’t the administrators also need to somehow get the user to have all the styles in the dual content folders “ticked” so they don’t have to open the  ‘show all styles’ or ‘select another style’ interface?  Is that in the xml or is it defined in the registry settings? 

I believe these administrators want both their X1 and X2 users to be seeing the same styles folders.  To achieve this, I would think that the X1 installations need to change their preferences to point to the X2 location, as the X2 program does not have a way to point to a primary location elsewhere.  The preferences are now pointing only to the User’s content and the X2\Styles is an unmodifiable “default”.   

Also, I am not sure what will happen if an user adds a new style  (or someone copies new content) to the X2 styles location.  It certainly wouldn’t automatically end up in a users displayed styles lists;  they would have to click ‘show all styles’ or ‘select another style’ to access them. 

EndNote will only display the styles in the drop down list if the style is checked as a favorite or if it has been used, this is not new to X2.  They would need to click on the Select Another Style option and check all of the styles as favorites.  These are stored in the Windows Registry in the key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ISI ResearchSoft\EndNote\Favorite Styles

The Folder locations setting in the preferences allows you to change the My Documents Styles to any other folder, so it can be changed to point to the common styles folder.  If the users do not have permission to write to that folder they would not be able to create or modify new styles, much the same as it would be for previous versions.

thank you very, i have the same problem

What happens with EndNote X2 if you instal the program outside of the Program Files area. I am trying to create a smaller folder of Styles so that it (hopefully) does not take so long to open up the Style Manager. Where do the Folder Locations default in that case? I think it has got to the stage where EndNote should only be issued with generic style types and the journal specific ones should just sit on the EndNote website for download when people want to use them. It is getting way too ponderous, both in opening the program and selecting styles. Would be interested if anyone else has a view on this.

I only installed styles for my areas of interest (custom install!)  to cut down on the number of unneeded styles.  Then i weeded them out further from the program endnote styles folder.  Don’t know if that is possible in Vista.   

Hello I’m a computer technician and not at all familiar with this software.  I’m making enquiry on behalf of a client (quite an elderly gentleman who does not deal comfortably with change).  He had to upgrade to X2 and now is having some issues.  His most pressing (at the moment) is locating his libraries.  Previously, all his information was in one folder, located in Program Files\Endnote (probably in a subfolder under this one as well).  However now he tries to open a library and some are located in My Documents and some in the EndNote subfolder.  He would like to consolidate them all to the endnote folder, making it easier to find them all. I read a post about Styles locations.  That issue seemed very similar to this one.  Am I mistaking styles for libraries?  Would creating this default for libraries be the same method? Thank you for any assistance you can offer.   thegeek

Glad to try and help.  Due to changes imposed by Vista, mostly, I think that Endnote prefers that user files not be located in the Program Files directories.  I don’t know if it forces libraries to move however during an upgrade, since I never kept my libraries in the Program folders.  Mine are kept in a Endnote folder on my network drive, and they stayed there following the upgrade.  If Endnote automatically moved them from a Program folder, it might choose a place like My Documents to do so.  If you move them elsewhere, make sure you take the associated folder Libraryname.DATA and its subfolders with it.  Encourage him to put it somewhere he can find them.  It doesn’t have to be My Documents.  Safest way to copy them is by the File>Save a copy or to compress them via the File>“compress library” option and reopen the compressed file in the new location.   

Once you open a library in its new location, Endnote remembers the last library it opened (which can be adjusted in the Edit>preferences  --Library dropdown) but I always set the preferred library (a different optional dropdown and “add open library”). 

However, the styles are completely separate from the library.  The library would not be “split” into two places in the same way as user styles and Endnote supplied styles are. 

Leanne

The thing is that the folders seem to be split between the Endnote subfolder and the My Documents folder.

I’ll remote into his machine and see if I can change the preferences.

If I create s new folder in My Documents called “Endnote” or something of that nature, will it always keep them in that subfolder?

Thanks for your kind assistance.

thegeek

Can you describe the folder structures and names of the folders? 

Hello thegeek,

EndNote does not move the libraries, have a default location, or have any set locations on the computer where they must reside.  You can move all of the .enl files and .Data folders for the libraries and place them in one location.

Microsoft has never wanted files in Program Files to be modified by end users.  In Vista they began enforcing with Vista’s UAC.  While it may appear that files in Program Files are editable, Vista is actually copying the file to a hidden location and that copy of the file is actually being edited and then later opened.  That process causes error messages in EndNote.

Leanne

The file structure is just various folders (Names such as “Afghanistan-Converted.Data”; “Americana-Converted.Data”, etc (without the quotes).  When we upgraded to X2 I placed them all in the Program Files\Endnote folder as they were in the original program.  I think what happens is that as he opens and modifies a folder it gets moved to My Documents.  Is this plausible?  And if so, would it work to move them all to a single folder located in My Documents?  What he wants is to open Endnote, browse for his libraries and fine them all in one place.

Thank you for your help and Happy New Year!!

thegeek

Peter

If I move them all to a single folder in My Documents will they stay there?

As I said to Leanne, What he wants is to open Endnote, browse for his libraries and fine them all in one place.  Will moving them all to a single folder in My Documents accomplish this?

Thanks and Happy New Year!!

thegeek

Yes, I believe they will stay there.  That is my experience. 

EndNote will not move the libraries.  You need to make sure that you are moving both the .enl file and the .Data folders.

If EndNote encounters a .enl file with no .Data folder, it will create a new .Data folder where the .enl file is located.  So if you had a library saved in Program Files, moved only the .Data folder to My Documents and started EndNote, there would be a new .Data folder in Program Files as soon as the .enl file in Program Files is opened.