How to open up X4 library in X8

Yes, I am slow to do upgrades.  But I recently upgraded from Endnote X4 to Endnote X8.  I can’t run X4 on Sierra, and when I try to open my old X4 libraries in X8 nothing happens.  (Literally nothing: no error message and no file is opened).  Is there any way that I can save my decades of libraries, or am I just SOL?  Are there any converters out there that could help me?

How did you get the library onto your new machine? You did back it up - right?   Assuming both the .enl and .DATA folder were copied, to a new location, there shouldn’t be any problem opening an X4 library with X8.  It might take some time though, - as it will need to index the PDF attachments.  Be patient?  Go to lunch.  

Thanks for your reply - I am grateful for any attempt to help me and trying to avoid freaking out yet.  Yes, I backed up my libraries.  For the one I’m looking at right now and can’t open (last opened July 2015), yes, I see the .enl file and the .Data folder.  There were no PDF attachments, so that shouldn’t be the issue.  Any other suggestions for me?  Desperate.

In playing around with import/export stuff, I realized that I couldn’t even open up a *new* library in X8.  So I quit the app (had to force-quit, actually) and tried again.  Now it will open up the X4 library.  So, I guess Endnote had just gotten itself into a funny state.

So, of course, the answer was, as always: “Try turning it off and on again.”

Mac or PC (not that it should matter).  Do you still have access it to from X4?  Can you compress from the file menu from X4 and try to move the .enlx file?  

I would call tech support.  (www.endnote.com/support)

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oops replied without seeing your post from yesterday.  Glad it is sorted out!  

Same issue for me - old Mac broken, new one required update to Sierra and Endnote X8.

Importing seemed to work (took quite some time), but in the end I was told that the library “is in use by someone else”.

What else can I do?

It may still have been indexing the PDFs ?  That can be happening in the background.  Have you rebooted?