EndNote How To

[ceciliapc]

Hello there!

Hope someone help me on this issue

I was working in a PDF file in my library (taking notes and highlighting) and by mistake a sticky note got in front of the text... I thought I've selected it and I chose "remove", and then I lost 5 hours of work! The file was gone!

Can I recover this removed file? Doesn't "undo" work on EndNote??

Thank you in advance!

Sorry for my (non native) english

cecilia

[CrazyGecko]

Sorry to hear about your deleted PDF file. To delete a sticky note, use the "Delete Annotation" option. Using the command "Remove" deletes the PDF file.*

Unfortunately, Endnote does not have an "undo" feature  which you might submit as a suggestion on the Product Suggestions section of the forum. There are software applications to recover deleted files but it will take time on your part to locate and try out the software which may have varying degrees of success. You may also risk exposing your computer to viruses or malware if the software is from an unknown or questionable source. Recovering your PDF may also not include the changes you made as it seems like the PDF was deleted before it was saved.

_____________

*Note to developers: It might be helpful for users if the "Remove" command is relabeled to "Delete  File" and also enable deleted files to go into either the Endnote Trash bin or the computer's Recycle bin which would allow for recovery.

[pjpandre]

Got the same issue...

I strongly agree that the "Remove" command should be relabeled to "Delete File" (while "Deleted Annotation" should be relabelled to "Remove Annotation" to better match what the user thinks he/she does)

Certainly also enabling deleted pdf files to go into either the Endnote Trash bin or the computer's Recycle bin to allow for recovery is a must.

These things don't happen that often but when they do a few hours of work vanish and it seems a very high price when put in the context of changing 2 labels and placing in the Endnote Trash a copy of the reference including the pdf file.

[sandra1]

It is 2019 and I still had exactly the same thing happen to. I can't believe that they still did not rename this menu option.

[cwaltho]

It is 2020 and I just did this. If we are paying for a product, it has to be more user friendly!

[mariej]

2021, and this just happened to me. Here is how to retrieve your file :

You have to know that the file, including the annotations, is not deleted from your computer, it is only removed from the reference in Endnote. You can retrieve the file with your annotations in the files associated with your endnote library. 

As you have hundreds of pdf named after reference numbers from online research database, you will need to know this number to find the pdf. You can either do a search for the article in your usual database, and you will see the reference number (or you can download the pdf again to see the file name). You can also look in the informations in the reference in endnote if there is an URL. Usually, the number appears in the URL.

On your desktop, go to the data files of your endnote library and do a research with the number. You will find your pdf with the annotations and be very relieved you didn't lose hours of work, but only minutes.

[AurelieMechels]

Exact same problem happened to me. 

@mariej, I found the folder you talked about under Documents>Endnote>"Name library".Data

The name of the folder didn't have the same number as the URL but that's not a problem, I went through the filenames manually. However, when I found the right pdf, the annotations were gone and only the original pdf I placed into Endnote was available.

I'm using Endnote X9 on Mac, maybe this fix only works for Windows or other versions? 

[axd753]

Same here - I found the pdf but once re-added, the annotations weren't there. How frustrating 

[mariej]

I do work with endnote X9 on Windows. Maybe that's why the annotations were still there. I am sorry you couldn't retrieve your file with the annotations. It's so much work lost!