ISBN compability

I appreciate EndNote’s ability to import a PDF directly into the library to create a new source, and to then automatically grab the meta-data from the file. I’ve seen that some management software has the ability to gather data about books from their ISBNs - all that the user needs to do is enter the ISBN of the book that they want to use, and the software searches sites like WorldCat to find the information about the book. Anyone else think this kind of feature would be useful?

I do !!!

As far as I am told by your info team, there is no possibility to import entries via the ISBN. The DOI, however, is supposed to work. But then, the DOI is only given to digital publications. Please complete your programme (like CITAVI has done) by a ISBN import function!!! And - to be honest - at the same time, please also make an import available via an ASIN (e.g. for films)

I’ve been suggesting the ISBN feature for years. I’ve also requested that the “edited book” and “book section” be changed to work the same way that they do in Citavi - that is, you only have to enter the bibliographic information for the entire book once and then each chapter is captured as a “contribution”. These two features would save a lot of time when capturing sources and would minimise the possible chances for capture errors.

From my perspective, it seems that the replies to these suggestions were skeptical of how useful such features could be to the average user.

When I first started using EndNote about 10 years ago, I really liked the way that I could organise my sources and use the software’s features to keep all my info easily accessible. Now, I realise that the developers base their feature set almost exclusively on what’s required for the natural sciences, while still maintaining some functionality for the humanities and social sciences users.

To be entirely honest, when I start my next big research project I don’t know if I’ll even bother to stick with EndNote. I used Citavi in undergrad and I’m seriously considering making the change back come next year.

I’d like to second that request.

Entering book references in Endnote (X8) is still cumbersome at best (and slow and annoying in most cases).

Even when using a connector like “Library of Congress”, of the many possible ISBN numbers (10 vs 13 digit, hardcover vs. paperback vs electronic) often only one works. (And the LOC connector has a timeout issue).

Many other reference systems are much much easier. Endnote is subpar when it comes to books. (See the elegant “Add Books” feature of LibraryThing f.e. which can poll several sources). With a query by ISBN, it would be smart to offer Amazon as a backend/connector also. The LOC only carries US-published books.