Research Guides: EndNote: Find full text, import PDFs, and more

Find full text, import PDFs, and more

EndNote's Find Full Text feature searches the web to determine if the PDF full text of a reference stored in your library can be accessed for free. If it is indeed available, EndNote will automatically link and attach it to the corresponding reference.

Enable Find Full Text in EndNote

As long as there is an Internet connection, EndNote allows users to locate full text articles for the references in their library. This is made possible by enabling: 1) Web of Science Full Text Links, 2) DOI, 3) PubMed Linkout, and 4) OpenURL.

To enable the OpenURL feature in EndNote:

1. Open EndNote.

2. Select Edit > Preferences.

3. Select Find Full Text from the list of preferences.

4. Tick the OpenURL box and enter the following:

https://julac-cuh.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/852JULAC_CUH/openurl?

5. In the Authenticate with box, enter http://ezproxy.cityu.edu.hk/login?url=

6. Click Apply and then OK.

Find Full Text

To find the full text for references in your EndNote library, follow these steps:

Select the reference(s) you want to find the full text for and select the Find Full Text icon on the toolbar.
Keep an eye on the progress of the search by checking the Find Full Text option on the left side of the screen.
If the full text is found for a reference, a clip icon will appear next to it. Click on the PDF icon in the reference panel to view the full text.

Note: If a URL is found, click on the corresponding reference to view the record details on the right panel and select the URL for more information.

Note: When using this feature, please refrain from any systematic or excessive downloading from Library databases. Users are fully responsible for any legal consequences arising from excessive downloading or infringement of prevailing copyright laws.

EndNote offers various features for PDF management. You can:

Automatically rename PDFs to make them easy to identify.
Enable automatic import of PDF files from a designated folder on your computer.
Add highlights, notes, and other annotations to text within PDF documents.

Rename a PDF document and enable automatic importing

Create a new folder on your PC to store the downloaded PDFs.
Go to EndNote Desktop, select Edit > Preferences > PDF Handling.
Select from one of the renaming options, e.g. Author + Year + Title.
Check the box Enable automatic importing.
Select the folder where you have stored PDF documents.
Click Apply, then OK.

Note: A scanned PDF document or a PDF document without a DOI cannot be added successfully to EndNote using the instructions above.

Find out more by watching the video: PDF Auto-Import folder (appr. 1 min)

Add notes, highlights, underline and strike out text in PDF documents

Select the reference in your library that has PDF full text.
The PDF document will appear in the right panel. If you click on the open PDF icon, the PDF document will be open up in a new window.
Click on the markup/annotation icon to use the options on the tool bar to add notes, highlight, underline or strike out text.
Tip: To remove any annotation, e.g. highlight on the selected text, right click on it and select Delete Annotation.
To save the changes, click on the diskette icon on the tool bar.

The Find Reference Updates feature lets you add additional information, missing fields, and more to a reference. It is especially useful for an e-publication which may not have all the information that is available in the printed version, or for a PDF document that has not imported correctly.

Click on a relevant reference(s) in your library.
Select References > Find Reference Updates.
The updated reference is available on the left with the updated information highlighted.You can choose to Update Empty Fields or Update All Fields of My Reference.

Note: If you select Update All Fields any information you have added into your reference, e.g. Notes, will be overwritten.