1. Introduction

Because of major software innovations introduced in EndNote 8, EndNote 8 and all later versions are not backwardly compatible with EndNote 7 and earlier versions.

If you write papers in collaboration with other researchers, it is advised that you do not upgrade from EndNote 7 unless all your collaborators are also upgrading.

If a document which has been formatted with EndNote 8 or a later version is formatted with EndNote 7 or an earlier version, all references will be deleted.

Upgrading from EndNote 7 is not difficult, but if you later decide that you wish to revert to EndNote 7 (or any earlier version), you will encounter considerable difficulties.

2. Before Upgrading

Back Up Your Files

Make sure that you have back up copies of your EndNote libraries and any output styles, filters or connection files that you have written, edited or obtained from elsewhere.

Unformat Your Documents

It is recommended (but probably not essential) that you unformat any documents that you plan to do further work with after you upgrade.

To unformat a document, open it in Word, and click on the Unformat Citations button on the EndNote toolbar or menu. The references in your document will change from their formatted form, e.g. (Smith, 1998) to their unformatted form, e.g. {Smith, 1998 #77}. Save these changes.

Uninstall the Earlier Version

It is recommended that you uninstall the earlier version of EndNote before installing the new version.

To uninstall in Windows, click on the Start menu, select Control Panel and click on the Add or Remove Programs icon. Highlight EndNote and click on the button to Remove it.

3. After Installing the New Version

When you open your library for the first time, EndNote will offer to create a converted version of the library, with a new name. The original library will remain intact. You should keep a copy of the original library and store it in a safe place, in case you later decide to revert to an earlier version of EndNote. You can change the name of the original library.

The references in the new, converted library will have the same record numbers as in the original library in your earlier version of EndNote.

When you open a Word document which you had been working on using an earlier version of EndNote, you can continue to add citations to it in the normal way. You may need to use the Format Bibliography command on the EndNote toolbar or menu to format citations which you had unformatted before upgrading.

Any output styles, filters or connection files that you had been using in an earlier version of EndNote should still work in the new version. You will have to copy them to the relevant folder in the EndNote Program Files.

4. Reverting to EndNote 7

If you decide to revert to EndNote 7, follow the instructions on the Adept Scientific website at: http://www.adeptscience.co.uk/kb/article/C7AE

Note that your record numbers will be changed when the library is converted back to EndNote 7. You will not be able to reformat papers which you have previously written using EndNote, unless you re-insert all the references.