Skip to Main Content

EndNote X9

Writing Tool

Notes on CWYW

EndNote adds its writing tool, Cite While You Write (CWYW), to your word processing program during the installation process. This tool communicates with EndNote during the writing process and lets users:

  • Insert citations, notes, and figures
  • Auto-create bibliographies
  • Format and unformat documents
Points & Help

Write, Cite, & Format

Commands

The CWYW tool is added to Microsoft Word's ribbon and includes several commands for writing with EndNote. Commands are divided into 3 groups: Citations, Bibliography, and Tools.

 

Citations

Commands
  • Insert Citation: Search and select references from the open library to insert a citation
  • Go to EndNote: Launch EndNote
  • Edit & Manage Citation(s): Edit citations in a document (omit author, year, or add prefix or suffix)
  • Edit Library Reference(s): Edit references directly in EndNote 
How-to (Insert Citation)
  1. Launch EndNote
  2. In document > EndNote X9 tab > Insert Citation menu > Insert Citation...
  3. Dialog box: Search (keyword, author, title, etc.) > Select a citation 
  4. Insert button 
How-to (Delete a Citation)

Never use the backspace or delete keys to remove a CWYW citation - this can corrupt the document.

  1. Select the citation by clicking on it > Right-click on the citation > Edit Citation(s) > More
  2. Dialog box: Edit Reference menu > Remove Citation
  3. OK button 

Alternatively:

  1. Select the citation by clicking on it
  2. Convert Citations and Bibliography menu > Convert to Unformatted Citations
  3. Use the delete key to remove
  4. Click Update Citations and Bibliography

Points & Help

  • If in-text citations appear in braces {Alexander, 2017 #184}, Instant Formatting is turned off. Turn it on using the command in the Bibliography Group. 
  • EndNote Support: How to insert citations in a Word document

Bibliography

  • Style: Select an output style from the list 
  • Update Citations and Bibliography: Format the document according to the selected style ( if Instant Formatting is turned off)
  • Convert Citations and Bibliography
    • Convert to Unformatted Citations: Unformat a citation before editing it (recommended), or unformat whole document (use Update Citations... to re-format)
    • *Convert to Plain Text: Unformat document and remove CWYW coding 
    • Convert References Manager Citations to EndNote: Convert any citations created with another reference manager to CWYW citations
    • Convert Word Citations to EndNote: Convert any Word citations to CWYW citations

*Warning: Once you convert to plain text, you cannot reformat using CWYW. Save a copy of the formatted document before converting the document to plain text. 

Tools

  • Export to EndNote
    • *Export Traveling Library: Create a library from the references in the document
    • Export Word Citations: Create a library from the Word citations in the document 
    • Export Word Master List: Create a library form the Word master list of citations 
  • Preferences: Change general CWYW preferences 
  • EndNote Help: Display help about CWYW features
Points & Help
  • *The Traveling Library feature is a good option for users collaborating on manuscripts. Instead of emailing a copy of a library back-and-forth, collaborators can email a document created using the CWYW tool. Each recipient can export the citations from the document to their library, so each collaborator can access the same references when they write and/or edit the document.

Collaborative Writing

Options for Collaborative Writing

Authors can use EndNote to collaborate on writing projects using one of the options outlined here. All collaborators must be using EndNote, preferably the same version, and have access to the same references for trouble-free cooperation. 

Option A Option B Option C Option D
Traveling Library *Share a Group *Share a Library Cite After Writing

The traveling library is created when EndNote citations are inserted into a Word document.  Authors can share their traveling library by emailing the Word document to a colleague. The colleague can then export citations from the Word document into their own EndNote library or continue inserting new citations into the Word document. Learn more.

In this scenario, one person creates a Group and shares it with authors using the *Share feature. This gives everyone access to the same references for writing. 

*EndNote Online Account required for all collaborators.

In this scenario, one person creates a library and shares it with authors using the **Share feature. This gives everyone access to the same references for writing. When writing, authors must open and use the shared library to insert citations.

*EndNote Online account required for all collaborators; only the library synced to a user's online account can be shared.

**Read & Write permission must be given during the Share process.

In this scenario, authors manually insert placeholders in the shared document. When the writing project is complete, one person is responsible for inserting citations for placeholders. This person (person A) must have access to all of the references, so each author must share the references they used with person A. They can do this by exporting citations into a file and sharing the file via email. Person A can import those references from the file into their EndNote library.