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How to export an EndNote library to Excel using a Pseudo-XML method

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EndNote reference data can be messy, and this makes it very troublesome to export your references to Excel. Your reference field data can contain paragraph- and line-breaks, strange characters and same delimiters used for CSV format, and this will mess up your import to Excel.

How to export an EndNote library to Excel (Video)

Please click the link below to watch our recorded demonstration of this method:

https://youtu.be/uuTS78uqboY

  1. How to export an EndNote library to Excel (Steps)

    1. Click here to download our Alfasoft XML Export style!
      • Double-click the downloaded file (it will open in your EndNote) and choose EndNote: File > Save As > Enter name = "Alfasoft XML Export" and click Ok, to add it to your EndNote.
    2. Open you library in EndNote and choose EndNote: File > Export, select the below options, and click Save.
      • Save as type = Text file (*.txt)
      • Output style = Select another style > Alfasoft XML Export
      • Uncheck "Export Selected References". This will export all references in your library instead of only the selected reference(s).
    3. Open you exported text file in Notepad or other Plain Text editor (e.g. TextEdit in Plain Text mode on Mac), add the below text at the start and end of your text file, choose Notepad: File > Save as, and change the file extension from .txt to .xml (e.g. "MyExportedReferences.xml").

    Please note that to be able to change a file name from "example.txt" to "example.xml" you must turn on "Show file properties" in your Windows File Explorer. If you can see file extensions in your file explorer (Finder on Mac) you can do this by just renaming the file. To see file extensions in your file explorer choose Windows 10: Ctrl+E > [View] > Turn on "File name extensions". To show file extensions on a Mac click here!

    • *Input the text below at the start*
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><xml>
      <records>
    • *Input the text below at the end*
      </records></xml>

  2. Open Excel and choose Excel: File > Open. Choose File type = "XML Files (*.xml)", and navigate to your text/xml file to open it. (Click Ok to any pop-up windows/warnings).

Hopefully your references will now show up in your Excel sheet neatly row by row. Please click the Select All button/cell (the button/cell to the left of A and above 1) in your Excel sheet and drag row/column delimiters in Excel to adjust the row/column height/width to your liking.

 

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