EndNote 20 for Windows

What is unformatted mode?

Unformatted citations have the author name, year and record number in curly braces, eg {Moss, 2003 #71}. Your bibliography is not visible when working in unformatted mode. Citations in-text or footnotes look like this:

Why work in unformatted mode?

Less processing power is needed by your computer when working in unformatted mode. Therefore it can speed up working with long documents, such as theses. 

When to use unformatted mode:

• Before cutting and pasting text within or between documents: For example, if you were combining your thesis chapters into a single document you would make sure both the source and target documents were in unformatted mode. You would then highlight and copy the text in your source document, and then paste it into your target document. Then you would format your target document, which would format the citations in your style, and create a single bibliography at the end of your thesis.

• Before inserting the chapter files into a master document using the Insert Object from File method: Save all of your chapters in unformatted mode before inserting them in your master document, then format the master document.

• As a way of safely deleting a reference: You can safely delete a reference when your document is in unformatted mode. Just be sure to remove everything within and including the curly braces.

• When your document is extremely large: You may find that inserting or removing references working in formatted mode is taking a long time or causing Word to "hang".

What is 'Formatted mode'?

Your in-text or footnote citations appear formatted in the referencing style you have chosen and your bibliography (if your style uses one) is created at the end of your document.

In the below example, Word preferences have been set to shade text that has EndNote code.

When to use formatted mode:

• If you simply prefer seeing your citations as they will appear in your final document.

• If your computer can cope with the size of your document and is not taking too long to insert or remove citations.

• As a final step to preview your completed document to check that your references and bibliography appear as you expect.

Turn Instant Formatting off

Usually your Word document defaults to Formatted mode. That is, your citations will appear in your document formatted in your chosen referencing style. To switch to unformatted mode:

1. On the EndNote tab in Word and look for the Bibliography section. You will see 'Instant Formatting is On'.

2. Select the dropdown arrow and choose Turn Instant Formatting Off.

Make sure your target document also has instant formatting turned off.

Turn Instant Formatting On

You can reformat your document using the Update Citations and Bibliography command on the EndNote tab in Word.

Any new citations you insert will continue to be in unformatted mode until you either Update Citations and Bibliography again or turn Instant Formatting On again.

• Create each chapter as a separate document, then combine these chapters later to create your thesis document.

• Use unformatted mode when cutting, copying and pasting between documents or within a document.

• Turn on Field Shading, this will enable you to see if your references are connected to EndNote.

This feature helps prevent you from accidentally deleting or editing EndNote fields.

1. Go to Word's Options - Advanced: File > Options > Advanced

2. Scroll down to the Show Document Content section and find Field Shading drop-down box. It is defaulted to 'When Selected'.

3. Set the Field Shading drop-down box to Always.

4. Select OK to save the changes.

Fields that are connected to EndNote will now appear in grey shading. Don't delete or edit this text directly in Word. Use the EndNote toolbar and the Edit & Manage Citations button to make changes as leaving code can cause your document to become corrupt.