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EndNote X9 for Windows: Edit your citations

Step-by-step Guidance on using EndNote on PC

Two ways to use the 'Edit & Manage Citations' function

1. Right-click method from Word

Select the citation you wish to change.

Right-click and then select Edit citation(s).

Then select More.

Edit citations in menu

2. Toolbar method from Word

In your document select the citation you want to change by placing the cursor anywhere within it.

Select the EndNote tab from the toolbar ribbon.

Select the Edit & Manage Citation(s) button and make the necessary changes. Save the changes and the citation will be updated.

Edit & Manage citations button in menu

Excluding an author or year in-text

1. Place your cursor anywhere within the highlighted section of your reference in your document.

2. Choose Edit & Manage Citation(s) from the EndNote ribbon. A new window will open with the details of the highlighted reference. In the lower half of the window choose Formatting and select either Exclude Author or Exclude Year.

Formattin menu screenshot

Change order of citatons in-text

When you have multiple references for one citation generally EndNote will arrrange these in alphabetical order. However some styles may require ancient texts to be listed first, or more important references to be listed first, rather than alphabetically.

To change the order of citations appearing together within brackets or in footnotes:

1. Place the cursor within the brackets (in-text) or in the footnote.

2. Right-click and choose Edit Citation(s) > More or click Edit & Manage Citation(s) on the EndNote tab.

3. Use the up and down arrows next to the reference to change their order within the brackets.

4. Select OK to save the changes.

Change citation order screenshot

Delete a citation

1. Place the cursor anywhere within the highlighted section of your reference in your Word document.

2. Right-click and choose Edit Citation(s) > More  or click Edit & Manage Citation(s) on the EndNote tab. Make sure the citation you want to delete is highlighted.

3. Select the drop-down arrow next to Edit Reference and select Remove Citation.

4. Click OK.

Remove citation screenshot

'Edit & Manage Citations' - Important to note

EndNote embeds code within your Word document and any stray code can corrupt your document. It is essential that when you make changes to a reference that you use the Edit & Manage Citations function in EndNote.

If you just highlight and delete a citation using Word there is the risk that stray EndNote code is left behind. This may corrupt your document. 

Using 'Field shading' to make EndNote easier to see

By highlighting your in-text citations it will be more difficult to accidentally delete or edit them. To do this open Word and then follow the steps: 

1. Select File > Options > Advanced.

2. Scroll down to the Show document content section.

3. Change the Field shading box to Always and then choose OK to save.

Fields that are connected to EndNote will now appear in grey shading. 

Adding a page number

1. Place your cursor anywhere within the highlighted section of your reference in the Word document.

2. Right-click and choose Edit Citation(s) then More.

or, select Edit & Manage Citation(s) on the EndNote ribbon.

3. In the lower half of the window enter the page number, or numbers, and choose OK to save and update.

Note - some styles use the Pages field to enter page numbers and you can simply enter the number or range of numbers into the Pages box.

If this doesn't work for your style then use the Suffix field. You will need to enter a space and punctuation needed eg ', p. 25.'. Click OK to save.

Using the 'Prefix' and 'Suffix' fields

1. Place your cursor anywhere within the highlighted section of your reference in your document.

2. Right-click and choose Edit Citation(s) then More

or, select Edit & Manage Citation(s) on the EndNote ribbon.

3. Make sure the citation you want is highlighted and in the Prefix field type your desired phrase including spacing eg as cited in (include a space at the end).

In the Suffix field type your desired phrase including spacing & punctuation eg ', table 2'.

4. Select OK to save and update your citation.