EndNote

There are three main problems with EndNote that become even more problematic when translated into a mobile app: 1) Archaic Organization Design. The organization on desktop formats only allows for two-deep storage. This leads to an unruly number of Groups and Group Sets. Why there is a limit set at two when near unlimited nested folder storage has been a primary feature of computers since before the turn of the century is beyond me. However, it gets worse when you get to the app. Now all Group Sets have been removed. The search function is also buggy, making it very difficult to find articles due to the limited organization. 2) Problematic Sync with Online Library. The sync is odd and seems to occasionally merge the desktop and online version while at other times replacing. This frequently leads to a high number of duplicates and in some cases and deleting work done a separate device. There is no manual way to resolve discrepancies. This makes working from a desktop and a tablet problematic. 3) Poor Annotation System. The desktop version is highly limited in the annotations (at least X8 on Windows was, only recently got X9). The app has a ways to go yet to integrate the full potential of the apple pencil into the app. If the annotation system in EndNote was comparable to OneNote—then I would use this application exclusively. Additional bells and whistles may be nice—but these are core features that need to be addressed across all formats of EndNote: Organization of Citations (a main purpose of a citation management software), Collaboration across Authors and Devices, and Annotating Articles.

The app is overall good. However, to make the app a great resource for reading and annotating papers, please consider better Apple Pencil integration (double tapping, scrolling with finger while in annotation mode with pencil, etc.). In addition, for some reason, switching between apps from EndNote does not seem to be working. Finally, the search function for new papers to add to the library should be improved as well (right now, I primarily rely on the Mac app to add new papers and sync). The web interface is not particularly helpful. It would be easier to search directly in the app and import the paper right into the library.

The lack of a good iOS app had moved me away from the gold standard of reference apps, which is endnote. To my surprise Endnote has made a great come back! Specifically: 1) iPhone app 2) great integration with pubmed and google scholar and easy downloading of citations 3) create temporary citations, which in conjunction with endnote web allow for a 100% iOS workflow to create bibliography on scientific articles. WOW! 4) the PDFs of the references can be shared and are not locked in inside the app There are a couple more things that if they get incorporated, then they would improve even more the great experience. These things in order of perceived (by me) complexity are: 1) allow the customization of the info that gets presented about an article. Specifically I don’t like that I have to “dig in” to find my research notes about an article, I would like them to show up on the top 2) allow for subgroup creation 3) allow the PDFs to be accessed by files app 4) automatic citation creation for newly imported PDFs (similar to what the desktop app does) 5) automatic download of PDFs (similar to what the desktop app does)