Libraries Preferences

To access these settings, go to the EndNote 2025 menu, select Settings, and then click Libraries in the list of preferences.

Choosing a Library to Open

Use the Libraries preferences section to specify which libraries should open by default when you start EndNote. First, use the drop-down list to choose from these options:

  • Open the most recently used library
  • Open the specified libraries
  • Prompt to select a library
  • Do nothing

If you opt to Open the specified libraries, you must list those specified libraries here. To add a library to the list:

  1. If the library is not already open, close the preferences dialog and open the library. Do this by selecting Open from the File menu, and then selecting the desired library.

    You can have more than one library open in EndNote, and you can set EndNote to open more than one library automatically when the program starts. Just open all the libraries you want to open automatically, then select the Open the specified libraries option.
  2. Return to the Libraries section of the Preferences dialog, and click Add Open Libraries to add all open libraries to the list.

To remove a library from this list, select it in the Libraries panel, and then click Remove Library.

Of course, once EndNote is started, you can always open a library by selecting Open from the File menu.

Enabling Support for Spotlight

Spotlight is a comprehensive searching feature available on macOS. By default, EndNote libraries are not included in a Spotlight search.

Turn Spotlight searching on for EndNote from the Libraries preferences panel. When you enable Spotlight searching, EndNote creates a Spotlight folder in each library’s Data folder. There are three options available.

  • Never: EndNote libraries will not be included in Spotlight searches. This is the default.
  • Always: EndNote libraries will always be included in Spotlight searches.
  • Ask Me: EndNote will ask if you want to enable Spotlight searching when you create a new library, and ask if you want to update information for that library periodically.

When a Spotlight search points to an EndNote reference, that reference appears in Spotlight as a "file" with the extension .esl. These EndNote search files are named "EndNote Record," and appear with an EndNote library icon. Double-click on an .esl file to launch EndNote, open the appropriate library, and display the reference that matches the Spotlight search.

Note: The EndNote application folder must reside in your main Applications folder in order to find EndNote references with Spotlight.