Important Files to Back Up

This topic lists the important EndNote files to backup. You may want to start by backing up the EndNote installer.

The library files ([filename].enl and its matching .Data folder) are where all of your references are stored. Note that exporting data from your library is not a backup. An export file is just a text document, whereas an EndNote library is a database.

If you saved your library as a package, the .enl file and .Data folder are part of the library package with the extension .enlp.

Saving and Restoring Compressed Libraries

You can save an EndNote library (the [filename].enl file, its associated .Data folder, and all of its contents) to a single compressed file called [filename].enlx in order to back up your library or send a copy to a colleague. Later, you can restore the compressed library with EndNote. See below or see Saving a Compressed Copy of a Library.

Creating a Compressed Library File
  1. Open the library in EndNote.
  2. From the File menu, select Compress Library (.enlx) to display a Compressed Library dialog.
  3. Use the radio buttons to determine these options:
  • Specify whether you want to Create a compressed library or to Create & Email the library.
  • Specify whether you want to save file attachments with the library or not.
  • Specify whether you want to save all references to the compressed library, only the selected (highlighted) references, or only the references in a specific group or group set.
  • Click Next to display a file dialog.
  1. Save the compressed library (the default name is [original_file_name].enlx) to a folder on your hard drive. You can change the file name but you cannot use the following characters.
Invalid Characters for Naming
a Compressed Library
\  back slash
/  forward slash
:  colon
*  asterisk
?  question mark
"  quotation mark
<  less than
>  greater than
|  vertical bar
  1. If you selected the Create & Email option, EndNote will launch the Outlook application, create a new email, and attach the compressed library file to the email.
  2. Enter additional information to the email, such as a recipient, subject, and message. Click the Send button.
Restoring a Compressed Library File
  1. Use EndNote to open the filename.enlx file by selecting Open Library from the File menu, then selecting the .enlx file. This will extract the .enl file and the .Data folder to the same folder where the. enlx file is located.
  2. Use EndNote to open the [filename].enl file as you normally would to use the library.

Note: EndNote libraries larger than 4 gigabytes or 65,535 files cannot be compressed with EndNote’s Compressed Library command. See Saving a Copy of a Library for information on making backup copies of larger libraries.

Custom Reference Types

The current reference types table controls the reference types and fields available to all libraries opened under the current user account. It controls the reference types and fields available to styles, filters, and connection files, so it affects importing data and formatting documents.

If you have customized your reference types, losing your reference types table will lose all your customizations.

Backup a Reference Types Table
  1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
  2. Click the Reference Types option in the list of preferences.
  3. Under Reference Type Table, click Export to display the Save As dialog.
  4. Name the file, select a folder where you will be able to find it later, and click Save. EndNote will append an .xml suffix to the file name.

You now have a backup of your Reference Types Table.

Importing a Reference Types Table

Note: When you import a Reference Type Table, you will overwrite the entire contents of your current Reference Type Table, losing any customizations you have made to your reference types. We suggest creating a backup of your current Reference Type Table before importing a new table, using the instructions above.

  1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
  2. Click the Reference Types option in the list of preferences.
  3. Under Reference Type Table, click Import to display a file dialog.
  4. In the file dialog, locate, highlight, and open the .xml file that was previously exported.
Modified Styles, Filters, and Connection Files

Modified styles are important to backup so that you do not have to recreate the bibliographic format if something happens to your customized style. Similarly, custom filters and connection files should be backed up so that you do not have to redo the work to get your references to import as you want them.

When you display a list of styles, filters, or connection files, the list is compiled from both the default installation folders as well as your personal folders.

The default Styles, Connections, and Filters folders are installed in the EndNote program folder, and are typically found at—

C:\Program Files (x86)\EndNote 2025\Styles
C:\Program Files (x86)\EndNote 2025\Filters
C:\Program Files (x86)\EndNote 2025\Connections 

If you have not modified these files, it is not important to make backups of them because you can always reinstall them with the EndNote Installer.

Once you make a change to one of these files, or create a new file, it is saved to your personal Styles, Filters, or Connections folder. These folders are typically found at—

C:\Users\[User Folder]\Documents\EndNote\Styles
C:\Users\[User Folder]\Documents\EndNote\Filters
C:\Users\[User Folder]\Documents\EndNote\Connections 

You can change the location of your personal folders with Folder preferences. To locate or change your personal Folder locations, see Folder Locations Preferences.

Word Processing Documents

The papers you have written that include EndNote citations should be kept with your EndNote backup files.

EndNote Preferences

If you have customized your sorting preferences, copy the following file:  C:\Users\[Your Folder]\AppData\Roaming\EndNote\ENSort.txt file.

If you have customized your change case preferences, copy the following file:  C:\Users\[Your Folder]\AppData\Roaming\EndNote\ENCase.txt file.