Questions and answers
2789My EndNote Online and EndNote library on PC have gone out of synchronisation. What can I do?
Below is an extract of advice from Thomson Reuters as at 14 June 2016
Correct set of references in their EndNote desktop.
... users can follow the below instructions to reset Sync if they have the correct set of references in their EndNote desktop.
1. Create a backup of the original library that contains everything that you want.
2. Disable automatic syncing in EndNote preferences and restart EndNote. You can access the EndNote Sync preferences by clicking on Edit> Preferences> Sync.
3. Ensure that you delete all references and all groups from EndNote Web (), with the exception of Shared Groups and ResearcherID Groups.
4. Empty the Trash both in the web application and in EndNote desktop.
5. In EndNote desktop, please add this to the end of your e-mail address in the Sync preferences:
#!resetLocalSync
Note: this is case-sensitive -- #!resetLocalSync NOT #!resetlocalsync. For example, if the email address is , you should change this to
6. Now click on Sync.
7. EndNote will then appear to authenticate and return the prompt: “A Sync library can be linked to only one account. Do not proceed unless you intend to break the link to the original account.” This happens because we tricked EndNote into thinking it authenticated against another user. Click OK, and EndNote will purge any knowledge of a previous sync.
8. EndNote will then display a message, “Your local sync state has been reset. Please re-enter your E-Mail Address, restart EndNote, and Sync again.”
9. Restart EndNote and open the library that you want to Sync.
10. Now open the Sync Preferences, then enter the correct username/password in and setup the automatic sync settings. Please re-enter your email address as in Preferences.
11. If you click Sync again, you will see “A Sync library can be linked to only one account. Do not proceed unless you intend to break the link to the original account.” Click OK.
12. You will be prompted to make a backup. This is up to you, but, of course, we recommend it.
13. A complete sync will then begin.
Note: If you do not find any message after clicking on Sync as explained until Step 6, simply restart EndNote and open the library that you want to sync and the follow the rest of the instructions.
This should initiate a fresh Sync in your EndNote desktop program and should fix the issue.
Correct set of references in their EndNote online account
If the user has the correct set of references in their EndNote online account but the local library is wrong, they can simply create a new library in EndNote desktop which does not have the correct references and click on Sync. They will see a warning message about merging libraries. They should click on "Yes" and that will initiate Sync. Once the Sync is complete, the entire references from their EndNote online account will be copied to their new desktop library.
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