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Citation Management Software

This guide provides information on RefWorks, EndNote, Sciwheel, and Zotero,

Switching Citation Managers

Switching from one reference manager to another is often necessary but doing so has its plusses and minuses. The boxes below provide information on how to export references from RefWorks, Sciwheel, Zotero, and EndNote to another reference manager.  

Moving from RefWorks

To export your references:

  1. From the References menu select Share > Export References. Select either All References or a specific Folder.

    • Your folder structure will not be maintained when you export All References. If you would like to maintain the folder structure you will need export one folder at a time.

  2. Under Export Format select the format you want.

    • Select Bibliographic Software (EndNote,Reference Manager, Procite) if moving your references to EndNote or Zotero

    • Select BibTeX - RefWorks ID if moving your references to Sciwheel

  3. Click the Export button and follow the prompts to view and/or save the file.

  4. Import the file(s) into your new citation manager.

Moving from Sciwheel

To export your references:

  1. Select All References in the left sidebar, click on the carrot next to the check box under All in the center pane, and then select "All references". See the screenshots below for further assistance.

Click on the carrot next to the check box.                    Select "All references"

  1. Click on the symbol of the arrow within a box, then select Export As.

Click on the symbol of an arrow within a box.

  1. Choose the appropriate format
    • RIS may be the best option. This format can easily be imported into other citation managers
  2. Click Download File - this may be automatically saved in your Downloads
  3. Import the file(s) into your new citation manager.

Moving from Zotero

To export your references:

  1. In your Zotero desktop library click on File > Export Library.
  2. Select the export format and click OK.
    • RIS may be the best option. This format can easily be imported into other citation managers
  3. Import the file into your new citation manager.

Moving from EndNote

To export your references:

  1. Open your EndNote library.
  2. Click on File and then Export
  3. Choose where you would like to save the file
  4. Leave the "Save as type" as Text File, and change the "Output Style" to Ref Man (RIS) Export
  5. Uncheck the box "Export Selected References" if you would like to export your entire EndNote Library
  6. Click Save
  7. Import the references into your new Citation Manager.

**If you are using EndNote 8 or later there is an option to direct export your Endnote Library into RefWorks. See these directions to explore this option.

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