Endnote X2 Review

The makers of Endnote have released version X2 with some neat new features. I'll be testing the trial version for 30 days before deciding on an upgrade. Their video demo is not earth-shattering but might be worth the $100 upgrade. Windows version available now, Mac later this summer.

I was a longtime Procite user and miss the ability to check box the entries I need. Endnote currently only allows CTRL-select but one slip of the fingers and all your selections go "poof."

Update, July 29, 3009: Endnote appears to be a "mature" product. The latest version (X2) tries to find PDF versions of a citation but this is NBD (No Big Deal). It also has the Internet Search integrated into the main window but seems to add all the "hits" to the current reference list--I liked having the ability to add selected items, even if it was from a separate page. Why didn't they integrate into the main window and keep that structure? Not much more to the update. They've added "smart groups" but the old Procite group/keyword tabs at the bottom of the page were much easier. And Endnote still lacks ability to mark records.

All in all, this version is disappointing. I suppose if they put all the strengths of Procite (which they also own) into Endnote, they couldn't continue with one slight modification ("version") after another. This is the Microsoft approach--goose the market and then retire at 50 with your 50 billion dollars and save the world. Forget the end user.

Bottom line: Pass on this version of Endnote. XI was a noticeable improvement of X but X2 you can do without. They better watch out because Zotero is catching up. (The one great weakness of Zotero is its lack of rich text, something the geek developers actually trumpet! They are like the Linux crowd: the more convoluted, the better. Sigh.).