Answered By: Karen Crinnion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2023     Views: 14069

If you are working on a Word document and encountering persistent errors such as Word crashing, bibliographies appearing multiple times and/or deleted items reappearing then you may have residual EndNote field codes in your document. Residual field codes can affect your document if you do not delete EndNote citations/references properly (using Edit and Manage Citations > Remove Citation instead of the delete key) when working with Word.

To remove residual EndNote field codes and 'clean up' your Word document, firstly, make a back-up copy of your document for safe-keeping, then:

  • In Word, in the EndNote tab, click on Convert Citations and Bibliography > Convert to Unformatted Citations
  • Press [Ctrl]+A on the keyboard to highlight everything
  • Press [Ctrl]+6 (above the "T" and "Y" key) to remove any additional hidden field codes
  • Press [Ctrl]+C to copy the highlighted text
  • Open a new document and press [Ctrl]+V to paste
  • Now, ensuring that your EndNote library is open, in your new Word document, in the EndNote tab, click on Update Citations and Bibliography

This will reformat your document in your chosen style.

To ensure residual field codes do not cause problems again in future remember to delete EndNote citations/references properly if you need to (Highlight > Edit and Manage Citations > Remove Citation) instead of using the delete key.

If you are still having problems after following the instructions above, then please do get in touch.

Comments (4)

  1. you are a lifesaver!!! thank you
    by J on Feb 11, 2021
  2. Thanks very much!
    by K Khan on Jan 15, 2022
  3. Thank you very much for this information. If not I could have wasted my lots of time
    by Vinod Gattoji on Sep 08, 2022
  4. Unbelievable! thank you. Lifesaver advice
    by David on Jun 25, 2023