Last Updated: 17 Mar, 2023     Views: 40209

N.B.: If you have recently installed EndNote or the M365 version of Word and it is only giving you unformatted citations in {curly brackets}, look it this FAQ: https://libanswers.jcu.edu.au/faq/273319

If you have been using EndNote, and it has only just started to give you citations with {curly brackets}, read the information below:

 

What you're describing (with the braces {curly brackets} and no reference list) is what Word shows you when it stops formatting the EndNote codes in your Word Document.

This is usually easily fixed by finding the Update Citations and Bibliography button in your EndNote toolbar in Word.  As long as you haven't changed anything in the curly brackets, your Word Document and EndNote library should be able to work it out between themselves and put everything back where it belongs.

If you have changed anything inside the curly brackets, however, you may find the EndNote can't recognise the citation to fix it.  It should just ask you to search for the correct citation to replace the one you have altered, but you may end up having to delete your altered citation and put the correct one back in.

You can (and should) turn off the formatting on purpose to copy and paste text from one document to another or move around paragraphs in a document (Word does not like moving formatted codes), but sometimes a Word document will simply forget to format the codes.  If it has done this once, it is likely to do it again, but as long as you never interfere with the text inside the curly brackets (unless you know what you're doing), you can usually fix it by hitting the Update Citations and Bibliography button.

If this does not work, and you are on a Mac, you may need to read this FAQ:

Q. Why are my EndNote references in my Word document all appearing as {Author, year, #citation number} on a Mac?

 

If the braces are appearing on other things in the text as well as your citations, such as around hyperlinks or a table of contents, this may be an indication that the field codes in your document have been toggled to display. This might be influenced by the Instant Formatting settings in EndNote. If your Instant Formatting is Off, turn it on. If it is on, try turning it off and then on again. Then hit Update Citation and Bibliography again. Alternatively, highlight the the text and hit Shift+F9.

 

If you have tried these methods and it hasn't worked, please contact us using the Chat button or our contact form.

Please note, we cannot answer complicated questions in the comments section of an FAQ.

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Comments (12)

  1. Excellent suggestion. Thanks
    by Hanny on 27 Feb, 2018
  2. Perfect suggestion. Thank you so much!
    by Rogers on 10 May, 2018
  3. Excellent...was breaking my head ..thanks
    by ricas on 20 Jun, 2018
  4. brief and useful
    by Mahtab Jahantab on 29 Jan, 2019
  5. Not useful whatsoever! DOES NOT WORK
    by Alina on 28 Jun, 2019
  6. Hi, Alina. You may be experiencing problems with your security and privacy settings (especially if you are on a Mac). Try these instructions: https://libanswers.jcu.edu.au/faq/262223
    by Sharon Bryan on 28 Jun, 2019
  7. Did not work for me . Strange it is just in a very short paragraph that this is happening, rest of the doc is fine.
    by Dave Baker on 03 Sep, 2020
  8. Immediately fixed my problem! Thank you
    by Milan Koci on 02 Jan, 2021
  9. Thank you so much for this quick reminder of how to update EndNote citations in text. As soon as I read it I remembered that was just what I needed to do!
    by Ray Hingst on 23 Apr, 2021
  10. The above steps did not work. when I choose insert citation, citation appear in curved brackets still and I con not search for citation from my library, insert citation does not work. What else can I do?
    by Annaa on 29 Aug, 2022
  11. If your document is not finding the citations in your library to update your references and Bibliography, it isn't making the connections with EndNote that it needs to make to find the right library. A number of issues may be causing this problem. Firstly, make sure that Word isn't trying to connect with your EndNote Online library if you are using your desktop version of EndNote (you can tell by looking at the EndNote Toolbar in Word, as it will say "Go to EndNote Online" instead of "Go to EndNote" next to the "Insert Citation" button). If this is so, click on "Preferences" and then "Application" and chose the right version of EndNote. Make sure you have the correct library open in EndNote (and no other libraries) when you hit "Update Citations and Bibliography" (and make sure the citations that you are using in your document are all in that library). Word 2021 has compatability issues with EndNote X9 and older, so make sure you are using the most up-to-date version of EndNote you can (Clarivate has not yet confirmed that EndNote 20 is compatable with Word 2021). And Word 365 sometimes has issues with the Cite While You Write Plug-in and you may need to uninstall and re-install the EndNote (make sure all Office products are closed when you do this, as it can interfere with the plug-ins installing correctly). I recommend you contact your library support directly to get more tailored advice for your problems.
    by Sharon Bryan on 13 Sep, 2022
  12. Comments are now closed on this FAQ. The answer in this FAQ works in most cases for most operating systems. If your computer isn't responding, you may have a completely different problem. Go to our contact page and start a chat with us or leave a question so we can get back to you: https://www.jcu.edu.au/library/about/contacts
    by Sharon Bryan on 13 Sep, 2022

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