The easiest way to get files to open directly from PubMed into EndNote is to use the following method:

1) Navigate to PubMed and search for the required data.

2) Tick the references you wish to export.

3) At both the top and bottom of the page you will find a link saying "Send to". Click the link and select the "Citation Manager" option.

4) Click "Create File". This will download the file in the manner typically used by your web browser. (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome* etc).

5) Depending on which platform you are using you will need to do the following:

Windows
Once the download has completed, select to open the file. Your system will ask you which program you wish to open your file with. If EndNote is not in the default list provided, it will usually be located within a directory similar to the following: C:\Program Files\EndNote X5\EndNote.exe.

PLEASE NOTE: Please ensure that the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is ticked.

Mac
Once the download has completed, select to open the file. Select "Choose Application" from the Finder prompt and choose EndNote from the list, then select EndNote X5.app and press Open. If you are greeted with a prompt stating that the file was downloaded from the internet, select Open.

6) Click OK. EndNote will then attempt to open the file and will ask you to use an Import Filter. From the list provided, please select PubMed (NLM) and click Choose.

Your import process should now be complete. The same steps can be repeated whenever references need to be imported from PubMed's web portal, however as you have ticked for the system to remember the file type your browser should opt to use EndNote automatically.

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* For Google Chrome users it is possible to ask the browser to automatically open the files exported from PubMed with EndNote automatically. There is a separate article which we have written that details the steps on how to do this entitled: "How can I set Google Chrome to automatically open RIS files?". Whilst the article specifically mentions RIS files, the same theory can be applied for any file type opened by Google Chrome.