A Guide to EndNote

What is Find Full Text?

Find Full Text is a feature in EndNote desktop that uses data stored in your references to search for the corresponding full text file as a PDF or URL. Once found, the file is automatically downloaded and attached to the appropriate reference in your EndNote library.

To connect the Find Full Text feature in EndNote desktop to McMaster Libraries ...

1. Go to the Edit menu in the toolbar and select Preferences... 
2. In the EndNote Preferences panel, select Find Full Text on the left.
3. Select all the full text search options listed in the centre of the panel (i.e., Web of Science, DOI, PubMed and OpenURL)
4. Enter the OpenURL and proxy prefix: as shown in the image below.
   • In the OpenURL Path, copy and paste McMaster's OpenURL into the box:
     https://mcmaster.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/openurl/01OCUL_MU/01OCUL_MU:OMNI?
   • In Authenticate with: URL: copy and paste McMaster's proxy prefix into the box - http://libaccess.mcmaster.ca/login?url=
5. If desired, select the Automatically invoke Find Full Text on newly-imported references checkbox.
6. Once configured, select the Apply button, then the OK button to save the settings.
7. Click the Cancel button to close the panel. 

Once the above settings have been saved, using the Find Full Text feature should automatically import to EndNote any full-text PDF documents or URLs available through McMaster University Libraries or otherwise freely available.

To use this feature in EndNote desktop, visit Steps to Find Full Text in this guide.

Once the Find Full Text settings have been configured, you can start a full-text search for the references in your EndNote library.

To initiate a Find Full Text search in EndNote desktop ...

1. Select the reference(s) in your library for which you want to find full-text.
   • to select several references, click on one reference in the Reference List panel and hold down the Ctrl key while selecting (clicking on) more references.
   • to select all references on a screen, click on a reference in the Reference List panel and press Ctrl+A to select all or go to the Edit menu and pick Select All
     NOTE: If several references are selected in a single batch, the process may take some time to complete, so consider selecting smaller sets of references.
     CAUTION: Downloading very large numbers of PDF at one time may trigger a breach in our licenses with publishers for excessive downloads.
      
2. Once references are selected, 
   • right click on the selected reference(s) and pick Find Full Text from the pop-up menu (as shown in the adjacent image)
     or
   • go to the References menu and choose Find Full Text > Find Full Text 
     or
   • click on the search icon (top right)  
     
     If an authentication page appears, type in your MacID@mcmaster.ca and click OK. If a Database Menu window appears, click the Continue button. NOTE: Authentication is usually only required once per session.
      
3.  A search will begin and progress will be tracked in the FIND FULL TEXT group set.

• When the search finishes, you may see three types of groups
  • Found PDF - PDFs have been found and have been added to the reference(s). A paper clip icon will appear next to your reference(s) along with full-text PDF files.
  • Found URL - PDFs were unable to download, but a link to the the full-text is added to the reference(s) in the URL field.
  • Not Found - PDF not found. No additional information was found for the reference(s).

NOTE:  When PDFs are not found, see Troubleshooting Find Full Text for possible reasons.

• If the PDFs were not downloaded or were not found, try using McMaster's OpenURL server directly (which will link to Omni) to find the full-text
  • right click on the selected reference and pick OpenURL Link from the pop-up menu (as shown in the adjacent image)
    or
  • select a single reference and go to the References menu and choose URL > OpenURL Link

If available, navigate to the the full-text, download the PDF and attach it to the reference manually [see box below for instructions]
 

• If PDF is not available, use another method to track down the full-text (e.g., request the item via Interlibrary Loan). Once acquired, attach the PDF to the reference manually [see box below for instructions]

Although the following videos were created for EndNote 20, this feature works the same in EndNote 2025 & 21.

EndNote 2025, 21 & 20: Find Full Text [no audio] (1:20) (Clarivate)

EndNote 2025, 21 & 20: Find Full Text [with instructional audio] (4:37) (Clarivate)

The Find Full Text feature may not always retrieve full-text even when McMaster has access to the content. Some common reasons:

• Publisher Restrictions: Some publishers do not to allow their data to be accessed through this feature in EndNote. The following providers/platforms have restrictions: EBSCO, JSTOR, OpenAthens, Wiley (only allows URLs, not PDFs) and ScienceDirect/Elsevier (only allows URLs, not PDFs). 
   
• Location of References: EndNote will not retrieve full-text for references stored in an ONLINE SEARCH group. References need to be added to your EndNote library for the Find Full Text feature to work. See: Online Search within EndNote
   
• Incomplete References: EndNote may be unable to retrieve full-text for references that are incomplete or missing information (e.g., DOI)
   
• Publication Date: EndNote is more successful at retrieving full-text for recent references, although if a reference is too new, the PDF may not be available yet. Similarly, older references may not be digitized or available as PDFs.
   
• Technical Issues: EndNote generally finds more full-text when you are on-campus and fewer when you are off-campus. If off-campus, try accessing EndNote on a computer connected directly to the McMaster network using McMaster's VPN.