What you can change in EndNote Online's citation styles

EndNote Online lets you modify how your citations look without switching to a different citation style entirely. You can change font, spacing, punctuation, capitalization, and the order that information appears — but the changes you make only affect your current library, not the style itself. If you want a permanent style that you can reuse across projects, you'll need to create a custom style instead.

The styling tools are split between two places: the output styles menu (where you pick a base style and tweak it) and the formatting panel (where you adjust how citations appear in your document). Understanding which tool does what saves you from making changes that disappear when you refresh.

Key Takeaways

  • You can edit an existing output style in EndNote Online by opening it in the style editor, but changes only apply to your current library unless you save it as a new custom style.
  • Font, spacing, line breaks, and punctuation can all be modified in the style editor by editing the templates for each citation type.
  • The formatting panel in your document (accessed through the Tools menu) controls how citations appear in your specific paper, separate from the style itself.
  • Creating a custom style preserves your changes across projects, while editing an existing style affects only the current document.

How to open and edit an output style

Start by opening your library in EndNote Online. In the left sidebar, click Tools, then select Open Style Manager. This opens a list of all available styles — both the ones that come with EndNote and any custom styles you've created.

Find the style you want to modify and click on it. A preview panel appears on the right showing how that style formats a sample citation. To edit the style, click the Edit button (pencil icon) next to the style name. This opens the style editor in a new window.

The style editor shows a list of citation types on the left — Book, Journal Article, Thesis, and so on. Each type has its own formatting template. Click on the citation type you want to change, and the template appears in the main panel. This is where you control what information appears, in what order, and with what punctuation between fields.

Changing fonts, spacing, and line breaks

In the style editor, select the citation type you're editing. At the top of the template panel, you'll see buttons for Font, Size, and Line Spacing. These apply to the entire citation type — you cannot format individual fields differently within a single citation type in the basic editor.

To add or remove line breaks between fields, look at the template itself. Each field is shown in curly brackets, like {Author} or {Title}. Press Enter in the template to create a line break. Remove line breaks by deleting the space between fields. Punctuation (periods, commas, colons) appears as plain text between the brackets — edit it directly.

If you want different formatting for different parts of a citation (for example, italics on the title but not the author), you'll need to use the advanced editor. Click Switch to Advanced View at the top of the style editor window. This shows the underlying code that controls formatting, but it requires familiarity with EndNote's formatting syntax.

Adjusting punctuation and field order

The template in the style editor shows exactly how your citation will look. Each field name appears in curly brackets: {Author}, {Year}, {Title}, {Journal}, and so on. The text between the brackets is the punctuation and spacing that will appear in your final citation.

To change punctuation, click directly in the template and edit the text. For example, if the template reads {Author}. {Year}. and you want a comma instead of a period after the author, change it to {Author}, {Year}. To remove a field entirely, delete the entire line or section that contains it.

To reorder fields, cut and paste entire sections of the template. Highlight the text you want to move (including the field brackets), cut it, and paste it in the new location. For example, if you want the year to appear before the author, cut {Year} and paste it before {Author}.

Saving your changes as a custom style

When you finish editing in the style editor, click Save at the bottom of the window. A dialog box appears asking whether you want to save changes to the existing style or create a new custom style. If you choose to overwrite the existing style, your changes apply only to your current library — the original style remains unchanged in EndNote's system.

To preserve your changes for future use, click Save As instead and give your custom style a new name. This creates a style that appears in your Style Manager and can be applied to any library you create. Custom styles are stored in your EndNote Online account, so they're available whenever you log in.

After saving, close the style editor window and return to your library. Your new or edited style now appears in the output styles list. When you insert citations into a document, you can select this style from the citation menu.

Formatting citations in your document

Once you've chosen an output style and inserted citations into your document, you can make additional formatting changes that apply only to that document. Open your document in the editor and click Tools in the top menu, then select Citation Formatting.

This panel lets you change the font and size of all citations at once, adjust spacing before and after citations, and control whether citations appear as superscript or inline. These changes affect how the citations look in your specific paper but don't alter the style itself — if you apply the same style to a different document, these formatting choices won't carry over.

You can also manually edit individual citations by clicking on them in your document. A small menu appears with options to edit the citation, change how it displays, or remove it. Manual edits override the style for that single citation.

Common formatting problems and how to fix them

If your citations look different than expected after you save a custom style, check whether you're applying the new style to your document. Open the document, click Tools, and select Output Styles. Make sure your custom style is selected, not the original style you based it on.

If changes you made in the style editor don't appear in your citations, refresh the document. In some cases, EndNote caches the old style formatting. Click Tools and select Update Citations to force the document to reload the style.

If you edited the style but want to revert to the original, open the Style Manager again, find your custom style, and delete it. The original style will then be available for use. You cannot undo changes to an existing style once you've saved them, so creating a custom style instead of editing the original is the safer approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use different styles for different citations in the same document?

No. EndNote Online applies one output style to all citations in a document at once. If you need different citation formats for different sources, you'll need to manually edit individual citations after applying the style, or create separate documents with different styles and merge them.

Will my custom style work if I export my library to desktop EndNote?

Custom styles created in EndNote Online are stored in your online account and may not transfer directly to the desktop version. If you need the same style in both versions, you can recreate it in desktop EndNote using the same steps, or export your library and manually reapply the style in the desktop application.

How do I add a field that isn't showing in the template?

Open the style editor and click on the citation type you're editing. At the bottom of the template panel, you'll see a list of available fields. Drag the field you want into the template at the location where you want it to appear, then add punctuation around it as needed.

Can I make only the title italic without italicizing the whole citation?

In the basic style editor, no — formatting applies to the entire citation type. To format individual fields differently, switch to Advanced View in the style editor, where you can add formatting codes around specific fields. This requires knowledge of EndNote's formatting syntax.

What happens if I edit a style while a document using that style is open?

The document won't automatically update. After you save changes in the style editor, return to your document and click Tools, then Update Citations to apply the new formatting to all citations in that document.