Can I export my references out of RefWorks so that the Abstract is printed?

If you just need a formatted reference list of references that includes abstracts, try the instructions below.

1. Log into your RefWorks account.
2. Click on the "Tools" menu.
3. Select "Output Style Manager"
4. After reaching the "output Style Manger" page, add the following 3 output styles -- "APA 5th -- Annotated with abstracts.....", "APA 6th -- Annotated with abstracts.....", and "Abstract View -- UNMC" -- to your list of favorites. (To add a style to your favorites list, select the style from the "Choose Output Style" box and click on the "Add to Favorites" button)
5. Click on RefWorks' "Bibliography" button/menu
6. When you reach the "Bibliography" page, use the "Output Style" drop-down menu to select one of the three styles you just added to your favorites list.
7. Click on the circle/radiobutton next to "Format a Bibliography from a List of References". You can then choose to have the reference list created in Word or in html (html is faster) and you can choose which group of references you want to format.
8. When you have made all choices make sure all pop-up blockers are turned off and click the "Create Bibliography" button.

If these instructions don't give you the output you need, let me (Cindy Schmidt) know. I can create an output style that will produce almost any kind of output you might want. There are also export options that allow you to import data (including abstracts) into an Excel spreadsheet. Using the Excel spreadsheet various types of tables can be created.

How can I import references from a .doc file to refworks?

I am assuming that you need to import records corresponding to the references listed in a .doc file. If the references refer to biomedical journal articles indexed by MEDLINE, it will probably be easiest to:
1. (a) Open your .doc and (b) open an internet browser and log into your RefWorks account.
2. use the RefWorks "Search" menu to select "Online Catalog or database"
3. highlight and copy an article title from the list of references in your .doc
4. paste the title in the "Quick Search" box on the RefWorks "Online Catalog or Database" page. If the article title is rather generic (e.g. "Treating Osteoporosis"), type in one or more authors names also. Separate the title and each author's name by AND. For example:
Treating Osteoporosis AND Smith AND Stassen AND Flint
(It is important that the "AND"s be in all caps. Correct spelling is also vital.)
5. Hit the "Search" button.
6. A pop-up window or new tab will appear. This page will contain the results for the search you entered.
7. Click the box for the reference you wish to import.
8. Use the "Import" button or the "Import to Folder" drop down menu to bring the record into your account. You will be asked if you're sure you want to import the reference and you will have to okay that action.
9. Repeat steps 3-8 for each of the listed references.

I want RefWorks to re-use the RefID numbers that had been used by the 2000 references I just deleted. How can I make it re-use these RefID numbers?

You cannot make RefWorks reuse the RefID numbers that had been used for references that have now been deleted.

In fact, it's important that these numbers NOT be re-used. Ref ID numbers are the primary way RefWorks identifies the citations you wish to insert in your documents. Let's say you insert a citation for the reference with RefID 6000 in a paper. Let's further suppose that, while using RefWorks to check for duplicates, you delete the reference with RefID 6000 by mistake. Because RefWorks doesn't reuse RefID's, when you format your paper, you will be told that RefID 6000 doesn't exist. You will be able to look at the code for RefID 6000 to determine what reference you wished to insert, and you will be able to fix the problem by citing the new record for the reference or by restoring RefID 6000 from the "Deleted References" location. If RefWorks reused RefID's, Ref ID 6000 might have been assigned to a new reference and that incorrect citation/reference would have been inserted in your paper.

If you want to start an account from scratch (starting with RefID 1), you can create a new account and import the records into that account. However, you will never be able to get an account that re-uses the RefID's for deleted references. (Other bibliographic management programs have this same prohibition on re-using the automatically assigned numbers).

APA, 6th edition

APA 6th edition is available in RefWorks now. To make the style available when formatting a paper:
1. Go to "Tools" and select "Output Style Manager" .
2. When the "Output Style Manager" page appears, search for , or scroll down to, "APA 6th -- American Psychological Association, 6th Edition"
3. Click on "APA 6th -- American Psychological Association, 6th Edition" and click "Add to Favorites".

You can change your APA preview in RefWorks from 5th to 6th edition by using the "Tools" menu to select the "Customize" page. In the "Reference List Options" section under "Output Styeles Choices for Reference View" change your APA 5th choice to APA 6th.
Please pass the information on to anyone you think may be interested.

Write-n-Cite III "cite" links not working

Occasionally, Write-n-Cite III users will click a "cite" link and end up waiting fruitlessly, and seemingly forever, for the insertion of RefWorks code. Sometimes Word will stop responding to mouse and keyboard clicks.

If this happens, you will probably end up having to close Write-n-Cite and Word. There are several things you might want to try.

Before trying these it is important to determine whether you are using the correct version of Write-n-Cite. With Windows Vista or Word 2007, you must use Write-n-Cite III. With Macs you must use Write-n-Cite 2.5 or 2.0 (Write-n-Cite 2 is no longer available for download but if you downloaded it in the past, it will still work with versions of Word for Mac that PREDATE Word 2008. For Word 2008, you must install Write-n-Cite 2.5)

If you have installed the correct version of Write-n-Cite, here are the things you might need to try:
A. Sometimes restarting your computer will fix the problem. After restarting your computer, you can reopen your document, open Write-n-Cite, log-in, try inserting a citation. If Word freezes again, you may be able to use the task manager to close Word and Write-n-Cite. Try clicking the Ctl/Alt/Delete keys to reach the task manager. If you reach the task manager try ending the Word and Write-n-Cite tasks. If this doesn't work, you'll have to restart the computer.
B. Sometimes there's a problem with your Word document that can be easily fixed. After restarting the computer or ending Write-n-Cite and Word with the task manager, try opening a new (blank) Word document, open Write-n-Cite, click one of the "cite" links. Is code inserted promptly in the new document? If so, there may be a problem with your old document. You can usually solve this problem easily by creating a new copy of your document, To create a new copy of your document,1) use Word's "Edit" menu to select "Select all"; 2) use Word's "Edit" menu to select "Copy"; 3) open a new (blank) Word document; 4) use Word's "Edit" menu in the new (blank) document to select "Paste"; 5) the new document should now be an identical copy of your old document; 6) save the newly created copy of the old document with a new name; 7) open Write-n-Cite from within the newly created copy; 8) try clicking on a "cite" link. Hopefully the cite links will work in the new copy of your document.
C. If options A and B don't work, try reinstalling Write-n-Cite. Be sure you close Microsoft Word before you install Write-n-Cite. To reinstall Write-n-Cite, 1)use an internet browser to go to your RefWorks account (go to RefWorks not Write-n-Cite), 2) place your cursor over the RefWorks "Tools" menu and select "Write-n-Cite", 3) a pop-up window with download links will appear, 4) click on the appropriate download link, 5) if you are using Internet Explorer you will need to click "Run" a couple times -- Be sure you say "Yes" when asked whether you want to uninstall the old version of Write-n-Cite, 6) when the uninstall is complete proceed to the installation, 7) you will need to click "Next" several times and then "Finish", 8) Say "NO" when asked whether you want to start Write-n-Cite now. Now open a blank Word document, open Write-n-Cite and try inserting a citation. If this works open the document of interest and try inserting a citation in that document.
D. If these steps don't work, let us know (we may have heard of some additional things to try). Alternately, you may wish to contact Refworks tech support. To contact RefWorks Tech Support, open your RefWorks account, place your cursor over the "Help" menu and click on "Contact Us."

Firefox "Secure Connection Failed" warnings

Here are the steps that are needed to gain access to several library resources (including RefWorks) when the Firefox "Secure Connection Failed" warning appears. 1) When the "Secure Connection Failed" message appears while you are trying to access a Library resource, click on the "Or you can add an exception" link. 2) The display will change slightly. Click on the "Add Exception" button that appears. 3) The "Add Security Exception" dialog box will appear. Click on the "Get Certificate" button. 4) The display will change slightly. Click on the "Confirm Security Exception" button. 5) When you click on RefWorks in the future, you may be warned about the bad security certificate and, if prompted, should click the button or link that indicates your desire to continue to the website.

Linking to a pdf or other file stored on a computer

Facilitating access to full-text through RefWorks by adding links to saved files

A few points to consider before you begin:

You may have problems linking to documents stored on your C:\drive. The inability to link from web pages to files on the C:\ drive is a security feature that was introduced in Windows XP Service Pack 2. If you have documents stored on a folder on your C:\ drive, perhaps you can copy them to a server with a stable location name? If you wish to obtain access to files saved on a server from multiple computers, it is important that the server in question have the same drive name (e.g. H:\) on all the computers.

The method described below works best if you use Internet Explorer.

Creating links to saved files is easiest if you avoid using spaces or underscores in filenames and folder names, but it is possible, with a little more work, to create links to folders/files with underscores and spaces in their names.

In order to link to a file on your computer you may need to specify RefWorks as a trusted site within your browser. If you are using Internet Explorer you would do the following:1. Go to Tools and Internet Options. 2. Click on the Security tab and click on Trusted Site. 3. Click on Sites and type in https://www.refworks.com/_.

The notes above and the instructions below have been excerpted, with the exception of a few minor revisions, from: RefWorks: Linking to Full-text. University of Wisconsin -- Madison, last updated August 28, 2008, accessed September 30,2008. Available at: http://www.library.wisc.edu/refworks/quick-start.html#link-to-full-text_


Adding a link to a pdf or other file stored on a computer

1. Find and copy the complete path/pathway to your .pdf/file.
An easy way to get the path to your saved file is to use your web browser. The following instructions apply to Internet Explorer 7. Open your web browser and click on File and Open. An "Open" dialog box will appear. Click on the "Browse" button. A "Windows Internet Explorer" dialog box will appear. Use the box's "File as type" drop-down menu to select "All files". Browse to your file location, click on the file and click the "Open" button. You now can copy the pathway from the "Open:" box (in the "Open" dialog box) or click the "Open" button (in the "Open" dialog box) and copy the pathway from the browser's "Address" box. The pathway may look something like the following:

E:\reflinks\sample.pdf


2. Click on the "Edit" link in the appropriate RefWorks record (the "Edit" link is next to the "Check for UNMC full-text" button). The "Edit Reference" screen will appear. Paste the path into either the "links" or "url" field.


3. Edit the pasted path as follows
a. Type --

file:///

-- before the path. This will create a link that looks something like the following:

Example: file:///E:/reflinks/sample.pdf_


b. replace any spaces in the path with --

%20

If our file name had been "sample document", our edited link would look like the following:

Example: file:///E:/Reflinks/sample%20document.pdf_

c. Underscores should not be replaced. Unfortunately, they can resemble spaces when an entire link is underlined.

4. Click on "Save Reference".

5. Click on the "View" link to display your record with the linked file pathway. Simply click on the link to open and view the pdf or file.
The links you add to records will be visible whenever you use the "Switch to" menu to display the "Full View" in RefWorks.