What is the ENW file format?
Files with the .enw extension are created by EndNote, a reference management tool developed by Clarivate (formerly Thomson Reuters / Niles Software). .enw files store bibliographical citation data, including author, title, year, journal, keywords, and other publication metadata.
An .enw file is an exchange and import format, not an actual EndNote library - the native library format is the binary .enl file (paired with its .Data folder) or the packaged .enlx archive. ENW is the format behind the "EndNote" or "Direct Export" download links offered by academic databases and journal platforms.
.enw is essentially a plain-text file that uses EndNote percent-tags to store data. Each line starts with %, a single tag letter, and a space - for example, %0 sets the reference type (e.g. Journal Article), %A records the author, %T the title, %D the publication year, and %J the journal name. Tags such as %A and %E are repeatable for multiple authors or editors. Individual references are separated by blank lines, so a single .enw file can hold an entire database export.
The format is closely related to .ris (Research Information Systems); .ris is now the more universal interchange standard and is often preferred for inter-application transfers. Newer versions of EndNote export libraries to .enl or .enlx files, but continue to support .enw for both import and export. Because .enw is plain text, it can be inspected or edited in any text editor.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWENW files are plain-text citation metadata - no code, no macros, effectively no direct risk. Safe to open in any text editor. The only minor cautions: a %U URL field could point anywhere (managers don't auto-open it), and citations from untrusted sources may simply contain wrong or spammy metadata.
Format details
in a nutshellPrograms that open ENW files
Windows5 apps
EndNote
Paid File > Import > File, choose the 'EndNote Import' filter (or just double-click the .enw); the reference lands in your library. Current version EndNote 2025. 
JabRef
Open-source File > Import, select the EndNote/Refer filter; it converts the entries to BibTeX. Ideal for LaTeX users. 
Zotero
Open-source File > Import the .enw; Zotero reads the EndNote tagged format. Free, the default recommendation for students.
Mendeley Reference Manager
Free Add new > Import library, choose the .enw, or drag it into the window (free Elsevier account).
Notepad / any text editor
Built-in Open with Notepad to read the raw %-tagged fields before importing. 
macOS3 apps
BibDesk
Open-source Mac BibTeX manager; File > Import reads EndNote/Refer files and converts to BibTeX.
Zotero
Open-source File > Import the .enw, or let the Zotero Connector capture citations in the browser. 
Linux2 apps
EndNote Online (EndNote Web)
Freemium Collect > Import References, choose the EndNote import filter; free basic tier. Technical details
deep spec| File type | Tagged plain-text bibliographic citation data |
| Encoding | UTF-8; older exports may use ASCII or Latin-1 |
| MIME type | application/x-endnote-refer (also recognized as text/plain) |
| Container | Plain text; no binary structure or wrapper |
| Tag syntax | Each field occupies one line in the form %<letter> <value> - e.g. %0, %A, %T, %D, %J |
| Reference type tag | %0 declares the reference type (e.g. Journal Article, Book) and should appear first in each record |
| Repeatable tags | %A (author) and %E (editor) may appear multiple times within one record to list multiple contributors |
| Record delimiter | Individual references are separated by a blank line; one file may contain many records |
| File signature | None - no magic bytes; identified by the %-tag line pattern beginning at offset 0 |
| Typical file size | Under 1 KB for a single reference; up to several MB for a large database export |
| Relationship to RIS | Functionally similar to .ris; ENW uses %-prefix single-letter tags whereas RIS uses two-letter tags (TY, AU, TI) with ER as the end-of-record marker |
| Developer | Clarivate (EndNote; formerly Thomson Reuters / Niles Software, originally Niles & Associates) |
| Platform support | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web, iOS, Android |
| Released | Early 1990s (EndNote 'refer/tagged' export format; EndNote first released 1988) |
| Latest version | Tag set is stable; current EndNote release is EndNote 2025 (Clarivate) |
| Open standard | Yes · royalty-free |
| Specification | support.clarivate.com |
ENW conversions
Community Q&A
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