If you want to export your current EndNote library to Zotero, you should use the .xml export function of EndNote as explained in the official Zotero docs.

There are a few problems that can crop up when doing this: commonly users experience difficulty with transfering their .pdf files for example, and this export/import will also overwrite the added to / last changes dates of all items.

While the Zotero docs explain how to solve the issue with the .pdf files, there is no easy solution to the issue with the dates.

Therefore I developed a small program to export your EndNote library that properly includes the required information, combined with a small Zotero plugin that can set the added to / last change dates back to the original EndNote-based dates.

Currently, only Windows is supported; if you want to run it on e.g. MacOS you'll need to make a few changes to the source code of the export which you can find here: endnote-exporter. The source code for the Zotero plugin is available here: endnote-date-fixer

You can download both directly from this website here:

• Endnote Exporter
• Zotero Datefixer plugin

Instructions

1. Download both files to your computer.
2. Run the exporter (endnote_exporter.exe) by double clicking it.
3. Click the first button, navigate to your EndNote data dir (should be immediately visible if you're using the default EndNote settings) and select the .enl file for your EndNote library
4. Click the second button to export your library to an .xml file. You can select where to store the file.
5. Now open Zotero.
6. Go to File -> Import, press Next, find the .xml file you just saved, press next, wait until Zotero is done. This can take a while if you have a lot of items, especially if they have .pdfs attached.
7. All items should now be in Zotero including .pdf attachments. If not, something went wrong!
8. Install the plugin you downloaded by going to Tools -> Plugin, clicking the gear icon -> install plugin from file, and select the downloaded .xpi file
9. Once installed, go to Tools -> Fix EndNote Import Dates, and wait until it's done.
10. All Date Added and Date Modified fields for items you just imported should now be the same in Zotero as they are in EndNote.