MS Word on a MS365 subscription on a MacBook, and Windows too.

Question

MS Word on a MS365 subscription on a MacBook, and Windows too.

David Abraham 0

I use EndNotes to gather all my notes at the end of my ms. But some look like this and others like that.

6 <tab> text of note

or

6 <tab>

text of note on 2nd line.

This ONLY happens when the note contains a URL, live or not, but NOT ALWAYS when it contains a URL.

HELP!!!!!!!!

Anshika Varshney 15,625 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-09T16:28:12.2566667+00:00

Hello @David Abraham

Just checking back to see if you’re still facing the same issue. If the problem persists, please share a few more details and we’ll be happy to help you further.

Thankyou!
David Abraham 0 Reputation points

2026-07-10T07:12:08.56+00:00

Anshika,

Thanks for your help.

Anent #’s 1 2 4 5 & 6, all tested.

Always updated.

My first publication was in 2014 with Windows, same problem.

#3, The issue persists over URLs that are and are not hyperlinks.

#7, mixed, inconsistent

#8, ONLY, but not ALL, with URLs.

I attach a 3 pages view. Problem End Notes are: 25 32 41 44 45 46 64 & 69.

Thanks in advance!!!
Anshika Varshney 15,625 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-12T20:44:01.0966667+00:00
Hello @David Abraham ,

Thank you for testing all of those scenarios and for sharing the additional details.

The fact that you've observed this behavior consistently since 2014 across both Windows and Mac, with fully updated versions of Word and EndNote, makes it less likely that this is related to a specific Word installation, document corruption, platform difference, or outdated software.

Your findings are particularly helpful:

The issue occurs only with some notes containing URLs, not all notes.

The behavior persists whether the URL is a hyperlink or plain text.

The affected references appear inconsistent, making it difficult to identify a simple URL-length or formatting pattern.

Based on that information, this may be related to how specific URL strings are being interpreted during the EndNote-to-Word formatting/export process rather than Word's hyperlink handling itself.

Could you please share the attached screenshots (or a small sample from one or two of the affected notes, such as references 25, 32, 41, 44, 45, 46, 64, or 69), with any sensitive information removed? It would also be helpful to compare one affected URL-containing note with another URL-containing note that formats correctly.

This may help identify whether there is a particular URL structure, character sequence, hidden field code, or EndNote formatting pattern that is triggering the unexpected alignment behavior.

Thank you again for providing the detailed test results. They significantly narrow down the possible causes.

3 answers

Your answer

Anshika Varshney 15,625 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-09T16:28:12.2566667+00:00

Hello @David Abraham

Just checking back to see if you’re still facing the same issue. If the problem persists, please share a few more details and we’ll be happy to help you further.

Thankyou!
David Abraham 0 Reputation points

2026-07-10T07:12:08.56+00:00

Anshika,

Thanks for your help.

Anent #’s 1 2 4 5 & 6, all tested.

Always updated.

My first publication was in 2014 with Windows, same problem.

#3, The issue persists over URLs that are and are not hyperlinks.

#7, mixed, inconsistent

#8, ONLY, but not ALL, with URLs.

I attach a 3 pages view. Problem End Notes are: 25 32 41 44 45 46 64 & 69.

Thanks in advance!!!
Anshika Varshney 15,625 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-12T20:44:01.0966667+00:00

Hello @David Abraham ,

Thank you for testing all of those scenarios and for sharing the additional details.

The fact that you've observed this behavior consistently since 2014 across both Windows and Mac, with fully updated versions of Word and EndNote, makes it less likely that this is related to a specific Word installation, document corruption, platform difference, or outdated software.

Your findings are particularly helpful:

The issue occurs only with some notes containing URLs, not all notes.

The behavior persists whether the URL is a hyperlink or plain text.

The affected references appear inconsistent, making it difficult to identify a simple URL-length or formatting pattern.

Based on that information, this may be related to how specific URL strings are being interpreted during the EndNote-to-Word formatting/export process rather than Word's hyperlink handling itself.

Could you please share the attached screenshots (or a small sample from one or two of the affected notes, such as references 25, 32, 41, 44, 45, 46, 64, or 69), with any sensitive information removed? It would also be helpful to compare one affected URL-containing note with another URL-containing note that formats correctly.

This may help identify whether there is a particular URL structure, character sequence, hidden field code, or EndNote formatting pattern that is triggering the unexpected alignment behavior.

Thank you again for providing the detailed test results. They significantly narrow down the possible causes.

Answer 1

Hello @David Abraham ,

Based on your description, this appears to be related to how EndNote content is being exported or interpreted by Word when URLs are present in the notes field.

You may want to try the following troubleshooting steps:

Export a small test library containing only one or two references with URLs and verify whether the issue can be reproduced.
Create a new blank Word document and import/export the references again to determine whether the problem is document-specific.
Check whether Word is automatically converting URLs into hyperlinks, as hyperlink formatting can sometimes affect tab alignment and spacing.
Compare the behavior on both Mac and Windows using the same document and EndNote library to identify any platform-specific differences.
Update both Microsoft Word and EndNote to the latest available versions.
Copy the affected note into a plain-text editor (such as Notepad or TextEdit) to remove hidden formatting, then paste it back and test again.
Verify whether the issue occurs with all URLs or only specific URLs (for example, very long URLs or URLs containing special characters).
Test whether the issue affects only notes containing URLs or also occurs with plain text notes.

Could you also share the exact Word version, EndNote version, and a small sample of the affected note (with any sensitive information removed)? That information may help determine whether this is related to Word's hyperlink formatting or the EndNote export process.

Thankyou!

Answer 2

Anshika,

Thanks for helping.

1, issue persists.

2, I have copied my file into a blank Word document, issue persists.

3, KDP’s error checker didn’t like any hyperlinks (probably because my book is a paperback), so I changed all hyperlinks to text, issue persists.

4, a) I can’t do that, but b) “Endnote library” whazzat???

5, again “latest available version of EndNote”, whazzat???

6, see answer 3 above.

7, issue involves ONLY long URLs, but inconsistently. Special characters???

8, issue affects ONLY URLs, even though all their hyperlinks have been converted to text.

Word version: Microsoft® Word for Mac, Version 16.110.3 (26070318).

EndNote version: huh???

Attached screenshot, see Notes 7, 8, 15, 16, 23, 24.

David

Answer 3

David Abraham 0

Image 7-13-26 at 8.35 AM

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