Install the Word add-in

The quickest way to get started, and the route we recommend for everyone.

1. Open any document in Word on the web (office.com) and go to Home› then Add-ins.
2. Choose More Add-ins, then the My Add-ins tab.
3. Select Upload My Add-in, choose the citepool-word-add-in.xml file you downloaded, and select Upload.
4. A Citations button appears on the Home tab. Select it to open Citepool.

Word for Windows doesn’t have a simple “upload a file” button for add-ins. For Microsoft 365 business accounts, the reliable route is:

1. Install it once in Word on the web using the steps above, signed in with your work account.
2. Open Word for Windows, signed in with the same account.
3. Go to Home› then Add-ins, then My Add-ins. Citepool is listed there — select it to add the Citations button.

Word for Mac works the same way as Windows: install once on the web, then it follows your account.

1. Install Citepool in Word on the web with your Microsoft 365 account.
2. Open Word for Mac, signed in with the same account.
3. Go to Insert› then Add-ins› then My Add-ins and select Citepool.

Advanced: sideload on a Mac

If you’d rather not use Word on the web, quit Word, then copy citepool-word-add-in.xml into this folder (create the wef folder if it doesn’t exist):

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Documents/wef

Reopen Word and open a document. Citepool appears under Insert› then Add-ins› then My Add-ins.

If you’re a Microsoft 365 admin, you can install Citepool for everyone at once. Nobody needs to upload anything, and it appears in Word on the web, Windows and Mac.

1. Open the Microsoft 365 admin centre and go to Settings› then Integrated apps.
2. Choose Upload custom apps, then Upload manifest file (.xml) and select citepool-word-add-in.xml.
3. Assign it to everyone, or to specific users or groups, and finish the wizard.

1. Open the pane. Go to Home› then Citations.
2. Sign in once. A pop-up asks you to sign in with Microsoft, Google or Apple. After that, Word remembers you.
3. Search your library by author, title, year or any of your team’s custom fields.
4. Insert. Put your cursor where the citation belongs and select Insert. The bibliography builds itself.

Citation options

• Page numbers — add a pinpoint such as (Huynh 2024, p. 47).
• Suppress author — for sentences like Huynh (2024) found…
• Add to citation at cursor — put several references in one bracket.

Keeping documents up to date

• Refresh citations & bibliography pulls the latest details from your library, so a corrected DOI or author appears everywhere it’s cited. Numbering and a/b/c year suffixes are rebuilt as you go.
• Switch style — Harvard, APA 7, Vancouver or one of your team’s custom styles — and the whole document restyles instantly.
• Highlight citations shades every live citation so you can check them while proofreading. Turn it off before you send the document.

Citepool works with the AI assistant your team already uses. Connect it once and ask it to find sources in your library, read what they actually say, and cite them in your house style. It runs on your own AI subscription, and it only ever sees your library through Citepool, as you.

1. Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the URL from Citepool’s Settings → AI & assistants, then Connect and sign in.
2. ChatGPT: turn on Developer mode (Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings), then Create a connector with the same URL and OAuth, and sign in. Citepool also works as a source for ChatGPT deep research.
3. Microsoft Copilot: in Copilot Studio, add a Model Context Protocol tool with the same URL and an access token created in Citepool.
4. Inside Citepool: an owner can add your organisation’s Anthropic or OpenAI API key to switch on Ask your library and Check citations in Word, billed to that account.

Owners can turn assistant access and in-app AI off at any time, and anyone can disconnect their own assistants. Removing someone from the team cuts off their assistant immediately.

Questions about billing, trials or data? See the FAQ.