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Kraemer Family Library

Mendeley: Home

Getting started with Mendeley

mendeley logo of a white M in a red circle

Troubleshooting & advanced topics

Compatability

Mendeley is compatable for both PCs and Macs. 

It has a web extension for most common web browsers which will generate citations from both the library's catalog and the open web.

It has a plug in for both Microsoft Word and LibreOffice but not for Google Docs.

Known issues:

none reported

Basic Functions

Using Mendeley Web Importer:
  1. Click on the red Mendeley logo in your browser tool bar
  2. If you have not already done so, log into Mendeley through the pop up window
  3. Select the article you would like to save from the list of citations generated
  4. (Optional) Select the collection or group you would like to save the reference to
  5. Click the blue Add button
Using the Microsoft Word plug in:
  1. Open a Word document and log in to the Mendeley extension
  2. Select all citations you wish to add (Note: Mendeley allows you to sort by "All References," "Recently Added," and other categories.)
  3. Select the additional menu button in the top right section of the extension

menu button of three grey dots

  1. Select Insert Bibliography

Note: You can adjust citation styles after they have been saved in the "Citation Settings" menu within the extension. If selected, this will update all citations in the uploaded bibliography.

Migrating to Mendeley

Before KFL supported Mendeley, RefWorks was our citation manager of choice. These are instructions for migrating citation libraries from Refworks to Mendeley.

Before you begin
  • Delete any sources you no longer need.
  • Examine your folders (if applicable) to determine whether you want to migrate folders one by one, or whether you want to migrate all references at once in order and resort them into folders in Mendeley.
  • Check how many PDFs are saved to determine whether you want to export them then upload them into Mendeley.
Process
Should you transfer the entire library at once or folder by folder?

All at once:

  • If you only have a small library (approximately 50 citation or less)
  • If you have a large library but aren't using folders to organize them

Folder by folder:

  • If you have a large library (over 50 citations) and the majority of sources are organized into folders
Exporting PDFs (Optional)
  1. Create a free Dropbox account
  2. In Refworks, click your name in the upper right hand corner and select "Settings"
  3. Connect your RefWorks account to your Dropbox account
  4. In Dropbox, click on the Apps folder. Download the RefWorks folder inside
  5. Open the ProQuest RefWorks.zip file in your computer's downloads area
  6. Move the resulting folder of PDFs to a place that will be easy to locate later
  7. Within this folder, create subfolders to match your RefWorks library and move the appropriate PDFs into them (Optional)

If you are not uploading any PDFs into Mendeley, start at step 5.

  1. In Mendeley, click Add New
  2. Select File(s) from computer
  3. Locate the ProQuest RefWorks folder you downloaded from Dropbox, double-click to open it, and select all the PDFs to upload
  4. In RefWorks, click the box next to every source that is not accompanied by a PDF
  5. Click Share in the top menu
  6. Select Export references
  7. Select RIS format
  8. Click Export button
  9. In Mendeley, click Add New
  10. Select import library > RIS from the drop-down menu
  11. Locate and select the .ris file in your computer's download folder.
  12. (Optional) Click the box next to all the sources you want to add to a specific collection, then click Organize to add them.

If you are not uploading any PDFs into Mendeley, start at step 7.

  1. In Mendeley, click Add New​
  2. Select Files(s) from computer​
  3. Locate the ProQuest RefWorks file you downloaded from Dropbox, double click to open it, double click on the folder you want to upload, and select all the PDFs inside it
  4. In Mendeley, sort your library by the Added column, with the most recently added sources at the top​
  5. All of the sources you just imported should have the same “Added” time. Click the box next to their titles, the click Organize to add them to the appropriate collection​
  6. Repeat steps 1 – 5 for all remaining folders​
  7. In RefWorks, select the folder you want to export​
  8. Click the box next to every source that is not accompanied by a PDF. (Unnecessary if you did not upload PDFs.)​
  9. Click Share in the top menu​
  10. Select Export references and choose RIS format​
  11. Click Export button​
  12. Locate the .ris file in your downloads area. Rename it to match the folder name. This is essential for telling folders apart later.​
  13. In Mendeley, click Add New​
  14. Select Import library > RIS from the drop-down menu​
  15. Locate and select the correct .ris file in your computer’s download folder​
  16. Follow step 5​
  17. Repeat steps 7 - 16 for each folder. (There is also a “folder” for unfiled sources

 

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