Mendeley Reference Manager – Copy

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Mendeley Reference Manager – Copy

Important notice: Mendeley Reference Manager is the new cloud-based version of Mendeley Desktop. The new app offers the same features, with some technical improvements and changes.

From 1 September 2022, users will no longer be able to download and install Mendeley Desktop software. Existing users of Mendeley Desktop will be able to continue to sign into, use and sync their Mendeley Desktop. To download the new version, Mendeley Reference Manager, go to: https://www.mendeley.com/download-reference-manager/windows

Mendeley Institutional Edition offers the following premium features:

  • Additional storage: 100 GB of personal library storage space, and another 100 GB of shared library storage space
  • Unlimited number of private groups with up to 100 members in each group

The Technion community has access to Mendeley’s Institutional Edition. The institutional account is automatically created when the users set up their account from a Technion IP address (or when using VPN connection). Its premium features stay valid for 12 months after the latest login from a Technion IP address (or VPN). Read more about VPN connection

1. Institutional accounts on Mendeley

If you create your account while you are on campus and you have a Technion IP address, go to Mendeley’s website (mendeley.com). You will automatically be identified as a Technion member and the features of the Institutional Edition will be available to you.

Next, click on Create Account on the navigation menu (top right corner of the screen).
By clicking ‘Finish’ you will agree to the terms of use.

Once you created your account, you can also use it to log into other Elsevier services, including ScienceDirect and Scopus. If you already have an Elsevier account (e.g. for ScienceDirect or Scopus), you can use your existing username and password to log into Mendeley Reference Manager and Mendeley.com.

To upgrade an existing Mendeley account, login to your Mendeley account from a Technion IP address (or use a VPN connection).

Mendeley Reference Manager is the new cloud-based version of Mendeley Desktop. The new app offers the same features, with some technical improvements and changes. Please note: we recommend using the previous version (Mendeley Desktop) until Mendeley Reference Manager is officially launched and thoroughly checked.

Once you created your Mendeley account (a free account / an institutional account), log into Mendeley and download Mendeley Reference Manager. Once the app is installed, select ‘Tools’ > ‘Install Mendeley Web Importer’ and then ‘Tools’ > ‘Install Mendeley Cite for Microsoft Word’

To create a regular (non-institutional) Mendeley account, go to Mendeley’s website and choose ‘Create a free account’. Register with your email address and complete the required fields (your first and last name, and a password of your choice).
Click on ‘Get Started’ to register.

register

Complete your profile by selecting your field of study and your academic status (these are optional). By clicking ‘Finish’ you will agree to the terms of use.

You can also log into Mendeley by using the same credentials that you use for other Elsevier services, such as Scopus or ScienceDirect. For instructions regarding the Mendeley institutional account, please see: Create a Mendeley institutional account

Once you created your Mendeley account (a free account / an institutional account), log in to Mendeley and download Mendeley Reference Manager for desktop

The web importer allows you to import references directly from your browser (from different databases) and into Mendeley Reference Manager. To install the web importer, open Mendeley Reference Manager and click on ‘Tools’ on the program’s menu. Then click ‘Install Mendeley Web Importer.

3. Adding references to Mendeley

Mendeley Web Importer is a browser extension that is available for Firefox and Chrome browsers. This Mendeley extension is compatible with the most popular databases: Engineering Village (Compendex, Inspec, NTIS), Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and more.

To add one or more references from the results page (or the journal’s / publisher’s website), click on the Web Importer icon (Mendeley logo) on your browser’s toolbar. Sign in to Mendeley on the new panel that opens on the right side of the screen:

Next, click the “…” on the bottom right corner. Change the settings to add PDF files by selecting “Add PDFs if available” and “Display pop-up ‘View PDF’ button when PDF is located on a web page”. To return, click on “Back to list” (top left corner).

To add references directly from the results page, select the references from the list on the web importer. On the drop-down menu (top of the panel) you can choose one or more folders that will be the destination for the references. When you are ready, click on “Add”.

If the PDF file is available, an icon will appear below the listing, and the relevant file will be imported to Mendeley Reference Manager. Please note: the file will not be automatically saved to your computer, and it will also not be automatically associated with the article. To download the PDF, open Mendeley Reference Manager, click on the article, and then click “Get PDF”. The PDF reader will then open automatically. You can also click on the PDF icon in the File column:

Mendeley Reference Manager syncs automatically, but you can also sync it yourself by clicking on the sync icon. The references you added will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder, as well as in the folder you chose when using the web importer.

Click on the “Add New” button on the left panel. Choose one of the options according to your preference: adding files from your computer, adding entries manually, or importing files.

To add entries manually, click on Add new > Add entry manually.
On the new panel, enter the identifiers and click on the magnifying glass icon to look up for metadata and click on “Add entry”.

If you do not know the identifiers, you can complete the fields manually by choosing the reference type from the drop-down menu and typing the relevant information in each field. Then click on “Add entry”.

 

Single PDF files can be added to the app using drag-and-drop:

Mendeley will try to automatically find the citation information (abstract, author details, etc.). Verify that the information is complete and accurate. Any missing details can be added manually by typing them in the relevant fields.

  • Proquest Databases
  • PatBase Express
  • SciFinder
Proquest Databases

From your search results, check all the references that you wish to export and then select the ‘RIS’ format from the drop-down menu on the ‘Export / Save’ option:

To save a RIS file with your citation information, click ‘Continue’ and the file will be downloaded automatically.
 
Firefox
Once you downloaded your RIS file, select the ‘Open File’ option to export it directly to your Mendeley Reference Manager. The references you add will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder.

Chrome
Once the download is completed, select the ‘Show in folder’ option by right-clicking the file on your Download manager (at the bottom of the screen):

Drag-and-drop the relevant file from your downloads folder into Mendeley Reference Manager. The references you add will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder.

PatBase Express

From your references list, check all the references that you wish to export, then click ‘Export’: 

Log in with your email address: 

Select ‘Other Formats’ (which include RIS) and the number of references that you wish to export (from-to). Then click ‘Export’: 

Select the fields you would like to export and the file format ‘RIS’Click ‘Export’. 

Type your email address in the box below and click ‘Order Export’. The links to your file will be sent to this  email address. Click on the link to download the file (RIS). Please note: the links will only be valid for a few days. 

Firefox 

Once you downloaded your RIS file, select the ‘Open File’ option to export it directly to your Mendeley Reference Manager. The references you add will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder. 

Chrome 

Once the download is completed, select the ‘Show in folder’ option by right-clicking the file on your Download manager (at the bottom of the screen). Drag-and-drop the relevant file from your downloads folder into Mendeley Reference Manager. The references you add will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder. 

SciFinder
From your references list, check all the references that you wish to export and click on Download Results: 
On the new window, select the Citation (.ris) file type and click Download: 

Firefox 

Once you downloaded your RIS file, select the ‘Open File’ option to export it directly to your Mendeley Reference Manager. The references you add will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder. 

Chrome 

Once the download is completed, select the ‘Show in folder’ option by right-clicking the file on your Download manager (at the bottom of the screen). Drag-and-drop the relevant file from your downloads folder into Mendeley Reference Manager. The references you add will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder. 

Multiple references

If there are multiple references that you would like to add, first save them to the folder: 

Then go to ‘Folder View’ and check each reference that you wish to export and click ‘Export’

Firefox 

A pop-up window will appear. Select ‘RIS’ from the list and click ‘Save’. 

During the download, select the ‘Open File’ option to export it directly to your Mendeley Desktop. 
Saved articles will appear in the ‘Recently Added’ folder. 

Chrome 

Choose the ‘Show in folder’ option by right-clicking the Download manager at the bottom of the screen. Then drag the relevant file from the downloads folder into your Mendeley Desktop. 

A single reference

To save a single reference, click on the reference’s title and then on Mendeley’s logo: 

 

To back up any changes you make in Mendeley Reference Manager, it is important to sync the data to the cloud. Syncing is especially important when you work on more than one device, and if you use private groups or the PDF reader. 

Mendeley Reference Manager automatically syncs every time you open the app, but it is also recommended to click the ‘sync’ icon after making many changes:  

 

4. Organizing your library in the Mendeley Reference Manager app

To organize your references, use folders and sub-folders (collections): 

Click on ‘New Collection’ and type a name for your new folder. Type the Enter key on your keyboard to create the new folder. 

To create sub-folders for existing folders, right-click on the name of the folder and choose “New Collection”

To add references to the new folder or the new sub-folder, drag and drop the references from the other folders. The references will be filed in more than one folder. 

Tags

You can assign tags to your references in order to organize them more easily. 
To add a new tag / several tags to the reference that you’ve added to your Mendeley Reference Manager, click on the “+” next to Tags on the record’s details (the right panel): 

To find all the references that are tagged with the same tag, filter the reference by tags: 

 

Favorites 

Click the star icon to select your favorite documents: 

 

To sort your references by the document type (.pdf, MS Word, etc.), authors, title, year, publication, or the date they were added to Mendeley Desktop, click on the relevant category: 

To add / change details for a specific record, click on the relevant field, type, then click enter: 

To attach a PDF file to its metadata, scroll down to the field ‘Files’, click on ‘+ and choose the PDF document: 

Once PDFs have been added to your Mendeley Reference Manager, you can click on the file icon (green checkmarkor double-click on the reference to read, highlight, and annotate the document. The reference file will open in the PDF reader on a new tab: 

To view your annotations, click on the sticky note or select the “Annotations” tab on the right panel: 

The Notebooks feature allows you to track citations and other content on separate pages in order to organize your thoughts. To create a new notebook page, click on the notebook tab (on the right panel) and then on + New page.

To add a citation to your notebook page, enter the notebook page (by clicking its title), marker the content you would like to cite, then click on the marker > Add to Notebook:

5. Creating citations and bibliography

Mendeley Cite is required in order to add citations and bibliography to your academic work. On Mendeley Reference Manager, select ‘Tools’ > ‘Install Mendeley Cite for Microsoft Word’: 

The app store will open a net tab on your browser. Click on “Get it now” to install. 

After you install the add-in, you can launch it by choosing the add-in button on the References tab:

To insert a citation, place the cursor where you want the citation in the document, select the relevant reference from the list, and click ‘Insert citation’. 

To add the bibliography, place the cursor on the last page of your document; in Mendeley Cite, click More > Insert Bibliography: 

To change the bibliographic style, go to ‘Styles’ in Mendeley Cite and choose a bibliographic style from the styles list. Click on “Update citation style” to save changes.

More Styles 

To download more styles to your styles list, click on “Select another style”: 

On the next window, search for the relevant style, select, and update. 

Edit Related Styles 

To edit related styles, go to ‘Citation Style Editor’ (CSL) 

The title of the new style will include your name: Style name – Your Name. To change the title, type a new title in the field Info > Title (right below the citation and bibliography examples)

The style ID will be created automatically. 
To make changes, click on the relevant part of the inline citations or bibliography entry on the left panel. The tool will display the editable options. 

For example, to limit the number of authors shown in the bibliography, select “Macro: author” (on the left panel) and choose “Name” in the “Names” section. An example of your changes will be displayed: 

Scroll down the page for the settings fields. In “et-al-min” choose the relevant number of authors: 

 

The example will change accordingly:

To save and use the citation style you created, click on “Style > Save Style” and copy the web address for the new style (select the text using the courser, then right click > copy): 

On Mendeley Cite, go to Select another style > Add custom style. Paste (Ctrl + V) the URL address you created in the CSL Editor. Click on Update citation style to add the new style to your styles list. 

Finalise your document by stripping it of Mendeley code by using the ‘Export as’ function.

1. Save your document.

2. In Word select the ‘Export as’ dropdown menu on the Mendeley toolbar.

3. Select ‘Without Mendeley Fields’:

plain text_mendeley

4. Save the version of your document with a new name. 

Note: you can make any editing changes to any citation in this new document. It is not connected to your Mendeley library.

6. Managing your groups

To manage your private groups on Mendeley Reference Manager, log into Mendeley.com with your username and password. Click on ‘Library’ (top right corner) to enter the online (cloud) version of Mendeley Reference Manager.

On the left panel, in Private Groups, you will find a list of the groups you created on the app. When you right-click on the name of a group, you will see a new menu. To add or remove members from the group, click on ‘Manage Group’.

You can invite up to 100 members to your group by clicking on ‘Invite members’:

7. Troubleshooting

When you fail to sign-in to Mendeley with your username and password or when you notice that your reference manager is not synchronized with your online account, clearing your browser’s cookies might help. You can use this guide which explains how to clear your browser’s cookies, or contact us if you need any further assistance.

While it’s simple to import the bibliography of articles from databases, Google Scholar, the publisher’s websites or by using the PDF files (drag & drop), importing the details of books and book sections may not always be simple; you can either add your references manually, or follow one of theses two options:

The Libraries Search System (EDS)

You can use the Technion Libraries’ search engine in order to find the bibliographic information about books and book sections, and export the data as a RIS file.

Other Sources
  • If you were unable to find the book/book section on EDS, you can try using other catalogs. We recommend using an international library catalog such as Worldcat.
  • You can also import details from the publisher’s website (excellent for book chapters):
    1. Go to the publisher’s website and find your book version
    2. Click on the Web Importer to add the data to your Mendeley Desktop
  • If the material is an eBook, Mendeley may be able to identify the different book chapters for a more accurate citation.

The feature currently is not available. 

It will be released by the end of the year (2022) and will definitely be available before the discontinuation of Mendeley Desktop. 

Unfortunately there are no work arounds other than using the old plugin until the feature will be released in the Mendeley Reference Manager.