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Mendeley

An introduction to Mendeley, the bibliographic citation program with a social media component.

Subject Guide

Special Features of Mendeley

Mendeley has several special features that distinguish it from other citation management tools. Understanding these features will help you make an informed decision about how and when to use Mendeley. This page provides information about Mendeley's primary distinguishing features.

Special Features List

Notable features of Mendeley:

  • Multiple ways to import and create references.
    • Online import bookmark works with virtually any browser.
    • Drag-and-drop files or folders or auto-add files through watched folders.
    • Mendeley will automatically extract information from any added PDFs.
    • Multiple search options to automatically fill in empty citation fields, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and by DOI.
    • Manually add a variety of materials.
  • Unique options for organizing and annotating PDFs.
    • Automatically rename PDFs by Author, Journal Title, Year and more, and organize PDFs into multiple folders.
    • Set preferences to automatically rename and save PDFs from a watched folder into organized PDF library.
    • Open PDFs within Mendeley to easily save and search highlights and sticky note-like annotations.
    • Add tags, keywords, or search the full text of most PDFs.
  • Integrates with Word, OpenOffice and BibTeX.
    • Able to insert Mendeley library citations into new documents, including in-text citations, endnotes, and footnotes.
    • Built-in support for over 1000 citation styles, including many journal citation styles.
  • Options to sync and collaborate across multiple computers and with multiple people.
    • Sync button allows users to integrate the desktop and online versions of the Mendeley library.
    • Free online library storage for up to 1 GB, with options to upgrade to more for a fee (e.g. $55/year for 2 GB).
    • Able to create "groups" between multiple Mendeley users that share items through a separate communal library.
  • Connect with other users, and discover research through Mendeley's online interface
    • Join groups or start a new one to connect with other Mendeley users with similar interests
    • Browse through discipline-specific papers or search to through Mendeley's extensive citation library.
    • Create a Mendeley profile and add published research to collect statistics on downloads, citations and more.

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