Mendeley

There are several ways to add new items to your personal Mendeley library, or a group library. 

• Mendeley Web Importer plugin for internet browser software
• Drag and drop a pdf file into your library
• Use a save to Mendeley option in many databases and search tools
• Use a save to RIS or RefMan format option in many other databases and search tools
• Add new - upload pdf file(s) from your computer
• Add new - manual entry of the data
• Add new - import data from another citation manager software in RIS, Endnote, or BibTeX format

Check out the descriptions and videos below for more details. 

Using the Web Importer plug in for your internet browser software (download here) allows you to harvest the citation information for many information types.  Sometimes, the Web Importer will also harvest the full text pdf file. 

If you have a full text pdf file already downloaded, you can drag and drop it into your Mendeley library.  The Mendeley library will harvest metadata from the file, if it is available, to create the library entry for you. 

Many library databases and other search tools have options to save to Mendeley.  Using the library website links to these databases will ensure you have access to all of our subscription items, even from off campus. You will often have the option to view and edit the additions to your Mendeley library in the online Reference Manager view. 

When using search tools like Google Scholar, or many databases, you may find an option to save the citation to an RIS format or RefMan format.  This will download a file to your local computer, and you can use the And new - File(s) from computer to import the data into your Mendeley library.  You will also need to download and add any pdf files to each entry. 

Under the < + Add new > button, there is an option to add File(s) from computer.  Browse your local files, select the file(s) you want to add to your library, and let Mendeley try to locate the metadata about each one.   After Mendeley has harvested that data, you can edit each entry to add more details. 

Under the < + Add new > button, there is an option to add a manual entry.  Select the type of item (journal article, book, etc.) and enter the data about it.  After you save some basic data, you will be able to edit the entry to add files and more details. 

In most citation management tools you can export all, or a set, of your items to a .RIS, Endnote, or BibTeX file format.  You can then use the Mendeley Add files option to locate and upload the exported file.  You will need to add attached pdf files to each item in a separate step.