Skip to Main Content

Mendeley

Guide to a free, easy-to-use tool that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources

Organize and Manage References

New references imported or added to Mendeley are saved in the All Documents folder by default; however, you can choose a specific folder using the Add to: drop-down menu similar to how you would save to a specific folder on your computer, an external drive, etc.

You can let Mendeley save to the Default location: All Documents:

All Documents folder.

Or you can use the Add-to: drop-down menu to save into a different folder of your choosing:

   Add to: drop-down menu.

To create a folder

  • In Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop:
    • Select or click on the Folder icon.
    • Type the desired title for the folder.
  • In Mendeley Web:
    • Select or click on Create Folder.
    • Type the desired title for the folder.
    • Type a brief description for the folder.

Creating folders in Mendeley.

To save a reference to a folder

  • In Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop:
    • Select or click the reference.
    • Drag the reference to the desired folder location.
  • In Mendeley Web:
    • Check the box next to the reference.
    • Choose the desired folder from the drop-down menu.

Saving to a specific folder in Mendeley.

To edit reference information in Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop

  1. Select or click on the reference you want to edit in the Review Pane.
  2. Click again next to the information you want to change to open the editing box.
  3. Edit the information.

Editing reference info in Mendeley Reference Manager for Desktop.

To edit reference information in Mendeley Web

  1. Select or click on a reference's title to open up details for that reference.
  2. Choose Edit document details edit bibliographic information -- add missing author info., abstract, notes, etc.
    1. You can save yourself time later if you do this step when you originally add the reference.
  3. Choose Edit tags to edit tags, if desired.

Editing reference info in Mendeley Web.

Mendeley Reference Manger for Desktop provides enhanced features for working with PDFs.

For example, you can highlight, annotate, and add notes to documents; your notes are also searchable in the desktop application.

  1. Select or click Highlight
  2. Highlight selected text in the PDF.
  3. Right-click the highlighted area.
  4. Select Add Note to add an annotation.
NOTE: For more information and detailed instructions, see Reading and annotating your documents from Mendeley.