Manage Citations with Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote: Mendeley

Mendeley is a free citation and paper management tool up with up to 2 GB of cloud storage. Mendeley has a desktop application, mobile app, and Chrome browser extension, making it easy to use across multiple devices. Mendeley has a strong web platform and user support, and it has easy guides to assist you.

There are several tools you can use to install Mendeley. If you are using the PSU computer labs, you will need to use the Chrome extension or the web importer. For more information and download links, visit the Mendeley website.

• Mendeley Desktop Application - Add PDFs and citations to Mendeley by dropping PDFs into the desktop application. It will then try to create the citation from the PDF itself. You can also set up watched folders where Mendeley will automatically add all PDFs that appear in that folder.
• Chrome Extension - Save citations to Mendeley using the Web extension whenever you are viewing an article (including PDF files) or a list of references in the browser. The Chrome extension most of the features of the desktop application of Mendeley, and is a great substitute if you cannot use the desktop application.
• Web Importer - This simple tool can save citations to Mendeley (it has no other features). It can be used in any browser, not just Chrome. 
• Mobile App - Access your Mendeley library and read, annotate or highlight your citations on the go.

The image below shows the Mendeley Chrome extension.

The image below shows the Mendeley web importer in Internet Explorer.

Sync your citations to Mendeley by clicking the "Sync" icon in the desktop application or the mobile app. You cannot sync in the web-based Mendeley library, but the library will pull the information synced from the desktop or mobile app. For example, you can add citations from the lab computers to your Mendeley library using the Chrome extension or the web importer, and then you can sync your mobile app to keep reading after you leave. If you make any changes on the mobile app, just sync again so the changes are reflected on another version of Mendeley.

You can easily organize citations with Mendeley. Use Mendeley to add annotations to highlight and add annotations to your research, sort your citations by author, title, publication year, journal, or download date, create folders to group your research, and add personal notes or short tags that help you keep your citations organized. Finally, you can attach other files and supporting documents to each citation to add more background to your research.

You can install Mendeley using any of the following methods. Please note that only the Chrome browser extension and web importer can be used on the PSU lab computers. 

• Mendeley desktop application - The free account gives you 2 GB of cloud storage. Once you have your account set up, you will be prompted to download the desktop application.
• Chrome browser extension - This extension installs in your Chrome browser and has almost the same functionality as the desktop software.
• Web importer - For Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari browsers.
• Mendeley Mobile App - It is a free companion app to the desktop software for your iOS or Android devices. You can read, tag, and add notes to your articles from the app.
• Word processor plugin, which can be installed through the Mendeley desktop application. Go to Tools and select “Install MS Word Plugin.” 

Mendeley has different tiers of storage plans to continue using the service once the 2 GB of free storage (approximately 700-800 articles) is exceeded. Prices range from $55/year for 5 GB to $165/year to unlimited storage. For more information about additional storage plans and costs for individual users, view Mendeley's storage plans.

Mendeley normally lets you create 1 private or invite-only group with up to 3 members and a 100 MB storage limit (or about 30-40 articles), regardless of whether you have purchased an individual storage plan upgrade. You can upgrade your group size with a separate team plan starting at $49/month for 5 people, which also increases your shared storage to 2 GB. For information about Mendeley Team plans, visit Mendeley's Team plans.

Mendeley uses groups to share knowledge and communicate with a discussion board so you can work together on a project or share knowledge in a research subject. You can join an unlimited number of public groups. You can also create 1 private or invite-only group with up to 3 members and a 100mb storage limit. You can upgrade your group size with a team plan starting at $49/month for 5 people. For more information about sharing research and citations with groups, visit their Groups website.

Mendeley is not accessible to screen readers. System settings for high contrast themes and font magnification will still work, but there are no other accessibility features through Mendeley.