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How Do I Use Mendeley?

Information and tips for getting the most out of Mendeley at Penn State Hershey George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library.

What is Mendeley?

What is Mendeley?
Mendeley is a free reference manager, comparable to EndNote.  Mendeley allows you to organize references, create citations, and bibliographies. It is also a PDF viewer which allows you highlight, annotate, and organize research papers all in one place. Mendeley has a social network feature in which you can create groups and collaborate and share with colleagues.

Mendeley's defaults for Penn State accounts include:

  • 7.5 GB of personal library space, with up to 50 collaborators
  • A separate 7.5 GB of group library space, with up to 1000 groups.

How to Get Mendeley

There are a few different ways for you to access and use Mendeley. The following links will lead you to each where you can decide which works best for you. 

Citation Management

  • Download Mendeley Desktop: this is one of two desktop programs that allows you to organize PDFs and sync to your online account. It is compatible with Windows 7 or higher, Mac OS X, and Linux.  Additional Assistance.

  • Download Mendeley Reference Manager: this is the second desktop program, which mimics the online version.  It also allows you to organize PDFs and sync to your online account.  This program also allows you to create annotations and notes for each downloaded citation.  However, direct PubMed imports are not yet available for this program.  Both the Desktop and Reference Manager programs can be loaded onto the same computer.

  • Mendeley Online: from here you can sign into your account, import citations straight from databases, access your libraries from anywhere, and sync to your Mendeley Desktop.  If you already have an Elsevier personal account, please login with that account.

  • Please note that the Mendeley Mobile app has been retired.

Add-On Programs

  • Download Mendeley Cite: this add-on program allows you to link your Mendeley account to the Microsoft Word desktop.  Thus you will be able to create bibliographies in Word using your Mendeley account.  Both the PSU and PSH versions of Office 365 are not enabled for this download.

  • Web Importer: add this to your bookmark toolbar and you can import citations directly from databases and websites to your Mendeley library. The download option will automatically identify the browser that you are using.

Subjects: Author Tools, Get Help