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Mendeley Desktop

Guide to using Mendeley Desktop reference management and social citation sharing software

Adding PDFs to your Mendeley library

​If you have PDFs saved which you want to add to the library, Mendeley Desktop can create a bibliographic record from the PDF. There are three ways to add the PDFs to your library:

  1. Drag and drop: Open up the folder where you have saved your PDFs and display it so you can see your Mendeley Desktop library behind it. Click on one of the PDFs and drag it into the references pane of your library.
  2. Add files: Click on the arrow next to Add on the top left of the screen, select Add Files and navigate to the folder where the PDF is stored. Select a PDF and click on Open.
  3. Watched folder: Mendeley Desktop will automatically import all files that you save to a particular folder on your computer. To set this up, go to the File menu and select Watch folder.

Bibliographic details may not always import correctly. If Mendeley is uncertain about the details of an article it will add the article to the Needs Review collection. When you view this article, you can confirm the details are correct, or if information is incorrect or missing you can correct this. See Editing a reference.