Configuring advanced reference search

Advanced reference search is a premium feature. Overleaf premium features are available to participants in Overleaf Commons, members of group subscriptions, and owners of individual subscriptions.

How to configure advanced reference search

Select the project settings:

Image of the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner of the editor

Settings option in File menu in the Overleaf editor

Navigate to Editor > Reference search, and select Settings to display the Reference search settings window.

From the Reference search style drop-down menu, select Advanced reference search to display its configuration options.
Any reference managers linked to your account are listed with an option to include them in your reference searches. For convenience, we are showing Mendeley, ReadCube, and Zotero, but most users will have only one of these.

Select the reference manager(s) you want to include in your search. Some reference managers will have additional configuration options. At present, Mendeley doesn’t but ReadCube and Zotero do.

To use Mendeley, go to the next section.
To use Zotero, go to Configuring advanced reference search to use Zotero.
To use ReadCube, go to Configuring advanced reference search to use ReadCube.

To learn how to link reference managers to your Overleaf account, read the pages on Mendeley, Zotero, and ReadCube.

Configuring advanced reference search to use Mendeley

Select Include results from your Mendeley account.

You need to select the Main bibliography file for this project, an editable .bib file that Overleaf will update with any references you cite from Mendeley.
Depending on the number of editable .bib files in your project, Overleaf will handle this selection in one of three ways:
1. Projects without an editable .bib file: When you first cite a reference contained in a linked reference manager, including Mendeley, Overleaf will create a .bib file called references.bib. You’ll see that file name used in the notification message displayed each time a new reference is added to it.
2. Projects with a single editable .bib file: Overleaf will automatically select this file for you.
3. Projects with multiple editable .bib files: Overleaf will display a drop-down menu, allowing you to select one. If your project contains editable .bib files but you don’t select one, then Overleaf will select one for you.

Overleaf will notify you each time a new reference is added to the .bib file chosen to contain references pulled-in from a linked reference manager.

Select Close to complete the setup for advanced reference search using the Mendeley reference manager.

Overleaf's advanced reference search option cannot bring in individual references from a Mendeley group. If you need to use references from a Mendeley group, the entire group library can be imported as a read-only .bib file as described here.

Configuring advanced reference search to use Zotero

Select Include results from your Zotero account.
Overleaf provides a drop-down list of the libraries in your Zotero account.
Note: The following graphic shows how libraries are named and listed in Zotero and Overleaf’s drop-down menu.

Select the Zotero libraries you want to include in your reference searches.

You need to select the Main bibliography file for this project, an editable .bib file that Overleaf will update with any references you cite from Zotero.
Depending on the number of editable .bib files in your project, Overleaf will handle this selection in one of three ways:
1. Projects without an editable .bib file: When you first cite a reference contained in a linked reference manager, including Zotero, Overleaf will create a .bib file called references.bib. You’ll see that file name used in the notification message displayed each time a new reference is added to it.
2. Projects with a single editable .bib file: Overleaf will automatically select this file for you.
3. Projects with multiple editable .bib files: Overleaf will display a drop-down menu, allowing you to select one. If your project contains editable .bib files but you don’t select one, then Overleaf will select one for you.
Note: Overleaf will notify you each time a new reference is added to the .bib file chosen to contain references pulled-in from a linked reference manager

Select Close to complete the setup for advanced reference search using the Zotero reference manager.

Configuring advanced reference search to use ReadCube

Select Include results from your ReadCube account.
Overleaf provides a drop-down list of the libraries in your ReadCube account.
Select the ReadCube libraries you want to include in your reference searches.

You need to select the Main bibliography file for this project, an editable .bib file that Overleaf will update with any references you cite from ReadCube.
Depending on the number of editable .bib files in your project, Overleaf will handle this selection in one of three ways:
1. Projects without an editable .bib file: When you first cite a reference contained in a linked reference manager, including ReadCube, Overleaf will create a .bib file called references.bib. You’ll see that file name used in the notification message displayed each time a new reference is added to it.
2. Projects with a single editable .bib file: Overleaf will automatically select this file for you.
3. Projects with multiple editable .bib files: Overleaf will display a drop-down menu, allowing you to select one. If your project contains editable .bib files but you don’t select one, then Overleaf will select one for you.
Note: Overleaf will notify you each time a new reference is added to the .bib file chosen to contain references pulled-in from a linked reference manager.

Select Close to complete the setup for advanced reference search using the ReadCube reference manager.

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Last updated 1 month ago

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