Mendeley

This page explains how to link Mendeley to your Overleaf account and use it to add references to your project.

How to link Mendeley to your Overleaf account

1

Select Account located on the bottom left-hand side of your Projects dashboard and then Account Settings from the pop-up menu:

2

Scroll down the list of Account Settings to the Reference managers section, then select "Link" for the Mendeley integration.

3

If you are not logged into Mendeley, proceed to log in to complete the process of linking Mendeley to your Overleaf account. If you are logged into Mendeley you will be asked if you wish to proceed. Continue to complete the linking process.

4

Upon successfully linking Mendeley, your Overleaf Account Settings will be updated to confirm your Mendeley account has been linked to your Overleaf account.

Note that you can unlink your Mendeley account at any time by selecting "Unlink".

How to add references to your Overleaf project using Mendeley

After linking Mendeley to your Overleaf account, you can add references to your project in two ways: by importing a library or group or by importing individual references.

Import Mendeley library or group

You can import the entire Mendeley library, or specific groups of references, to create a read-only (non-editable) .bib file that can be synced with your Mendeley account. If you update reference data in Mendeley, you can instruct Overleaf to update/refresh the .bib file to sync it with the changes made in Mendeley.

1

In the Overleaf editor, go to File > Upload file to view the "Add files" modal.

2

Select From Mendeley, update the file name, then select Create.

3

After the import finishes, you can view the uploaded file in the File tree. The down-left arrow symbol next to the file name denotes that the file is imported:

4

If you add any references to your Mendeley group or library that you wish to include, be sure to update the references list by selecting the Refresh button within the selected file:

Import individual references using Advanced Reference Search

You can import individual references from your Mendeley account by configuring advanced reference search to look for references in Mendeley. Any reference found in Mendeley and subsequently cited in your LaTeX document is automatically added to an editable .bib file contained in your Overleaf project. See Configuring advanced reference search to use Mendeley.

Notes on Overleaf’s integration with reference managers

Overleaf’s integration with external reference managers relies on the features and data provided by each platform’s web-based API (Application Programming Interface). Currently, Overleaf cannot control or modify the output generated by those APIs, nor do we apply any conversions to the data received. The reference data in the .bib file added to your Overleaf project is a direct copy of what the API provides, incorporated “as provided” into the .bib file.

Citation keys

For a given set of references, the .bib data produced by a reference manager’s platform API may differ from the data produced by exporting those same references through other tools or services offered by that reference manager. This can cause issues if you switch between using web-based import via Overleaf’s integration and uploading .bib files manually exported from a reference manager’s equivalent desktop software or online libraries. For example, if you create a .bib file via Overleaf’s integration using Mendeley’s web API and subsequently replace it by uploading a .bib file created by manual export processes, you may need to check for variations in generated citation keys that cause previously-working citations to fail.

Updating project .bib files produced by reference managers

Reference managers, including Mendeley, offer two ways to create .bib files in your project.

1. A bulk import of an entire reference library, or one of its reference groups.

   • This method adds read-only (non-editable) .bib files to your Overleaf project. Any changes or updates to the read-only .bib files must be made in the reference manager and transferred to Overleaf by selecting the Refresh button at the top of the file preview.

2. Importing individual references from a reference manager using advanced reference search.

   • References added to a project .bib file using advanced reference search remain fully editable.

Further reading

• How to link Zotero to your Overleaf account

• How to link Papers to your Overleaf account

• How to search for references in an Overleaf project