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Mendeley Reference Manager Layout - Desktop Version

The desktop-version of the Mendeley library window has three panels representing different levels of information about your documents.
  • The Left Sidebar Panel shows your Mendeley library and named collections, as well as your Mendeley "Groups". Use "Filters" to further refine your selections. The "Trash" folder maintains a record of deleted documents in case they are needed again in the future.
  • The Center Panel lists items contained within the library, collection or group that you select in the Left Sidebar Panel. Double clicking on the item entry will open the document in a new tab in your Mendeley desktop.
  • The Right Sidebar Panel lists the "Info" and your "Notes" on the selected items in the Center Panel.

 

A screenshot of the layout of Mendeley Desktop.

Screenshot of Mendeley Desktop with left panel open

Document Reader

In the Mendeley Reference Manager desktop app, when you double-click on an item in the Center Panel of your library, the document opens under a separate tab with the document title on the tab. Clicking on Notebook will open a Righthand Sidebar Panel with three buttons. One contains the "Info" of the document including bibliographic information, tags, keywords, abstract, etc. The "Notebook" button allow you to take notes, and the "Annotations" button keeps track of any highlighting and annotations you make on the document. To highlight, use the pen icon in the upper left corner. You can choose which color to annotate with by selecting from the color dropdown menu. To annotate, use the speech bubble icon.

 

You are able to open multiple PDFs at once, each in their own tab.

"Groups" Layout - Desktop Version

In the desktop version of Mendeley Reference Manager, "Groups" appears like another collection in your library. When a "Group" is selected, two panels will appear representing different levels of information about that Mendeley group.
  • The Left Sidebar Panel shows your Mendeley library and named collections, as well as your Mendeley "Groups". Use "Filters" to further refine your selections. The "Trash" folder maintains a record of deleted documents in case they are needed agin in the future.
  • The Center Panel contains the information, documents and members of the group that you select in the Left Sidebar Panel. 
    • The "Overview" button allows you to see information about the group, and actions taken by members of the group.
    • The "Documents" button opens up the group's collection of documents; like in your own library, double clicking on an item entry will open the document in a new tab in your Mendeley desktop. As in your library, the Right Sidebar Panel in the "Documents" window lists the "Info" and your "Notes" and "Annotations" on the selected items in the Center Panel.
    • The "Members" button allows you to keep track of current "Groups" members, invite new members and find people from your contacts list on Mendeley.

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