Mendeley

Mendeley Reference Manager is a free reference management tool from Elsevier that enables you to: 

• store all your references in one location 
• insert citations in Word using Mendeley Cite 
• automatically sync your library between multiple devices 
• organise your thoughts, PDF annotations and highlights using the built-in notebook 
• collaborate and share in real-time 
• participate in the Mendeley academic social network. 

ACU staff and students have access to Mendeley Institutional Edition. This entitles users to additional storage. See Mendeley Institutional Edition (on this page) for more information.

Library staff at ACU provide limited support for Mendeley users. For additional help, please visit the Mendeley Help Guides.

Which reference management tool is best for me?

Table last updated September 2025. 

Mendeley Reference Manager consists of three integrated applications:

• Mendeley Reference Manager — install on your desktop or use as a web application. 
• Mendeley Cite — add-in for Microsoft Word. 
• Mendeley Web Importer — adding this extension to your browser enables you to easily build your library of references as you search online. 

Mendeley Reference Manager, Mendeley Cite, and Mendeley Web Importer can all be downloaded from the Mendeley website.

For guidance on using Mendeley, see:

• Mendeley Help Guides
• Mendeley Support Centre – for FAQs and news
• Mendeley Reference Manager LibGuide
• Mendeley Cite guide – for information on referencing in Microsoft Word.

ACU staff and students have access to Mendeley Institutional Edition. This entitles users to greater benefits than the free version, including:

• 100 GB personal storage (compared to 2 GB)
• 100 GB shared storage (compared to 100 MB) 
• up to 100 collaborators and 1,000 groups. 

If you are already using Mendeley, you can link your account to the ACU institutional account. Sign into your Mendeley account or create a Mendeley account using your ACU email address. Upgrade to the Institutional Edition by visiting the ACU Mendeley Group page. You should then receive an email that confirms your account has been upgraded. 

Mendeley Cite, the Microsoft Word add-in required to generate citations in Word, is currently blocked in the ACU Office 365 environment. Staff can request installation of the add-in on their work computers via Service Central. Once the add-in has been deployed by Service Central, follow these steps to display the Mendeley Cite add-in:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click 'Insert' on the menu bar, then click 'Get Add-ins'.
3. Click 'Admin Managed'.
4. Select 'Mendeley Cite' and click 'Add'. If Mendeley Cite does not appear, select 'Refresh'.
5. The Mendeley Cite button should now appear on the menu bar.

Students who have ACU Office 365 installed on a Mac may also be affected. In this instance, install Zotero or EndNote instead.

Mendeley Reference Manager has replaced Mendeley Desktop. However, existing users of Mendeley Desktop can continue to sign in and utilise the software. More information about the status of Mendeley Desktop is available on the Mendeley Blog. 

Visit the Mendeley Support Center.

The library provides limited Mendeley support. Contact us to see if we can help.

Guide last reviewed: 10 September 2025