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University of Portland Clark Library

Mendeley: Moving from RefWorks to Mendeley

Why Move to Mendeley?

The Library's subscription to RefWorks is ending April 30, 2025. Data saved in RefWorks can be exported and moved into another reference manager. We recommend and support Zotero as a free alternative. Another popular free reference manager is Mendeley - we have a guide to get people started. There are also fee-based competitors like Endnote or Papers. 

Exporting from RefWorks

Export all references* in a single step. You will have to recreate your folder hierarchy in Mendeley and manually organize the sources. Also, attached PDFs will not be exported.

  1. Log into RefWorks
  2. Choose All References from the left navigation pane
  3. Choose the Share icon at the top of the screen and then Export references from the dropdown menu
  4. Choose the following options and select the Export button:
    • From: All references in 'All References'
    • Format: BibTeX or RIS
    • ID output: Choose what works best for you
  5. Save the export file where you can find it on your computer, then follow import instructions for Mendeley.

* If you have duplicate records in RefWorks, delete them before you export (choose the Tools icon, then Find duplicates). 

PDFs attached to your RefWorks records can be saved by downloading each PDF individually to your computer or linking your RefWorks account to Dropbox.

Linking to Dropbox:

  1. Log into Refworks
  2. Click on your name (top right)
  3. Choose Settings
  4. Scroll down the Settings page to Dropbox
  5. Log in or sign up for a Dropbox account
  6. Once linked, your PDF files should appear in the designated Dropbox folder
  7. As a precaution, move or copy the PDF files to another folder (either in Dropbox, your computer, or any other file storage space)

Importing to Mendeley

There are two ways to move data from RefWorks into Mendeley.

  • Drag your RefWorks PDFs into Mendeley to automatically extract citations and attach files. Note that this method won't preserve RefWorks folders; you'll have to create new Mendeley collections and manually organize the sources.
  • Import a BibTeX or RIS file with your RefWorks data - follow the steps below. 
  1. Open the Mendeley Desktop app.
  2. Choose File > Import
  3. A pop-up window will ask you what kind of file to import. Choose: A file (BibTeX, RIS, Zotero, RDF, etc.), then choose the Next button
  4. Select the file you would like to import, and choose Open
  5. Check the box next to Place imported collections and items into new collection and under file handling select Copy files to the Zotero storage folder (this will make sure Zotero syncs your files), then choose the Next button
  6. If there are more folders to import, repeat the previous steps.

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