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Mendeley - Beyond the Basics

Using Mendeley for Collaboration

You can create a group in Mendeley which will allow you to share your references with others. This is particularly useful if you are working on a joint project, or writing a document with other authors.

Creating a group

  1. Click Create Group on the left menu in Mendeley:

    Mendeley - Create Group

  2. Give your group a name (required), enter a description (optional), and choose whether you want the group to be public, invite-only, or private. Click Create group:

    Mendeley - Name Group

  3. Mendeley will then ask you to invite members to your group. Enter the email address(es) of your group member(s) and click Send invites. You can also click Skip, and invite members later.

    Mendeley - Invite members by email

    Separate multiple addresses with a semicolon. The invitee does not have to have a Mendeley library to receive an invitation. They will be prompted to create an account.

  4. You can manage your groups, edit details, invite new members, and see the group’s activity history from the Mendeley Groups page.

Joining a group

  1. If someone invites you to join a Mendeley group, you will receive an email notification. Click on the Join this group link in the email:

    Mendeley - Join group invite

  2. You will be taken to the Mendeley website and you will be prompted to login. You will then see a list of groups you have been invited to. Click on Accept or Decline:

    Mendeley - Accept group invite

  3. Once you have accepted the invitation, the group should appear in your Mendeley library under Groups:

    Mendeley - Joined groups

    You may need to Sync your library for the group(s) to appear.

    Mendeley - Sync groups

  • If you are working with a group of colleagues or classmates on the same document, it is best to assign one person to be in charge of combining feedback and incorporating changes into a ‘master’ version of your document.
  • Begin by creating and sharing a Mendeley group. Then, as sections are written or changes are made, references can be added or removed from the Mendeley group as needed.

When sharing a document with Mendeley references, it is best to send it to your colleagues or classmates as an email attachment.

We do not recommend using cloud-based systems (e.g. Google Drive, DropBox) to share documents with Mendeley references. It is possible to do, but there are instances where the Mendeley coding can be lost.
Please note that Mendeley is not compatible with Google Docs.

  • If each collaborator is writing their own section separately, ensure that each contributor adds their references to the shared Mendeley library. 
  • Alternatively, you may have written an initial draft on one computer. You can share the document via email for your group members to review. Once they have made any comments or changes, they can email the document back for you to consolidate the feedback into your ‘master’ document. The shared Mendeley library will ensure that the references function correctly for each of the group members. 
  • It is safe to use Track Changes in Microsoft Word documents with Mendeley references.
  • Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about document collaboration, or if you would like help getting started.