Using Watch Folders in Mendeley
25/02/2025
Looking for a quick and easy way of adding documents to your Mendeley library? Wouldn’t it be great if you could add PDFs to a folder on your computer and these could be automatically imported into Mendeley? Well, actually you can!
By using a ‘watched folder’ within Mendeley, you can nominate a folder on your PC which you can ask Mendeley to ‘keep an eye on’. Every time a new PDF is added to this folder, Mendeley will automatically import it into your library.
Setting up watch folders is easy…
- Within your Mendeley Reference Manager Desktop, go to File > Watch Folder.
- This will bring up the folder structure on your PC. Under the ‘Watched Folders’ tab tick the folders you would like to watch, and click OK.
- Any PDF that you now add to your chosen folders will be automatically added straight into your Mendeley account.
Don’t forget there are lots of other ways you can add documents to your Mendeley account which you can read about in our previous post.
If you have any questions about Mendeley, pop into the Library or contact us.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Mastering the art of revising your writing
You’ve done the research and written your first draft. Now it’s time for one of the most crucial jobs as a writer - revising your writing to ensure your reader does not have to work ...
Using AI tools for your literature review
There are a proliferation of AI tools that can help you organise your life, work and study. This post focuses on academic or scholarly tools that have been developed to enhance the literature searching process, whether for independent research, an assignment or thesis. Bear in mind that these predominantly relate to finding journal/research papers, and not technical, business or trade sources such as standards, market research, industry reports or financial data. So ...
Finding successful past Cranfield theses
It’s always a good idea to look at examples of theses before you start work on your own. You may find them valuable for reading previous research, and for looking at structure, style and methodology. ...
On‑campus or off‑campus? How Cranfield students found their home away from home
Finding the right place to live is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make as you begin your student journey. Whether you’re looking for the convenience and community of living on-campus or the independence ...
Avoiding common referencing errors
As librarians, we get to see the full spectrum of reference lists in student work —from exemplary to … well, let’s just say, works still very much in progress! We are experts in spotting mistakes ...
Using your Mendeley library after you have left Cranfield
So you have spent the whole year (or more) lovingly collecting references around the topics that matter to you and now you have a large, personalised library in Mendeley Reference Manager containing all that information. ...