FAQ
Mendeley FAQ: free plan, Windows 11, safety, Cite
Answers to questions people search before and after installing Mendeley Reference Manager. Each answer starts with a direct statement for quick scanning.
Legal and cost
Yes. Mendeley Reference Manager is free to use. Free accounts include about 2GB of personal cloud storage. Institutions may offer extra storage through campus agreements.
No. Mendeley is proprietary software. You can still export references (for example BibTeX or RIS) for use in other tools. See trust & security for transparency notes.
Security and downloads
Download the Windows EXE from a trusted package channel, then verify the SHA256 on the download page before running it. Unexpected hashes mean stop and re-download.
Large EXE installers are sometimes flagged heuristically. Confirm the hash, then ask IT to review that specific file. Follow the antivirus guide instead of turning protection off globally.
Compatibility
Yes. Supported desktop systems include Windows 10 and above on x64, which includes Windows 11.
No. Track Changes can duplicate or corrupt citation fields. Turn it off while inserting or editing citations. See the Cite troubleshooting steps.
Desktop is the legacy app. Reference Manager is the current desktop client with cloud-first sync. Sync Desktop before you rely solely on Reference Manager so local libraries are not left behind.
Usage
Often yes for selective reading lists. Exhaustive full-text corpora or scan-heavy PDFs may exceed 2GB. Keep metadata even if you archive some files externally.
The desktop Reference Manager can work with already synced content while offline. Sync when you reconnect so annotations and new PDFs upload.
Still stuck? Check troubleshooting guides or the download center.