The easiest way to add references to Mendeley is to Drag & Drop files directly into your library. 

You can also:

• Select a file or folder to add from your computer, or you can watch a folder (That means that any time you add a new document into that folder on your computer, Mendeley will import the document into your library automatically).
• Import references from another reference manager program.
• Import from electronic databases, using Mendeley's Web Importer citations are imported into Mendeley Web).
• Import from Mendeley's Research Catalog.
• Add all your references manually.

Watch the brief tutorial below to learn more about adding references to your library.

At any time, you can delete a reference from your library. Just select the reference and:

1. Right-click the item(s), OR
2. Use the File menu
3. Select Delete Document or Remove from Collection.

On Mendeley Web, you can add articles by searching Mendeley’s crowd-sourced Research Catalog, which includes millions of papers. 

If the full- text of the article is available, you’ll see a download icon next to the title. Simply click the Save PDF to library button.  If the full-text is not available, you can still add the reference to your library so you can use the information to find the full text.  Simply click the Save Reference to library button.

The research catalog also provides Readership Statistics for each article you look at, and it offers related research you may choose to browse. 

Additional ways to add documents to your Mendeley library include:

Watch Folder: Just drop PDFs in the designated folder on your computer and Mendeley will import them automatically.

Catalog ID Lookup: Simply enter the ArXiv ID, DOI, or PMIDs from PubMed and Mendeley will import the reference into your library:

Import from other reference management systems: In Mendeley Desktop, use the File menu to import documents from Zotero, EndNote, BibTeX, and RIS. Just be sure these documents are saved with the appropriate file type. (See also, Mendeley Migration). 

One of the easiest ways to add documents to your Mendeley library is to simply drag and drop documents from a saved folder on your computer or from the Internet (see the brief video below).

Sometimes Mendeley will flag a document for review, which means it will ask permission to check Google Scholar to fill in missing fields. At any point in time, you can manually edit fields as well.

You can use Mendeley’s Web Importer to add articles you’ve found through subscription databases or freely on the web, like Google Scholar, for example. Save references and PDF files from your browser directly to your Mendeley library folders. Mendeley has improved their Web Importer with more accurate metadata, so it now checks CrossRef and OCLC reference linking services.

Alternately, you can install the Web Importer from Mendeley Desktop, using the Tools feature. Simply select Install Web Importer.

Mendeley can import references from other reference management systems. Take a look at the Migration Guide below for step-by-step instructions for migrating from RefWorks, EndNote, Papers, and Zotero.