Allow file storage on any server.
I like the idea of syncing my library with a server, but find it undesirable to use Mendeley's. I understand that Mendeley is trying to run a business, but making your server side storage system more open really would encourage people like me to stick with your software. I don't like the idea of uploading my library to foreign servers.
Jordan Perr
shared this idea
106 comments
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dukeofgaming
commented
Maybe this could also address sensitive proprietary information that one wouldn't like to upload to Mendeley but still have available to read in it. Maybe some kind of API to let Mendeley download files into the client but not upload them directly to Mendeley's servers?
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dukeofgaming
commented
Maybe this could also address sensitive proprietary information that one wouldn't like to upload to Mendeley but still have available to read in it. Maybe some kind of API to let Mendeley download files into the client but not upload them directly to Mendeley's servers?
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Anonymous
commented
i think its a better idea to change the cloud space with the other foreign servers.
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AdminWilliam Gunn
(Admin, Mendeley)
commented
This doesn't directly address all of the concerns raised here, but to specifically address the cost issue, we have developed the Mendeley Institutional Edition: http://blog.mendeley.com/academic-features/announcing-the-mendeley-institutional-edition-powered-by-swets/
This will allow organizations to buy in and provide better storage options to everyone at their organization, but does not currently address file storage on arbitrary servers.
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Pierre Schroeder
commented
Just to be clear, it's not clear at all! ;) A discussion about that came up already a year ago, and the conclusion of it was, that there are two types of people with different concerns: The first type wants only the ability to specify a personalized central file storage (as you did point out, Kacper), and the other type requires a complete server application which can be maintained completely shut off the rest of the world and hopefully incorporates user-privilege management and group-access control over data AND meta-data, which is, as it turned out, not the request represented by this feedback entry.
Therefore I created another thread for, let's call them / us, "enterprise" or "industrial" users. For our new arrivals to this thread, I'll repost the link as hardly anybody reads more than the last three posts ;) :
http://feedback.mendeley.com/forums/4941-mendeley-feedback/suggestions/1522343-privately-deployable-enterprise-server-repos?ref=title -
Kacper Rucinski commented
Just to be clear, I understand that we are asking for ATTACHMENT storage on any server. The main Mendeley database (containing metadata, annotations, sharing settings, etc.) should still be synced to Mendeley.
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Jay A. Babcock
commented
This is the main reason that I stay with Zotero and have not made the switch over to Mendeley
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Anonymous
commented
This thread is already two years old. It is clear that Mendeley Team doesn't want to "Allow file storage on any server" and don't even answers. We should turn our efforts to make an open source alternative solution.
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Anonymous
commented
I want to store it on my own server because I have a team of people that I work with and I don't want each of us using 5gb (or more) of space on our hard drives for the same files--We have a system that gets backed up nightly and frees up space on my laptop. Since I'm usually connected to the internet this works well for me.
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Carl Anderson
commented
I think people in my department -- and other departments in the university -- would be in most cases willing to store stuff online in Mendeley's existing model ... but we're in South America, and there is no _way_ that any of the faculty are going to personally pay the fees for more storage. If it seems pricey for what it is in North America or Europe, it seems far more pricey here. To break into the growing markets in the developing world, Mendeley may need to do more to go directly to university administrations and convince them to buy in at the institutional level. _Someone_ will eventually do this, I think, and that someone will have a potentially valuable foothold in this expanding academic market ....
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DetlevCM
commented
I think I would support this suggestion too.
In terms of making money, Mendeley could sell a "Mendeley Server" for say 100 Euro or Dollar as a once off price. Just like normal not cheap but not insanely expensive software.
Updates between the same overall build for free, major releases would be "pay again" or a smaller upgrade fee.
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Graham Denyer
commented
I can only add my voice (and votes) to the multitude here. I work in an institution that will not allow cloud storage of our library of papers but would happily pay to use Mendeley (subscription or one off license fee) to be able to use the product whist maintaining the pdfs on our own servers. Mendeley listen to your users and expand your business model please. Besides, surely the metadata is where the value really is for you - and you get that for nothing!
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LE
commented
This topic + PDFs should be attached with paths relative to a user-configurable base path = 3150 votes (#3 on the list), yet no status at all, not even "under review". We get responses like, "Hopefully we will be able to accommodate people who have to or want to store content elsewhere in future, though I do not know quite how that will work yet." and "No updates on this at the moment I'm afraid." from 4 months ago. If only Mendeley would hire programmers with internet-knowledge. Oh wait, I see "create an api so I can list my recent reading on my webpage" with a whopping 11 votes has the status of "started". <sarcasm off>
Seriously, I like Mendeley a lot. I will PAY MONEY for a license to use it with my own storage and recommend it to my colleagues. Right now I will do neither. I will NOT pay $10 a month for 15GB when I already pay for cloud storage that is multi-purpose. Mendeley has given no indication that they care at all about the 3150 votes that have gone into this feature request. They seem to be stubbornly maintaining their business plan of selling storage subscriptions at the cost of sacrificing the good will of their user base (probably primarily academics, with limited budgets) who appreciate the overall quality of the product compared to alternatives (although boolean search functions and smart groups seem like a no brainer).
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Liang WANG
commented
I keep my fulltext files on Dropbox and I think it is the easiest way to work. You can associate the designated Dropbox folder as 'watch folder' and 'organisation folder' in Mendeley Desktop.
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Luke Pilling
commented
Couldn't agree more with others comments here. The group I work in is reluctant to start using Mendeley, as we already have EndNote set up and paid for. The advantages of Mendeley are very clear, that is not in question.
Being able to (as previously suggested) purchase a group license to have our own Mendeley server, which would no doubt be linked in to Mendeley's central database, would give us not only peace of mind, but hopefully be a cheaper alternative without data restrictions!
Being both a bit cheaper, and allowing us to store our data on our own servers, would be a huge incentive to a lot of groups, and would give Mendeley yet another edge over alternative reference managers.
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Michael Dacre commented
I just want to add my voice to this: I would much prefer to be able to set up my own server.
Maybe you could sell a server daemon and charge for it? Or charge a license fee to be able to use a non Mendeley server?
$5 a month is pretty steep - $60 a year!
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Adminrobert.knight
(Admin, Mendeley)
commented
Hello alberto,
That change in the previous release had nothing to do with Dropbox - it was to fix a problem where the folder scanner could get stuck in an infinite loop or scan a much larger part of the hard drive than the user originally intended if symlinks or shortcuts were present in the folder being scanned.
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Stefano B
commented
Just find the way to raise some money from those who don't like/want use your servers for storage (license, mo monthly fee...). It's just irritating to have for free something that one would pay for (the software), and be forced to pay for something one doesn't want to buy (the storage).
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alberto
commented
Looks like Mendeley is trying to put an end to symlink work arounds with dropbox
"Mendeley no longer follows shortcuts or symlinks to other folders when scanning watched folders or importing files from a folder"
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odoyle81
commented
this is a deal breaker for me. Zotero lets me use webdav and I'm sticking with zotero until you implement this. sorry.
