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Enable PDF download (in addition to metadata) when accessible

According to mendeley:
"Currently, Mendeley being able to import the PDF attached to a given file depends on that PDF being under "open access". To clarify, it being accessible without it requiring login credentials, or to be accessed via a predefined network - such as a university campus."

This is super important, since few journals are open access. Ideally, the bottom line should be if the pdf is downloadable (either because it is open access or because you have gained access to it by direct login information or by being within a network that has direct access to it) then Mendeley shoudl download the pdf.

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    Car MaxCar Max shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →
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    5 comments

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      • Anna MAnna M commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        This should definitely be integrated into the web importer as well as the desktop app.

      • Birger LofgrenBirger Lofgren commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        This was my solution.
        I didn't manage to set up the Zotero integration to fetch any (PDF) files and automatically store them in Mendeley. So I created a Watch on the Zotero folder in my local file system. This way PDFs added to Zotero was automatically added to Mendeley.

        Note however that if I want to delete the files I need to delete them both in Mendeley and Zotero. If I only delete them in Mendeley they will appear next time the Watch folder is scanned.

      • robert.knightAdminrobert.knight (Admin, Mendeley) commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Hello rdiaz,

        To clarify, you mean why can Mendeley not grab the PDF directly from the web page if it is behind a paywall or some other login system?

        The reason is that Zotero, as a browser plugin, has the same authentication on the site as you do when browsing the web page.

        When you trigger the Mendeley Web Importer on the other hand it sends a request off to our servers which will then try to download the PDF but our servers are not logged in with your authentication details do they will be unable to follow the link.

        The short answer is that we realize this is an important feature for many users and we're looking into options.

      • rdiazrdiaz commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        Why is this so complicated, technically? This feature has long been available in Zotero without any need for additional authentication.

        Right now, using Mendeley while browsing tables of contents is a huge pain because pdfs are not downloaded.

      • UnmeshUnmesh commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

        I know 10s of my friends and colleagues go to different softwares (some even expensive ones) just because of this feature missing from Mendeley...!! this is a must have !!!

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