Make Mendeley Desktop portable (for USB Drive)
It would be great if Mendeley Desktop could be a portable application that can be run from a USB hard drive or stick.
AdminMendeley
(Admin, Mendeley)
shared this idea
A version of Mendeley Desktop for Windows which can be installed on shared computers without admin rights is available from http://s3.amazonaws.com/com.mendeley.download/Mendeley-Desktop-1.5.1-win32-NonAdmin.exe
This is not a full ‘portable’ version that stores everything on a USB pen, but it may help some users.
105 comments
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Marcelo Barroso commented
@DetlevCM
The main problem for graduate students trying to use Mendeley on university computers is two fold: it's not always possible to work on the same computer; they are all shared, most of the times we use the first one available, that's why portable apps are so useful. Moreover, the computers are blocked, both to install new softwares and for portable softwares to save configuration information (like login and password for accessing our Mendeley account).I tried to use @Alessandro Carrega's idea and it works. Just unpacked Mendeley desktop files (from the setup file, downloaded from Mendeley's website) using an unzip application, and stored all them in a folder in my pen-drive. Then, configured to download the pdf files to another folder (Options / File organizer). It works well for several Mendeley's features: reading and anotating papers, sychronizing, adding references etc.
There are two problems with using like this: both Citation view/copy and Word integration features don't work. And when I turned on the computer again today (i tried the first time yesterday), it had lost my configuration information, so I had to log in again, set up the File organizer again and download all pdf files again.
It seems then that a Portable version of Mendeley is close to be available, for the core of the software is working well. There seems to be minor issues to solve, like: save the configuration information at the pen-drive too, not Windows users configuration folders.
Best regards. Marcelo.
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Alessandro Carrega
commented
It could be a good improvements. For now, I use Mendeley Desktop just as portable extracting from the exe with 7Zip (or others). It works.
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DetlevCM
commented
Well, only once. Yes, the first time you add a lot of PDFs it takes a little while, but all notes etc. are stored separately.
Or do you mean moving between computers that you do not have a permanent account on?
On any computer that you have a permanent account on, and can store data on, your "download time problem" will only be valid once at the start. -
Ammar
commented
@DetlevCM
Sync ability is good, but it will take a long time, especially if u are syncing the pdf files as well. Nothing beats having the entire library available offline on a usb stick. -
DetlevCM
commented
@Ammar
If you are just moving between computers, you can use the synchronize function to keep things in synch. -
Ammar
commented
Release a potable version please. It would be very helpful when moving between computers.
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Maks Fomich
commented
do it please
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Alex Liu
commented
that's important for PhD students who have to work on different computers
please -
Alex Liu
commented
that's important for PhD students who have to work on different computers
please -
Alex Liu
commented
that's important for PhD students who have to work on different computers
please -
Patrick
commented
This is really important for PhD students and faculty who work in a university that has obsolete IT control.
Pleaaaase? -
kevin
commented
please please please. PhD students need this.
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Stephen Emechete
commented
There are publications related to my research work titled "using contact angle to find the surface free energy of HIV infested blood" that i would like to have access to at home on my lap top that do not have internet assess
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DetlevCM
commented
A vote from me on portable Mendeley too.
As a PhD Student I asked to have it installed and hence have it on my computer, but pretty muvh any BSc or MSc student will not have a dedicated computer for their use, relegating Mendeley to their own device.
Considering that some students like to work at university (I know several who did that during my BSc time), and have not got the ability to install Mendeley, aportable version would be of use to many.
I do see a potential issue with access to papers though, should they be stored on the USB drive, or access to the Web Synched files be more "direct" (i.e. not download an open with but direct opening as with Mendeley desktop and local files) -
Lars Balzer
commented
yes please
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Bruce
commented
Would be great for institutes where IT rules with an iron fist. Stuck with Endnoooote because of it being historically used. Update on this would be greatly appreciated from developers.
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Thiago de Jesus
commented
I suggest that the program is released in Portableapps.com's site, because that would give more visibility to Mendeley. The Portableapps.com platform is easy to use, has a large number of users and can be easily installed on any PC.
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Patrick Gillespie
commented
I also would have given all 10 of my votes for this feature. This actually points to a problem in your ranking mechanism, as this sort of problem may not affect as broad a swath of users as some other issues, but for those to whom it is relevant it is a very acute problem.
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X. Gelabert
commented
I would give all my 10 votes for this feature...
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Anonymous
commented
I agree with this option. It would be very usefull
