Skip to Main Content

Reference managers

An introductory guide to three common Reference managers - EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley.

Library Short: Choosing a referencing manager

Choosing a reference manager: EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley (17:48 mins) by RMIT University Library, Microsoft Stream (RMIT login required).

Module: Choosing a reference manager

Pressbook module cover.

Choosing a reference manager

This module is part of the Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers. It helps researchers decide which reference manager to use to organise their references in their work. The module explores the features of three popular reference managers – Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley – and helps in the decision of which one is best for research practices.


Book cover attribution: "Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers" by RMIT University Library is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. Cover design by Dr. Lisa Cianci. Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa (underlayed), All rights reserved. Cover image: Human Skills by Vicons Design from Noun Project.

Changing reference managers

EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero make it easy to change to another Reference Manager. See below for each application's process. Please note: while citations will be copied, PDFs of articles may not be exported.

EndNote Mendeley Zotero

From Zotero

From EndNote

From EndNote

From Mendeley

From Zotero

From Mendeley