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Import from reference manager

Upload a ZIP file containing your citation metadata (RIS/BibTeX) and PDFs from Mendeley, Citavi, EndNote, or other tools

What you need

  • Export RIS/BibTeX + PDFs from your reference manager as one ZIP file
  • Only PDFs with matching metadata will be imported
  • A ZIP of plain PDFs without citation metadata is not supported here
  • Upload one ZIP per collection/folder; use the project selector below to choose or create the destination folder in awRAG

Choose destination folder: All documents from your ZIP will be imported into the selected project. (RIS/BibTeX files don't include folder structure, so upload one ZIP per collection)

Project Selection

Files will be organized into this project

Import literature collections from Mendeley, Citavi, EndNote, etc

Upload a ZIP file containing PDFs exported from your reference management software

Watch RIS/BibTeX Import in Action

See how to export from your reference manager and import to awRAG

How to export from your reference manager

Mendeley

Manual assembly required

  1. Open Mendeley Desktop
  2. Go to File → Export → Choose RIS format and save the .ris file
  3. Manually gather all PDFs from your Mendeley folder
  4. Create a ZIP file containing the .ris file and all PDFs
  5. Upload the ZIP file above

Citavi (Recommended ✨)

Built-in combined export - easiest option!

  1. Open your Citavi project
  2. Go to File → Export → Export Project
  3. Choose RIS format
  4. Enable "Include linked files" option (this includes PDFs)
  5. Select ZIP as output format → Upload the ZIP file above

EndNote

Manual assembly required

  1. Open your EndNote library
  2. Go to File → Export → Choose BibTeX format and save the .bib file
  3. Manually gather all PDF attachments from your EndNote folder
  4. Create a ZIP file containing the .bib file and all PDFs
  5. Upload the ZIP file above

Important Requirements

  • Your ZIP must contain both a citation file (.ris or .bib) and PDF files
  • Only PDFs with matching metadata entries will be imported
  • Upload one ZIP per collection/folder from your reference manager; all documents will go to your selected project
  • PDF filenames should match what's in your reference manager (e.g., "Smith_2020.pdf")
  • awRAG automatically normalizes filenames (spaces, underscores, and dashes don't matter)
  • After upload, check the import status to see how many documents were matched and imported
  • For plain PDF uploads without metadata, use the regular Upload page instead

The exact export steps may vary depending on your software version. If you need help, please contact our support team.