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How to downgrade from Mendeley Desktop 1.13
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mendeley-desktop-recovery.md

Switching from Mendeley Desktop 1.13 to an earlier version

Since this is a major update, it is unfortunately not backwards compatible with Mendeley Desktop 1.12. If you encounter problems with the preview release and need to go back to 1.12 whilst we fix the issue, please read this carefully.

In particular do not use the 'Restore Backup' feature for this.

Before you go back to Mendeley Desktop 1.12

If you encounter problems with 1.13, please contact us at support@mendeley.com and send us details of any error messages you receive. Please include the exact text of any messages if possible. You can also reach us via Twitter.

This will help us to investigate and fix issues as quickly as possible.

How to go back to Mendeley Desktop 1.12

If you do need to go back to Mendeley Desktop 1.12, there are two options. The first approach is to use an archived copy of your database that is created when you first install Mendeley Desktop 1.13. This is usually the quickest option as it will remember the locations of files that were already synced to your local system.

Option A: Use the archived copy of your database that is saved on upgrade to Mendeley Desktop 1.13

Mendeley Desktop archives your previous local database during the upgrade to 1.13. If you want to go back to the stable version, you can recover it as follows:

If you cannot start Mendeley Desktop 1.13 at all, see this support article instead of steps 1-2 below for details on where to find your Mendeley Desktop data folder

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D (Cmd+Shift+D on Mac) in Mendeley Desktop to open the debug console
  2. Click 'Open Data Folder' to open Mendeley's data folder in your file browser
  3. Go to the 'archive' folder inside the folder that opens
  4. Close Mendeley Desktop
  5. Copy the .sqlite files from the "archive" directory to the parent "Mendeley Desktop" folder
  6. Download and install the latest MD 1.12 release
  7. Start Mendeley Desktop 1.12 and sign in.

Option B: Delete your local data and let Mendeley Desktop re-sync everything from your online account.

An alternative is to close Mendeley Desktop, delete your local database, install Mendeley Desktop 1.12 and let it re-sync everything from your online account.

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D (Cmd+Shift+D on Mac) in Mendeley Desktop to open the debug console
  2. Click the 'Open Data Folder' button to open Mendeley's data folder in your file browser
  3. Remove the <your email>@www.mendeley.com.sqlite file
  4. Download and install the latest MD 1.12 release
  5. Start Mendeley Desktop 1.12 and sign in.

What to do if you're still having problems

If you encounter any problems with the above steps, please contact us at support@mendeley.com and we'll try to get you back up and running as soon as possible.

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