thomaspaulb/info_json.png

## info_json.png

      
    Raw
  

              info_json.png
            
          
## mendeley_public_folders.md

      
    Raw
  

              mendeley_public_folders.md
            
          
    For anyone missing their Mendeley references in public or invite-only groups that were deleted by Mendeley, you can follow this guide, based on a Reddit answer that I found.
Here are the steps I followed, using an older version, Mendeley 1.19.4

Go to the Mendeley data folder.


In Windows this is C:\users\{youruser}\Appdata\Mendeley Ltd\Mendeley Desktop
In Ubuntu it is $HOME/.local/share/data/Mendeley Ltd/Mendeley Desktop
In MacOS it is /Users/{youruser}/Library/Application Support/Mendeley Desktop

Note Make a full backup of this folder! This way you can always return to it when there is some mistake and you need to repeat.

Find a backup that still contains all of your references. In "info.json" you can see the number of documents contained in the backup and you need also the "database.sqlite" file and "monitor.sqlite" (see screenshot). With this number you can estimate if you think this backup still contains the references that were in the groups that were deleted.

Note If you can, now take the backup files to a 'clean' computer that didn't have Mendeley before; this way you still have your old setup to return to. Install Mendeley on that other computer.


In your data folder, go into www.mendeley.com subfolder and then go into the most recently created folder carrying a long guid-number as the name. Under backups, make a subfolder called backupSlot1 (or 2,3... if a number already exists). Copy the three backup files into there.


Start up Mendeley with the internet on. Log in. Go to Help.. restore backup and your backup should be recognized there. Click it and say yes to all the steps, including "Delete your cloud" (make sure that this is OK for you and that you have other backups of your more recent data). Mendeley will now empty your cloud, restore the backup and restart.


Put your hand on the killswitch of your internet. I used the Wifi disable button of my laptop, you could also use your network cord or anything else that can make you disable the internet fast. Now log in to mendeley and make it "Remember this login", and right after the login screen flicks out and the sync starts, but before it comes to "Reading groups....", kill the internet. It will start syncing but fail to complete. Now force close Mendeley.


With the internet still off, restart Mendeley. It will now say "crash recovery" and should show your public groups. (If it doesnt, then your timing in step 5 may have been off, you can repeat from step 3 to retry).


Now you can rescue your data by moving the references to your library, or you can export them as BibTex.
As a bonus, if you want to switch to Zotero, then after moving all your references to local library you can use this awesome tutorial to decrypt your database to allow import from Zotero.
https://eighty-twenty.org/2018/06/13/mendeley-encrypted-db