Citavi - Reference management

The library provides Citavi for all students, lecturers and employees as part of a campus license "Citavi Desktop & Web Bundle".

To use Citavi, create a Citavi account(Opens in a new tab)  to receive the free license. This requires a one-time registration. Please only enter your Fachhochschule Dortmund e-mail address (...@fh-dortmund.de or ...@stud.fh-dortmund.de). Click here to register(Opens in a new tab) 

Once your studies or employment at the university have ended, you can no longer use Citavi via the UAS campus license. After the license expires, the program automatically reverts to the free version, i.e. storage capacity max. 100 records per project. However, data records already entered will be retained.

If you want to use Citavi on your PC, install the campus license: to download(Opens in a new tab) 

After installation, proceed as follows:

• Start Citavi from your PC.
• Click on the login icon at the top right of the start window.
• Enter your e-mail address and the password for your Citavi account.
• Citavi will automatically retrieve the license information from your account.

The "Citavi for Windows" version runs on computers with Windows 10, Windows 8 with .NET Framework 4.8, Windows Server 2016, 2012, 2008 R2 with .NET Framework 4.8 and requires at least 4 GB of RAM.

Mac and Linux users
If you want to use "Citavi for Windows" in macOS systems, you must install Microsoft Windows (Windows 7, 8 or 10) on the macOS computer. To do this, use a virtualization solution such as Parallels or VMware Fusion. To the virtualization solution(Opens in a new tab)  in the Citavi manual.

Alternatively, please use the "Citavi Web" version, which runs independently of the operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux) and is browser-based.

Word processing programs
Citavi integrates with Microsoft Office Word (with versions Word 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010) and works with LaTeX editors. You can find instructions for Citavi with Word and LaTeX in the Citavi manual(Opens in a new tab) .

Since version Citavi 6, projects can be saved in the cloud. You can choose at the beginning whether your project should be saved locally or in the cloud. Cloud storage must be selected or deselected for each new project.

Please note that personal data or security-relevant information should not be stored in the cloud. The cloud storage service should primarily be used for sharing private data. These are not subject to any restrictions by the university's data protection officer. Nevertheless, all users should be aware that there is a risk in sharing data. Before sharing data - personal or not - you should be aware that the recipients of the data can download it and distribute it themselves. The use of the cloud storage service for business data should be used with caution. If only non-personal data is exchanged or only your own business data is involved, this is also harmless.

Please note the following when using the cloud storage service: Only individual copies of a work are permitted and only for your own academic use.

Please also remember that you only have access to the data stored in the cloud as long as you are a member of Fachhochschule Dortmund. Please make a local copy in good time.

Since May 1, 2019, Citavi has moved all cloud projects to new servers. This is necessary because the data centers previously used by Citavi are no longer supported by Microsoft. This means that the data of the cloud projects is located in data centers operated by Microsoft Azure in Northern, Western and Central Europe. You can save your cloud projects as local projects or delete your cloud projects.

To the instructions(Opens in a new tab) 

If you want to delete your Citavi account completely, follow the instructions below:

Delete account(Opens in a new tab) 

If you have questions about moving the server, contact Citavi: servicecitavicom 

In this context, Citavi has updated its privacy policy to refer to the new data centers. The new version has been in effect since May 1, 2019:

To the privacy policy(Opens in a new tab) 

The Citavi Assistant is an add-in for MS Word. You will need it if you are working with the "Citavi Web" version and MS Office 365 (Microsoft campus contract(Opens in a new tab)  of Fachhochschule Dortmund). How to use the add-in:

• Start Word.
• Switch to the "Start" tab.
• Click on "Add-Ins".
• In the context menu under "My add-ins", click on the Citavi Assistant icon
• A task area will open. Log in here with your Citavi Account(Opens in a new tab)  access data.
• If you do not yet have a Citavi account, click on the drop-down menu "Campus license & Citavi account".

You can find everything you need to know about the "Citavi Assistant" in the Citavi manual(Opens in a new tab) .