Citavi
Citavi is a program for literature management and knowledge organization.
Citavi supports students and researchers through every step of working with scholarly literature, starting with research. Citavi opens the door to over 4,000 library catalogs and specialized bibliographies, whose data can be saved with a single click for further processing. And even with books piling up on your desk, you don’t have to type out the titles. If the books have an ISBN (International Standard Book Number)—all books published since 1980 do—that number is all it takes, and Citavi retrieves all the necessary information from the Internet: author, title, publisher, year, and often the cover image and a brief summary.
Citavi runs on Windows. You can find some instructions for installing it on a Mac here.
The RPTU has entered into a campus license agreement with Citavi for the use of rental licenses.
The RPTU’s CITAVI license agreement has been extended from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2028.
Who is authorized to use this software?
- We provide Citavi free of charge to students and staff at RPTU and IVW. These are single-user installations. Please download the software directly from Citavi via Shibboleth as described below.
- For licensing reasons, other individuals and institutions are not permitted to use the software we provide. In this case, please contact your software vendor directly.
Notes on CitaviWeb:
As of January 1, 2023, we are also offering CitaviWeb until further notice.
In particular, since the storage location of Citavi data will no longer be in Germany in the future, we would like to expressly draw your attention to the following points regarding the cloud features:
- While we do not advise against using Citavi 6 (and subsequent versions), we do advise against using the cloud features in these software versions.
- We advise against editing your projects in the Citavi Cloud.
- We advise against saving your projects in the Citavi Cloud; instead, you should save your projects locally.
- Please note, especially when using the cloud features, that as of October 3, 2018, your Citavi account data and Citavi project data are stored entirely in the Microsoft Azure Computing Centers in Dublin and Amsterdam.
- We would like to expressly point out that anyone who uses the Citavi cloud features in any way does so at their own risk.
You can access all versions provided by Citavi via the following Shibboleth link.
If you are unable to access the Citavi portal via this Shibboleth link, there may be an issue with the Citavi portal. In this case, please try one of the workarounds described below.
Current CITAVI Issue Since Early January 2022: Important Information on Using CITAVI
Since early 2022, there have been recurring issues with logging into the Citavi portal. If you encounter this problem, please try the workarounds described below.
Workaround(s):
A. Create a new account:
1. Go to https://www.citavi.com/login and click “Set up now”—DO NOT click the “Continue with university” button.
2. Enter your email address (if you are affiliated with a university: use your university email address!).
3. Confirm your account and set a password.
4. Shibboleth login:
a. Log in to your account by going back to https://www.citavi.com/login —DO NOT click the “Continue with University” button.
b. If the Citavi Web startup window opens, click the button with the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner and select “Citavi Account.”
c. In the next window, click “Additional Access” in the right-hand column and select the “My University” button.
d. Enter the name of your university and then log in with your university credentials via Shibboleth. This will add the Shibboleth access to your account and activate the Citavi license.
B. Log in to a newly created or existing account via the web:
1. Go to https://www.citavi.com/login and enter the email address you used to create the account—DO NOT click the “Continue with University” button.
2. Enter your password
C. Log in to an existing account via the web, but you don’t know the password:
1. Go to https://www.citavi.com/login and enter the email address used to create the account—DO NOT click the “Continue with University” button.
2. In the next window, click “Forgot Password”; a verification code will then be sent to the email address.
3. Once you’ve entered this code, you can set a new password.
D. Log in to the Citavi 6 startup window:
https://help.citavi.com/knowledge-base/article/anmeldung-in-citavi-6-scheitert (see the tips at the very end)
- As soon as CITAVI’s Shibboleth access is correctly linked to the CITAVI user account again, we will update all “open tickets” related to the CITAVI issue.
- If you are still able to work with CITAVI using the workarounds described above, please contact us via our ticket system.
There is also a quick guide on how to use Citavi.
A Citavi license holder may install Citavi as many times as desired on all devices they personally use with a single license. An additional license is only required if different versions of Citavi (e.g., Citavi 5 and Citavi 6) are installed. In this case, you can request a license for older Citavi versions in your Citavi account under “License” by clicking the plus sign and selecting “New License.”
Citavi can also be installed in shared computer labs as a network license; in this case, please contact our ticket system.
If you encounter installation problems on Windows, please check whether you have the latest version of the Microsoft .NET Framework for your operating system installed.
The RHRK does not provide technical support for this software.
Anyone using the software we provide is personally responsible for ensuring that the software is used only in accordance with the scope specified in the license terms. Please read them carefully.
Additional useful information
Animations demonstrating many program features