Getting started with RevMan

This software has been developed over a number of years. The current version is RevMan 5 which is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

To get RevMan, there are several options. The website will always have the most up-to-date version of the software:

• visit the RevMan page (http://www.cc-ims.net/revman). There you'll find instructions on downloading and installing the software
• if you get the software on CD from you review group or elsewhere, look for a setup file on the CD and run it

Before you can start to work on your review in RevMan 5, you will need a
user account to access Archie (this is the Cochrane Collaboration’s central server where all reviews are stored). Your review group will set up an Archie user account for you when you become registered as a Cochrane review author.

Once you’ve installed the software and opened the program, you should be at the front page of RevMan, looking something like this:

A good way to orientate yourself is to press the question mark button at the bottom of the welcome box, which will tell you about the main window, and some of the features of RevMan. If you’re familiar with Windows, most of this will be fairly familiar.

RevMan Tutorial

Different people like learning software in different ways. Some people like to get to know the whole package in one go, and others prefer to learn it as they're using it.

A self-directed tutorial is available via the welcome box or the Help menu of RevMan 5. It consists of a pdf document and some files to use in RevMan.

Use this tutorial however you want – it takes about 3 hours to do the whole tutorial, which will explore most features of the program. You may wish, instead, just to do bits of the tutorial as you work through the modules.