How to create a new database
All My Books keeps a collection in a single file with the extension
.amb — books, authors, covers and loan history all live
inside it. You can have as many collections as you like; only one is open at a
time.
The program installs with a small demo collection so that nothing looks empty on the first run. Make your own as soon as you are ready to keep real data.
- Choose (Ctrl+N).
- Pick a folder and type a name for the collection.
- Click Save.
The new, empty collection opens immediately and the file name appears in the title bar of the main window.
Where to start
While the collection is empty, the book card panel on the right shows Your library is empty with links to the usual ways of filling it:
- Scan barcodes — with a webcam or a barcode scanner; see Adding a book by ISBN or barcode.
- Scan a folder with e-books — see Scanning a drive for books.
- Add a book by its title — a new book card: type the title and press Enter.
- Import from… — one link for each other cataloguing program (Calibre, Book Collector, BookCAT and others) whose collection was found on this computer, with the file already located.
- Import from Excel or CSV — see Importing.
- Or take a look at the sample database first opens the demo collection.
The panel goes away as soon as the first book is in. A collection from another program that was not found automatically can still be imported with .
Where to keep it. Your Documents folder is a good default. Do not keep the working collection in a folder synced by OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or Yandex.Disk: while it is open, the sync client may upload a half-written file or lock it for a moment, which leads to random errors and damaged copies. All My Books warns you when you open a collection from such a folder. The cloud is the right place for the backup copies. For a shared household catalog use a network folder; see Working over a network.
Next: How to add a new book.
Free to try. Catalog up to 100 books at no cost, forever.