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.

On the very first run the program creates an empty collection for you, My books.amb in the program's data folder (usually C:\ProgramData\AllMyBooks), and opens it with the start page described below. A small demo collection is installed as well, one click away on that page. A collection of your own, with a name and a place you choose, can be created at any time:

1. Choose Database › New… (Ctrl+N).
2. Pick a folder and type a name for the collection.
3. 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 (ISBN) — with a webcam, a barcode scanner or by typing ISBNs by hand; 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 Database › Import collection from….

Next: How to add a new book.