Creating a new database

A collection is a single file with the extension .amm. Movie cards, people, friends, directories, covers and screenshots are all inside it, so the file is the collection: copy it and you have copied everything.

Creating one

1. Database › New…, or Ctrl+N, or the new-database button on the toolbar.
2. Choose the folder and the name and click Save.

The new database opens immediately and becomes the one that opens next time you start the program.

Where to keep it

• On a local disk. Not in a OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive folder: a sync client that touches the file while it is open causes errors that look like database corruption. The program warns you if it notices this, and if the file is replaced while it is open, it reconnects and asks you to repeat the last change. Use the cloud for backup copies.
• Not in a backup folder. If you open a file the program itself created as a backup, it offers to copy it to a clean name first — accept, otherwise you end up with names like My Movies[3][1][2].amm.
• Not SAMPLE.AMM. The sample database is for trying the program out; keep your own movies in a file of your own.
• With a plain path. The Windows database engine cannot open a file whose path contains characters outside the current language for non-Unicode programs.

Several collections

There is no limit. Create one per subject and switch with Database › Open… (Ctrl+O) or from the recent list under Database › Reopen. To move movies between two collections, use Appending from another database.

How big can it get

The file format has a hard limit of 2 GB. Cards themselves are tiny; it is the covers and screenshots that fill the file. When the size gets close, the program suggests moving the images out of the database into a folder next to it — the Store all the images inside the database option on the Expert options tab of Preferences. Turning it off converts an existing collection, and the database shrinks accordingly.

Turning the option back on works only while everything fits: if the images and the cards together would pass 2 GB, the program says so and leaves the images in files. If the file does reach the limit, nothing more can be written into it. The program then reports that the database is full — the file is not damaged — and offers to compress it.