The Clue Database Manager

Select Database Manager... from the Clue menu to display create, edit, view and manage clue databases. The database manager window can be left open as you work on other things.

Select a database from the Clue database drop down list. The words, clues and other information is then visible in the table show below. You can edit entries in the table directly, or use the buttons at the bottom of the window to add, delete and edit clues. To view clues for a specific word, use the Word filter box: the listed clues will automatically update to show matching entries.

You can also filter the clues shown by the value other fields (e.g. clue date and citation): select a field name from the Field drop-down box, type the text to search for in the follow edit box and press the Filter button. The type of match to perform can be changed by using the drop-down select on the right-hand side of the Filter box (Exact match, containing match, match word, etc).

To make a new database click the New Database button. To add a clue to the database select the Add button. Type in the word you want to write a clue for, tab down to the clue box and type in the clue. You can also add an explanation and a date stamp (and any custom fields you have defined). Press OK to save the clue, or click New word & clue or New clue, same word to save the clue and enter another one.

Changes to the database are saved as soon as you make them.

Click the Menu button to drop down a menu of additional commands.

Add custom column to define a new field for the current database. For example, you may want to add new fields to track publication information, reference source, etc.

Open/convert to open a database file that is not in your default clue database folder, or to convert a clue database from other programs (in CSV, comma-separated text format). After selecting the file to import, you will be given options about which columns to import, the file separator and language. CSV files can be edited and saved by many programs, including Excel and other spreadsheet programs.

Export to export a comma-separated value (.csv) file that can be used by other programs (e.g. Excel). You will be prompted for which columns you want to export.

Merge to merge clues from another database into the selected one.

Add clues from files to add all the clues from a set of files.

Change index setting to specify whether you want words differing only by accents/case to be indexed together. The default Upper case, all accents equivalent setting would show, for example, clues for Cafe and café together whenever either form is looked up. If you are using a language where accents are treated as different letter, you can instead use Upper case, accents distinct.

Clean up database to optimize the database file size, delete duplicates or similar clues. You will be prompted for which cleanup operations to perform.

Delete database to delete the selected database.

Browse folder to open the folder containing the database files (e.g. if you want to manually backup or copy them).

Change database folder if you have multiple collects of databases in different folders and want to switch, or want to save databases in a custom location.