The “Table” menu allows you to access the other tables in your database; clicking on them will open them in a new window. The “Change/Add Tables…” option will open a dialog, in which you can add new tables to your database and delete existing tables or edit their names.

The “Database” menu contains a variety of options to edit your database:

• “Properties…” opens a dialog for database-specific properties.
• “Field Properties…” opens the Field Properties dialog, with which you can change the entire structure of your database, including number, type, and order of your data fields.
• “Edit Entry Form” opens your entry form for editing as a Papyrus Author document, so you can edit it as you like.

For details on the ‘File’ and ‘Edit’ menu options see the specific articles: File Main Menu (Papyrus Base) and  Edit Main Menu (Papyrus Base).

“Change / Add Tables” Dialog

In this dialog you can add a new table to your database or change the name of an existing table. You can also delete unwanted tables here.

The first drop-down menu allows you to choose the table to change or add and, in the entry form underneath, you can enter the new name.

“Files” Database Properties Dialog

In order to quickly search for words that appear in your records–or simply for the beginning of words–it’s a good idea to create an index file for your database. This option is located under “Database” → “Properties…” → “Files”.  If, however, you would like to save the space, you can turn off the index in this dialog.

There is also an option here if you would like a prompt before Papyrus Base saves the main files (*.PB / *.PBT).

“Backups” Database Properties Dialog

In this dialog (“Database” → “Properties…” → “Backups”) you can decide whether Papyrus Base should “create backup copies” of your main file. There are also settings for how many backups you would like to be saved and whether they should be created as sub-folders in the database folder or in a new folder completely.

Backups will be saved under the same path as the database itself, or in sub-folders “backup.1”, “backup.2”, “backup.3” etc.; the files “Name.pb” and “DB_Name.log” will be saved here as well. The latest backup is “backup.1” and the backup with the largest number is the oldest. In order to save space, the index file (“DB_Name.idx”) will not be copied, because it can simply be generated again from a backup version.

In Windows, a problem can occur when you try to rename a folder that is currently open in an Explorer window. If this happens, you will see an error message with the option to cancel or to save the changes in the database without a backup.

“User” Database Properties Dialog

If you are sure that your database is only accessed by one user on one computer, you can switch to the “Single-user only” mode in the “User” tab (“Database” → “Properties…”).

There are two small advantages to this mode: the *.log file will be a little bit smaller and somewhat faster to access.

You can switch your database back to “Multi-user access” at any time.