toolbar icon.
You should see a standard file-open dialog box, and see the file
named tutorial.pgn listed if is in the current directory.
Open it now.
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In this section, you will learn how to:
We will use the sample.pgn file in our examples. If you do not have this file, see the About this Tutorial page to download it.
Scid uses a fast, compact and efficient three-file format for chess databases, with the file extensions .si3, .sg3 and .sn3. Please note that all three files are essential components of a database, so do not remove one of them to save disk space!
One way to open a file in Scid is to specifiy it on a command line, for example:
scid sample.pgnBut we will assume you already have Scid running and want to open a file in it.
To open a file (of any format Scid can recognise) in Scid, select
the File / Open menu command, or use the Ctrl+O shortcut
or the toolbar icon.
You should see a standard file-open dialog box, and see the file
named tutorial.pgn listed if is in the current directory.
Open it now.
If you want to compare files in a directory by size or age before
opening one of them, you can use the Scid File finder,
available from the File menu, the Ctrl+/ shortcut key
or the 
toolbar icon.
The file finder is also useful if you know the name of a file that
Scid can open, but cannot remember where it is.
Once you have opened sample.pgn, notice how the main
window has changed. The game information area should now show
information about the first game in the file, like the screenshot
shown here. It shows that the first game in the file saw
Vladimir Kramnik (rated 2770) scored a win (1-0) with
the White pieces against Peter Leko (rated 2743) in a match in
Budapest in 2001.
Also note that whenever you open a PGN file, Scid also produces a window with the title Scid: Importing PGN file that shows any errors that might have been detected. This is very useful since adherence to the PGN standard varies widely and it is common to find poorly formatted PGN files on the Internet that confuse most chess software. But for most PGN files this window should indicate games were imported with "no errors or warnings".
You cannot edit a PGN file in Scid, as they are opened read-only and file maintenance functions are only available for Scid-format database files. So you will want to create one or more Scid-format databases and import games from PGN files into them.
You can create a new database with the File / New menu item,
the Ctrl+N shortcut or the 
toolbar icon.
Do this now. You should see a standard file-save dialog box, where
you can type the name of a new file to be created. Enter the name
mybase for example.
This will create a new database called mybase, using the
three-file format described above.
After creating the new database mybase,
you should now see from the status bar that your new database
has no games in it.
Scid now has two files open: the tutorial.pgn file, and
your empty mybase database.
You can switch between files from the File menu, but a
much nicer way is to use the Switcher window. Open it
now by using the Windows / Database switcher menu item,
the Ctrl+D shortcut, or the
toolbar icon. You should see a window like this:
The Switcher shows which files you have open, with the current file highlighted in yellow. You can see from the five slots of the switcher that Scid allows you to have up to four files open at one time, plus a clipbase (the very last slot) that is useful as a temporary database. (Note: The clipbase is a special database that is always open but only exists in memory; it does not use any files on your disk drive. When you exit Scid, the clipbase contents are lost and the clipbase will be empty when you next run Scid.)
To switch to a different file, simply click the left mouse button on its slot in the Switcher. Pressing the right mouse button over a switcher slot pops up a menu of commands that act on the database in that slot.
You should see, as in the screenshot above, that the tutorial.pgn
file and the clipbase have graphical icons to help you distinguish
between them, but your new database has no icon. A PGN file is always
given the icon you can see for tutorial.pgn, but for Scid-format
databases there are over 20 icons you can choose from.
The icon has no significance outside of the switcher window; it is only
a graphical aid to help identifying databases.
Move the mouse cursor to the slot with your new database, press the right mouse button, and select Change icon... from the pop-up menu. A dialog box like the one shown here should appear. Click on icon that you want for your new database and select OK. You should see the switcher updated to show the new icon.
Hint: if you don't like a wide flat Switcher window, you can make it tall and narrow by pressing the right mouse button in it and selecting Change window orientation from the popup menu. Also, if you have read the earlier section about customising Scid, you will know that you can move it to a screen location that suits you, then select the Options / Save Options menu item to remember its location for future Scid sessions. If you eventually make use of the Switcher often in Scid and want it to always appear when Scid starts, turn on the Database switcher checkbox in the Options / Startup menu and then save options.
So now you have a PGN file and a Scid-format database open, but
no games in the database. There are two ways you can import the
games from the PGN file to your new database. The first is to
make sure your database is the active database (meaning it is
the one highlighted in yellow in the Switcher window and named
in the main window status bar), and then
use the Tools / Import file of PGN games... menu command.
But since you already have the tutorial.pgn PGN file open,
there is a faster way: you can use drag-and-drop in the Switcher window.
Move the mouse cursor over the tutorial.pgn slot in the Switcher, and press the mouse button down. You should see the cursor change its shape. Keep holding down the left mouse button, and drag the mouse cursor to the slot where your new tutorial database is. Now release the button. This tells Scid you want to copy the games from the PGN file to your database. You should now see a dialog box like the one shown here. Select Copy games, and all the games in sample.pgn will be copied to your database.
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