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Documentation Index

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Bookshelves are virtual containers that let you slice your library into meaningful groups — by genre, reading location, lending status, or anything else you choose. Unlike physical shelves, a book in NeverTooManyBooks can sit on as many bookshelves as you like at the same time: adding a novel to both “Science Fiction” and “Favourites” is perfectly valid. Each bookshelf is independent and carries its own display style, so switching shelves can also switch the way your list is sorted and grouped.

The Default Shelf

When you launch NeverTooManyBooks for the first time, a shelf called My Books is created automatically. Every book you add is placed on the currently active bookshelf by default, so your collection is never left without a home. The special All Books view is not a real shelf — it is a virtual aggregate that always shows every book in your library regardless of shelf assignment.

Switching Between Bookshelves

The active bookshelf is shown in the spinner (drop-down selector) in the main toolbar at the top of the book list. Tap the spinner to open a list of all your shelves, then tap any name to switch to that shelf. The book list updates immediately and applies that shelf’s display style.

Creating a New Bookshelf

1

Open the navigation menu

Tap the navigation button in the main toolbar to open the app’s navigation popup menu.
2

Tap Bookshelves

Tap Bookshelves in the popup menu. The bookshelf management screen opens showing all your current shelves.
3

Tap the + button

Tap the + floating action button to open the new-shelf dialog.
4

Enter a name

Type a name for your new shelf and tap Save. The shelf appears immediately in the list and in the toolbar spinner.

Assigning Books to a Bookshelf

A book is assigned to bookshelves through its edit screen. You can assign one book to multiple shelves in a single step.
1

Open the book edit screen

Tap the book in the list to open its details, then tap the pencil (Edit) icon.
2

Find the Bookshelves field

On the Main tab, tap the Bookshelves field or its end-icon button.
3

Select shelves

A multi-choice dialog lists all your bookshelves with checkboxes. Tick every shelf this book should appear on, then tap OK.
4

Save the book

Tap the checkmark to save. The book now appears when any of the selected shelves is active.

Reordering Bookshelves

The order of shelves in the toolbar spinner matches their order in the bookshelf management screen.
1

Open Bookshelves

Navigation menu → Bookshelves.
2

Drag to reorder

Hold the drag handle (the grip icon on the right side of each row) and drag the shelf to its new position.
3

Changes save automatically

Release the row to drop it in place. The new order is saved immediately and reflected in the toolbar spinner.

Per-Shelf Display Styles

Each bookshelf stores a reference to a style — a saved configuration that controls how the book list is sorted, grouped, and what fields are shown. To change the style for a shelf:
  1. Go to Navigation menu → Bookshelves.
  2. Long-press the shelf you want to edit and choose Edit, or tap the row to open it.
  3. The style associated with this shelf is updated to your choice.
When you switch to that shelf, the list automatically applies its style. This makes it easy to, for example, have a “Comics” shelf that groups by series while a “Paperbacks” shelf groups by author.

Editing and Deleting Bookshelves

Long-press any shelf in the bookshelf management screen to reveal the edit and delete options.
Deleting a bookshelf does not delete the books that were on it. Those books simply become unassigned from the deleted shelf but remain safely in your library. If a book was only on that one shelf, it will no longer appear when browsing by shelf, but it is always visible in the All Books view.

Filtering Within a Bookshelf

Each bookshelf can have its own set of active filters — for example, showing only unread books or books in a specific language. Filters are configured while viewing the bookshelf: open the toolbar overflow menu and tap Filters. The filter settings are saved per shelf, so switching shelves also switches the active filters.
Combine per-shelf filters with a custom style to create highly focused views — like a “Reading Queue” shelf filtered to unread books and sorted by date added.

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