To create a new collection, open the "File" menu and choose "New". Several fields need to be filled out -- but you can change their values later if you need to, in the design view.

"Title" is the text displayed at the top of your collection's homepage. It can be any length.

"Short Name" is the collection's filename. It must be unique.

"Author's Email" should be a valid email address.

"Description of content" should describe, in as much detail as possible, what the collection is about. Use the [Enter] key to break it into paragraphs.

Now choose whether to view or hide the metadata that Greenstone extracts automatically from documents. (This option can be changed later -- see Section 10.1 -- Preferences.)

Finally you must specify whether the new collection will have the same appearance and metadata sets as an existing collection, or whether to start a default "New Collection".

Click "OK" to create the collection. If you chose "New Collection" you are prompted for the metadata sets to use in it. You can choose more than one, and you can add others later.

Clicking "Cancel" returns you to the main screen immediately.

Buttons, like menus, have one character underlined. To "click" the button, press [ALT] and the underlined character at the same time.