A SnapGene Collection is a special folder and structured set of subfolders used for storage and management of SnapGene files.
A SnapGene 'Project' folder can be any folder accessible from your computer. The 'Project' side panel mirrors what you would see in Windows File Explorer, macOS Finder or a Linux OS File Manager. The 'Project' side panel streamlines file access and management, and allows you to find, view and work with your files without switching to and from your OS file manager.
The following table summarises current similarities and differences between Collections and 'Projects'.
| SnapGene Collection | Project Folder | |
|---|---|---|
| File Management | Yes, see Collections | Yes. See Use the SnapGene Project Interface |
| Bulk Actions on Multiple Files |
Some |
Yes. See Bulk Actions in SnapGene |
| Structured File Storage | Yes: 'DNA Files’ folder (for .dna files) 'RNA Files' area (for .rna files) 'Protein Files' folder (for .prot files) 'Micellaneous Files' folder (for all other file types) |
No: All files types can reside in a project folder or project subfolder |
| Search for sequence and file metadata | Yes. Via the Collection Search Tool, see Search a Collection |
Yes. Via the Project side panel, see Searching a Project folder |
| Tabbed File View | No | Yes, see Using Tabs in the Project Interface |
| Working Sets |
Yes. See Define a Working Set in a Collection | No† |
| Sorting based on date or File Code Numbering | Yes. See Configure Code Numbers for a Collection | No† |
| Bulk Edit of File Description Information |
Yes. See Bulk edit the Description Information of multiple Sequences | No† |
| Vector NTI Database Conversion | Yes, see Import a Vector NTI Database to a SnapGene Collection | Yes. In SnapGene 7 and later, Vector NTI databases are imported as a Project folder. See Import a Vector NTI Database |
| CSV Sequence file database import | Yes, see Import a .CSV File as a SnapGene Collection | Yes. See Import a .CSV File into a SnapGene Project Folder (SnapGene 7.0.2 or later) |
| File locking when editing |
Yes |
Yes |
| Mirror Files (OS agnostic shortcuts/aliases) | Yes | Yes |
† May be added in future. Contact Support and let us know if you would like to see this functionality in the project side panel.