Start Organizing your Documentation and Notes with Bookstack

BookStack is a user-friendly, self-hosted platform designed for efficient organization and storage of information. The platform’s content is fully searchable, allowing you to search at various levels, from books to chapters and pages. Linking directly to specific paragraphs keeps your documentation connected. This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating books and shelves.

Watch the video tutorial for a visual demonstration.

Explore the official BookStack documentation for comprehensive details.

Creating a Book

Adding and editing books in BookStack is straightforward. You can include content, tables, images, and links. Here’s how to create a book:

  1. In the upper right corner, click on books.
  2. Click create a new book under the actions on the right side of your screen.
  3. Provide a name and description for the new book.
  4. Add a cover image (size: 440x250 px) by clicking select image.
  5. Optionally, include tags for improved categorization.
  6. Click save book.

Creating a Chapter

Books can contain multiple chapters, which can be added and edited as needed. Here’s how to create a chapter:

  1. Click on new chapter on the right side of your screen.
  2. Write a title and description for the chapter.
  3. Optionally, include tags.
  4. Click save chapter.

Creating a Page

Pages can belong to books or chapters and accommodate varying lengths of content. Here’s how to create a page:

  1. Click on new page on the right side of your screen.
  2. Add a page title above the editing ribbon on your dashboard.
  3. Compose your content using the editing tools on the ribbon.
  4. Click save page at the top right above the editing ribbon.

Creating a Shelf

Shelves help you organize and categorize your books or documents. They are useful for managing content by departments, categories, industries, or disciplines. Here’s how to create a shelf:

  1. Click on the shelves button in the upper menu.
  2. Under actions on the right, click new shelf.
  3. Provide a name and description for the shelf.
  4. Select the books you want on this shelf by clicking the plus sign next to their names.
  5. Optionally, add a cover image that represents the shelf.
  6. Include tags for easy navigation (optional).
  7. Click save shelf at the bottom of the screen.