Creating a New Notebook – LabArchives Gov

The LabArchives Notebook provides an easy way to record notes and experimental data while collaborating with your team. Notebooks are structured in a hierarchical system that includes folders, subfolders, pages, and entries. When creating a new notebook, options are available to use preset folder layouts, customize the structure to meet your unique needs, or to reuse a structure from a prior notebook.

Before creating a notebook, it's helpful to plan how it will be organized. Starting with a clear structure improves collaboration and makes information easier to find. For guidance, see Transitioning a Lab to the LabArchives ELN and Example Notebook Page - Recording an Experiment.

By default, the member that creates the notebook, becomes the Notebook Owner. After the notebook is created, the Owner can begin to invite collaborators to the Notebook or even transfer ownership to a new team member. To learn more about specific roles and privileges, please visit Understanding Notebook Roles and Permissions.

Note: Your organization may have policies in place that control access to notebook creation and ownership and restrict this privilege to certain organization members such as Principal Investigators, Lab Manager, or Project leads. If no restrictions are in place for your organization, this means any member with a LabArchives account has the ability to create notebooks. For members with the ability to create notebooks, your account may come with a default notebook called My Notebook

Steps to Create a Notebook

Open the Notebook Menu:
Click Notebooks from the top-left corner of the LabArchives window, then select the + button to start a new notebook.
Name Your Notebook:
Enter a name that is clear and descriptive. Names must be 5 - 60 characters and can be renamed.

Create Notebook

Select a Folder Layout:
Choose one of the following:
- None – Start from scratch and customize the structure to meet your needs
- Project, Lab-Wide, or Classroom – Use a premade structure offered by LabArchives
- From Another Notebook – Copy the layout from an existing notebook

Tip: Choose a folder layout that matches how your team works. You can always rename, move, or delete folders later.

Folder Structures Screenshot

Create the Notebook:
Click Create Notebook to launch your new notebook.

Account Admins Create Notebook

Note: Account Administrators and Notebook Administrators can create notebooks on behalf of a designated Notebook Owner by selecting Account Owned by during setup.