You can save results from searches in My NCBI using the Collections tool. One of the most significant ways that you can use Collections is by saving citations that you do not wish to keep in your My Bibliography. You have an unlimited number of collections in My NCBI, and you have the option to make collections publicly viewable.
This page provides step-by-step instructions for:
Step 1. Find an item on NCBI that you would like to save to your new collection. Click the "Send to" option on the result's page.
Step 2. Click "Collections" from the dropdown menu.
Step 3. Select the option to "Create New Collection", fill in the title of your new collection into the text box, and then click "Add".
Step 4. A green box will appear to confirm that the item(s) have been added to your collection. Now your new collection has been created and has its first item.
The example below demonstrates how to add an item to an existing collection in PubMed.
Step 1. Find the item that you would like to add to the existing collection and click "Send to".
Step 2. Select "Collections" from the dropdown menu.
Step 3. Select the option to "Add to an existing collection", select the existing collection from the dropdown menu, and then click "Add".
Step 4. A green box should pop up confirming that the item(s) have been added to your collection.
Step 1. Navigate to the My NCBI dashboard, find the tile for Collections, and click "edit" next to the collection you wish to delete items from.
Step 2. Click the check box(es) next to the item(s) that you would like to delete from the collection. Then click "Delete".
The default setting for any collection that you create in My NCBI is "Private", but you might want to make a collection publicly available.
Step 1. Navigate to the My NCBI Dashboard, find your Collections tile, and click "edit" next to the collection that you wish to change the visibility status on.
Step 2. At the top of the collection, there will be a tool bar telling you the current status of the collection. In the example below, the collection is private. You can click the "make it public" option to change the status. If a collection is public, you have the option to "make it private". You can also change this and other settings by clicking the "Edit settings" button.
Step 3. If you opted to make a collection public, then a sharable link will appear at the top of the collection so that other individuals can view the collection if you share it with them.
You also have the option to merge existing collections into one.
Step 1. Navigate to the My NCBI Dashboard, locate the Collections tile, and click "Manage Collections" in the lower right hand corner of the tile.
Step 2. You can merge more than two collections together. Click the check boxes to the left of the collections that you would like to merge. Then, click "Merge" at the top of the page.
Step 3. A box will appear listing the collections that you are merging. Enter the title of the new collection in the text box, and then click "Merge Collections".
Step 1. Navigate to the My NCBI Dashboard, locate the collections tile, and click "Manage Collections" in the lower right corner of the box.
Step 2. Click the check mark in the box to the left of the collection that you wish to delete, and then click "Delete" at the top of the page. A pop-up box will appear asking you to confirm that you want to delete the collection.
