Abel stores methods in a Method Collection File. You can store any number of methods in one of these files, and the methods you store do not all have to be of the same kind or even on the same number of bells. When you start Abel for the first time, it will load a demonstration collection containing a selection of interesting methods. However, the most convenient use of these method collection files is to keep methods together in useful groups – for example, common major methods. As a starter, Abel comes with a selection of such collections, where the methods are grouped together by the number of bells they are rung on (the number of changing bells in a method is called the "method stage").

You can of course add your own methods to any of these files, or create your own collections. For example, you might want to create a collection containing just Stedman on 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 and 23 bells. You can also edit existing methods or delete ones that you don't need any more.

Abel also stores compositions in the method collection file, since compositions tend to be associated with particular methods (although you can also have generic compositions – see Compositions to find out more). Be careful though – if you delete a method, Abel will also delete any compositions that use it, since these can no longer be rung. This might not be what you intended, for example if you delete a method just after you've laboriously entered a complicated peal of spliced that made use of that method. Abel warns you if you try to delete a method that's being used by compositions.

Abel also lets you ring call change compositions, which don't use methods at all.

Click on one of the options below to find out more about methods and how to use them in Abel.

  Choosing a method collection
  Adding methods
  Editing methods
  Deleting methods
  Place notation
  Compositions
  Call changes