Bento 4 comes with a nice set of templates. It is also easy to customize these templates; however, once customized, there is no straightforward way to duplicate a database. For instance in my case I customized the “Vehicle Maintenance” Template by replacing the ‘Location’ field with a drop down menu populated by various places I go for my car service. I did not want to set this up from scratch for another vehicle. The trick I found online is to export the database as a template. This is most easily done by right clicking on the database and selecting “Export” from the context menu:
Then from the drop-down menu, select Template and unselect “Include records in template” unless you wish to include them:
Click next and save the template, e.g., to desktop.
But then what? If you are trying to create a the new database by selecting “File->New Library from Template” you are out of luck, because Bento will only offer you the built-in templates to choose from.
In fact, it is even simpler than that. Simply go to the desktop (if that is where you saved the template) and double-click it. Bento will automatically create a new database for you and give it a default name which you can then change to your liking.