HowToStartScid

Most of the time, clicking on the App icon or the .exe should suffice.
But if you need to enter arguments, you might need something else.

How to Open a Default Database?

The only way to load SCID with a database is to launch it from the command line.
That means you open your terminal (or shell or console), go into your SCID directory, and type something like this:

$ ./scid path-to/your-database

where "path-to" is the path to your database and "your-database" is the name of the database you wish to load when SCID opens.

NB. No need to specify the suffix for databases in SCID format.

Can I Filter Databases?

A filter file (.sso) can be used on the command line.

$ ./scid path-to/your-database your-filter

will open your-database and run your-filter immediately against it to select a set of games.

TODO. Add examples how to use this.

Are there Any Other Options?

You can turn off the use of tablebases with the -xtb (or -xt) option.

You can avoid loading the ECO openings classification file with -xeco or -xe.

You can avoid loading the spelling file with -xspell or -xs.

Note that the option -fast or -f does all three, so scid -f is equivalent to scid -xeco -xspell -xtb.

Do I really Need to Type in the Command Line?

It might be possible to add the options directly, say when you click on a link.
But this depends upon your operating system.
Ask your local guru how to do this.