Many applications such as OpenOffice.org or Microsoft Excel create files which are called documents. Kexi creates files too, but we refer to them as Kexi database files, or simple database files here. Kexi database files usually have the extension .kexi.

In addition to storing your databases in database files, Kexi can also use databases on database servers, which is why we refer to them as database files, and not simply as databases.

The term Kexi project, or simply project is also used to refer to a Kexi database, regardless of whether it is stored in a file or on a database server.