This article presents and assesses the outcomes of the project ‘Katalogisierung der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland’ (KOHD) achieved in the ‘Arabic manuscripts’ section of the Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (VOHD). The article describes and explains the (sometimes heterogeneous) method of cataloguing and thus serves as a guide to these volumes. Special attention is paid to the introductions and the numerous manuscriptological findings contained in them. The online database KOHD Digital, successor to the printed series, is also briefly presented, with particular attention to the question of sustainability.