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Lects
The term 'lect' refers agnostically to any kind of variation of a language that may be classified as a dialect, ethnolect, regiolect, cryptolect, idiolect, et cetera. Lexicanter offers a suite of features which make it easier to document your language's various lects, should you have any.
Adding new lects can always be done safely, as adding a new lect does not change the contents of the lexicon. When you add a lect, you will be prompted to name it. Then its name will appear in a list under the other lect-related settings, with three buttons. One of these is for deleting the lect, one of these is for renaming the lect, and one of these has a special purpose: adding all words in your lexicon to this lect. This is a useful features if you create a new lect midway through developing your language which should have all or most of the existing words.
Renaming lects can also always be done safely, as this does not actually change the contents of the lexicon aside from the name which appears next to options and information related to the changed lect.
Removing lects does not delete the words which were assigned to that lect, but it does delete any pronunciations and the pronunciation rule set associated with that lect. You cannot delete the last remaining lect; there must always be at least one. Even when lect features are disabled, the app uses a lect named 'General' under the hood.
This is likely the main reason you would want to use the lect features. Each lect can have it own set of pronunciation rules, which you can write by selecting the lect from the dropdown which appears over the Pronunciations text field in the Phonology tab. To learn more about writing pronunciation rules, see the Pronunciation Rules page.
In both of these tabs, a new set of checkboxes will appear in the entry editor panel. In the Lexicon, this set of checkboxes appears for every sense of a word; in the phrasebook, you have this option for each phrase. Checking these boxes assigns that sense/phrase to that lect. A new pronunciation field will appear for each lect which is selected, and will be auto-filled using the pronunciation rules assigned to that lect. All of a word or phrase's pronunciations will appear beneath it in the lexicon/book. This way, you can include words and phrases which only appear in specific lects.