How Do You Keep Track Of Your Collection?

because I was already familiar with Excel and since I collect in multiple threads, like silver crowns thread, then circulating coins thread etc, Excel beats all other software that I later have tried. On Excel I can input pictures, links, a complete data base on the coin, and on what collecting thread it goes to, date & time, price acquisitions, seller, etc. Then with only few buttons to press, I can sort out all the coins in any category I want to see.. e.g. silver or gold collection total weight, all large coins, coins only per specific year etc. Excel sorts it out per column inputs so data can be interpreted in so many ways. being able to do that with (eg 1,000 pieces) coins instantly is really helpful for me.

but as I added more coins data day to day, my collection data base has become greatly detailed & irreplaceable, a HD crash would be devastating, so I back up my file with a 1 terra external hard drive regularly

So here is an out of the box idea.

I use a movie catalog program called "ANT movie catalog" I've had it for years and just keep transferring the files on thumb drives, so not sure how hard it would be to locate and download.

It has year, original title, translated title, country, and tons of other categories plus the best part you can put a picture with it, originally meant for the DVD cover and I'm using the category for Video format to show silver content, it does charts and is extremely user friendly.

I never got along with excel but ANT is a breeze, I've used it for video game cartridges, coins and oh my yes even movies.

I used Excel up until a few years back, but I found it limiting in terms of functionality and entering data (especially as I collect Banknotes and Militaria as well). So I switched over to Access and it is way better and easier to use. Plus, I can keep everything like lists, auction stuff and inventory all in the one place. I had considered going with something like Coin Manage, but I prefer the flexibility of being able to design things the way I want with Access.

I had wanted to switch to it for a while, but I never really knew how to use it. Access can be very off putting because unlike a lot of other MS programs, it isn't self-explanatory. I learned how to use it from a Business IT course I did at University - but there is a great tutorial app you can get for your iPad/iPhone which explains everything quite well.

If you have Access I'd definitely make the switch, there is just so much more you can do with it.

Access is a relational database. Pre-Access I used PARADOX at work so when I bought Office Professional it was a small step to master Access. I used to record info on photography I was doing as well as a hiking database with ACCESS.

Having said that, Access has a much steeper learning curve. I just use Excel for my stamps and coins as I have very few fields and my queries and sorts are quite simple. Not knocking Access, just saying it might not be for everyone.

Excel for me. I have a master database sheet to input all the information, separate worksheets for each series I collect. Whenever I update the master data sheet, it automatically updates the corresponding information in the appropriate series worksheet.

Mainer, what do you mean by a master sheet? would you mind sharing the master sheet & your individual sheets? thanks

My master data sheet is the simplest to set up. I ALWAYS design a spreadsheet on paper first. It actually saves time in the end. Determine what column headers you want, i.e. Coin Date, Grade, Denomination, etc. In the denomination column I use the series name of the coin instead of the denomination itself. Example " Jefferson nickel". By doing this I can extract information specific to the Jefferson's I have. I then designed the additional sheets. I think the best thing to do for this is design one that you can use for ALL your different series. Once you have the design completed you can do all of your other sheets at the same time. This is how to do multiple sheets at once. Design the first one on paper. Next decide how many different sheets you will need. Open Excel and click on the + at the bottom to add blank sheets until you have the required number of sheets you want.. Now, go back to the first tab and click on it. Next, move to the last tab, hold down the SHIFT key and click on the tab. That will select ALL the sheets. Enter the information on the first sheet, which is still the active sheet, and it will automatically enter the same information and format on all the other sheets simultaneously. You can also use this technique to enter formulas but have to be very careful as cell references can be either "relative" or "absolute". I hope this helps.