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 Replies: 44 / Views: 14,745 |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
I have been using Excel to track my coins, but have been thinking of moving to a software package since it allows for automatic updates of current values, and also gets updates of all the new coins. I only collect US coins. I have looked through these boards, and the two software packages that seem to stand out are "Coinmanage" and "ExactChange". I found some reviews of these, but they were several years old, so I was hoping that if someone has experience with recent versions of these software packages you could provide some pros and cons of each. Thanks so much. Michael |
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
I fear we are all so coin intense that spending money on anything other than coins is hard for us to do. Hence no replies.
I'm very big on inventory, but I wrote my own complex which is a bit arcane.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
I think both programs have demo versions, so you can try both out before making a decision.
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Moderator
 United States
187486 Posts |
I prefer to stay with the spreadsheet myself. It does the job.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Just remember that Excel is movable to almost any computer on Earth. Any other program you use possibly may not work in some other place.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Automatic updates are next to worthless. Are you going to let some software value your coins?  |
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Moderator
United States
187486 Posts |
Quote:
Just remember that Excel is movable to almost any computer on Earth. Any other program you use possibly may not work in some other place.  There are also open source alternatives that can read/import your spreadsheet files. I lost count of how many different computing devices that I have used to view my spreadsheets which were first created over thirty years ago.  |
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Valued Member
 United States
314 Posts |
Update...
Just got Coinmanage and starting to learn to use it.
Seem pretty good so far, but some parts of the user interface are a bit clunky. And it needs a faster way to enter coins since it requires going through a bit too many screens right now to enter all the data fields. Not a killer, but just a bit clunky. But there are some nice features and need to play around with it some more. It also has data loaded for bullion values and PCGS values, which is nice. And you can even scan the 'bar code' of a PCGS slab and it preloads the info. for you. That is pretty neat.
Also, I found out that it is all built on an Access Database, so that removes any worries about "data portability". Access has been around for decades, so no concern about the app running, even if the company folds one day.
Also, should be relatively easy to export the Access file to an Excel sheet, so all the data I enter for my coins should be able to get exported without issue if ever needed.
Michael
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Moderator
United States
187486 Posts |
Thank you for sharing your feedback.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12804 Posts |
Have you provided this feedback to the developers? |
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New Member
Russian Federation
6 Posts |
Coinmanage have a problem with updates for GB coins (don't known about US).
Also I think when you try to export something from Coinmanage Access files you take a big trouble.
I use open-source program OpenNumismat. It similar Excel. But it haven't existing catalogs
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
FYI - After playing around with CoinManage for about two weeks, I returned it for a refund.
It was just a bit too much work to enter a coin into the system.
And the "updates" aren't really an issue, because I am not really collecting any of the very modern coins.
I also have a fairly limited collection set so far, so it was just more then I needed.
I can see the advantage of it for a large/complex collection, but my needs (at least for now) were fairly simple. I also found out that CoinManage would require annual "updates" on top of the initial purchase, so it would cost ongoing money if I wanted to keep it updated.
I have a nice Excel spreadsheet I have built up that contains all the 'Sets' I am tracking, and it is honestly real easy to add in new fields when I want to track something new. I just use "autofilters" in excel to find what I am looking for, and it is very simple/easy for me to enter my data into a spreadsheet.
I downloaded a trial of ExactChange as well, but didn't find that any better, and had even more limitations then CoinManage.
Again, software may be good for some, but I'm very good with Excel, my collection and needs are small, so my money is better spent for now on coins not software.
Michael
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New Member
Russian Federation
6 Posts |
Michael, try OpenNumismat - it's free and have export from Excel
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
Janis - Thanks! I hadn't seen this one yet, and it's free (my favorite 4-letter word!). Will definitely check it out. Michael
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New Member
Canada
26 Posts |
I have been using ExactChange for over a year now and would be lost without it. I started with Excel, but when my collection passed the 5000 coin mark it was just getting too time consuming to keep track of and the sheets started getting messy.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3467 Posts |
Another thing about Excel, it's private if you choose not to put it in the cloud.
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Replies: 44 / Views: 14,745 |
Posted 01/26/2018 12:04 pm
