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 Replies: 44 / Views: 14,783 |
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Valued Member
 United States
314 Posts |
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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. Wow! I only have a few hundred tops. I'm sticking with Excel for now, but if I ever get up to those numbers, I may look again at the programs. Michael |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
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try OpenNumismat - it's free and have export from Excel #Janis - I did check out OpenNumismat, but it only had a few coins listed in their US Coin database. Is there any place where you can load it up with all the main US coins? It would be a HUGE job for me to manually enter hundreds (thousands) of entries for all the US coins ..unless I am not understanding how the program works or looking at the right spot for the coin databases... Thanks. Michael |
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New Member
Finland
3 Posts |
I have used ExactChange for years. It is not the most easiest way to keep your collection but it is very flexible. But I have to say that it is not my main database either, that is Numista. ExactChange updates are not nice, takes time and if you have added a coin type already, you have to edit that or you have doubles. Reporting module is ok, but again, not that easy to make own reports.
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New Member
United States
11 Posts |
I have purchased Exact Change after much deliberation. Overall it is an acceptable product but technical support is horrid. Emails reporting problems or asking questions can be ignored and phone calls are hit or miss. The product is written in a very old and obscure computer language (PASCAL) and that, in and of itself, can be a problem when operating systems make major changes.
The features provided are very nice but the technical support is bothersome. Problems have and do occur but getting a resolution is impossible based on my experiences.
The developer appears to be a single person with no other help. I had several problems with the Australian Coins "folders" and this problem has never been fixed.
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Moderator
 United States
188952 Posts |
 to the Community, coinking7389! |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
FYI - I tested out both Exactchange and Coinmanage, but after playing around with each for a few weeks, decided that they were actually more work and effort and just weren't flexible enough for my needs. They both had some nice features, but I honestly found them too cumbersome for entering and managing my collection. I'm just using an Excel file I created to track my collection. Now, I am a very novice collector and have a relatively small collection, so I definitely could see that a software solution is probably needed for those with larger collections or certainly for store owners/dealers. But for my relatively simple needs, I was able to do what I needed in Excel at virtually no cost and the ability to quickly/easily modify it
Michael
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New Member
United States
11 Posts |
The Excel approach is good and certainly prevents a lot of "incompatibility" issues in the future. The nice thing about Exact Change is it will export the database to CSV format, but I have not tried that feature yet. The big drawback with any software app regardless of the industry focus is the support. Poor support is an indicator of poor planning and poor customer focus. Don't know what I will do but I do need to develop a plan to convert.
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
agree that at least being able to export to a CSV means that you can get your raw data into a spreadsheet..
But support and maintenance of these apps is a bit "questionable".. and most require yearly "updates" that must be applied.. which is an extra cost to deal with.. as well as the complexity of "upgrade issues"..
And what if you are on a Windows system and want to move to a Mac.. or to a Chromebook.. sorry... out of luck...
I'm looking at the possibility of moving my Excel up to a secure google drive or dropbox account.. that way, I can access it when I am on the road or at shows using my iphone and an excel reader application (there are plenty)... although right now, I usually just print out my own "inventory sheets" before I go to the show..
I have columns that I use to track coins that I am actively looking to add or upgrade, as well as details about my current coin.
Only thing that these software packages do that Excel can't (at least easily) is to link IMAGES to the inventory item.. it can be done.. but just would take a bit more manual work of emedding "links" in the spreadsheet that would point out to a directory somewhere where I would store the images (probably google drive or dropbox again).
Can be done, but if you don't want to mess with this level of complexity and you have photos, then a software package is probably the way to go..
And of course the software packages have the current PCGS price lists that get updated.. that is a REAL nice feature.. no easy way to do that in Excel without a lot of manual key entry!
Michael
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Moderator
United States
188952 Posts |
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And what if you are on a Windows system and want to move to a Mac.. or to a Chromebook.. sorry... out of luck... A good argument for using a spreadsheet. Whether Excel, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Googgle Sheets... it is easy to move around among them. Quote:
I'm looking at the possibility of moving my Excel up to a secure google drive or dropbox account.. that way, I can access it when I am on the road or at shows using my iphone and an excel reader application (there are plenty)... although right now, I usually just print out my own "inventory sheets" before I go to the show. I keep copies of my spreadsheets on my phone, very easy to copy from the laptop. Then I have access to them wherever I am. |
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New Member
United States
11 Posts |
Wow, these are pretty compelling reasons to seriously consider a spreadsheet. Good ideas all. Thanks.
SHK
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Moderator
United States
188952 Posts |
For what it is worth, the legacy of my spreadsheets dates back over thirty years and has existed trough seven different operating systems.  |
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New Member
United States
11 Posts |
Have you integrated any coin photos with the spreadsheet? The one feature that has some value in Exact Change are the typical photos of the coins; those were helpful to ensure I had the proper classification. After all of this discussion I must say that I am seriously considering the spreadsheet path.
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Moderator
United States
188952 Posts |
No, I have not because it has never been a requirement for me. I have only recently began to accumulate photos for my coins, but the main purpose has been to share them here.
Integrating photos into a spreadsheet can be done two different ways, each with their own pros and cons. You can embed them directly into the spreadsheet, but you risk the file getting too large to handle. You can link to external image files, but then you must manage the location of the images so they are always available. With that being said, I think any inventory solution is going to use one of those techniques and therefore have the same concerns.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1375 Posts |
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Have you integrated any coin photos with the spreadsheet? I use a excel to keep track of my collection. Over the past year and a half I have photographed my entire collection (over 2,000 coins) and use hyperlinks to link the photos into the spreadsheet. Works great  as long as I don't change the names and paths of the photos  |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
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use hyperlinks to link the photos into the spreadsheet. Works great as long as I don't change the names and paths of the photos ... that is the way that I would do it as well if I ever get around to photographing my coins (which I haven't done yet).. but the key here is that you need to make sure that your hyperlinks don't change... And since for coins you will probably have two photos per coin (obverse and reverse.. maybe even more..) then you need to decide if you provide several separate links to the photos, or a link to just a directory that contains several photos.. Probably the best way would be to put each coin in a folder out on google drive or an external drive somewhere and put a "link" to the whole directory... But this is definitely a LOT of work.. creating directory and adding links to the spreadsheet.. would need to probably develop a "naming convention" for the directories that made sense as well.. And if something changes in your environment and the link URL changes.. then you need to go through and update the whole spreadsheet with the new link addresses..not fun... Hopefully could do it with Excel's Find/Replace function, but I have never tried that for embedded links to see if it works.. So, definitely can be done, but definitely requires a bit of forethought and work.... Michael Edited by einstem
06/27/2018 08:39 am
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Replies: 44 / Views: 14,783 |
First Page
Posted 03/10/2018 11:45 am
