How Do You Track Your Collection?

[day_walker]

I use an Excel spreadsheet. It works well. I like the fact that I can sort it by various columns,

[Liven]

I use CLZ. It does have a cost and an annual fee for updates, but it's well worth it to me. The main database is on my PC, but I also have the app on my tablet. It's very easy to synch the 2 devices, especially if you're house is set up for wifi. I carry the tablet around the stores or cons. Not only do you have a list of what you already own, it's just as easy to create a want list with all the item's data. Here's the link: http://www.clz.com/comics/

[Cold Water]

Rather niche question I guess, but I'm just finishing putting every comic I've bought into a spreadsheet so I know how many I've got, how much I've spent, how much it's worth by RRP etc.

I was sort of wondering how other collectors keep track, spreadsheets, log books etc.

And any examples of your tracking? I'm undecided if the way I've done my spreadsheet is the most practical.

For now, I keep record in my noggin'.
I do not have the time to jot everything down on a spreadsheet, though, I really should make time.

[Andru]

I have an excel spreadsheet of all my Marvel, DC, & Image collections (HC, TPB, Omnibus, etc).

Not only is it good for insurance purposes, but I also just like to have it as an organizing tool. Also great to have if you are moving & want to make sure all your books made it.

I do the same thing with my movies.

[Iron Fist]

I use an Excel spreadsheet. It works well. I like the fact that I can sort it by various columns,

That is one thing I wish I could figure out how to do. ATM I'm limited to organise by series name alphabetically only.

[Jeff*H]

I use ComicBase's software. I can generate customized collection reports, and it updates the current market value of all the issues in my collection, based on their grading.

http://www.comicbase.com/mycb/default.aspx

[AJpyro]

I got a list on a google doc called Entertainment.

It's not just my comics though. I've got sections for novels, Light Novels, Manga, Anime, and some Movies TBA.

Never thought of listing them by where I got em though. But I can pull those up from the order sheets online like Instock.

[Taral-DLOS]

I want to share how I used to track my Star Wars collection.

Back in the day (call it 2006-2012-ish), the only thing I collected was Star Wars. My aim was to own and read or otherwise consumed one copy of every Star Wars story ever produced (every medium, but only one edition needed). Over time, I bought every novel, all new comics, and a massive collection of older comics in the form of TPBs and omnibuses (and a handful of issues for things that had not found their way into a TPB yet), as well as random instances of other things (an audioplay on cassette, some Droids episodes on DVD, a handful of CD-ROMs from the 90s and early 00s, etc.)

I tracked my collection using a massive Powerpoint file that had one slide per item (one slide per novel, per comic, per game, etc.) It showed the full title, author, medium type, month and year of release, and the year it took place in in-universe. It also had a big picture of the cover, as well as smaller pictures of other editions' covers (e.g. for a comic, the cover of the TPB and the omnibus). I had a system for showing whether I owned it (and in what format) and whether I'd read it yet. It was more difficult for newstrip comics, because the original medium was "newstrip", and subsequent reprintings were often spread across multiple issues of Classic Star Wars.

They were organized in chronological order of the story, starting with Dawn of the Jedi 0 (36,000ish years before Episode IV) and going as far as Star Wars: Legacy (I stopped using the system before the final issue of Legacy came out, but that would be ~138 years after Episode IV).

This file got so big that I needed to break it into six separate Powerpoint files, one per publishing era: Before the Republic/Sith Era (older than 1000 years before Ep4), Rise of the Empire Era (1000-1 before Ep4), Rebellion Era (0-4 after Ep4), New Republic Era (5-25 after Ep4), New Jedi Order Era (25-40 after Ep4, by far the smallest in terms of content), and Legacy era (40+ years after Ep4). Even with that broken up, the two biggest ones (Rise of the Empire and Rebellion) crashed all the time lol.

In 2012 I moved away from Star Wars stuff (some of the stories at the time, like Brian Wood's Star Wars and later arcs of Dark Times were awful). So I stopped updating that system. If it's still on my old laptop though, I'll take some screenshots and show it around. Some of the slides (like Marvel Star Wars #1) got convoluted, as it had been reprinted and collected something like 11 times.

[Mr`Orange]

I have a spreadsheet of my comics (Title, Date, Publisher, Writer(s), Artist(s)) and my Hardcovers/Trades but certainly don't track the prices and how much I've spent. Don't want to know!!

Yeah, that's the scary bit, working out how much you spent on comics, I recently got my annual credit card bill break down and close to 50% of the total spend was "miscellaneous"...

I used to have a pretty decent excel sheet with the titles, author, artist publisher and format, but I've some how managed to lose it. I'm currently building an excel order sheet for future purchases, but want to go back to the ones I already have. Though this time I'm going to add if I've read it and how I would rate it.

[Mace Dolex]

I use a word doc that I print out to carry with me to conventions and every time I update I simply print the newer version each time.

[Michael24]

I use a simple Excel spreadsheet. I have one for singles and one for TPBs/GNs/HCs.

[Iron Fist]

I use a simple Excel spreadsheet. I have one for singles and one for TPBs/GNs/HCs.

Can I ask, how did you do those yellow heading that always stay on top? I can't figure out how to do that in Excel.

[ptitjaune]

Can I ask, how did you do those yellow heading that always stay on top? I can't figure out how to do that in Excel.

There's a button to "Freeze Panel", you select the first item on the first row under the one you want to freeze and you click it

[nyrdyv]

I built my own site for tracking my collection, with both a My Haves and My Wants. It tracks all of the details for each (purchase date, location, condition, pricing, etc.). I streamlined it for working on my phone so I use it continuously when at Cons and the LCSes.

Best of all, it is completely free for anyone to use. Check my signature for the URL.

[Iron Fist]

There's a button to "Freeze Panel", you select the first item on the first row under the one you want to freeze and you click it

Thank you!

Ugh it's going to be so nice not having to scroll to the top for my totals from now