How Do You Track Your Collection?

[Captain Craig]

Freeze rows &/or COLUMNS in Excel.

[bloodofthegods]

I've recently decided to get renter's insurance again after a long lull, and before I too used a spreadsheet. But at this time, I don't even have the CPU that I had built my collection up until then on, so many years ago. I don't relish the thought of entering all the comics I have manually onto a spreadsheet again for the insurance. I have read through the thread and seen both clz.com and comicbase.com suggested by posters. Both of these ideally have what I want, which is mainly mobile access (as about 60-70% of my collection is in a huge lateral file cabinet halfway across the house from our desktop PC) and easy of entering new comics. As in I can selection from their database and add to my collection, with just pretty much editing in the condition for calculation of it's worth. I see that clz.com costs to download the application, which I am fine with, but they say nothing that I can see, about an annual cost for updates (which is something the OP suggesting this mentioned).

I had a comicbookdb account at one time, but when I went to log on, it said that their database had been hacked and they had to reset everyone's user name and passwords. Has anyone been through this reset and still had the information they entered? In my case I don't think I could recover mine, as the email associated with my account no longer exists. I was mainly wondering if any users that had been through that still felt their information safe, even though it is still a free site. Also they too have a mobile site. Do the desktop and mobie sites work together, where it doesn't matter which you use to enter information, you still access that same information from either site?

[Iron Fist]

Both of these ideally have what I want, which is mainly mobile access

Well to play devil's advocate for spreadsheets, what I do is have the excel file in my dropbox folder along with other spreadsheets and other important documents so I can access them from my phone and any computer with an internet connection.

[bloodofthegods]

Well to play devil's advocate for spreadsheets, what I do is have the excel file in my dropbox folder along with other spreadsheets and other important documents so I can access them from my phone and any computer with an internet connection.

Well to play computer dummy, well not play, it's the truth lol, what's a Dropbox file? I have a PC with excel but my mobile device would be an iPod. Would I be able to access said spreadsheet without wifi through this Dropbox file?

[Iron Fist]

Well to play computer dummy, well not play, it's the truth lol, what's a Dropbox file? I have a PC with excel but my mobile device would be an iPod. Would I be able to access said spreadsheet without wifi through this Dropbox file?

Oh okay. xD

Dropbox is basically cloud storage, where any files you put in a certain folder on your computer, are then uploaded to the web so you can access and edit them from anywhere. You need your login details to access it (from a device that isn't your personal computer) so it's very secure and keeps all your info safe in case for instance your house were to burn down taking your computer along with it.

If it's an iPod Touch then you can put the dropbox app on there, yeah.

[bloodofthegods]

Oh okay. xD

Dropbox is basically cloud storage, where any files you put in a certain folder on your computer, are then uploaded to the web so you can access and edit them from anywhere. You need your login details to access it (from a device that isn't your personal computer) so it's very secure and keeps all your info safe in case for instance your house were to burn down taking your computer along with it.

If it's an iPod Touch then you can put the dropbox app on there, yeah.

Awesome. Thank you so much for the information. Outside of the thought of having to do the initial entering of all my books again this sounds just as good as paying sites plus not having to rely on another site's database.

I remember seeing cloud on my options to save my games on my xbox 360. I'll look into it some more. Thank you.

[Iron Fist]

Outside of the thought of having to do the initial entering of all my books again this sounds just as good as paying sites plus not having to rely on another site's database.

I remember seeing cloud on my options to save my games on my xbox 360. I'll look into it some more. Thank you.

No problem.

I couldn't imagine creating my spreadsheet now, I only do trades and made the spreadsheet when i had about twenty and now I have close to four hundred. I'd never do all this from scratch.

[bloodofthegods]

No problem.

I couldn't imagine creating my spreadsheet now, I only do trades and made the spreadsheet when i had about twenty and now I have close to four hundred. I'd never do all this from scratch.

Yeah 6000+ entries is not something I really need to spend the time doing. But I also have taken chances here in the years I haven't had insurance. But having a tornado two years ago that was too close for comfort I really need to.

[quinnzel]

I don't really keep track of my collection but if I did, I'd probably use a spreadsheet in Excel or even just a plain old paper notebook. My collection of single issues really isn't that big compared to a lot of the collections I've heard of around here (mine's probably around 300 by now) which would be a lot to write in by hand but I'm a list-maker person so I personally enjoy doing that. As it gets bigger though, the digital spreadsheet would make more sense. Because I'm not planning to sell my collection off in the future, keeping track of it doesn't really serve any purpose aside from allowing me to keep an inventory of what I have for future re-reading.

[BlackagarBoltagon]

For those using Dropbox to access spreadsheets easily on mobile, just use Google Sheets. That's what I've been using and it's awesome for this purpose.

And Bloodofthegods, when I reset my comicbookdb.com password all my collection was still there. My main reason for switching away from that was the ease of using Google Sheets across platforms.

[marvelmaniac6169]

I've recently decided to get renter's insurance again after a long lull

Check your policy but standard renters insurance DOES NOT cover collectibles or comic books unless the are "Professionally" appraised and a Ryder is attached to the policy which will cost you a fortune using your renters policy.

I have my collection insured for $30,000 and it only costs $150.00 a year.
The insurance is for fire/theft.
You name the coverage amount and pay the premium for that amount.
All you have to do is supply a list of the covered items, no grading/appraisal is needed.
I also supplied pictures and have the list and pics saved on my computer and 2 flashdrives, one at home and one at my Daughters house.
Each year I update the list with the books/collectibles I have added including pics.

http://collectinsure.com/

[Dr.j.]

Well,I used to try every ten years or so to do invintory,to see exactly how many marvel,dc and misc I had.Always mess up soon after.Anyway, for hitting the cons and comic shops, I have a large note book,bought just for the task.Havemy name and address,in case I forget it in the store.A LOT of work went into that notebook!!Have the most important marvel and dc listed,then write out the numbers for the title,then take a pale red/pink marker to blob out the numbers when I get them.For the REALLY important books I want, because there are so few,.I need not have a list anymore.

[madhouse]

I suddenly feel like the odd one out because my list/spreadsheet is like:

+1

This is what I do, with Excel (except not as detailed as yours). The idea is to keep track of how much I spent and saved. For example my total spending must not exceed certain percentage of total cover price. This helps me in making decision on purchasing those expensive OOP.

[Nathan Irwin]

I have read through the thread and seen both clz.com and comicbase.com suggested by posters. Both of these ideally have what I want, which is mainly mobile access (as about 60-70% of my collection is in a huge lateral file cabinet halfway across the house from our desktop PC) and easy of entering new comics. As in I can selection from their database and add to my collection, with just pretty much editing in the condition for calculation of it's worth. I see that clz.com costs to download the application, which I am fine with, but they say nothing that I can see, about an annual cost for updates (which is something the OP suggesting this mentioned).

I started using the CLZ program about three years ago, and am very happy with it. Both CLZ and ComicBase should offer free trial versions (at least, they did back when I was making my purchase).

At the time, CLZ was cheaper, but still had all the features I really needed. Once you buy, there's no ongoing cost - but I do get asked if I want to upgrade to the most recent version of the software.

I would suggest downloading the trials, entering a small subset of your collection, and then just playing around with both programs for a few days. That will give you some idea if either program fits your specific needs.

[bloodofthegods]

I started using the CLZ program about three years ago, and am very happy with it. Both CLZ and ComicBase should offer free trial versions (at least, they did back when I was making my purchase).

At the time, CLZ was cheaper, but still had all the features I really needed. Once you buy, there's no ongoing cost - but I do get asked if I want to upgrade to the most recent version of the software.

I would suggest downloading the trials, entering a small subset of your collection, and then just playing around with both programs for a few days. That will give you some idea if either program fits your specific needs.

Thanks for the input. I am heavily leaning towards getting the CLZ application. The idea of free spreadsheets with dropbox as Storm suggested would be nice, if I were adding on or revamping. But having to start from scratch, CLZ will take far less time to get the job done, and worth the one time $15 fee.