I am using a MAC and am looking for an inventory system to help me keep track of my inventory. I have a collection that includes Indian heads, Lincoln's, Jefferson's, Barber's, Walking Liberty's, Washington's, Morgan's and Peace. I am 70 and it is hard to keep in my head what I have and what I need and what extras I have. Probably 50 years ago I bought 15,000 Lincoln's and bought 5,000 Indian's and bought that same amount of Barbers. I have gotten rid of most of the Barbers and Indian heads except for what I have in my collection but I still have about half of the Lincolns to go through and I do that with my kids and grandkids but I hate to go to my albums to see if I have that one when we go through them It sure makes it boring for the kids. When we go to coin shows the kids want to buy everything they see but I don't know what they have in their collections either. Therefore I need an inventory system for my MAC. Any help?
I think something like Excel or a similar spreadsheet might work for you. There is also coin collecting software and some of them sound pretty promising but I've never used one.
A spreadsheet allows you to tailor your inventory as you wish. And you can add or delete elements as you need. Off the shelf packages limit you to what THEY think is important.
Another good program for the Mac is Filemaker Pro. It a relational database program and works great, once you learn it.
If you are really into ease, I can recommend ReCollector (no association other than previous purchaser). Obviously Excel is no additional price if you already have it and are able to make something up, otherwise this is fairly simple to use and allows media / pictures to be added. OSX or Windows. Looks like this for the default coin layout: BTW: This is the iMac version. You are also able to download to Dropbox and use this with an iPhone/iPad (and possibly other) apps.
Haha, completely misread/misinterpreted your original post. I guess I hadn't had my cup of tea yet My point still remains, however: there is a version of Excel for Macs as well (fun fact, Excel was actually originally developed for Macs. It didn't come out for PCs until a couple of years later).
Here's a comparison, albeit not very in-depth, of several free Office-like packages. http://features.en.softonic.com/best-free-office-suite
You could also use Google Docs which comes with a spreadsheet utility. It is free too and you don't need to install anything. You use your normal web browser.
I tried the ReCollector and it worked great in my MAC. The demo worked well that I went headband bought the program. Now I just have to get all the info loaded into it. Thanks everyone for the assistance. This is a great group.
Hi Chuck, welcome to the Community!! I have had a Mac for years and I've used several different programs to keep inventory of my coin collection. As of now I'm using Excel to keep my information. The biggest reason for doing that is longevity. All the other programs I've used have been discontinued by the developer. I'm not saying that will happen with ReCollector but it is something you want to think about. Excel has been around for so long and I don't think Microsoft will be going out of business soon. They also have an iPad version so you can take the info with you if you have an iPad. Filemaker Pro is a good option if you know how to create databases and are willing to shell out a couple of hundred dollars to buy. I wasn't so that wasn't an option for me. Just wanted to share my experiences from another Apple/Mac user.
I have tried excel with my jewelry collection and making supplies but I'm not very good with making spreadsheets. This was pretty simple to use so I thought I would give it a try. I can always print it out and give it to my grandson and have him put it in Excel. The collection will probably go to him anyway. Thank you for getting in touch with me. Using a MAC in a PC world is like going to a dinosaur park sometimes. lol
Speaking of MAC, what do you suggest for a microscope for taking pictures of coins that are usable for posting?
I don't use a microscope. I just use my iPhone. The quality is good enough for posting pics online. I probably would only get a microscope if I needed to grade coins
A word of caution with USB microscopes on a Mac. I purchased a cheap one from eBay that clearly said works with OSX - it does to an extent - but certainly the bundled software and measure software does not work. Probably the uptake for Mac is not large enough to rewrite for the yearly OSX increments. Now all I can get is an inverse image of the item that needs work before it is useable. I have no experience of the decent brands but sure that they will work fine. You should think about why you want a microscope for coins. Do you really want to take small portions of a coin or is your requirement to take a decent image of a coin? The latter you probably already have the equipment.
I have a Mac and I use a word Processor. Pages is the Mac word Processor as Word is for Windows. Numbers is the Mac spread sheet as excel is for Windows. A free program Openoffice is a package which has both, word Processor and spreadsheet programs. In my stamp collecting I bought a program and it is great, BUT, I can do the same with what I have already. I do not have a program for my coins, I use my word process to show me what I have and how many. Which would be the same info I would need to enter into a ready made program. I feel why recreate the wheel. But what it really boils down to is what make you happy and easy for oneself.
I use Pages to keep my "wishlist" of coins. I tried using Numbers, a few years ago, but it turned out not to be a viable option for me. The issue I was having with Numbers it that it would not let me sort by 2 column headers like Excel does. So for example I wanted to sort first by Issue Year & then Coin Name but it could not handle that. At the time I was told it's because Numbers was set up to act more as a database, in that regard, than a spreadsheet like Excel. Not sure if that has been fixed or not. Since I've been keeping my inventory with Excel I decided just to stick with it.
