Hi guys and gals, here's my problem. I have finally decided to get organized, which means software. Google points to lots of coin SW, or to SW that has 15,000 US notes - but mine is a Canadian and World collection. Only about 300-400 notes. I have a trial copy of "Data Tracker for Currency" - here's their site - http://www.datavillage.com/currencytracker.htm The trial copy (25 records) works well for my needs, but before I shell out a whole 75 bucks, I thought I would pick a few brains out there. No, I have nothing to do with the product - just looking for advice from those smarter than me. Thanks in advance.......
I don't really like being low tech, but I use Excel for my world inventory. I went through the features of that software (albeit on a quick scan just now, nothing too thorough) and don't really see anything there that I would want, over and above the abilities of Excel. Is there something in that software that you'd need that a spreadsheet can't do? Dave
Hi Bob, I bought the full version for about $12 a few months ago on Ebay from Datavillage . I took a glance at it and didn't see much I could use. I prefer to stick to a "want list" I developed earlier from .PDF software. I agree with Dave. If the trial version works for you, I'll mail the full original for free. I have no use for it. Just send name & address to daperkins1959@yahoo.com and I'll dig it out and drop it in the mail. osb13 Dave
Use to do the high tech thing until my computer decided for me to go back to The notebook thing....LOL
As expected, thoughtful and useful responses. Thanks! Full disclosure, I have some background using databases for business applications, so although I agree that Excel probably does most of what I want, I am using this to keep my skills sharp as much as to manage a collection. I could probably write a custom job, but that's kind of losing site of the original goal .
I have written Excel spreadsheets for everything. It's not that hard to figure out and with the "sort" capabilities, you can really get a handle on your data. The hardest part is determining how you want to track your data (sortable fields). A few might be; Country, Denomination, year, mint, grade, pic file number, date acquired, value, storage location, slab #, flip #. Using those a column headers then using a row for each coin. Of course, you can use different pages for currency and coins, or just make one large list. I prefer different pages, myself because I don't have a background with any computer skills, so I keep it simple. You can always add another data column, but it requires going back and adding the data. You might consider noting pic file locations as well as the file names if you store a lot of them on disks or zips (or at least note the back-up locations). Since you still need to enter the data, I think the only thing you get with commercial software is graphics ? I am still learning, but am considering loading the pic file as hyperlinks, so I can go directly to them from the sheet ? I never had a computer before retiring a few years ago, so the learning is by rote and very time consuming. But, with basic knowledge already in hand, I think you could set it up in a couple of hours ? Adding columns for sales data might not even be a bad idea, in case you do future trading that you need to record.
