inventory software

Well, a better way to keep track of what I have... My handwriting is horrible  and even I have at times a hard time deciphering what I wrote, so a database/spreasheet seems more  practical, but EZStamp is pricey. I even contacted to see if they offered versions up to certain years, but it is apparentlly all or nothing

kgvistamps and brightonpete- I had considered  just building a spreadsheet -I have both Excel and Numbers- and while I deal with spreadsheets at work all the time- to build one for stamps of the world seemed a bit  overwhelming..

but that may be my best option

Spreadsheets are easy. Just map out a way you want to keep track of stamps.

I start with a sheet for Definitives, one for commemoratives, semi-postals etc etc etc, then I make up a summary sheet showing totals.

Catalog number, date of issue, description, condition (M, U, CTO), grade(G, F, VF), price paid, cat. value & notes.

Of course you can keep as detailed a listing as you want, or just a basic listing if that's all you want. It's all up to you what you want to track


Most people I see who open up a spreadsheet (esp. Excel) are overwhelmed by all the cells displayed. Numbers isn't quite as bad. But you don't need all those cells, and you can spread the data out over different pages in the file to keep things simple. And if you have any questions, ask here, or google. Mr Excel website is great for Excel (IIRC) and Apple support forums for Numbers.

I am in the Windows world.

For my US collection, I have used Excel and have a lot of data in it. I designed it to filter how I want to view it.

For my worldwide collection, I use Stamp Manage

One common issue with spreadsheets with a fair amount of info is trying to squeeze more of it on the screen.  One thing I always do is to switch the font to Arial Narrow 10 point, which is still easy to read but leaves room for much more "stuff" on the screen (Steve, try clicking the "G" to highlight the entire "Date Purchased" column and then change the font, you'll see what I mean).  And with my screen size / resolution on my laptop, I can also work with the zoom slider at the lower right - when I need even more stuff on the screen, I click the minus sign once to drop it to 90% and it's still easily legible.  80% and my eyes start to work a bit too much so I don't use that.

Ryan

To expand on my earlier comments, in my excel file I have a lot of columns for information (not always used) so would never fit all on a screen.

I use the group function to collapse sections (like anything to do with value) when not needed and also use the split view horizontally (like freezing columns) so you can see far left and far right columns at same time.

For catalog numbers (prefix, main number, suffix) I end up with 3 columns and then concatenate them to create the composite number so that is a 4th column. I will hide the first 3 most of the time except when entering new numbers.

Actually all this work helped me learn Excel for stamping and at work.

I'd rather type than click click click!