Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Collection recording software


perce620

Recommended Posts

Do any of the pals know of any software for creating databases apart from access that are specifically made with the medal/militaria collector in mind . Freeware/shareware or other <_<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For cataloguing books, periodicals and pamphlets I have used cheap copies of MS Works which incorporates a spreadsheet/database. It's not perfect but at least is fairly easy to use. I tend to be wary of bespoke packages as there is always something that doen't quite fit the way I want to do things.

There is a cheap database avalable as part of the Ability Office suite which can be bought separately (I saw it at £15 once in PCWorld). I have never used it so I can't say whether it is any good for this osrt of project.

Another option would be to take a look at (Sun) Star Office which you used to download for free - though I think you now have to buy - though it's far cheaper than Microsoft alternatives.

As for Ability Office it has had excellent reviews (just Google on Ability Office to find some) and the whole office suite is only £24.99 on Amazon at present. I have not used it personally, but guess it is well worth considering.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A contact of mine thinks something called Software for Stamp Collectors is wonderful. Can’t tell you who makes it because I was lent a source disk to view and it’s unlabelled, except with a serial number, but an Internet search on stamp collecting might offer it up.

I have no experience of it because I devise my own spreadsheets and databases etc.

Gwyn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Ability software all the time - the full office package was included with my laptop, and I've now installed it on the PC, [although I have Office 2000 as well on the PC]. My MS Office did not include Access, so a database was my first priority. The Ability database is very like Access, but I was never experienced in the latter, so can't really comment on the similarities of the fine points. It is simple to use, and the help pages are good, and print off easily in small chunks.

As a regular user of 'Word' I find the Ability word processing packaging lacking in a lot of respects - it's a cheap product, and in some ways feels cheap; but considering the price is truly amazing value for money, and completely compatible with Word in every version - when you save the document, a drop-down list just prompts you to choose your version - from Word 3, through 95/97/2000 etc., so you then have a document in the format that you normally use. I suspect that regular users of Access would notice many differences in Ability, but until MS take the £200+ price tag off the product as a stand-alone, there's a great big niche in the market for this product.

All the Abilty products are available from the website as free 10 day trials before you buy, so you can't go wrong with having a play with the product before you buy - and I think the full package [Write, Database, Draw, Paint, Spreadsheet], is still only about £30.

Will I get drummed out of the Brownies for advertising? I won't add a link to the web site for fear of reprisals :lol: but just add a 'www.' before and a 'com' after and you'll get there!

Sue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another option would be to take a look at (Sun) Star Office which you used to download for free - though I think you now have to buy - though it's far cheaper than Microsoft alternatives.

.

Star Office you have to purchase, but comes with the adabas database, OpenOffice is the free version available from openoffice.org no obvious database at the moment.

For both of these products the interface for the database is terrible! but the rest of the software is great remembering that it is more compatable with versions of MS Office than MS Office.

JOhn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe that the one I was vague about above is collect@home.

Gwyn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to all of you for your help anything has got to be better that handwriting the collection out. Will try some of the one you've suggested

Perce

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Hill 60

My father has a collection of over 400 weapons and military marked tools (matchlocks through to an SA80, flint arrow heads through to whaling harpoons etc) and he uses the spreadsheet function on his Windows XP to catalogue them.

He includes a lot of info, including cross-referencing with a Word document and he doesn't have any problems at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...