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+-- Thread: Tool Database? (/showthread.php?tid=7100743)
Re: Tool Database? - Robert Adams - 09-19-2015
Richard D. said:
[blockquote]Alan S said:
A walk through video is the easiest way to document all the little stuff, though of course it's not searchable. It might not be a bad way to record everything, so you can later go back and put it in whatever form you want, with screen capture photos for items and serial numbers. Anything you can't see, you can say as you film.
And then upload it to a photo cloud so it is always available.
[/blockquote]
Yup course who doesn't have that already set up to do automatically. When I take a pic it automatically uploads it and saves it in three different places.
Re: Tool Database? - Brian Miller - 09-19-2015
I have an Excel file, which was published on this forum several years ago and it works great. It has columns set up for all the fields you mentioned and is easily edited if needed and I have over 400 entries in my inventory. My problem is that I do not know how to copy the Excel Inventory Template to the forum. Can someone give me some help?
Re: Tool Database? - Waterloo - 09-20-2015
+1 for Excel
Re: Tool Database? - Big Dave - 09-20-2015
SceneryMaker said:
I do mine in Excel with a separate photo album directory.
This.
Several years ago my truck was broken into and tools stolen. At the time Excel was still a relatively new program (I mentioned it was several years ago, right?
) so I figured I'd brush up on my computer skills by making a spreadsheet listing all my tools as I replaced them. Every time I buy a new tool - regardless of what it is - I add it to the sheet. That spreadsheet is about 23 pages long now and shows a pretty surprising number at the bottom for total value... 
I keep all the tool pics in a separate file, but they're not linked to the spreadsheet. I just make sure I name each photo the same (or close to...) as the spreadsheet.
Dave
Re: Tool Database? - John Mihich - 09-20-2015
I have mine in Lotus Notes. I got it for free so I use it. MS Access might work. I have not put pictures into it.
I know there are free inventory programs out there. I'm thinking about using my Neat system to do. It has the ability to scan pictures and details and is searchable. Since I already have it I can use it.
Re: Tool Database? - rjhoffmann - 09-20-2015
Since you have Word -- it is a good time to learn Access and use that.
Excel is a spreadsheet -- for number manipulation. It has some nice features, but that is not what its purpose is. That being said -- a lot of people use it for that. It just seems like using the wrong tool for the job situation (using Excel). Like a screwdriver as a pry bar ...
Re: Tool Database? - Cecil - 09-20-2015
OneNote. It is free-form. You can create a template with the fields you need. OneNote is searchable. If you paste a picture, and there are words in the picture, even those become searchable.
You can even download the manuals from the interweb and attach them to OneNote.
OneNote is not scale-able. In other words, it will only work for a small DB. Single person access with 1,000 or so entries is a small DB.
You can use OneNote 2010 local or on the cloud, i.e. backed up off site. I believe 2013 is the same. However, I expect future versions to be cloud only.
I don't think you can run reports against OneNote.
Re: Tool Database? - John Mihich - 09-20-2015
I was wondering what Onenote was. I might look into that. I'm working on a DB for my camera collection and wife's glass collection. It's fun to learn new things.
Re: Tool Database? - cputnam - 09-20-2015
LIL
Some ideas:
Evernote - Free
Open Office - either the spreadsheet or dB - Free
Excel
Access
Re: Tool Database? - thewizzard - 09-20-2015
Once again, for the OP Big Bill, what platform do you want to use?
ANY program that allows any type of text or photo input could be used. If you are already Access or Excel savy they would work fine but if your not they can have a very steep learning curve, are geared for buisness use, and are expensive. Its like swatting flies with a barn door.
A simple app is all that is needed and many of them are free.