Tool / parts store / database?

[T i m]

Hi all,

I think I might like some sort of phone / PC auto-synced database app that would allow me to quickly and easily enter data re the contents of tool archive / storage boxes and smaller components.

The idea that for any surplus / duplicate tools or parts, I could put them in boxes an any combination that allow them to pack well but then keep track of what is in each (uniquely numbered) box.

A mate first came up with this idea years ago when he moved using a database of some sort on his Amstrad PCW PC.

He would fill each box with whatever would pack in well and enter it on the computer. The last thing to be moved was the PC and the first to be unpacked, with many of the boxes stacked in the garage. When he wanted to find a padlock from the 50 or so boxes he would search for 'Padlock' in the PC and it would return any boxes that were containing such.

The nearest I have got to that solution on the Android phone is the built in 'Memo' app in that you can create a heading called 'Box 1' and then just the list of what Box 1 contains in the body of the memo. You can create a category called 'Boxes' and put all the 'Box n' related memos under that. You can then live search for stuff.

The only thing I'm not sure about is I would like to also work on the same data on a PC or other mobile device, I guess with it syncing in the cloud?

Anyone do / use anything like that please?

Cheers, T i m

[Bob Eager]

I keep a note of what's in my storage unit, in pretty well exactly the way you describe.

I didn't bother about a database; it's flat text on the house wiki (which I can access from my phone if I want).

[tabbypurr]

Do yourself a favour and do it in plain text. Then it's compatible with everything forever.

NT

[T i m]

Cool. ;-)

Yeah, I used the term 'database' because I wasn't sure if I could have the search function granular enough to be able to isolate a particular item but I guess even if it was a simple text file, I could do a word search and eyeball what heading (= box number) it was found under.

Maybe a text document in a Dropbox folder then?

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Understood ... so (as mentioned to Bob) a plain Text file on a Dropbox folder maybe?

So, if I needed to amend the contents of say 'Box 50' then I guess I could (hopefully /) equally *search* for that (heading) before editing the contents and saving?

However I do it, I'd like to be able to access it easily from the home screen of my phone (easy to do as a shortcut on my PC).

Cheers, T i m

[Bob Eager]

Google Docs...?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Only if you write it in arabic...

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Bob Eager escribió:

Isn't searching the house high and low for a missing tool or specific screw size that you KNOW you have carefully stashed away somewhere part of the fun of DIY?

[Tim Watts]

Sounds like a spreadsheet to me :)

Google Sheets gives you your cloud/PC/phone option all in one.

Just do a massive grid - columns are boxes, rows are items.

Or a box per tab if you want to do it that way.

Searching will work, it's simple and if you open on a PC you can glance across lots of boxes at once.

[Graeme]

In message , Mike Tomlinson writes

It is certainly a big part of my life :-)

My brother recently gave me a couple of red pseudo 'Snap On' cabinets, which are now in our ex shop, and very convenient. However, that now means I have another place to search for lost stuff.

I enjoy all this stuff about tool storage and even a tool database, but is anyone really that organised? I just know that if I started something like that, it would be great initially, but I would never keep it up to date. Gotta keep searchin', searchin' ...

[Bob Eager]

Oh yes. But the storage unit is ten miles away.

[Bob Eager]

I'm *not* that organised. I use my list on the wiki exclusively for the storage unit. This is a lockable walk-in room in a storage facility ten miles away. It was originally for my off-site backups, but it's grown!

[spuorgelgoog]

Something involving RFI tags on everything and proximity readers everywhere would track things as they get moved around the house.

Or a camera above the tool store and some pattern recognition software.

Owain

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its the sort of thing I knock up a MySql database and some php code on my virtual private server for.

[dennis]

Just put a piece of string on everything with auto retraction. ;-)

[Graeme]

Some years ago, I rented a council garage just to store 'stuff', and remembering what was actually in there was always a nightmare. Needless to say, it all started neatly stacked and a place for everything, but by the time I had been back and forth for stuff a few times, and added extra stuff, it was slightly less well organised.

[DICEGEORGE]

a text file, dropbox maybe sorted alphabetically box1.drill manual box1.screwdriver long crosshead box2.hammer box2.

and then print out each box contents and glue the bit of paper to the box?

[g]

[Bob Eager]

I've been very stern with myself (Ooh, Matron!)

Most of the small stuiff is in numbered plastic crates, so I just have to search one crate. I haven't worked out how to ensure that it's not always the bottom crate in a stack.

Same approach with the book catalogue. As long as I know which shelf it's on, that's enough. That's in text files at present, but I'm going to do a MySQL/web job for that.

[T i m]

I would say generally I'm not (for a poll of one), but I think they say 'If you have an organised mind you don't need an organised life' and that has worked well for me until:

1) I got old (and my memory got worse) 2) Got past a critical mass of stuff (so couldn't remember exactly what I had and where) 3) I wasn't accessing it all as frequently as I once was (DRAM refresh).

The problem would be for the archival stuff is which of potentially many boxes I *stored* it in, is it in.

So it's not an ideal solution but a 'needs must'.

Now, 'of course', if I had 4 claw hammers it would make sense to have maybe 3 of them in the same box but that wouldn't be easy to achieve if I couldn't find the first stored one when I found the second.

Therefore, this could also be a means of determining just how many of each thing I have and then I could thin out rather than store.

So did I, but a pilot scheme with some paper notes and just 4 boxes seems to have worked well so far (with little in the way of amendment). Remember, this isn't for regularly accessed stuff, but more archived tools and things. It's just that it's not to difficult to 'search' the contents of just 4 boxes that way but it would be so easy with say 50.

Quite, and then, depending on the urgency, you go out and buy another one, only to then find one of the others you had 'lost'. ;-(

I've managed to get a plain text file stored in my Dropbox account on my phone and with a shortcut to it on my desktop but the default editor doesn't seem to have a search feature so I'll have to play with that further.

I don't want something that is wholly 'Cloud based' as I may not have access to the Cloud all the time, but something Cloud synched would be ideal.

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Whilst it might, I'm not really a fan of spreadsheets (well, never really used them in my 60 years) and don't feel they would be flexible enough to work on a phone?

Possibly, but you *have* to be online to use it?

Whilst I could see that being workable on a big home screen, I'm not sure it would lend itself to a small screen and my old eyes. ;-(

Again, whilst that sounds like it might help, I'm not sure the fixed 'cell' format would be particularly good to cover the range of things I'd like to manage.

But not so easy on my phone. ;-(

The Android / Samsung Memo app looks idea as I can have box numbers for headings, free form for the data and full lookup type searching but I've not yet found if the data can be cloud synched (or not found the actual data) nor if I can also open the dataset on anything else?

Also, whilst I may possibly have 'all my eggs in one (numbered ) basket' with an app like that, it would mean that if I accidentally delete one box it wouldn't be the end of the world?

Cheers, T i m