Tool / parts store / database?

Spreadsheet would be better. Could be Excel, could be Google sheets, could be open office, all depending on what you have. I find Google Drive most convenient for this because the Google apps are fine for basic editing although I also have Dropbox, One Drive, etc which I tend to use for sharing.

I have one such for my filing cabinets, although I keep it on the desktop machine rather than in the cloud.

Your "Fields" might be Box Number, high level description (Plumbing, electrics, hand tools, etc) then a more detailed description.

In "my" filing system for paperwork I have a worksheet for each cabinet which is the one I edit to keep up to date, then I also copy them into another sheet which I then sort alphabetically (because for example I have new and older tax stuff in different cabinets).

Reply to
newshound
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Reply to
newshound

Show-off!

:-)

I can be rude, because that's what I feel I ought to be doing myself, and one day I will get round to it!

Reply to
newshound

If 30% of it's out of date you can find things 70% of the time, plus maybe another 10% where you remember. The tendency to group like things together helps too. Just update the dbase when you get the time.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Yup, I have that but the app it uses doesn't seem to have a search function.

That's the idea but more like:

Box 101 drill manual screwdriver long crosshead

Box 102 hammer

Box 201 Rawlplugs Pop rivets .....

(Where all the 1xx series boxes would be of a particular size / type ... like knowing all hotel room numbers 1xx are on the first floor).

That's a good idea, especially if I could get it compact enough to do on my Dymo label printer. ;-)

I was hoping to have a (unique) box number on each box (allocated sequentially on demand) plus, maybe and space allowing and where applicable, a very brief overview of what the box may contain (like Rawlplugs, if I end up with enough of them).

I'm surprised such a things doesn't already exist, either using plain text or with a PC app as it must be something many here might appreciate? You can get similar for other 'collections' (like books or films etc) but with those you are indexing the items themselves, rather than a sub-collection of (potentially disparate) items in the same box.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

So are available offline etc?

Tat's the beauty of most Cloud synched solutions in that you can keep the data where you like. eg, in my application I'd primarily keep the data on my phone (the thing I'm most likely to have with me in the workshop) but know the Mrs or I could also look it up on our PC's.

Whilst that could / would be the final goal, initially it is likely to be a heading of 'Box 1' with a complete range of disparate contents where I would just list the contents. The thing that has just come to mind is the location as I might store some stuff indoors / in the loft etc.

That sounds a bit too complicated for this non-spreadsheet user. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Spreadsheet or text; I tend to prefer the latter, but either would do. What I tend to put in is fairly free form.

He wants it accessible on the phone, so Excel/OpenOffice not as good as Google Docs/Sheets.

Reply to
Bob Eager

You can make Google files available offline if you want to. That might be good for you as you presumably need access away from wifi, the price is that you are using space on your phone/tablet which *might* be limited.

You'll need to have the correct settings so that it uploads if you make changes offline.

I used to worry about keeping offline copies, I don't any more for the stuff I keep exclusively in the cloud most of which is not life-critical (collections of recipes off the web, for example).

Since I'm *usually* looking at them at home with wifi and FTTC it is simpler *not* to have offline versions (and then have to worry about version control).

More sensitive stuff does *not* go in the cloud. These days in some eco-systems (e.g. apple) the default is cloud backup, so you have to turn that off. Obviously it is more carefully backed up, with periodic offsite backups too.

Reply to
newshound

I'd be inclined to use an Excel spreadsheet with one column for box number and one or more for item name/description.

If you then sort by box# you'll see everything in Box 1, Box 2, etc. in order. If you sort by item name you'#ll see all the tools in alphabetical order with box# alongside, so you'll know where to find a given tool.

If you use something like WPS Office on your Android devices, you'll be able to view and edit the spreadsheet on those too.

Reply to
Roger Mills

I agree, spreadsheets are best on a big screen, but may be usable on a tablet.

If you have never really used them then this is probably not the time to start. I have probably used one every working day since I first had access to Lotus 1-2-3 on the first IBM-PCs in the early 80's. In fact back in the 70's, long before Visi-Calc on the Apple II, I tried to write a general purpose array manipulation program in Fortran using a line editor on a DEC PDP-8. This was when most computer screens were text only, I would have been sending graphs to an X-Y plotter. I gave up because it was way beyond my abilities, but it was nice to discover when

1-2-3 came along that at least I had been thinking along good lines.

Google Docs should work for you, just a single text document, a sub-heading for each "box" and a new line for each "tool". Then a simple text search will quickly find the right box. Easy enough to do a printout too.

Reply to
newshound

When you use a spreadsheet as a pseudo-database, it's rarely the best tool for the job, though in cases where changes are infrequent and only one person is going to use it, it may be excusable ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

CSV file. All the simplicity of text, but can be processed as database/spreadsheet as required.

Reply to
DJC

Try: Box 101 Drill manual screwdriver long crosshead

then import it into a spreadsheet as tab delimited text Then copy&paste 'Box 101' into the first column for the relevant rows re-export as tabbed text or CSV and you have a text file

Reply to
DJC

That's good then.

I have a pretty good deal on my online data and whilst I sometimes find myself without any service, I'm not sure they would be when I was looking for some archived tools. ;-)

As long as I can locate the files on my SD card I should be ok.

I wonder of that could clash with my thoughts above?

Understood.

For me it was more about easy access to another and possibly better view, via my PC.

Understood. ;-)

Sure.

OOE, I found an app that looks like it was specially for doing what I am considering called (ironically) 'Storage' and I believe syncs via your Google account.

formatting link

Whilst initially it seemed a bit like overkill (how many keystrokes required to enter an item) but it got better / quicker once you actually had the collection and boxes themselves created.

(It's very similar to another app I like and use and that's Fuelio).

The only thing I'm not sure about is how one might be able to access the data from a PC?

I think I'll email the developer and see whet he says.

I'll also check Google docs. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Checking that out now.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Whilst I've actually had some practical and positive experience of CSV files it has mainly been just a stepping stone re mobile phone contact list export / import and the like.

For whatever I end up using I think I would like to think I could access the data file from both my phone and PC, it would be automatically synched (but not necessarily shared) and would be manually back-up-able so that I was sure there was another copy somewhere safe.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Thanks for the input Roger and whilst I'm sure you and the others have recommended the use of a spreadsheet, I'm not sure they would be the right things for *me*, simply because of the format.

Now, this could be down to my lack of experience / exposure to them but I see them as fairly 'regimented' and to some degree, preemptive.

By that I mean you have (seem) to have to pre-define to some degree the rows and columns versus the open page of a text file.

So, given I don't think I want to be able to sort but search stuff and don't really care what box number something is in, or what it is sharing the contents of that box with, I just need something that will search though text and highlight it and I can check to see what box (or boxes) the search relates to.

It's at that point (multiple hits) when an app that returned the hit returns live might be an advantage over a plain text search.

The Android / Samsung 'Memo' app provides this (you type 'd r i l l' and as soon as you hit the second 'l' you are shown all the boxes that have a drill in them (drill bit, hand drill, electric drill, seed drill etc).

The thing there is whilst I would like the ability to access, edit and print the 'database', as long as it is being synched now and again (for backup purposes) I think the PC access feature would be lower priority than ease and suitability of the prime process.

On from that, a single text file on a phone could be dangerous as I have accidentally deleted content by catching or holding backspace than I needed.

With something more app / databasey, they tend to treat even a single item in a container record as such, often prompting you with the 'Are you sure' safety before deletion.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

In message , T i m writes

Tim, my views are biased because I love spreadsheets, and have never got to grips with creating a database.

My experience with spreadsheets, is that they can be as simple or complicated as you like, and as flexible or otherwise as you like.

For example, suppose you set a column width as 30 characters and input all your data, then suddenly find a description which you cannot easily reduce to less than 32 characters. Simple. Just adjust that column width, which will adjust all the rows within that column, without changing any data already stored. Text too small? Use a larger size, and globally increase the row height which will, again, change every row without affecting any data. You can change any one row or column, or the whole lot at once. Neither changes the data.

I use spreadsheets to record all sorts of stuff like collections such as CDs and DVDs to 'collectibles', as well as my annual accounts, income projections, oil usage and more. Like anything else, it is getting started that is the problem, but there will doubtless be endless help here, if you get stuck. Equally doubtless, we probably all do things differently to achieve our desired results :-)

Reply to
Graeme

Understood. There does seem two be two camps here, those who use spreadsheets and use them for all sorts of things (suggesting they can be versatile etc) and those (like me) who may have never used / created one in anger in my life.

The same applies to me re databases, other than a use of those where the structure / GUI have been previously created by others. But then I'm a 'hardware guy' so ... ;-)

Ah, now you have already highlighted a 'limitation from my POV, having to 'set' anything ...

Hmm, mw in comparison with say a text file I wouldn't have to 'set' anything, I just enter the data (test we are talking here) however I like.

Similar with a text file of course.

But, if you have a row big enough to contain 'Cantilever pop-rivet tool' will push any following text off the screen and the box below it containing 'Nuts' is going to look very empty? The thing is a (IMHO) is a very uniform way of storing data that needs organising whereas in this case (tool storing indexing) you have a massively diverse range of content that doesn't need organising (as in date, time, size, alphabetical order etc) but just searching / locating?

Again, I'm not sure they are the sorts of actions you would want to have to apply to such a list or need to apply to that range of content?

Like I suggested at the top then, one of those things where if it suits your 'way' then you might use them for a wide rage of needs. However, each of those subjects you stated are quite narrow and with optical media for example, you generally have a fairly regimented set of data-fields across a large number of things. eg, ideally suited to a spreadsheet.

I think the use of a particular tool (or the need for the tool in the fist place) is possibly partly down to the needs / 'way' of the person.

Just by the way of a conceptual example and following along from the 'If you have an organised mind you don't need an organised life', as a right-brained / fuzzy logic / IT support - customer driven type hardware guy,I've never been diaryed and never created (in my 60 years and so far spreadsheet, yet somehow I have managed? I have however used rough lists and notes and many / dynamic means of recording those things that I think or know might need to be referenced later on.

Like, I don't have anything written down re what tools I own but I could probably get pretty close re the range ( Make / type / size / functional state if not the quantities or current location) of most of them.

Just in the same way I have a pretty good idea of what material stock I currently have and roughly where it is ... it sorta becomes 'locked in' without me even trying.

The issue is really *just* being able to pin down what of those things I'm not using regularly I have put where and maybe, use that data to determine how many things I have excess or duplicates of, (re a thinning out process).

So, to have any chance of sticking with such a solution it would have to be easy (so little 'learning' required), reliable (I don't want to be able to easily delete something by mistake [1] or lose it because of a file corruption etc) and accessible via both my phone (for the instant / entry / lookup stuff) and via my PC for maybe reviewing / printing / editing jobs.

This would probably require some form of cloud sync because although I could access any plain file stored on my phone via a cable or OTG device, the whole 'ease of use' thing would require that to be completely automatic, like when I take a picture with my phone and it automagically appears on the Dropbox folder on my PC. ;-)

I've still not decided on any particular solution though. ;-).

Cheers, T i m

[1] I used to use a simple 'Notepad' app on my S3 phone and have transferred it to my S7, but the app assumed the left soft button would give you access to the apps sub-menu but now it give you the active apps list. This has forced me to look at alternatives and the Memo app seems pretty good at being just that, and this 'Box database' I desire, it's just I'm not sure where the data is stored or / if I can cloud sync it AND access the data from a PC. I have accidentally deleted data in Notepad and save it before I realised I had. ;-(
Reply to
T i m

No. Ideally suited to a database.

A spread sheet is where you want to apply uniform sets of *calculations* to data

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

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