To those who archive their games using Excel.

[Kuros]

I was wondering if I could be able to get an example of how you guys format your Excel files to get proper organization for your games.

I'm tired of clicking over and over on websites, espicially when I have tons of games to add. I want to go through my collection and rearchive it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[qbertandernie]

i broke down and entered each game with columns of what the title is, box, manual, what i paid, and rarity. this was when i had about 100 games though, and i just put them in each time i buy more.

[ckendal]

I was wondering if I could be able to get an example of how you guys format your Excel files to get proper organization for your games.

I'm tired of clicking over and over on websites, espicially when I have tons of games to add. I want to go through my collection and rearchive it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

This is how I organize mine..

http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/carls-games.xls

HTH!
-Carl

[Pantechnicon]

Here's mine:

http://www.geocities.com/zenoszone/Master_Gamelist.xls

Organized alphabetically by system, more or less, with DP rarity ratings and specific conditions (box/manual, etc). The smaller libraries are consolidated onto one sheet. The "Stolen" sheet at the end was created by cutting and pasting the items I knew were taken when my house was burglarized last September. As I continue to find replacement copies of the stolen items I simply move things back over onto the appropriate sheet.

Incidentally, having this information handy in a universally recognizable format, i.e. - Excel - went a long way in helping me settle the homeowner's insurance claim for the burglary. My insurance company was very impressed with the fact that I had this list instantly available for them (along with my Room of Doom pictures) as it made it really easy for the claims investigators to go out to places like Ebay and get an idea of what some of the more obscure or discontinued stuff was worth. That's a lesson for you all, kids: If you've been putting off cataloging your collection: don't. Whip up a quick spreadsheet or an Access database now so you won't be guessing later if you ever get robbed like I did.

[davidleeroth]

I have pretty much the same format as Pantechnicon, I have a Total sheet for a front page and a separate sheet for each system. So throwing it to the net is a two click operation. This is how it looks in Excel:

http://www.students.tut.fi/~tiainen2/collection/YHTPELIT.XLS

and in the web (save as a webpage):

http://www.students.tut.fi/~tiainen2/collection/

You can browse systems with the bottom bar. I've added a couple really basic functions so it calculates and updates the number of games automatically and does some other things I can't remember at the moment. Fancy.

[Gorez]

id show mine but i dont have a host to put a link on.

[Kuros]

id show mine but i dont have a host to put a link on.

rapidshare.com

Put it in a zip first.

[Mayhem]

Gamecube is currently like this...

http://www.mayhem64.co.uk/misc/gamecubegames.xls

Will just reduce it to US/JPN/PAL in the future and do lists of the other systems I have stuff for in a similar manner (though I already have Vic20 and C64 done).

[cyberfluxor]

http://www.students.tut.fi/~tiainen2/collection/YHTPELIT.XLS


I love that setup. I'll have to do this sometime, but currently I just use lists in documents, which can very easily be moved over to that format.

[Gorez]

ok thanks try this link and let me know if ya can see it.

collection!
http://rapidshare.com/files/21528408/COLLECTION_.xls.html

checklist (each system has the games i need, only.) also its not finished.
http://rapidshare.com/files/21528800/System_Checklist_.xls.html

let me know what ya think! thanks.

[roushimsx]

Gamecube is currently like this...
http://www.mayhem64.co.uk/misc/gamecubegames.xls


I'm slowly expanding the data on my list and yours is pretty much what I was shooting for. Here's how it looks right now:

http://www.roushimsx.com/collection.html
(save as HTML'd, of course)

Separate tabs PS2 US/PS2 JPN/GC/Xbox, though I may at some point go back and add in DC US/DC JPN/Saturn US/Saturn JPN/etc ...as it is, I just snap photos of 'em every now and then. I just restructured my shelves a bit, so I've gotta reshoot the PS2 collection tomorrow. Oh joy :( But hey, check it out! Color coded the games I've beaten (that yellowish hue) and games I've put on the backburner but intend to one day revisit. Maybe. I've got to create another color for "FUCK THIS GAME IT'S TOO FUCKING FRUSTRATING OH SHIT I THINK I LOST MORE HAIR FUCK YOU GAME I FUCKING HATE YOU", but then Steel Lancer Arena International might stand out a bit too much.

Oh that's right, I went there.

There's about a snowball's chance in hell of me ever getting around to cataloging my PC games.

[PapaStu]

I'm a little weird about letting my excel sheet out of my hands for my own insane reasons.

However here's a screen cap of my anality CLICK ME! (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k252/PapaStu/Picture1.png)

[Darren870]

Honestly I like mine the best:

http://students.rwu.edu/dfrickel920/Video Game List.xls

When a system is done releasing games IE dreamcast, ps, sms, etc. I put all the games in the list and at the top of each column I can sort it if I have the game or not.

You can see.

Feel free to use it, the PS list is missing some games from the total so it needs to be redone.

I only collect complete so it works well for me, as I don't need columns for manuals and boxes. I just write a section in the notes.

Feel free to ask questions if you must.

[Darren870]

Papa Stu - Castle Shikigami wasn't an EB exclusive just so you know.

[SegaAges]

I actually just wrote a php program that does this for one of my friends.

If you have php/sql installed on your system, I can send you the files if u want.
(no pics cuz I stubbornly use IGN)

[CrimsonNugget]

Wouldn't an Access database be a better idea? That way you can use SQL in a variety of ways, like SegaAges' application.

ADD: Not to mention it'd be easy to search and filter.

[roushimsx]

Wouldn't an Access database be a better idea?

I didn't have Access on my machine when I started my spreadsheet and OpenOffice hadn't added Base yet, which is why I didn't start off in it. It'd be neat to one day import my ODS into it and get a proper database going with some spiffy reports, but for now a plain spreadsheet does it dandy.

[Gorez]

yeah i dont know how to do all that fancy stuff...excel works fine for me.

[Pantechnicon]

Wouldn't an Access database be a better idea? That way you can use SQL in a variety of ways, like SegaAges' application.

ADD: Not to mention it'd be easy to search and filter.

Perhaps but Excel lends itself to easier portability. I can carry a copy of my workbook on my PDA and synchronize it whenever I add or lose something. When and if I ever cross, say, 3000 games then maybe I'll switch to a real database. But for now and the foresseable future a list is sufficient.

[cyberfluxor]

Last night I spent nearly 90 minutes making a tab in a spread sheet with my NES games. I also added at the bottom the average for rarities, total I've paid for games (thanks to posting most of my finds on here & how much I paid :)) and the DP guides price, which I've tweeked a little on most games for more accurate pricing. I'll be adding the SNES tab tonight and may post a link to an uploaded format.

[All Things Sega]

Excel is great for portability and ease of use. When you want a quick glance, bam! everything is right there. I use game collector to keep track of everything and in more detail. That's where database programs come in extremely handy

[nate1749]

Neat to see everyones setup, very interesting post.

My only problem with excel is I want more info, cover, screenshot, game review scores, summary of game, etc. You can do it with links, but what a nightmare.

Game Collector is great for current gen stuff, but old stuff, ehhh. I just want to print a big report with all the games I have so I can flip through all the paper and see which ones I want to play since the majority of my collection I have not played.

These lists are great though, although I can't seem to find mine (been awhile since i updated it). Pretty much same as everyone elses though. I think the only thing I did that I haven't seen is I used colors and stuff more. Like if the answer was "No" to something I had some auto conditioning or something on so that it would change the font to red so it stuck out more. That was pretty much it.

Nate

[cyberfluxor]

Well, I've been copying all my game names over to the Excel sheet and this weekend will update my collection to make sure everything is accounted for. It's funny because everytime I do this I usually end up finding a game I forgot to list and some duplicates to sell. But all the data entry will be over the course of the next month.

[cessnaace]

Here's mine:

http://www.geocities.com/zenoszone/Master_Gamelist.xls

Organized alphabetically by system, more or less, with DP rarity ratings and specific conditions (box/manual, etc). The smaller libraries are consolidated onto one sheet. The "Stolen" sheet at the end was created by cutting and pasting the items I knew were taken when my house was burglarized last September. As I continue to find replacement copies of the stolen items I simply move things back over onto the appropriate sheet.

Incidentally, having this information handy in a universally recognizable format, i.e. - Excel - went a long way in helping me settle the homeowner's insurance claim for the burglary. My insurance company was very impressed with the fact that I had this list instantly available for them (along with my Room of Doom pictures) as it made it really easy for the claims investigators to go out to places like Ebay and get an idea of what some of the more obscure or discontinued stuff was worth. That's a lesson for you all, kids: If you've been putting off cataloging your collection: don't. Whip up a quick spreadsheet or an Access database now so you won't be guessing later if you ever get robbed like I did.


1. I like the format that you used. You gave me ideas. Dangerous I know. LOL!

2. Sorry you were robbed.

3. Acclaim was spelled with two c's. They only LOOKED like k's.


Mark

[l_lamb]

Let's see if this works:

http://rapidshare.com/files/22749444/Master_List.xls

The second column on each page is a unique title counter, so I can get a count of the titles without variants. I haven't separated the utility software on the older computers yet. I enter the number of manuals and packages vs. yes or no so I can get a count. No graphs at this time. I save each system page separately and upload them to my Tapwave using Documents To Go. The master sheet loads okay but takes too long to scroll.

I'm also working on hardware and peripherals pages but haven't decided how I want them laid out. And I need to get into the attic and get an inventory of my older boxes.

[Flack]

Perhaps but Excel lends itself to easier portability. I can carry a copy of my workbook on my PDA and synchronize it whenever I add or lose something. When and if I ever cross, say, 3000 games then maybe I'll switch to a real database. But for now and the foresseable future a list is sufficient.

Here's a simple solution. You can create a blank Access database, and then instead of creating tables you can link to Excel spreadsheets, one per table. This is how mine is set up. The advantage to this is that you can easily write a PHP or ASP front end that will query an Access database, even though your files are really in Excel format (which makes them simpler to do mass updates and port to other formats, IMHO). The reason I don't just leave it all in Access format is that my Palm runs Documents To Go and reads Excel spreadsheets really well, so then I can just sync the two versions (server and phone) and update either one instantly.

Another cool thing about running a PHP front end is you can do neat stuff really simply, like "pick a random game" or add links to reviews, pictures, etc.

[SkiDragon]

I have a poorly formatted excel document, with OCD categories such as when and where I purchased a game.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~adonald/games.xls