General Forum

Most of my modern cards are in tcdb. Most vintage baseball in spreadsheets. It just takes so long to input card condition here when doing several, vs typing in a vg in a spreadsheet .

Vintage football is here, mostly since I have aquired more of those past few years and did not have existing spreadsheets of the main sets .

Mark 

I have been wanting to create a spreadsheet of my collection for multiple reasons

-if this site crash I still have my collection

-if I want to go to another site, people will know what cards I'm looking for instead of me redoing everything -I'm a geek and I like to see that stuff

However, I'm lost on where to begin. My PC is Yankees and Chiefs, so I know once I start going it will get easier. I just don't know how to get started

"What is the benefit/value of having your collection documented on TCDB and Excel? "

Pretty much for all the reasons already listed by others but the #1 reason is in case this site crashes or ends up in a lawsuit and is shutdown by a larger competitor. Yes it means added work to maintain but once your spreadsheets are set up, it is not that difficult depending on how you do it. And yes, there are always discrepancies between the two but much of that can be limited with a bit of organization and care/methodology.

As for the original question by the OP, I have almost everything baseball up to 2011 (last year of the SCD Yearly book) listed in spreadsheets and then much of the rest from 2012 on as I get cards from those years into my collection. But my spreadsheets only list cards I am missing from any set that I have cards already.  I use tables 17 columns by however many rows it requires to list all the card # (for print reasons). As I get cards, I delete the numbers leaving blank spots between non-consecutive numbers. Slowly the size of the table shrinks in rows as I get more cards.  Once I am below 100 cards needed, I then write the name of the player for each card to make it easier if at a card show. Once the set is complete, I write "Complete" by the set name so that I know I don't need any more cards from the set. Note, for those crazy parallels where it is highly unlikely to get the whole set (and that I don't actively chase), I write the set name/parallel and then write "Have: 18, 126, 458, etc" adding card #s as I acquire some in large lot buys. This avoids several tables of 700 cards where I only have a few of the set. Only if I get a substantial number of the cards would I draw the table to track the card #s I need.

If I only collected a particular team, I would use a similar method though in this case, I would write the name of the player as I built the spreadsheet.  Once I got the card of a player, I would delete it.  Once the team set is complete, I would note it as such. Afterall, if I want to see the players in the set from a particular year, I can do so here on TCDb (where I have a card image to see) or better yet, look at my cards which I think too many don't once they are put away

Knowing how to use Excel in order to copy and/or drag sequential #s makes it easy to enter a new set of some 700 cards into the applicable sheet. My columns are set at 4.57 and I use a font of Arial 8 with the row height of 11.25.  This helps shrink the table size if printing.

I tried creating an excel file for my cards a few years ago.  It was mainly due to the worry about this site eventually going away for some reason.  After I started, I didn't feel like the time I was going to spend on it was worth it.  I decided I would worry about this only in the even that something were to happen to this site.  I would have to do the work anyways, so I might as well only do that if that time comes.  

I have used Excel for years although Google sheets now works nearly as well. I have the files saved to my computer and my phone. Over the years I have used the card collector software, Beckett, SCF, and now TCDB to inventory my collection. Through the years no matter what online site I was using, my Excel spreadhseet has continued to grow and evolve and remained my primary invetory tool. Even now, I still have only 75-80 percent of my Red Sox collection here on TCDB, but on my spreadsheet I would say I have 99.5%. The largest benefit to me though, is that when I am at a show or LCS, I only need my phone to work. No worrying about internet, wifi, spotty connections, or data charges to check my list.

Scott

Started my first spreadsheet for cards and 1/285 miniatures on an Apple IIC....

Not as simple as my next move to 1-2-3....

Then onto Excel.....
Neither of the earlier ones were transferrable to the next....

Having an early version of excel, led me pick up Open Office for business purposes....

Before I found this site I used to keep a 3 ring binder with checklists of all the major sets I was working on.  For sets I was down to just a handful of cards, I had a single page of just those all condenced down to single lines of what I was missing.  Made it a pain in the butt to lug that around to card shows and if I happened to find a flea market or some random place selling cards I had no clue if I was purchasing something I actually needed or not.
Since finding TCDB, I use this exclusively (yes there is a risk the site might vanish or Russian hackers could blow away all the data stored here but I'll take that risk).  It allows me to pull up my collection on my phone when I find random card dealers or go to cardshows and I no longer haver to lug around my heavy binder.  Completely changed the way I collect.

I use spreadsheets to only track the highest priority items that I would like.  Secondary items or things that my family or friends would like are not in a spreadsheet.  Only here.  If the site does happen not to work in the future, I would take some drastic measures to purge my trade listing somewhere.  It won't be thrown away, but I sure wouldn't need it anymore either.  I would probably just liquidate it on Marketplace or something.  I usually have to purchase what is left that I absolutely need, my specific PC is something that most do not have nor have the opportunity to find.  The trade list is not something that would need anymore.

The trading aspect is one of the biggest reasons I enjoy my time here.  I can grow my collection, but mostly I really enjoy getting rid of my cards to others that value them more than I do.  This site is the best place in the world to do just that.  Yes, I have done trades on twitter and other platforms, but it is very rare and cumbersome.  I would just move on and get even more focused on the very few cards I need and just buy them.

Don't know about other sports...

Some NASCAR sets, have checklists with Checkboxes which could be

marked off when you get the cards listed....

I have known collectors that "Put pen to paper" and actually used them that way....

Is there a way or has anyone found a way to scrape collection data directly from TCDB? Would love to be able to export my current collection all at once