Cataloging your Collection

How do you guys actually, y'know...catalogue your collection of figurines? Is it written physically in a notebook, on a website, or an excel sheet on a computer? Or any other way...?
And how do you order the collection of figurines? Is it by date bought, brand name? Species?
I ask this because I'm thinking of sorting mine out a little better and am looking for ideas/tips. I have all mine stored on a simple Word document in table format with each animal being added to the list just by the dates I acquired them, not species or anything else.
How do you guys do this?

I don't have much of a system and my collection is pretty small, but I create Excel sheets for things that come in sets. I list everything in the set. Anything I don't have, the text is red, and anything I do have, the text is black. But this is because I like to collect and complete sets, so probably not useful for anyone not doing that, ha!

For my Breyer collection, I use a post I started here, actually, and just add photos as I get new ones.

Ah I see, well yknow Jill if it works for you, that's all that matters!

Currently I use a little note book for cataloguing my models but I will have to expand it to a second one sooner or later. There I have sections for every brand I collect and because I gave when I just started cataloguing every brand besides schleich only one page, I will definitely need another note book in the future.
In the brand section I sort the figures by the date I got them. If I got on one day several models (which is often the case as I mostly order or buy them in groups) then I don't follow any system and write them down randomly. Though if I get sets I sort the animals from smallest to largest and then the humans if the set contains any.
For every figure I write down the original breed/species/name which was given from the company, the production/release date (depends on the brand), the date I got it, the production country, the name of the set it came in (if that's the case) and a name I gave the figure if I was creative enough.
I will probably make some sort of calc or writer table in the future but for now I am happy with my "system" (as long as we ignore the "one page per every not schleich brand" policy).

I keep an Excel file with tabs for each major group (Insects, Arachnids, Fish, Birds, Mammals, etc.)

Each group has the following columns:
Latin name
Common name
Clade 1 (usually order)
Clade 2 (usually family)
Company
Series/Set
Year
Scale (I historically never calculated scale and am adding them retrospectively as they show up on my daily 'Museum' post)

within a tab they are sorted by: Clade 1, Clade 2, Latin name. So they are essentially alphabetical by Latin name within their orders and families. For groups where I have more than one per species (eg insects), I also sort by manufacturer.

That's a very scientific way of cataloguing bmathison1972, considering the usage of Latin names and Katy, I think I have a very similar way of cataloguing, I put mine on order from when I bought them and include things like model number, brand and name I give them etc

Here's what I wrote about cataloguing, last time we had a similar discussion on the forum - it's still true, so I'll just quote myself

George wrote:

I don't know how those spreadsheet/database programmes work, but my collection's catalogued in three ways already so I don't think I'll ever bother to learn

First of all, I write them in a little hardback notebook, which is kind of sorted into chunks so all of a brand and scale are on pages in certain sections, and I know where to look if I need to check something. They don't have much info in here - just the official name and/or breed they were sold as, or the colour and mould if they're custom painted, and the name I've given them.

Second catalogue is by photograph, on my laptop. Each brand has a folder, split into Original Finish and Custom Painted, and there's a single best photo of each horse, titled with my show-name for it.

The format which stores the most information per model is the third cataloguing method, my website. Actually, two sites, cos on one they're sorted by brand and finish, and on the other by breed.
On this most detailed record, each horse has got a photo, show name, allocated breed and colour info, official release name, the year it was first made, for customs the mould name and who painted it, whether it was a portrait of a real horse, and any extra info for special runs, like where they were sold, and the number made.

Really, I'd like to do a paper copy containing this full info too, just incase the web hosting company ever goes bankrupt, or starts wanting to charge a fee so I have to let it go.
I'm thinking a ringbinder type arrangement would be better than a book next time, as I've already had to tape in a ton of pages to fit more into certain brands and scales, so it would be better to just clip in an extra sheet any time I needed to!

Ring binders are better than a notebook alright, they allow for adding and changing stuff. I just like the option to do it electronically on a word document.

A database spreadsheet program such as Excel would be more suitable for cataloguing than Word because it allows you to sort and filter by different fields. Make sure that you regularly back up the file.

It's a good idea to start cataloguing systematically when your collection is still small, because when you get more, it becomes a very hard task.

There is an old topic about cataloguing here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Really, I only prefer using Word because I know my way around it a good deal better than Excel. It's backed up too on stuff like USBs, icloud, google drive etc. just in case....

Out of curiosity, is there a similar website to this one (https://dinotoycollector.com/index.php) but for fauna which allows to catalog collections by brand or species?

Oh and, the way I started "cataloging" was first by making a comparison document which outgrew its initial purpose. I'm a graphic designer by profession so I used InDesign to make a table with every species I had interest in and copy/pasted pictures from the 5 main brands I wanted to focus on (Papo, Schleich, Safari LTD, Mojo, CollectA). It later became a cataloging tool as I would color-code things I owned (green), I wanted (yellow), were retired/rare (orange), were new (blue), were purchased and incoming (magenta), were damaged (red). The size of file is a bit of a problem with all the pictures and I'll more than likely need re-create the thing in Excel or something.

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That's the thing alright, TheFaintSmile, the collection outgrowing it's own cataloging documents and becoming difficult to read/manage.
It happens to most of us at one point. For now I'm happy with my word document

I use a OneNote  document to keep track of mine.
I have different folders for stuff like my made up bloodlines/families so I can keep track of who is related to who and then I have a main folder just for keeping track of my collection.
I have different tab's for each year (this helps break it up so it isn't just one massive document but still keeps them all together making it easier to navigate) and the models I don't own have their name highlighted in red, until I eventually own it.
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That's a good one. I still have to document the ones on my wishlist still....
One day I'll set about that task