Hopefully, most of the things you want to do are self-explanatory and immediately obvious. We strongly suggest you just have a play with the software to get used to it. Create a new collection and experiment with the various settings and displays. You can't do any damage and you'll soon become familiar with the various features available.

The following sections cover a few of the main topics, however, if you are really struggling, drop us an e-mail to help@collect-it.biz

How do I create a new "thing"?

How do I get a Wants List?

How do I create a Catalogue print?

How do I re-value my collection?

How do I change the names for what I call things?

How do I get images displayed automatically?

How do I load my last collection automatically?

How do I change fonts and colours?

How do I customise a collection template?

How do I create a new Collection Type?

How do change my default collection type?

How do change the order in which things are displayed?

How do change the tree headings?

Set the default Collection Type to the type of collection required in the Explorer.

Select the File/New menu

Give your collection a name and place of residence

 A new collection of the type you specified will be created in the name and place requested.

In general, all things are created in the same way:

• Issues
• Issue Types
• Items
• Item Types
• Grades
• Descriptors
• Suppliers

Each new element is created from the Default element in your collection. This gives the basic set of information required to create a new one quickly and easily. The default of each kind is always immediately visible in the Collection and Explorer trees as it has a different image alongside it.

Set the default for the type in the Collection or Explorer view by clicking on the tree element and changing the Default property to Yes.

There are a number of ways to create a new element:

• Collection view Tools menu
• Collection view context menu (right mouse)
• Explorer/Tools toolbar
• Explorer view context menu (right mouse)

 Simply select the Create option.

A new entry will be created with the default values as specified in your default element.

Select the Wants List view in the Explorer/Tools tab. This will mark all those issues which satisfy the wants criteria as Selected (ticked) in the Explorer view.  

• Issues which have no items .. i.e. you haven’t got any examples in your collection
• Issues which do have items, but which have a grade which includes them in the Wants List … i.e. you have examples, but they need to be replaced because they don’t meet the required standard.

Having got your set of wanted issues in the Explorer view, you can now select others, or de-select the generated ones to customise the set.

Select the Explorer/Output tab and select the output options required to send details of the Wants List to the required destination.

Finally hit the generate button. 

Select the Catalogue view in the Explorer/Tools tab. This will mark all items in the collection as Selected (ticked) in the Explorer view.

Having got your set of catalogue items in the Explorer view, you can now select others, or de-select the generated ones to customise the set.

Select the Explorer/Output tab and select the output options required to send details of the Wants List to the required destination.

Finally hit the generate button. 

It’s nice to think that your hobby is also a growing investment. We provide a quick and easy method of increasing the estimated value of your collection, to apply an annual estimated increase across the board, for example.

Create a view of the items you want to revalue. This can be done by using one of the pre-defined views in the Explorer/Views tab, and/or by customising the selected set manually.

Select the Revalue Items option in the Explorer/Tools tab and specify a general percentage revaluation change for the value of those selected items.

Note that revaluations are cumulative … if you apply 10% and then another 10% then the effect on the true worth of the item is 21% (10% of 10% of 100%) and NOT 20%.

As well as revaluing your collectables, you can also revalue the catalogue value of Issues too by the same mechanism. This is effectively the amount you would expect to have to spend to buy a collectable for your collection. If your collection increases in value then it's fair to assume that you would have to pay more in order to complete it.

There is also an option to apply a global increase to every Issue and / or Item without having to select them first. This is available from the main toolbar.

Just about every element of the collection controller is customisable. In the same way that we can’t really guess what people will collect, nor can we really guess what they are likely to call those things. As a result we allow you to choose your own terms and language for your own collections.

Click on any tree entry within the Explorer and a list of properties will be displayed in the Property Window. Under normal circumstances these properties will relate to the values and descriptions of your collection entries. However, selecting the higher branches of the trees will allow properties at more general levels (such as captions) to be amended. These are saved with your collection so, once changed, you won’t have to do it again.

Just double-click on the property entry to change the captions.

Please be sensible when setting fonts and colours. Some combinations may cause eye strain.

To customise a template, simply open the template database (found in the "Templates" folder) and edit any of the contents as you would a normal collection. Once you've finished just close the collection. From that point on, any collections you create of that type will automatically contain the default values you have set.

Select the Explorer and click on the Collection Types tree. Create a new type by either clicking the New button on the toolbar or by using the right mouse button and selecting New Collection Type from the pop-up menu. A new collection type will be created in created in tree based on the details of the existing collection type which is flagged as the Default. Change the details of the new entry by double-clicking on the relevant properties. To give the new type the correct template database, simply edit the Database property, browse to the template database and OK the selection. Note that if you are intending to use a completely new collection template you should see the description of how to create one of these before you begin to change the template reference. This is described above in: How do I customise a collection template?

From this point on, you will be able to create collections of the type you have just defined. If you want to change the default collection type so that you always get the the new one automatically, see below in: How do change my default collection type?

The edit view consists of two lists; the top list contains the properties you Do Not want to display, and the bottom list contains the properties you Do want to display in the order in which they should appear. Move the properties around by selecting a entry in one of the lists and clicking the appropriate button:

Once you are happy with the contents and order of the properties, simply confirm the selection. From this point on, the properties will appear in this order in all tree and property views. The same principle applies to any element in the collection.

Each entry at the Item level has what we call a Long Name. This is made up of most of the Property values in any order, and is completely customisable to suit you. Select the Explorer and click on the top element (the root) of any tree that you want to change the contents for. In the Property view on the right-hand side, edit the Long XXXX Name Format (where XXXX is the name of the thing you currently have selected) property by double-clicking on the view entry.

The edit view consists of two lists; the top list contains the properties you have available to you, and the bottom list contains the properties you want to display in the order in which they should appear in the Item Long Name. Move the properties around by selecting a entry in one of the lists and clicking the appropriate button:

Once you are happy with the contents and order of the properties, simply confirm the selection. From this point on, the long name will appear in this order in all tree views. The same principle applies to any element in the collection.