CatalogIt Quick Tips

CatalogIt Museum Tips

Using the Search Function

See the CatalogIt Basics section for the type of search desired

• Full Text Searching
• Structured Searching

Using Folders, Collections, Categories, and Tags

We are frequently asked about the difference between these and how they should be used. There is lots of flexibility in how Folders, Collections, Categories, and Tags can be used. There is no right or wrong way to use them, but the following outlines how we think about using them and things to consider when using each.

Folders

Folders are any assembly of Entries you wish to group together into the "thumbnail grid" format. They are immediately accessible groups of Entries- right from your Main Menu. Items in a Folder do not need to be of the same classification. The Folder can be specific, for instance, "Paiute Twined Baskets" or general, such as "Things in Grandma's Hutch." Entries can be moved from one Folder to another and can exist in as many Folders as needed. Folders are also the level at which you'll be publishing to the web when you are ready for that, so if you think you'd want to publish a group of items by a particular artist to the web as a group, you'll want to keep them in a Folder.

Folders are great for workflow-type projects- if you think you'll be generating reports or working with a group of Entries over time (creating an exhibit, loan, etc.) it can be handy to keep them organized in a Folder. If you anticipate needing to create multiple or regular reports on a group of items, placing them in a Folder makes that process easier.

Folders can easily be deleted when the grouping is no longer needed.

Some common uses for Folders include:

• Web publishing - Entries organized into distinct themes
• Grouping Entries to assign a project to a specific staff member or volunteer
• Exhibition/Loan Management
• Grouping a set of Entries together for a researcher

Collection Profile

The “Collection” Profile, which is available in CatalogIt Museum and Organization accounts, is a repeating field that allows you to separate your overall collections into distinct groups that you create and assign. The Collection Profile enables you to easily associate a group of Entries by that term. For example, you may have a named collection within your permanent collections called “Jane Smith Craft and Decorative Art Collection.” These same items may also be in your overall “Craft and Decorative Art Collection.” CatalogIt allows you to associate an entry with multiple collections to ensure you are identifying your collections as specifically as required. Your named Collections are easily searchable by that specific term.

Examples:

• Named collections, such as, "The Danielson Basket Collection" or the "Rodriguez Family Collection"
• General collections used by a specific institution eg: “Crafts and Decorative Art Collection,” “Egyptian Textile Collection,” or "Education Collection"

Category Profile

The “Category” Profile field, included in all account types, enables you to classify your collection into hierarchical categories and subcategories that you define. An example of how the hierarchical Category profile might be used would be to create a Category of "Paintings" with a subcategory of Portraits, and subcategories of Portraits such as Couples, Women, Men, Children, etc. You can create hierarchical Category Profiles to as deep of levels as you need to ensure your collections are organized and categorized in ways that are of most use to you. Your named Categories are easily searchable at any level of your hierarchy.

Learn more about creating and using the Category Profile here.

Tags

Tags are a special class of Profile that can be thought of as "post-it" notes which you can attach to your Entries- they are particularly handy for quick task assignments. Some useful tags might be, "Needs more photos" or "Needs dimensions." They exist in the upper right corner of your Entries, so they are "outside" of the rest of the data pertaining to the Entry. Tags are easily searchable by the specific tag name.

Creating Tags

Tags are a special class of Profile that can be thought of as "post-it" notes which you can attach to your Entries. Some useful tags might be, "Needs more photos" or "Needs dimensions."

To create a Tag while editing or creating an Entry, follow these steps:

• click on the "tags..." icon in the upper right corner
• click the + button in the Edit Tags popup screen
• give your Tag a name and if you wish, a description
• click Create

Once you've created your Tags they will be available to you when you are creating or editing your Entries.

This soundless video demonstrates the process of creating a Tag.

Creating a Report from Profiles

Generating reports from your Profiles, such as a list of all of your records related to a particular Person or a Location, can be very handy. Reports can be useful for sharing information with people like staff, volunteers, researchers, the community, etc. Creating reports is easy to do. Here's how:

• From your Main Menu, select "Profiles"
• Using either the "Frequently Used" icons or the search bar, navigate to the particular type of Profile (Person, Location, etc.)
• Select the specific Profile record you are looking for
• Click on the three dots in the upper right (the Actions Menu) and select Usage Report

From there, you can select the specific fields you'd like to appear on your report.

For more information on this process see our MasterIt article, "Sharing your Collection through Printing and Reports."

Editing a Profile

You may find that a Profile you've used has a typo or that you'd like to add additional information to it. It is easy to edit a Profile. Here's how:

• From the Main Menu, select "Profiles"
• Using either the "Frequently Used" icons or the search bar, navigate to the type of Profile you'd like to edit (a Person, Place, etc.)
• Search for the record you'd like to edit and select it
• Click the edit pencil in the upper right corner and make any changes you'd like
• Click "Save"

Here's a quick video that shows the entire process (note: this video does not have sound):

De-duplicating and Consolidating Profiles

It is very common to have multiple Profiles (i.e Person or Place) that represent the same entity but have different spellings and need to be consolidated into a single representation. The "Replace" feature is designed to de-duplicate and consolidate multiple Profiles into a single Profile.

From the appropriate Profile list page:

• click and view the Profile you want to eliminate
• select Replace from the "Actions" menu
• find and select the replacement Profile and click Replace
• edit and delete the unwanted Profile

Here's a quick, soundless video that shows the entire process:

Changing a Person Profile to an Organization Profile and Vice Versa

You may find that an Organization Profile was incorrectly created as a Person or vice versa. It is easy to fix that! Here's how:

• Click on your Main Menu and navigate to Profiles
• Search for "Person or Organization" (this is the parent Profile of the Person and Organization Profiles)
• From within "Person or Organization" you can search for any Person or Organization Profile- search for the Profile you'd like to change
• Select the Profile and click the Edit pencil
• At the top of the Edit page you'll see a drop-down menu- click on it and you'll see that you can change the type
• Be sure to click "Save" in the upper right corner when you are done

Here's a brief video showing the process (Note- this video has no sound):

Downloading your Original Image

CatalogIt stores your images for you in their original format, unaltered. You can download them to any device by following these steps:

• Select the Entry to which the image is attached
• Click on the image you would like to download
• Click the "Download" icon in the upper left corner

Here's a quick, soundless video- take a look!

Using the Hierarchical Category Profile

You can use the Category profile to create your own, customized hierarchical categories within your collections. Here's how:

• While editing or creating an Entry, at the "Category..." property, click the "+" button at the right
• Give your new Category a name, and if you wish, a description and even "also known as"
• Attach it as a "Subcategory of..." a "parent" Category you'd previously created, or create the new Parent category
• Click "Create" in the upper right-hand corner.

Here's a short video demonstrating the process- take a look!

Creating Hierarchical Places

CatalogIt enables you to capture and display places hierarchically, for example, a town, in a state, in a country, and in a continent. Creating the hierarchy is simple- just follow these steps:

• While editing or creating an Entry, at a "Place..." field (place made, place published, related place, etc.) type in the name of your place
• If it doesn't already exist in your list, select "Create"
• CatalogIt will prepopulate the name of your new Place from your search.
• In the "Place Type..." field, select the appropriate type of Place (city, state, country, etc.)
• In the "Located In..." field, select the appropriate place of which your new place is a part; for example, the country a state or province is located in.
• Click "Create" in the upper right-hand corner.

Here's a quick, soundless video showing how to create hierarchical places- take a look!

Duplicating Entries

Do you sometimes find yourself documenting several nearly identical things, or even cataloging an item that is nearly identical to something you or a colleague had documented earlier? CatalogIt has a neat feature that can save you time and effort. Here's how to use it:

• Find the Entry that has already been recorded
• From the Entry view mode (not in “Edit”), click on the Actions menu (the three dots in the upper right)
• Select “Duplicate”

This generates a new Entry that is nearly identical to the first one- you’ll need to give the new Entry a name and add its own images and condition assessment. If your account has auto-numbering enabled (either Accession numbering and/or Entry/Object ID numbering), CatalogIt will auto-assign the next number for this new Entry. For more on the accession process, see our MasterIt article Accessioning Museum Collections.

Adding Users to your Account

CatalogIt Personal Accounts include up to three users; Museum, Organization, and Conservator Accounts include 10 users. To add users up to the amount included in your Account, you will need to be an Account Owner and go to the Main Menu (three lines in the top left corner), Settings, then Users, click the Add User button, then enter the new users email and choose an Access Type. You can find a list of the available access levels with descriptions of what each can do here on our support site. Your new user will then receive an email containing a temporary password that will expire in 14 days.

If you have already subscribed and would like to add users, here's how:

• Log in to your CatalogIt account from a computer (this function is not available on mobile)
• Click on the Main Menu (the three bars in the upper left)
• Scroll down to "Settings"
• Select "Subscription"
• Select "Add Subscription" (you are adding a subscription for your additional users)
• Check "Additional Users"
• Add the number of additional users you would like. Here you can select whether you'd like to pay for them monthly or annually.
• Click Next and complete the credit card information.

Here's a brief video showing how to add users (beyond the users included) to your existing subscription.

Reducing or Compressing the Size of a PDF File

Sometimes a report generated from CatalogIt that includes images which is then printed to PDF results in a very large file- these can be difficult to email or otherwise share. Adobe Acrobat offers a free, easy-to-use tool for compressing large files here on their website.

Process Templates

Download Sample Gift Agreement

Changing the name of your Account

CatalogIt defaults to naming an account with the email address of the user that created it. Giving your Account an "official" name is important if you want to invite others to collaborate in it, so they aren't accessing an account named with your email address. Additionally, if you will be publishing your account to the Web via the CatalogIt HUB, your Account name will be the title of your HUB page. The Account Owner (the person who created the Account) has the ability to change the name. Here's how:

• Log in to your account
• Click on the Main Menu (the three bars in the upper left)
• Scroll down to "Settings"
• Click on "Account Profile" under Account Settings
• Enter the name you would like your account to have in the Account Name field
• Click "Save."

Note: changing the Account Name won't affect your login credentials.

Date Structures For Data Import

When you are importing data into CatalogIt, use one of the two dating structures we recognize - Strict dates and Fuzzy dates. Choosing one of these will help avoid potential errors during the importation process.

• Strict dates must be structured as an exact date (i.e. YYYY-MM-DD).
• Fuzzy dates can be expressed in varying or imprecise ways (i.e. Year, or Year/Month, or Year/Month/Day).