CatalogIt Quick Tips
Contents
Searching for Entries
Below are some helpful tips to execute more precise searches in CatalogIt. Soon CatalogIt will support “structured search” which will allow much greater precision in querying your collections-- in the interim these tips should provide a good boost.
- Use quotes around a string of words to find Entries that include that exact string. If you are looking for that blue glass jar, for example, type the phrase enclosed in quotes, like this, “blue glass” and your results will only include items that have the exact phrase “blue glass.” You can be as specific as you wish, for example, “blue glass jar" and if that exact phrase is used in an Entry, it will appear in the search results.
- Use the + symbol between words to find Entries that include all of those words. If you type in blue+glass, your results will only include the entries that include the word blue AND the word glass. You can string together several words this way to narrow a search.
- Combine quotes and the + symbol. A search for “blue jar”+tin will result in entries that include both the exact phrase “blue jar” as well as the word “tin.” You’ll find the blue glass jar with a tin lid.
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 your Tags, follow these steps:
- from the Main Menu (the three horizontal bars in the upper left) select "Profiles"
- select the "Tags" icon
- click on the + button in the upper right to create your Tags.
Once you've created them here they will be available to you when you are creating or editing an Entry.
This video demonstrates the process of creating and using a Tag:
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 video that shows the entire process:
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 video- 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 video showing how to create hierarchical places- take a look!