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CatalogIt is an application for documenting physical things, recording where they came from, who made them, where and when they were made, what they were made of, how they were made, what they were used for, who used them, and how they came to be yours- the stories of things. The record of each physical thing you document is an “Entry” in CatalogIt. An Entry is defined by the classification you choose for it (what is it? a basket? a textile? a painting?), the data you input about the Entry’s characteristics, and one or more photos and other types of informative or visual media. The Classification delivers a custom set of data entry fields including the properties and relationships appropriate for that particular type of item. Examples of CatalogIt Classifications are photograph, painting, sculpture, publication, basket, etc.
Throughout the CatalogIt screens are special descriptive fields called Profiles. Profiles allow you to capture and maintain standardized and reusable information- a controlled vocabulary- about a wide variety of things such as a person, place, material, or technique. Once you’ve created a Profile, for example, of a person or a company that made an item in your collection, that profile is available to you to use again anywhere in your account. Profiles additionally also add depth and detail to your entries- they relate entries to one another by these things that they have in common. A Profile can even relate to another profile, such as a person that is related to another person, or people to a particular place. As you are creating or editing an Entry, the Profile fields are easy to identify, as they always have an ellipsis after the name, such as, "Artist...," "Material...," or "Color..."
As you create more Entries , you may wish to organize them into groups based on the type of item, workflow, locations, exhibits, etc. In CatalogIt, these organizational devices are called Folders and are displayed in the “Thumbnail Screen” described below. An You can place an Entry can be placed in multiple Folders and make edits made to an Entry it from within any Folder will apply , saving these changes to the Entry in every Folder location.
== CatalogIt Concepts ==
* Scroll through the available fields and enter the data you wish. When you are finished, click “SAVE” in the upper right corner.
== How to use "Collection" and "Category" ==
CatalogIt allows users to organize their collections in many different ways. While you are able to be very specific with your cataloging through the use of authoritative classifications, we recognize that you may organize your collections in ways that are specific to you, and with the “'''Collection'''” and “'''Category'''” fields, you are able to do just that.
The “'''Collection'''” field, which is available in CatalogIt Museum and Organization accounts, is a repeating field that allows you to break up your own collection into distinct groups that you create and assign. For example, you may have a named collection within your permanent collection called “Jane Smith Craft and Decorative Art Collection.” This same item may also be in your overall “Craft and Decorative Art Collection” and CatalogIt allows you to include multiple collections to ensure you are identifying your collections as specifically as required.
The “'''Category'''” field, included in all account types, enables you to classify your collection into categories and subcategories that you define. This is a hierarchical field that allows you to create categories and related subcategories. For example, if you are a collector of vintage household goods (like vintage crockery), you are able to create a category called “Household Goods” and a subcategory of “Kitchenware”, and a second subcategory of “dinner service” for cataloging your vintage soup tureen.
These are both user-defined fields. Users can create as many profiles as needed to ensure their collections are organized and categorized in ways that are of most use to them.
== Managing Photos and PDFs ==
* Add an optional description for your Folder. If you are publishing to the Web, this description will appear on the website.
* “Leaderboard Visible” is turned on by default. The Leaderboard keeps a count and a sum of the value of the Entries in your Folder in the lower left corner of your thumbnail screen. You can turn On or Off either of these two items Leaderboard variables by checking or unchecking the box beside the variable name, or you can hide the Leaderboard entirely by clicking on the toggle switch next to the “Leaderboard Visible” label.
* When you are finished, click “Create” in the upper right corner.
