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On Jun 1, 2009, at 3:38 PM, Ashley A Moore wrote:

> Mr Star,
>
> I started cataloging my grandmother's 4000+ collection of various
> species at age 14 and now that I'm 23...I can tell you that the
> EASIEST
> way to catalog on the computer is using Excel and NOT Word.  I keep
> record of each specific number, name, quality, size, where it was
> found,
> does it have an operculum, who it was bought from and when, how much,
> and the author.  You can never have too much info on your specimens ;)
> I know that you don't want to type them over again...but...with it in
> excel it will sort them alphabetically, or by catalog number, or by
> whatever data you want.  Also, after they are typed you can do a "mail
> merge" with the data and create new cards that are typed.  Even if
> you're not collecting, buying, or trading it makes it so much
> easier to
> manage.  It helped my grams when she taught children in local schools
> about the "anatomy" of specific shells and when she had them on
> display
> at our local library.  5 years ago she decided to stop buying
> specimens
> and start consolidating by selling a lot of what she had...she was so
> glad I had them already cataloged for her.  I still have about 3000+
> that I inherited when she passed away last year so it's been hard to
> figure out her "method" of organizing them outside the catalog.  I am
> recataloging my grandmother's collection so that I can merge the
> information onto smaller cards that I keep with each individual shell
> and new cataloging numbers using this method.  This will take me
> months
> and depending on how many you have, it may take you some time as
> well...BUT IT'S WORTH IT!  I promise.  If you want, I can send you a
> sample file of one of the species I've already completed with the
> accompanied mail merge and you can see what I mean.
>
> You can even get fancy later on with Access and import your excel list
> into it and you can attach a picture with each entry!  The program is
> used by lots of businesses so it'll be like keeping inventory of your
> murex.  If you have a Mac like I do, there's an identical program to
> Access called Bento...which in my opinion is easier to use.
>
> IF you want to stick with what you have, basically you'll just have to
> highlight each entry individually and drag it into the correct
> alphabetic order.  Yes, it would have helped to typed them already in
> alpha order, but you can still work with it :)  It'll be a tedious
> process but it IS do-able!
>
> I hope I didn't ramble too much :)
>
> Good Luck!!
>
> Ashley
>
>>>> Jordan Star <[log in to unmask]> 06/01/09 4:04 PM >>>
> Hello All
> I am typing my Murex card file (yes, all my Murex info. is on index
> cards)
> into the computer.  After much thought, I decided that a
> spreadsheet or
> database wouldn't help me much because shell collecting, trading,
> buying, etc.
>  has almost stopped for me but what I have I want to organize.  So,
> with
> that said, after typing all card info. with Murex names listed first
> (cornutus,  Chicoreus ...., data on shell, this is a typical card)
> into
> Word 2000,
> how do I  alphabetize the entries by species names after typing them?
> Do I
> have to  alphabetize before typing?  Do I make sense?  If this is all
> too
> confusing, forget it and I'll figure out a different way to do this.
>
> Jordan Star
>
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