Does anyone use excel to catalog their collection? How do you keep track of it all?

[Stray59]

Astrid and all -
Sorry for taking up this much space on a post, but I have tried everything I could to download this form and finally just cut-and-paste it in.
I created this for the museum collection that I am assisting with. I created this with the thought of having all the basics and some more in-depth observation available to all the staff and to also keep and inventory control. What you can't see is that in the header has a place for the current date and an inventory number and also a check-off box for whether the plant is "of note" such as Angraecum sesquipedal (Darwin's orchid) or Vanilla planifolia - in the comment area it can be noted why this orchid is not "just a pretty flower"; this helps keep the educational aspect to the collection for the museum.
I can just print off a pages to put in a ring binder in order to be able to keep them sectioned off into different tribes within the binder. I am still mulling this over, but this is pretty well the overall product.
This was just a Word document, as I am pretty comfortable with such. Feel free to use any of it you want - Let us know how you set yours up!
(I noticed it is not "pasting" exactly, but I think all the info did transfer and am trying to edit out a lot of blanks!).

Name: _________________________________________
 Hybrid Parentage: _____________________________
 Species Common Name:______________________
Country of Origin: ________________________________
Epiphyte  Lithophyte  Terrestrial
Bloom Season
 Spring  Summer  Fall  Winter  Variable _______________________________________
Bloom start date /Bloom end date/# of Spike/# of Blooms/Duration
______________/_____________/_________/__________/_____________
Fragrance
 None  Slight  Heavy /  Pleasant  Unpleasant Description:_______________________
Exposure
 Full shade  Dappled/Partial shade  Bright, indirect light  Full sun
Temperature Cold 50 to 55  Cool 58 to 60  Warm 68 to 75  Hot 75 to 85 (Night temps)
Mature Size Miniature - under 6”  Small - under 12”  Medium - under 24”  Large - under 48”  Giant - over 48”
Pesticide date:
__________ / __________ / __________ / ___________ / __________ / __________ / __________ / __________
Fungicide date:
__________ / __________ / __________ / ___________ / __________ / __________ / __________ / __________
Repot date:
__________ / __________ / __________ / ___________ / __________ / __________ / __________ / __________
 ______” Clay pot  ______” Slat basket  Mounted _______________________________________________
Notes / Comments: _______________________________________________
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
Date of Purchase: ________________ Price: ________________ Seedling Immature  Blooming size
Supplier: _______________________________________________
 Donated Date of donation: __________________ Donor: _____________________________________

In the area of bloom date, repot date, comments, etc. I put in lot of lined spaces to be written on, and I double space between the heading to make it easier to read, but this gives you the parameters of what we are recording. The "check-off" boxes make it a lot easier than having to transcribe everything. Again, hope this helps.