How do you all keep up with your orchids? - Page 3 - Orchid Board

epiphyte78 · #21 03-07-2008, 02:18 PM

Surprised nobody uses MS Access. That's what I use to keep track of my orchids. It's considerably more powerful and flexible than excel.

For example...let's say I wanted to view all the orchids that I purchased from SBOE on 1 March 08...I would click on 1 March 08 in my "Received" column and hit the filter button which would show me only the orchids that I purchased on 1 March 08. Then I would click on SBOE in the "Source" column and hit the filter button which would show me only the orchids that I purchased on 1 March 08 from SBOE.

Another example would be if I wanted to send somebody a list of the orchids that I had available for trade I could filter by form and quickly view only the orchids that I have for trade. Then I could copy and paste that to send to somebody. With excel I'd have to manually go through the list and copy and paste each orchid that was available for trade.

It's great also because when you sort by a column you don't have to worry about the row information being switched around like you do in excel.

Often times its included in the Microsoft Office set but people don't use it...even though they create huge unmanageable spreadsheets that could be managed easily by Access. It's really simple to copy and paste data from Excel into Access. If you have it on your computer I recommend giving it a try. If enough people are interested I could upload some screenshot tutorials.

Ross · #22 03-07-2008, 02:24 PM

Because you can filter in Excell and Excell is by far easier to use for casual, non db users. That's my guess.

Des · #23 03-07-2008, 03:05 PM

I use a plain old notepad , it never crashes I don't have to make back-ups and it is is there in black and white All i have to do is remember where I put the darn thing !

epiphyte78 · #24 03-07-2008, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

Because you can filter in Excell and Excell is by far easier to use for casual, non db users. That's my guess.

I suppose that makes sense. Although, in my opinion, filtering in Excel is more complex and not as efficient as filtering in Access.

In any case, if people are looking for a powerful tool for managing their orchid data there is a good chance it's already sitting on their computer. It's just a matter of taking the time to learn how to use it. Send me a PM if you're interested in learning it and if I get enough requests I'll create a thread with a step by step visual tutorial for transferring your orchid data from Excel into Access.*

*For a small fee of 2 orchids per requester

Ross · #25 03-07-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epiphyte78

I suppose that makes sense. Although, in my opinion, filtering in Excel is more complex and not as efficient as filtering in Access.

In any case, if people are looking for a powerful tool for managing their orchid data there is a good chance it's already sitting on their computer. It's just a matter of taking the time to learn how to use it. Send me a PM if you're interested in learning it and if I get enough requests I'll create a thread with a step by step visual tutorial for transferring your orchid data from Excel into Access.*

*For a small fee of 2 orchids per requester

Thanks but I've already taken the Microsoft course on Access. I also turn to Access on occasion and have linked Access databases within Excell, however, being lazy, I don't use it much anymore. Access is really cool in what it does, but "trend analysis" and graphs is best left for Excell. BTW, to get Access with the Office suite, you have to purchase the most expensive version or purchase seperately.

epiphyte78 · #26 03-07-2008, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

Thanks but I've already taken the Microsoft course on Access.

Heh, that was directed towards the other readers of this thread. Yup, I doubt that very many people have Access on their compy. I use the Visual Basic side of Access to write programs that crunch and process large amounts of orchid research data but if I want a neat-o graph I copy and paste a table over to Excel.

What somebody should do is to start a free, advertising supported web site that functions as an online orchid inventory management system. I plan on doing something similar but only for non tropical outdoor growers of epiphytic species orchids.

Royal · #27 03-07-2008, 03:55 PM

Just taking in all of this info! I could use a tutorial!

I just use a notebook right now (kind of for sentimental reasons), but I like the suggestions. I think Access would be ideal, as it's a database program, where Excel is a spreadsheet program. The info you want to store would dictate the application, right?

I'll fiddle with Access for a while. I think it would be good for me, but I'd have to do some learning. A MS Access / Excel record keeping member article might not be a bad idea...