Orchid record keeping
 

Hi all,

After a nearly fatal accident, 2 year ago, I recovred enough to start keeping some orchids again and I'm trying to get back on track.

However, I lost my acces database I used to use.

So I was wondering if someone Has a record keeping database (editable) for PC, exel or access to share free of charge so I can start over again.

Since I'm not sure where to post this, I posted it in the beginner and advanced section. So moderators please move it when in the wrong category.

Thanks already, Marc

Is Microsoft Excel spreadsheet suitable for the book-keeping work?

Maybe a Microsoft Excel WorkBook file could get the job done .... the workbook file can store multiple spreadsheets.... 1 spreadsheet per main group of plants.

I didn't have an excel orchid list before. But decided to try my hand at using excel to just get some ideas about structuring an orchid list in excel.

I can upload an microsoft excel 'workbook' .xlsx file. Anybody is allowed to tinker with it, modify it, and use it for their own purposes. The usual golden rule is --- whatever database we use --- and whatever files we have, always make backups, and store those backups in various different places - not on the same computer. That's to avoid tears if a file gets corrupted somehow.

The attached file is a zipped (winzip) file. It needs to be extracted, in order to get an orchids.xlsx file out of it. And then you can use a recent-enough version of microsoft excel spreadsheet to open the workbook. And down the bottom will be various 'tabs' for jumping around the various spreadsheets contained within this 'workbook'.

Excel has built-in features like alphabetical sort for a particular column. So even if a column isn't alphabetical order ----- excel has inbuilt sorting functions that can quickly sort names into alphabetical order if needed.

With the attached spreadsheet workbook file, the user simply fills in some information, and some cell commands does the rest for us, like conveniently string together the full name of the orchid.

For cases where the full name of the orchid doesn't automatically get generated, you just need to copy the the contents of the cell (which contains the cell command) ABOVE it to the cell where the full name hasn't been generated. Basically just a copy/paste CTRL-C and CTRL-V thing. Quite simple.

No "macros" (scripts) are used in this spreadsheet - so completely safe. No security issues.

[UPDATE] - added extra unique ID generator for orchid book keeping purposes if needed - based on date/time generation.

Check out Ricci's free software (English) at rz-orchideen.de - I loooove it!

Found it by accident on a German forum, autotranslate on Chrome worked good enough for me.

https://www.lonisorchideenforum.de/t252f45-Kostenlose-Windows-Software-zur-Orchideen-Verwaltung.html

(sorry, I cannot post working links yet, maybe mods can fix this)

It's awesome! Super easy and quick to use, no clutter. Space for free-style notes and some other nifty features (automatic "cash accounting", blooming graph for each plant, filtering by groups).

Absolute favorite feature - I can attach multiple images to one plant (including date and a quick note for every picture). Easy to track progress :)

My orchid "collection" went from zero to 34 in just three months, so it's getting out of hand really fast :blushing:

For a quick portable reference I use Gardenize app on my phone, but I don't like it...

@MiniMoth, thank you so much for that link! What a cool program, and super interesting website!

Looks promising but only available for Windows, not Mac!

For an orchid journal, I dug through the forum to find an old thread I had in mind.

software database

Last post has a link that may interest you, an OB member developed an Mac/PC app for tracking/logging orchids. I use the journal in Orchidwiz, but think I'll try this to see how it compares.

Thanks for providing that link Camille. I went to that link and uploaded an excel workbook attachment there - just for extra options.

I want to thank @MiniMoth for the link to Ricci's free software again. I downloaded it tonight and inserted all my plants, it's really fantastic. I just need to put in more details, but I have pictures and some links to info inserted already. This is going to be a life saver for me as I have such a poor memory and I'll be able to review what each plant needs here so much easier than my big book :D Thank you again! BTW, is there a save button? I am afraid to close the program, LOL

Ricci's program is great indeed :) 4 plants later I still like it, and it's very quick to update.

You do "save" after each entry, and the program won't let you start editing another plant (or add another picture) before you save or cancel the latest changes. The green tick mark does the saving - if it's green, you forgot to confirm the last entry.

BTW, remember it does not copy pictures, it only saves the current path to the photo. If you move the picture to another folder, the program loses track of it. My way around it was to create a permanent folder for pictures used in the database (I placed it inside program folder and created a shortcut on the desktop). First manually copy the pictures to the folder, then assign them to plants in the database.