Re: Advice needed on database v. spread***

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 05:55:02 -0800, Chrissie
<Chrissie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Can anyone advise me of the best way to catalogue data please?

I have 50 or so painting magazines each of which has several projects. When
I want to find a particular project I have to sort through a lot before I
find it.

I'd like to list the information so that I could find it by artist name,
subject matter, media used etc. My question is - is it better to list them in
Excel with a separate work*** for each category or would a database be
preferable? I'm quite familiar with Excel but Access is unknown territory -
and so far I've found it confusing! I realise I could use an existing
template but I haven't found one that suits and I've no idea how to 'tweak'
one to suit. Simply put my Access knowledge could be engraved on the head of
a pin... with room left for the Declaration of Independence :)

A relational database might be better, depending on the size of the project.

You could have a table for artists, for example, and another for articles, and
that would save you the hassle of entering artists multiple times, if they
appear in more than one article, with the danger of typos etc.


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Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
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