Nfkfiddler,

As John-i-K mentioned, you can keep your list in Excel, which I like using for keeping track of things for a couple of reasons.

1) It's already in columns and rows so no formatting is necessary initially to get it into a table. If you want to print it out you can decide whether you want borders/grid lines to show.

2) You just type the header rows across the top row of your list and then use one row/line per item you are listing. You choose what you want as your header row labels e.g. what you listed above: titles, alternative titles, keys, music type, second parts, recordings. If you want to add another header later that's easy too.

3) It's really easy to copy the same cell entry down the column by just clicking on the cell and then holding the cursor over the corner of the cell until the little cross + appears then drag the cross over the cells you want to copy to. This is handy if you are using a category indicator eg CW = Country & Western, F=Folk, B=Blues, etc.

4) Category indicators are one of the main reasons I like Excel as a quick index. You can allocate the category as you go and later you can sort the whole list according to any of the Header labels or according to the categories you choose. You can sort the data on 3 columns e.g. category first, then name of composer then name of song. You can also put a category marker column for the book in which the sheet music is found, or the shelf you store it on, or a number allocated to each piece of music, or...or... or....

5) The sort feature allows you to type everything in, in whatever order is handy and then later sort it into a different, handier order. In fact, what I do is copy the workbook page onto a couple of other pages of the same spreadsheet and sort them by different columns eg composer, title, category and then label the workbook tab accordingly. That means making any changes to the first workbook and then copying and pasting to the others each time and re-sorting but it takes minimal time to do that. Other than that I just sort the one page into whatever order I need at the time.

6) Instead of sorting the list another really really nifty trick - one of my absolute favourite Excel features :-) - is the AutoFilter. You highlight the whole columns you want to use the AutoFilter on and then you go to the menu item Data > Filter > AutoFilter. Then some little down arrows appear at the top of the columns and when you click on the arrow it shows a list of everything in the cells and you choose the one you want and it hides everything else except the ones with that data in that column. E.g. if you wanted to look at all the C&W music you have you choose C&W from the list and it just shows that music. It relies on you being careful to categorise everything but I use 2-3 letter category labels and keep a note of what each category marker is for. You can copy the output of the AutoFilter and paste it somewhere else. Just remember to go back to the AutoFilter arrow and click on All - at the top of the list - to bring it all back.

There are some disadvantages to Excel lists compared to real databases but it is so simple to use and if you only have a few types of fields to enter it is really quick and easy to set up and use.

For me, as an ex-librarian, I think better on Excel if it is something fairly simple to organise. I often use it to get my head around a complicated issue with lots of variables like when I had to analyse a complicated system of 10 committees with lots of responsibilities and accountabilities. I had a large Excel file with everything listed out and categorised so that I could keep track of it all and see how it all fitted together so that the way the committees worked could be streamlined and improved.

If you let me know your e-mail address I could set it up in Excel for you really quickly. If you don't want to advertise your e-mail address to the world you can join up at Mudcat - which is free - and then send me a PM (Personal Message) from the Personal Page link at the top of the page. Just go to the Send a Message part and choose the name "Helen".

The other alternative is that if you have MsAccess there is possibly a sample database already set up that you can choose from the New menu which is close to what you want.

Helen