Inventory Program for the Mac

I'm looking for this as well! Everything I've seen is PC only

I have never seen a good option for the Mac.  The best I have found is the former Collector Dash now owned by Trainz.com.  It’s a web based app that can run on just about any platform. I use it on my MacBook Pro, iPhone and iPad. 

If it helps guys, I run Windows 10 on my Macs to run some Windows only programs I need.  I had Geek Squad set it up when I bought my Macs, they used a program called Bootcamp which allows me to boot into Windows or Mac OS.  Really fast too.  Bootcamp is cheap, Windows 10 is about $150.00 I think.  If you buy their Total Care Package, Best Buy will install it all free.  Not only that, the package includes free install on much of what they sell including free install on car audio and electronics.  I have saved hundreds of dollars doing this.

Chris Sheldon

If anyone goes the route suggested by Mr. Sheldon (FireOne) the BEST software out there is ACCESS which is the DATABASE portion of the MS OFFICE suite. It takes a small amount of effort to learn, but UNLIKE the other two parts of OFFICE (WORD and EXCEL) the program is very intuitive, and designed as a tool to create databases. If you go this route, I suggest you NOT fall into the trap of using EXCEL (the spreadsheet) to create your database. ACCESS is far superior to EXCEL for the creation of databases .

Not sure but I think ACCESS or a facsimile thereof might be available as freeware under the name Open OFFice.

As for using an Excel spreadsheet for your database, you can dig a foxhole with a hoe, but it's a lot better if you use a shovel. Same analogy as Excel vs Access.

My 25 cents worth

Simon

I use the Home Inventory app. It’s great as it has a mobile app as well, so I can see my inventory wherever.  You can customize the fields as you like.

For the MAC, the best app would be FileMaker. It is an Apple product.

Filemaker is a tool to build apps. It is not an “inventory program” in and of itself. However, FileMaker comes with a few example apps that might work for you. If none of them are what you’re looking for, do a Google search for FileMaker Inventory Apps and I think you’ll find what you need.

I agree 100% with Simon Winter about using an Excel spreadsheet. Don’t fall into that trap. It is a great numbers app, but a horrible database. And that’s what you are looking to build, a “database” of your inventory.

I originally started with Appleworks Database and designed my own model railroad equipment and library databases but Appleworks has not been supported for years and does not work with the latest MacOS versions. I bought iDatabase and use an older version to convert my old databases to a file that can be opened by the newer version of iDatabase, which does allow photographs to be included. It is an ongoing process of converting almost 400 separate pieces, still growing slowly, of model railroad equipment and over fifteen hundred books, still growing quite rapidly, of our library.

Late to the thread, but just to close the loop, the only dedicated pre-built model railroad inventory database for the Mac that runs natively (not via the web) that I've found is MacMoVe/xMoVe.

Links:

https://www.mcrichter.de/Seite.../Programme/MoVe.html
and
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xmove/id842432230?mt=12

The developer also has Windows, Linux, and iPadOS/iOS Variants.

I use the product quite heavily, but I do have some criticisms, none of which are dealbreakers for me: it's slower than I'd prefer in database filtering and searching, syncing across devices is clunky, and it's heavily, HEAVILY configured by default for European modelers (Germany/Poland, specifically), so you have to do some backtracking to make it not just friendlier for US/Empirical modelers, but also for O Gauge.

Ideally, I'd write my own FileMaker database, but it was frankly easier/faster for me to buy XMoVe and tweak it for my needs. Ultimately, I want to get everything into a custom FileMaker database that's faster and tooled for US O Scale/Gauge.

Rafi

@Rafi posted:

Late to the thread, but just to close the loop, the only dedicated pre-built model railroad inventory database for the Mac that runs natively (not via the web) that I've found is MacMoVe/xMoVe.

Links:

https://www.mcrichter.de/Seite.../Programme/MoVe.html
and
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xmove/id842432230?mt=12

The developer also has Windows, Linux, and iPadOS/iOS Variants.

I use the product quite heavily, but I do have some criticisms, none of which are dealbreakers for me: it's slower than I'd prefer in database filtering and searching, syncing across devices is clunky, and it's heavily, HEAVILY configured by default for European modelers (Germany/Poland, specifically), so you have to do some backtracking to make it not just friendlier for US/Empirical modelers, but also for O Gauge.

Ideally, I'd write my own FileMaker database, but it was frankly easier/faster for me to buy XMoVe and tweak it for my needs. Ultimately, I want to get everything into a custom FileMaker database that's faster and tooled for US O Scale/Gauge.

Rafi

Thanks so much for this! I never knew about it. So I’m addition to what you mentioned, what other changes would you like to see. Maybe a collab with the European dev is what would work best.

@Rafi posted:

Late to the thread, but just to close the loop, the only dedicated pre-built model railroad inventory database for the Mac that runs natively (not via the web) that I've found is MacMoVe/xMoVe.

Links:

https://www.mcrichter.de/Seite.../Programme/MoVe.html
and
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xmove/id842432230?mt=12

The developer also has Windows, Linux, and iPadOS/iOS Variants.

I use the product quite heavily, but I do have some criticisms, none of which are dealbreakers for me: it's slower than I'd prefer in database filtering and searching, syncing across devices is clunky, and it's heavily, HEAVILY configured by default for European modelers (Germany/Poland, specifically), so you have to do some backtracking to make it not just friendlier for US/Empirical modelers, but also for O Gauge.

Ideally, I'd write my own FileMaker database, but it was frankly easier/faster for me to buy XMoVe and tweak it for my needs. Ultimately, I want to get everything into a custom FileMaker database that's faster and tooled for US O Scale/Gauge.

Rafi

Spoke with the developer. He and I will collaborate to build in the O gauge inventories I have access to. He will then update the app to include the new inventory for O gauge.

Does anyone have access to an MTH or other brands inventory and prices?

Also, what features would you like to see?

Are you saying that you would be limited to the inventory already loaded in the database?

Brendan

@Brendan posted:

Are you saying that you would be limited to the inventory already loaded in the database?

Brendan

You would still be able to add custom entries depending on which version of the app you are using I believe. I will ask.

do you have any other brands you are using that have inventory lists?

Not finding any Windows database program that had everything I wanted (found several, but each one lacked something), I created a spreadsheet and am not entering that data into Microsoft Access.

Here's the spreadsheet columns I use:

Seq #
Cat No
MA (use this for marking the record/lines that have been entered into Access)
Description
Color(s)
Series / Set
Manufacturer
Scale
Group (my own grouping)
Road Name Code
Road Name Description
Road Logo
Reporting Mark
Cat
Type
Min Curve
Length
Built
Status
Config
Years Cataloged
MSRP
Purch Date
Sold by
Purch Price
S & H / Tax
Calc. Total
% MSRP Purch Price
Item Cond
Best Value
% MSRP Best Value
CY Greenberg Value
% MSRP CY Greenburg Value
MITrains Value Date
MITrains Value Price
% MSRP MITrains Value Price
Qty
Box Type
Box Cond
Images (up to 8)
Notes

Yes, I know I could probably do it better by using Accesses tables, but for now this works for me. I never could quite get the linking of tables to work.