Well, there's nothing tricky about it really. Book Collector is a wonderful and fairly simple program to use. I think the best part about it is that it brings so many book lovers together. That said, I've gathered some neat tips about the program that I'd like to share. Some of it I learned from the folks at the Book Collectorz forum, some from trial and error. I hope this helps to make your BC experience an enjoyable one.
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Author Bio Information
Ever wondered how nice it would be to have an Author's biographical information in Book Collector? Well here's one solution I've stumbled on to do this. Please click here to see what it would look like in the main screen. If you are familiar with hexadecimal codes, you can change the colours of the bolded text. I would advise against changing the colour of the main text, as that colour will always change to match your template. Click here to see the html code to create the bio. Copy and paste it to your Notes area in Book Collector, then change the generic information. Don't forget to download a copy of the author's picture to your computer. I created a folder for this purpose in the Book Collector Directory. Enjoy!
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Batch Editing
Most people are used to highlighting many entries in a field and changing them all at once, something done in most spreadsheet programs. BC uses batch editing as well, but in a different way. Let's say you have a couple of books that are not itemized under a particular country. Simply sort your collection by country, highlight the books to be sorted, and drag them over to the appropriate folder.
Click here to see an example
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Setting Start & End Dates
This is useful for individuals who belong to reading clubs. Go to Settings - Field Names. Go to User Text 1, and change the name to Date Finished, or something similar. You can also change your Read Date to date started. Click ok. When editing books, your end date field will show up right after the regular date field. Be sure to use MM/DD/YYYY format for it to match the format of your other date. Please note that this field cannot be sorted like the default date field.
Click here to see an example
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Creating a Wish List
Need to figure out how to create a wish list? Go to: Settings � Field Names. Scroll down to "Rare", and change the field name to "Wish List". Click OK. Now when you are editing books, your wish list checkbox will show up in the Personal tab under Cover Price. Whenever you download a book that you'd like to have, simple check this box and later use a filter to see all your wish list books. NB: Use this solution only if you do not use the Rare field.
Click here to see an example
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Exporting a Wish List
Set a filter to view books on your wish list. Highlight then go to File / Export to / Palm/Pocket PC / Selected Books. Type in a file name and save. Open the file using your spreadsheet program (OpenOffice, Excel, etc). Format the columns, add some colours, fool around with it. Save as your own native spreadsheet format. (You can also port the csv file as is, and do the formatting on your PDA). Use your PDA software to port your wish list to your PDA, or save the file to your flash/media card using a card reader, and open in your PDA spreadsheet software. Voila! Click the link below to see what part of my wishlist looks like on my PDA.
Click here to see an example
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PDA Support
Unless you own a gold mine, purchasing a PDA just to export books to is not always an option. However, if you're planning to buy one anyway, be sure to look at all the choices available before you whip out the credit card. Personally I use a Casio BE-300 pocket manager, a nifty little device that doesn't qualify for Pocket PC status, yet is quite comparable. At $149 it was a steal. By downloading SpreadCE, a shareware spreadsheet program, I have been able to port my books to the device seamlessly (Pocket Excel will not work with my PDA). It is also compatible with Mobipocket, another great program that you can use to read ebooks and download news. But back to exporting from BC. I can format the export file if I wish, and take the PDA with me to the library or bookstore. I'm sure you've all known the frustration of buying/borrowing a book that you already have in your collection. This little PDA is worth a look.
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Have a neat tip you'd like to share? Send me an email with a detailed explanation and I might include it on my Tips page. Of course, I'll give you credit :).
Click on the page links below to view templates.
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Main Page
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Book Collector
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