Collections
A collection is a top level group that you name, and the first thing you create when you start cataloguing. This page explains what a collection carries and the choices you make when creating one, so you can set one up with confidence.
What a collection is
A collection holds related items. You decide what "related" means: Emma keeps "My Comics", Noah keeps "Vinyl", Priya keeps "Watches" and a second collection called "Inherited pieces". An account can hold as many collections as you like.
Most collectors create one collection per hobby. Splitting further (say, one collection per publisher) usually works better with categories inside a single collection instead.
What a collection carries
When you create or edit a collection, you choose:
- A name, such as "Wine Cellar".
- A description, optional, for context.
- An emoji from a small fixed palette (📚 for books, 💿 for music, 🍷 for wine, and so on), shown next to the name in lists.
- A currency. Each collection has its own, chosen from the supported list (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and more). It can differ from the account's default currency, which is handy when you buy vinyl in euros but wine in dollars. Money recorded on copies in this collection uses it.
- A visibility: private, shared with the account, or public by link. Visibility deserves its own explanation, so see Visibility and sharing.
- One or more collection types. This is what decides which custom fields the items in this collection can use. Enable the Comics type on a comics collection, and every item can record an issue number and a publisher.
Only the name is required. Everything else can be adjusted later.
What lives inside
A collection owns its items, its categories, and its sets. It also remembers, per person, how each member prefers to view it (grid, list, or table), so Emma's table view never disturbs Sam's grid.
Where to next
- Understand what goes inside a collection in Items versus copies.
- Create one for real in Create and manage collections.
- Decide who can see it in Share a collection.