I have a useful little item available on my web site (see the signature
for my URL.)  It is a catalog of over 3500 original Duo-Art rolls in
excel spreadsheet format.  The list was compiled from databases of
several Duo-Art roll collectors, so the format and accuracy vary.  It
is an excellent way to get that catalog of your collection done with
minimal effort.

If you are handy with Excel (which I am not) you should be able to
easily copy the entries, for the rolls that you have, from the master
list to your own workbook.  I have developed a method, but I am sure
there are easier ways and I would appreciate suggestions from those who
know Excel better.  I also welcome any corrections and additions to the
catalog.  I know there are many omissions and errors.  I can spread the
blame for this since the listing is a merger from many sources.

I have not listed the procedure for making your own list to the web
site as I hope to improve the method, but here is something that works:

1.  Open the master worksheet, which is sorted by roll number.

2.  For each roll that you have in your collection, place an x in
column E of that roll's row.  To do this, click on the cell in column E
and type an x.  Repeat this for each roll you own.  Save your work
every now and then to make sure you don't you don't have to repeat the
effort if Excel crashes.

3.  Select the entire spreadsheet by highlighting the column headers
from A to E with the mouse.

4.  Select "SORT" from the "DATA" drop down menu in the toolbar and
sort by column E (ascending) and then by other columns to arrange the
data in the order you want.  You can also rearrange the data later so
you needn't worry at this point that you can only sort by three fields.
It is just important to sort by column E which contains the x's.  You
will now have all the rolls you own at the top of the list.

5.  Select all the rolls you own, with the mouse, and select copy from
the edit menu on the toolbar.

6.  Open a new worksheet.  Place the cursor at the top left and select
paste from the edit menu.  All your rolls will now be in the new
worksheet.

7.  Save the worksheet before you lose all the work you have done.

8.  You can use the master list again for another collection by
deleting the x marks in column E.

9.  You can print a report from Excel, if you know how, or you can
export the file to a more friendly program for printing.  You can save
it in a variety of formats including "tab delimited text."

I welcome any improvements to this procedure or the description above.
I hope this helps people to catalog their Duo-Art collections.  I wish
I had it when I did mine, but much of the list comes from that effort
as well as the work of others.  I also hope that people are interested
in correcting and amending this list.  I know there are many popular
rolls to be added.  I only had a few Aeolian publications to scan, OCR
and convert for the popular listings as well as a few collections (mine
include) that had been cataloged.  There are other programs that are
better suited to data bases but I chose Excel because almost everyone
has it.  I can provide the data in other formats if anyone has a need,
especially if they are interested in making substantial additions or
corrections.

If people are interested, this same procedure can be applied to other
makers of rolls but I only have Duo-Art listings right now.  If people
are willing to contribute their databases of other rolls they can be
merged by the same methods.

The Duo-Art catalog is on my web site on the download page but
I encourage people to look around elsewhere.

Spencer Chase
http://nt.mcn.org/spencer/