Disclaimer. Collectalia is not a legal, tax or insurance advice site. The information on this page is general and based on French legislation in force as of 09/11/2026: it may change, does not necessarily apply outside France and does not take your situation into account. Always have it checked by a notary, a lawyer, an accountant or your insurer before acting on it.
The essentials
- A spreadsheet is free, flexible and known to everyone: for a small collection of no great value, it is enough.
- Its limits appear with photos, documents, insurance, sharing and transmission.
- Moving from one to the other does not mean re-entering everything: a clean Excel file can be imported.
Collection inventory in Excel: a good starting point
Many collectors keep the inventory of their artworks, their wine cellar or their stamps in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice. It makes sense: the spreadsheet is already installed, you know how to use it, and you organise it exactly as you like. Collection management software, for its part, requires getting used to a new tool. This guide compares the two honestly, to help you choose according to what you own and what you want to do with it.
The strengths of a spreadsheet
- It is free, or already paid for with your office suite.
- It is flexible: you create the columns you want, in the order you want.
- It is familiar: your notary, your broker or your children know how to open it.
- It calculates: totals, values by room of the house, sorting and filtering.
- It works offline, and the file belongs to you.
The limits of a spreadsheet
- Photos and documents kept apart. Invoices, certificates and photos live in separate folders; the link to the right row depends on your rigour in naming files.
- No reminders. The spreadsheet does not warn you before an insurance policy renewal, the cancellation deadline or a watch service.
- Risky sharing. Sending the file by email means losing control of it: it circulates, with the values, and you no longer know who has opened it.
- Multiple versions. “inventory_v3_final_bis.xlsx” on the computer, another copy on the USB stick, a third at a relative’s: which is the right one?
- No history. A value overwritten, a row deleted by mistake, and the old information disappears without trace.
- The risk of loss. A failing disk, a stolen computer, and the inventory goes with it, at the very moment you would need it.
- A record that is hard to pass on. A spreadsheet row does not make a file: for the insurer, the expert or the heirs, the whole has to be reconstructed by hand.
Spreadsheet or collection management software: the comparison
| Criterion | Spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice) | Collection management software |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free or already paid for. | Generally a subscription, often with a free trial. |
| Getting started | Immediate. | A few hours to get to grips with the tool. |
| Flexibility | Total, free columns. | Fields provided for each category, plus custom fields depending on the tool. |
| Photos and documents | In separate folders. | Stored on the record of each item. |
| Renewal dates and reminders | No automatic reminders. | Reminders before insurance renewal dates, tasks. |
| Sharing | Sending the file, or sharing the whole document. | Access by person and by role, read-only possible, values can be hidden. |
| History | Limited or non-existent depending on the tool. | Change log, successive values kept. |
| Backup | Your responsibility. | Automatic, depending on the host. |
| Reports | To be formatted yourself. | PDF reports and exports ready to hand over (insurance, estate). |
| Transmission | A file to explain to the heirs. | A complete file per item, viewable by the family or the notary. |
When a spreadsheet really is enough
Let us be frank: collection management software is not always necessary. A spreadsheet is enough if:
- you own a small collection, with no item of great value;
- you are the only one managing it and do not plan to share it;
- you do not need to track insurance policies or valuations;
- you make regular backups, away from home.
In that case, simply look after the file: one row per item, one piece of information per column, a unique inventory number, and a folder of photos named with that number. Our inventory template for insurance in Excel format can serve as a base.
Software becomes useful when value increases, when documents accumulate, when several people are involved (spouse, children, expert, broker, notary), or when the time comes to think about transmission. This is often the case for a collection of works of art or a growing wine cellar.
Moving from spreadsheet to software without re-entering everything
- Clean the file. One row per item, no merged cells, no totals in the middle of the table.
- One piece of information per column. Separate the artist from the title, the height from the width, the value from the currency.
- Clear headers in the first row: “Artist”, “Title”, “Purchase date”, “Purchase price”.
- Import. The software matches your columns to its fields; check the matching before confirming.
- Complete as you go. Add photos and documents, starting with the most precious items.
- Keep the original file archived, just in case.
With Collectalia
Collectalia imports your existing Excel file and recognises the columns. Each item then has its own record, with fields specific to its category, its photos, its documents, its successive values and its insurance policies with a reminder before the renewal date. You stay in control of your data: Excel exports and PDF reports at any time, full export of the space. The plans are presented on the pricing page, with a free trial.
Disclaimer. Collectalia is not a legal, tax or insurance advice site. The information on this page is general and based on French legislation in force as of 09/11/2026: it may change, does not necessarily apply outside France and does not take your situation into account. Always have it checked by a notary, a lawyer, an accountant or your insurer before acting on it.