Catalog a collection

Collections are where Packle's barcode lookup earns its keep. Books, records, games, and most collectibles already carry a scannable code, so cataloging one is fast instead of tedious — closer to checking items off a list than typing a card catalog by hand.

Pick a hierarchy that fits a collection, not a garage

Collections usually don't need the deep, zone-based hierarchy a garage does. A shelf-to-shelf structure — or even one flat container for everything, if the collection lives in one place — is often the right amount of nesting, with tags doing the work a deeper hierarchy would do for other kinds of stuff. See Containers & hierarchy for the underlying model either way; the point here is that "flat" is a legitimate choice for a collection, not a shortcut you'll regret.

The reason tags fit collections so well is that the facets that actually matter — genre, condition, era, "want to sell" — cut across whatever physical shelf something sits on. A hierarchy answers where a record lives; tags answer everything else about it.

Let barcode lookups fill in the boring fields

Scan an ISBN, a UPC, or whatever code the piece carries, and Packle looks it up before you type anything — checking its own local database first, then falling back to live sources like OpenLibrary, Open Food Facts, or Discogs and MusicBrainz-sourced data, depending on what the code looks like. See Scanning & barcodes for exactly how that pipeline works. A hit pre-fills a name and, often, a cover or box image, so cataloging a shelf of books or records looks like scan, glance, confirm, scan again — not scan, then stop and manually type the title, author, and year for every single one.

Not every lookup is perfect. External product databases have gaps and the occasional wrong entry, same as any database compiled from many sources — correct anything that's off before you save, especially for less common or older pieces where the underlying data is thinner.

Photograph the object itself

A barcode lookup's image is a stock photo of the product, not a photo of your copy — and for a collection, that distinction matters more than it does for, say, a box of hardware. Condition, edition-specific details, an inscription, visible wear — none of that shows up in a generic cover image. Take the extra thirty seconds to attach a real photo of the actual piece in your hands. It's the difference between a catalog that lists what you theoretically own and one that shows you actually own it, in the condition it's actually in.

Tag the facets your shelf can't express

Once the hierarchy's holding the "where," tags carry everything else: genre, condition (mint, good, needs-repair), era, or a working "to sell" tag for pieces you're actively trying to move along. Because tags cut across the whole hierarchy at once, "everything tagged first-edition" or "everything tagged to-sell" surfaces instantly regardless of which shelf or box those pieces happen to be sitting in — a slice through the collection that the shelf arrangement alone could never give you. Manage and merge tags at /settings/tags as your vocabulary settles — it's normal for the first few tags you invent to need consolidating once the collection's a hundred pieces in and you've noticed "mint" and "near-mint" were never really two different things.

Link related pieces the hierarchy can't connect

Collections tend to have relationships a shelf can't express: an expansion that belongs to a base game stored a shelf away, a box set's missing volume you tracked down separately and shelved by author instead, a companion piece you'd never think to nest under the same container. Item links connect two items directly with an optional note, and the connection shows up from both sides — find the expansion, and the base game it belongs to is right there, regardless of where either one physically lives on your shelves.

Sharing your catalog: what's possible today

Right now, there's no dedicated public share link or export file for a collection — your catalog lives in your account (or on your device, if you're cataloging in pure offline mode) rather than behind a shareable URL you can hand someone else. If you want to show someone your collection today, screen-sharing the app or exporting individual photos is the practical option — it's not a purpose-built feature yet. It's a genuinely useful thing to want, and worth knowing it's not there yet rather than discovering that gap mid-conversation with a prospective buyer or fellow collector.

If cataloging is the main thing you're here for, Getting started covers your very first item, and it's free to try the whole flow — barcode lookups included — in pure offline mode before you decide whether an account's worth it.