Book Collector 6 is here!

We are happy to announce the arrival of Book Collector 6, a major step forward for our book cataloging software.

This version introduces our new Collectorz.com online book database.

Yes, after creating our own online media databases for movies, CDs, games and comics, we finally went for the big one: BOOKS.

Read on for full details on what this means for Book Collector and, more importantly, for you. (In short: it makes it way easier to add books.)

Upgrading to version 6

If you already own an earlier version of Book Collector (Standard or Pro), you can upgrade to the PRO version 6 for only $24.95. Just enter your current license key in the box on the right and click the "Upgrade to Version 6 Now" button.

So, what's new in Book Collector 6?

Export to iPhone / iPod Touch (new in 6.2)

• Browse your book collection on your iPhone or iPod Touch with the new Clz Books app
• Use File | Export to iPhone / iPod Touch to transfer your data to the Clz Books app (Requires Wi-Fi connection on your iPhone or iPod Touch, connecting to the same local network (LAN) that your Windows computer is in.)
• Clz Books is available in the iTunes AppStore here for $9.99 or €7.99. After purchasing the app, use iTunes to sync your Applications to your iPhone or iPod Touch.
  Alternatively, open the AppStore on your iPhone or iPod Touch and search for "Clz Books". This way you can buy the Clz Books app and have it installed automatically.

Pick Your Own Screen Fonts and Font Size (new in 6.1):

• Book Collector screens look much better, because they now use the Windows system font (Segui on Vista, Tahoma on XP)
• Don't like it? Then use Tools / Options / Screen Font to choose your own font for all screens.
• Want larger fonts for your lists? Just use Ctrl-PLUS and Ctrl-MINUS to increase/decrease the main screen font size (or View / Font Size).

New SUPER EASY Add Books Automatically screen

• New easy-to-use screen combines both Wizard Mode and Advanced Mode
• Searches Amazon, Library of Congress, British Library and many other national libraries.
  All searches are automatically routed through the single Collectorz.com book database system, so there is no more need to select results from multiple sources.
  Just enter ISBN or Author & Title, click Search, select a result, click Add Selected.
  The Collectorz.com server will automatically give you the best data possible.
• Search by LC Classification Number:
  Find older (pre-ISBN era) books by entering their LC Classification Number (new in 6.1!)
• Hide / Show Search Queue button to switch between "Search Now" and "Add to Queue" mode
• Select multiple results and add multiple books from one search
• Edit searches in Queue with new Edit Search Criteria screen (right-click menu). (This replaces the Update in Queue button)
• New "Add Anyway" button to add a book anyway when no results are found, using the ISBN or Author & Title you entered for the search.
• New multi-column view for Search Results, with separate ISBN, Author, Title, Publisher, Format and Cover columns
• New Show All / Owned / Not Owned setting for Search Results, for filtering the results based on their presence in your personal database
• Search by ISBN: after searching, the (single) search result is now automatically selected, checked and shown in the Preview Panel, so you only have to hit Add Selected to add the book to your database.
• Queue Mode: While searching by ISBN, the last completed queue entry now automatically gets selected and updated with the found book title
• You can now double-click a queue entry to perform a "Search Selected".

New: the Collectorz.com online book database system

• Book Collector now uses the Collectorz.com online book database to get book information
• When a book is not found in this database, the Collectorz.com server automatically goes out to search multiple online book stores and national libraries (see below for the full list)
• Results returned from other sources are saved ("cached") for future searches, automatically building a fast and reliable source of book information.
• The new system makes it possible to add extra info sources "server side", that is, without releasing a new version of the Book Collector software.
• Allows searching by LC Classification Number

Full List of Info sources, searched "through" the Collectorz.com server:

• Improved for US: Library of Congress (loc.gov)
• Improved for Netherlands: National Library Netherlands (kb.nl)
• Added for Spain:
  • National Library Spain
  • UNED Spain
  • Spanish Congress
  • Public Library Palencia
• Added for Italy:
  • SBS
  • University of Siena
• Added for Denmark:
  • Public Library Kolding Denmark
  • National Library of Education Denmark
• Added for Switzerland:
  • IDS Zurich University Switzerland
  • IDS Basel Bern Switzerland
• Added for Portugal:
  • Public Library Portugal
• Added for Poland:
  • Public Library Poland

Improved support for barcode scanners

• Added support for the Opticon OPN-2001 laser scanner
• Improved support for the Microvision Flic laser scanner
• Improved support for the CueCat scanner
• Opticon or Cuecat? Compare our barcode scanners

Printing:

• New Print screen with improved layout, making it more logical and easier to use, especially when printing simple lists
• Printing Labels is now a separate option with a separate template list
• Added: two new Avery label templates

Database fields:

• Added: Three user definable Credit roles: User Role 1-3 (rename using Tools / Field Names)
• "Read It" field has been changed to "Number Of Times Read"

Still on version 4? Read on and find out what was new in Book Collector 5:

New Screen Layout setting for main screen (new in 5.3)

Choose from six different layout configurations of tree, list and details panel:

• Horizontal Split
• Vertical Split
• Full Width Details
• Full Height Tree
• Full Height Details
• Simple Layout (automatically hiding tree panel)

Improved CueCat Support (new in 5.2)

• Improved CueCat handling in main screen
• Improved CueCat handling in Add Automatically screens
• CueCat can now also be used in the Edit Book screen (automatically fills barcode field then)

Searching your database (new in 5.1)

• Completely redesigned Filter screen
• Build advanced filters using brackets, AND, OR, NOT, equal, not equal, greater than, less than, contains, starts with, ends with, wildcards
• Mix book and section fields in your filters (e.g. book.author = "stephen king" AND section.nrpages < 5)
• Use the same filters in Book and Section View, switch back and forth to see the same filter results in both views
• Save your filters and activate them directly using the Filter menu on the toolbar
• Faster Quick Search
• Faster Track View / No Folders mode

Sorting (new in 5.1)

• Save your sort order definitions and activate them directly using the Sort Order menu on the toolbar
• Simpler Sort Field selection screen, just use checkboxes to select the fields you want.
• Sort Titles are now automatically generated from the Title when using Add Automatically
• new "Generate Sort Title" button in Edit Book and Edit Section screens
• use Tools / Options / Sort Titles to configure recognized articles (the, a, le, la, die, der, das, etc..)
• Three part person names (e.g. Barbara Taylor Bradford) are now split into First/Last Names correctly

Columns (new in 5.1)

• Save your column definitions and activate them directly using the Columns menu on the toolbar
• Simpler Columns selection screen, just use checkboxes to select the fields you want.

Folder selection (new in 5.1)

• Save you custom folder field combination and activate them directly from the Folder menu above the tree
• Simpler Folder field selection screen, just use checkboxes to select the fields you want.

Automatic Capitalization of Titles (new in 5.1)

• new AutoCap button next to Title in Edit Book screen
• Titles are now automatically capitalized when using Add Automatically
• Use Tools / Options / Capitalization to configure auto-cap settings and exceptions

Full ISBN-13 support

• Search book info sources using 13-digit ISBNs
• Scan 13-digit ISBNs with your Flic bar code scanner
• ISBN-13 and ISBN-10 numbers are automatically detected and converted as needed, e.g. for info sources that do not support 13 digit ISBNs yet

Improved Loan Management

• Print loan lists
• Use Flic scanner in Loan Management screen to Loan or Return books
• Use the Quick Search box to search your Loan History by Title, ISBN or Loaner name
• New Email and Address fields in the Loaner item
• New date selectors in Loan Info screen

Improved network support

• New lock file system automatically prevents concurrent editing
• When one user is already using a database in Writable mode, subsequent users will automatically open the database in Read-Only mode
• In Read-Only all editing features are hidden and disabled, allowing viewing and searching only
• Create Read-Only workstations by running a forced Read-Only installation (start the installer with the /readonly command line parameter)

Add Books Automatically

• Improved Advanced Mode: tabs at the top have been combined, making it easier to search by Author/Title AND Barcode in one go

• Improved Wizard Mode
  • It now takes less steps to add a book
  • Screen is now resizable, for better previewing of results
• Improved layout of Preview panel (Compact Preview template)
• New "Check Connection" button
• New info source: Portuguese National Library
• Improved scripts for better data retrieval from most info sources

Details View Templates (lower right part of main screen)

• New CSS Styles system
  • Template selection menu now allows various "styles" for each template (using a submenu)
  • New styles can be created using CSS style sheets and a simple .csi meta file
• Improved layout of Full Details Classic template
• Added several new styles for Full Details Classic template
• New Book Collector 5 template, in 3 different styles (blue, black and iTunes)

Edit Book screen enhancements:

• Improved layout of fields within tab pages
• Screen is now resizable (and remembers its size too)
• Use the Collectorz.com barcode scanner to fill the ISBN field
• Improved Links tab page
  • Add links to websites by dragging & dropping from your browser
  • Add links to local files by dragging & dropping
  • Add e-book and audio book files to your book entries
  • Added images show up in the Details View in the main screen
  • Easier editing of links and their descriptions

• New Tags fields on Personal tab page, for LibraryThing-style tagging
• The "..." buttons next to pick list fields have been replaced by a new [Add ...] command inside the drop down list
• New entry boxes for easier adding of values to check list fields (e.g. Genre, Extras)
• Now supports the Collectorz.com barcode scanner to fill the ISBN field
• Screen Title now shows Title and Author, instead of the Title only

Printing

• Improved layout of Full Details template
• New Label printing templates supporting 2 by 7 and 2 by 8 Avery formats:

Many toolbar icons have been improved (smoother edges)

Export to HTML (PRO edition only)

• New Book Collector v5 Blue and Black detail page templates
• Improved look of List and Thumbnails index pages
• Improved look of Next/Previous navigation at the top of exported pages
• New "Paged by First Letter of Author" option

New Help file (english version only for now)

• Up to date reference of all new features
• Added task based help topics
• Full keyword index
• Context sensitive help (Help buttons) in most screens of the program