Comic Collector 4 has arrived!

We are happy to announce the arrival of this new major version of Comic Collector. It brings many new features and enhancements of existing features. And it looks better too! Just scroll down this page to get an impression of all additions and changes.

Upgrading to version 4

If you already own an earlier version of Comic Collector (Standard or Pro), you can upgrade to the PRO version 4 for only $24.95, a 50% discount. Just enter your license key in the box on the right and click Upgrade Now.
(if you came here from our upgrade notification email or from the v4 trial edition the key will be filled in automatically)

What's New in Comic Collector 4?

Export to iPhone / iPod Touch (new in 4.4 PRO)

• Browse your comic collection on your iPhone or iPod Touch with the new Clz Comics app
• Available in Apple AppStore for $9.99 (search the AppStore for "clz comics")
• Use File | Export to iPhone / iPod Touch to transfer your data to the Clz Comics app (Requires Wi-Fi connection on your iPhone or iPod Touch, connecting to the same local network (LAN) that your Windows computer is in.)

Collectorz.com online comic database (improved in 4.3)

• Improved results for Series searches
• Now delivers larger cover images (600px high instead of 400px). Check it out: before and after!

Add Comics Automatically (improved in 4.3)

• Complete rewrite of the Add Comics Automatically screen, which made it faster and more consistent with the other Collector apps.
• It is now possible to add one issue with checking its checkbox, just select it and click Add Selected.
• The Add Selected button automagically changes into "Add Checked" as soons as you check one or more issues.
• New Title column in Issue List
• New "Show Only My Publishers" option in New Releases tab

Updating / Linking Comics (improved in 4.3)

• New Skip button in Link screen
• Update a comic from the Edit Comic screen with the new Update button

Character List Sorting (new in 4.3)

• Use Tools / Options / Show Characters in Alphabetical Order to have your character lists appear in alphabetical order in the Details View
• New Sort Characters button in Edit Comic screen to actually change the order of your Character list to alphabetical order.

Screen Fonts (new in 4.3)

• Comic 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).

Printing (improved in 4.3)

• New Print screen with improved layout, making it more logical and easier to use, especially when printing simple lists

New online manual (new in 4.3)

• The included Windows Help manual has been replaced by an online manual, on the Collectorz.com website,
  viewable in your favorite web browser. Check out the new manual here
• The complete contents of the manual will be rewritten to make it more useful and easier to understand.
  This is a work in progress though.

Improved Update Comics Automatically feature (improved in 4.2) + New Link Comics screen

Update your comics with the current online data fully automatically. Updating is only possible if issues are "linked" to our online database. Use the "Link Comics" screen to link unlinked issues.

• Update Comics Automatically command can now be used on multiple comics in one go
  • If your selection includes "unlinked" comics, the new "Link Comics" screen will pop-up automatically
• Use the new "Link Comics" screen to link your comics to the entries in the online comic database
• Use Tools / Link Comics to show and link all "unlinked" comics, or use Link and Unlink commands in right-click menu
• New "Clz Comic ID" field (read-only) that shows the online ID (tip: add it as a column to see the Link status of your comics)
• Edit Comic screen: the Clz Comic ID is shown at the bottom
• Edit Comic screen: New button to clear the Clz Comic ID and unlink the issue from the online database

Improved Add Comics Automatically screen (improved in 4.2)

• Further improvements to the layout and design of the screen
• New "Show Owned" option for Issue List
• New Releases tab page:
  • Now uses the real Release Date to show the current weeks new releases (or up to 3 previous weeks if you haven't refreshed for a while)
  • New 'All Series' entry at the top that lets you select all new issues from one list instead of per series

New: Choose Online Search Settings (new in 4.2)

New "Online Search Settings" for selecting which information you want to download from the online database (these settings apply to both Adding and Updating).

• Download Front Cover (Yes / No)
• Download Back Cover
  (Always / Never / Only for Wrap-Around Covers)
• Download Issue Ext / Edition (Yes / No)
• Download Series Group (Yes / No)
• Download Title / Subtitle / Story Arc / Crossover (Yes / No)
• Download Creators (Yes / No)
• Download Characters (Yes / No)
• Download Plot (Yes / No)

New: Import From Text feature (new in 4.2)

• Import TXT files / CSV files (via File | Import From | Text)
• Tip: Use the new "Link Comics" screen to link your imported entries to the entries in the online comic database and easily add covers, creators, characters, etc for all your imported entries. For everybody who's using a TXT file to catalog their personal comic collection and was afraid of Comic Collector! :-)

Improved Add/Update Comics Automatically feature (new in 4.1)

• Completely redesigned and rewritten screen
• Use one screen to Add new issues and Update existing ones
• New "New Releases" tab page that shows recently released issues, mostly based on ComicList.com data (thanks Charles!)
• New "Daily Updates" tab page that automatically lists recent online updates for issues in your database
• New "Favorites" tab page, add series as Favorites so you don't have to search for them anymore
• New "Show/Hide Issues Already in Database" checkbox to make the Issue List show new issues only
• New Comic Collector 4 Compact template for previewing results, in two styles (Blue & Black)
• Series Lists can now be sorted on any column, ascending or descending (just click column headers)
• Issue Lists can now be sorted on any column, ascending or descending (just click column headers)
• Series of current comic on main screen is now automaticaly selected in Add Automatically screen.
• Improved overall performance
• New Check Connection button

New Screen Layout setting for main screen (new in 4.1)

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)

New database fields

• Crossover
• Story Arc
• Imprint
• Creator role: Cover Painter
• Last Submission Date
  (automatically filled when submitting issue data to Collectorz.com)
• new Column Field: Full Title
  (automatic combination of Crossover, Story Arc and Title)
• new Column Field: All Creators (automatically lists all creator names)
• new: In Collection Status value "On Order"
  
  

Add Comics Automatically

• Improved screen layout
• new Favorites tab page
  • Add series to your Favorites list, so you don't have to search for them anymore
  • Use the Favorites tab to check for new issues of those series more easily
  • Use the "Show/Hide Issues Already in Database" checkbox to make the Issue List show new issues only
• New Comic Collector 4 Compact template for previewing results, in two styles (Blue & Black)
• new Favorites tab page
  • Add series to your Favorites list, so you don't have to search for them anymore
  • Use the Favorites tab to check for new issues
  • Uncheck the "Show Issues Already in my Database" checkbox to make the Issue List show new issues only
• Series of current comic on main screen is now automaticaly selected in Add Automatically screen.
• new Check Connection button

New toolbar icons featuring CC

Edit Comic / Edit Story screen enhancements:

• Improved layout of fields within tab pages
• Creator list now remembers its column widths
• list of Creator roles is now in a more logical order

• Improved Links tab page
  • Add Interior Art images. Images show up in Details View in main screen.
  • Add links to other local files (e.g. movies) by dragging & dropping
  • Add links to websites by dragging & dropping from your browser
  • Easier editing of links and their descriptions

• Contents tab: now shows Index, Title, Creators and Characters columns
• Contents tab now remembers column widths
• 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 (Genre)
• Edit Story screen is now resizable

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
• New Comic Collector 4 template in six different styles: Blue, Black, iTunes, Gray, CC and CC2
• New Full Covers template in Blue, Black and Gray
• "Comic Collector Colors" and "Gray/Yellow" are now available as styles for the Full Details Classic template

Searching your database

• 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
• Save your filters and activate them directly using the Filter menu on the toolbar
• Faster Quick Search

Sorting

• 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 Comic and Edit Story 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

• 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

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

Export to HTML (PRO edition only)

• New Comic Collector 4 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 Series" option

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)

Improved Loan Management

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