Tired of wrangling a fountain pen spreadsheet?
“spreadsheets are unwieldy, and unattractive compared to the software I'd been using.” — real buyer, https://fountainofpens.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/keeping-track-of-your-collection/
A spreadsheet template is the obvious first move for cataloguing a fountain pen collection: one tab for pens, one for inks, columns for maker, model, nib, price, and acquisition date. It works for a while. The trouble is that a collection worth cataloguing is also a collection that keeps growing, and a grid of rows quickly becomes something you dread opening, hard to filter, and miserable to use on a phone at a pen show.
Two jobs make the catalogue worth keeping anyway. First, duplicate prevention: with sixty inks, you will buy a Diamine colour you already own unless you can check your list from your pocket while standing at the table. Second, an insurance and resale record: makers, models, nib sizes, what you paid, and condition, all in one place, ready if you ever need to file a claim or sell. A spreadsheet can hold that data, but only if you maintain it, and the friction of a clunky grid is exactly why people stop.
Fountain Pen Studio gives you the structured catalogue without the spreadsheet friction. Pens and inks each get purpose-built records with searchable, filterable fields, a duplicate-prevention search for inks, purchase price and condition for your insurance record, and a mobile-friendly interface you can actually use at a show. It is a one-time purchase that runs offline as a single file, no account and no subscription, and your collection data never leaves your device. You can still export to CSV whenever you want a backup.
Fountain Pen Studio — one file, offline, yours forever.
No account, no subscription. One purchase, personalized with your name, works without internet.
Common questions
- Why not just use a spreadsheet template?Spreadsheets work at first but become unwieldy as a collection grows, and they are awkward on a phone. A purpose-built tool gives you the same fields with proper search, filtering, and a mobile-friendly layout you will actually keep updated.
- Can it help me avoid buying duplicate inks?Yes. The Ink Inventory is searchable by brand, name, and colour, so before you buy at a show you can check whether you already own that colour and save the money.
- Is my collection data private and exportable?Everything stays local on your device with no account required, and you can export your full catalogue to CSV at any time for backups or insurance records.