The latest updates to Recollector

This page lists the most recent updates to Recollector. You may not want to update your copy of the program every time there is a new release. You can find out what version you are currently running by looking at the About Recollector dialog, accessed from the Help menu of the collection window under Windows and accessed from the Recollector menu under Mac OS X. Then check here to see if a more recent release is available with features that you would like to have. To download the most recent version, go to the Recollector download page.


Note: This listing only shows the most recent updates to Recollector.
If you are running a version earlier than any of the versions listed here,
you should probably update your copy to the latest release.

MS/Windows updates

MS/Windows: Current release: 3.3.26 (August 31, 2024)

Version 3.3.26 Fix bug that sometimes caused thumbnail images in export files to be incorrectly rotated.

Version 3.3.25 Fix bug with Find+Replace when the text being operated on is a multi-line text and the search string appears in more than one place in the text.

Version 3.3.24 Support Find+Replace when the Find string is empty. This allows replacing empty values in a field with some non-empty value.

Version 3.3.23 Allow sorted dates to include extra prefacing text.

Version 3.3.22 Provide ability to use spell-checking suggestions to fix misspellings.

Version 3.3.21 Remember prior backup parent folder; use as default for next backup.

Version 3.3.20 Improve error checking when unreadable image files are used.

Version 3.3.19 Avoid losing underscore characters in labels in Image Gallery.

Version 3.3.18 Avoid errors due to illegal image file names when exporting for download to the Recollector App.

Version 3.3.17 Allow higher resolution images in printed reports destined for PDF files.

Version 3.3.16 Fix bug with error message shown when using an older version of Recollector than can open a collection file.

Version 3.3.15 Fix bug with printed reports, when collection has multiple image fields and image fields are displayed one after the other without labels. This resulted in images overwriting one another in the report.

Version 3.3.14 Fix bug with undefined editor font preference. 

Version 3.3.13 Fix bug with editor window when a field has an extremely long name.

Version 3.3.12 Fix bug with sorting on texts that have accented characters in the first few letters.

Version 3.3.11 Allow user-supplied text for negative duration values in derived variables.

Version 3.3.10 Fix bug with strict picklists when one item is a substring of another item.

Version 3.3.9 Support making copies of just-added records, without having to leave the editor.

Version 3.3.8 Support parenthesized sub-expressions in derivation expressions.

Version 3.3.7 Support translation from English for hard-coded bits of printed reports.

Version 3.3.6 Allow a date field to automatically reflect the last update time of a record.

Version 3.3.5 Support grouping fields in Item Details by adding extra space between groups. Also, make multi-paragraph text use justified text on all paragraphs, not just the first one.

Version 3.3.4 Eliminate error when editing record causes record to disappear from current selection criteria.

Version 3.3.3 Fix bug when deleting a field used by a subset that is the subset currently in effect.

Version 3.3.2 Fix bug with cycling through sort orders by clicking on column headers not always working.

Version 3.3.1 Major upgrade, including the ability to define derived variables and to sort collections by the order of items in an associated picklist.

Version 3.2.107 Fix bug with the editor not handling short-text fields with very long field names.

Version 3.2.106 Add auto-fill capability (via the ESC key) to the search dialog and the define subset dialog.

Version 3.2.105 Add preference to check for duplicate ID # values during data-entry/editing. Also, better error checking when launching Excel.

Version 3.2.104 Ensure Image Gallery is up-to-date after editing.

Version 3.2.103 Add ability to limit searches to full-word matching.

Version 3.2.102 Add preference that limits the thumbnail banner to display just one image.

Version 3.2.101 Fix bug with formatting currency values on Item Details page when a single entry contains multiple values, each with decimal separators.

Version 3.2.100 When exporting for download to Recollector App, suggest the same destination folder that was selected the last time an export was performed.

Version 3.2.99 Ensure editor window stays raised when editing or adding multiple records.

Version 3.2.98 Include subset definitions when writing out a collection template.

Version 3.2.97 Allow specification of a 'key' image, for initial display in Image Gallery, by prefacing the image file name with a '+' character in the image field.

Version 3.2.96 Fix problem with export to Excel when a field has a value beginning with the '=' character.

Version 3.2.95 Fix bugs with parsing and formatting numeric and currency values that don't match locale or preference settings.

Version 3.2.94 Support field profiles linked to subsets, to get a particular set of fields displayed, appropriate for a subset, when you switch to that subset.

Version 3.2.93 Avoid text in Summary window from getting truncated. Default to auto-save being on.

Version 3.2.92 Don't show 'Assign Next ID #' button when ID # values are not all numeric. (It used to be this way, but at some point the code reverted to always showing this button, which it shouldn't.).

Version 3.2.91 Avoid errors when opening image files that contains corrupt color profile metadata.

Version 3.2.90 Fix bug in web-site generation, where an error message could be generated if creating an index page without an image field, even though images are being shown in the per-item pages.

Version 3.2.89 Get rid of harmless, but unnecessary warning message that could appear when updating the List View, due to the prior bug fix.

Version 3.2.88 Fix recently introduced bug: List View was always repositioning to row 1 when switching to it, rather than keep the currenctly selected row in view.

Version 3.2.87 Make <Ctrl>-K be a keyboard shortcut for Edit > Add Copy of Current Record.

Version 3.2.86 Adjust row height in List View to reflect current font size. Allows more rows to be visible when smaller font sizes are used.

Version 3.2.85 Fix bug with formatting currency values in generated web pages, when values were integer values greater than 999.

Version 3.2.84 Fix bugs with importing collections from Excel or CSV when header line contains multi-line text values for field names.

Version 3.2.83 More consistent approach to prompted whether to save changes when closing a window for a collection that has unsaved changes.

Version 3.2.82 Bug fixes: Open Recent choice on File menu failed to open files whose names contained parenthesis characters.

Version 3.2.81 Bug fixes: (1) Disallow creating a new subset whose name duplicates case-different, but otherwise identical, name of an existing subset. (2) Catch attempts to make a copy of the current record when no records are displayed in the List View.

Version 3.2.80 Add preference that allows right-alignment of cell contents in List View for numeric fields (currency, number or dimension).

Version 3.2.79 Fix bug with sizing of thumbnails on the index page of a generated web site when the original image was a JPEG from a camera taken with a rotated orientation.

Version 3.2.78 Hide parenthesized field names for all parenthesized fields (not just images) in Item Details and in printed reports and generated web pages. Keep track of lost collections, as an aid to finding them again if they have been moved, renamed or deleted.

Version 3.2.77 Trap errors that occur when creating thumbnail images for export to the Recollector App.

Version 3.2.76 Support up to 8 sort fields, with user control of the maximum number of sort fields allowed.

Version 3.2.75 Fix bug that could cause the Image Gallery images to get out of sync after adding new records in the List View.

Version 3.2.74 Another small fix related to using UNC-style paths (e.g. "\\SERVER\..."). This for the 'Test' button in the Special Hyperlink dialog.

Version 3.2.73 Fix bug with using UNC-style paths (e.g. "\\SERVER\...") for Image Directories.

Version 3.2.72 Add a new menu item (Reset to Default Sort Order) on the Options menu, that makes explicit and visible the <Ctrl>-R option added in the prior version. Update help.

Version 3.2.71 Add a preference that causes collections to be opened with their default sort order (rather than with the last-specified sort order), if a default sort order is defined. Add List View keyboard shortcuts: Sorting by the default sort order (<Ctrl>-R); select and go to 1st record (<Ctrl><PageUp>); select and go to last record (<Ctrl><PageDown>). A few bug fixes.

Version 3.2.70 Sort using culture-specific alphabetization.

Version 3.2.69 Let user select profile to limit fields displayed in the editor from a control in the panel at the bottom of the editor window, rather than having to open the editor prerences dialog to get at this.

Version 3.2.68 Add a New Record button on the collection window, so you don't have to open a menu to get this functionality.

Version 3.2.67 Add yyyy-mm-dd as a pattern for generating dates from the calendar widget of the editor.

Version 3.2.66 New choice on the Edit menu: Fill in Empty ID # Values that lets you generate new (non-conflicting) numeric values for the ID # field of any record that currently has an empty value for that field. Also, added a descending-sort-order option to the index file of generated web sites. Also, fixed a small inter-paragraph spacing infelicity for multi-paragraph fields of generated web sites.

Version 3.2.65 Fix bug that generated an error when creating/modifying/deleting a special hyperlink from an expanded one-field editor window..

Version 3.2.64 Add ability to display just one image per field when producing printed reports.

Version 3.2.63 Fix unlikely bug from previous version, when combining default sort order with export to the Recollector App.

Version 3.2.62 Add ability to have a 'default' sort order defined for a collection. Makes it easy to revert to a preferred sort order, with a single button click in the Sort dialog.

Version 3.2.61 Fix bug with pasting long texts in the editor sometimes resulting in the pasted text being lost when closing the editor.

Version 3.2.60 Fix bug with very long or complex texts not being laid out correctly in the Item Details view.

Version 3.2.59 In the Select Fields from Field Profile sub-menu, show a check box next to a field profile whose definition matches the current List View display (chosen fields and their order).

Version 3.2.58 Fix bugs in the checking for valid numeric entries in the preferences dialog; invalid entries were causing system errors to be generated.

Version 3.2.57 Add preference to allow limiting maximum height of images in the thumbnail banner.

Version 3.2.56 Add image window preferences that allow you to: (1) To initially scale images to 100%; (2) To open image windows maximized (full screen).

Version 3.2.55 Catch case of image files which cannot be measured for generating thumbnails. This used to cause an uncaught exception error message.

Version 3.2.54 Fix bug with using the DEL key to delete a row from the List view and then cancelling out of the confirmation dialog. The row still got deleted.

Version 3.2.53 Ensure collection is marked as saveable after editing X-link or P-link keys, even if cancelling out of the editor.

Version 3.2.52 Add preference to allow user to disable start-up notifications when a new version is available.

Version 3.2.51 Notification, at start-up, if a newer version is available for download.

Version 3.2.50 Add auto-populating picklists.

Version 3.2.49 Support ancient dates in date-type fields, by correctly interpreting "BC" or "BCE" (as well as "AD" and "CE") preceding or following a value that is interpreted as a year. This provides correct sorting and comparison for date fields containing years before zero.

Version 3.2.48 Allow subset conditions to specify values that should be filled in at runtime, rather than at subset-definition time. A value of '?' indicates that the value should be prompted for when switching to that subset.

Version 3.2.47 Allow numeric comparison in subset definitions when referring to the ID # field. Also fix a comparison logic bug in the subset code.

Version 3.2.46 Fix bug with images sometimes being mismatched with records in the Image Gallery after sorting by clicking on column headers in the List View.

Version 3.2.45 Add support for saving report wizard and web-site wizard choices as templates, capable of being easily re-used to automatically re-specify wizard choices without having to step through the wizard. This change required an update to the file format for Recollector collection files, which are now at version 1.6.

Version 3.2.44 Remember parent folder for web site creation in the web-site wizard.

Version 3.2.43 Allow web site index to be generated as a set of pages, rather than just as a single page, to accommodate loading of the index for very large web sites.

Version 3.2.42 Add 'Back to jumped-from record' menu item on Item Details context menu.

Version 3.2.41 Fix bug when generating report where records contain many images. Under some circumstances this could hang the printing process.

Version 3.2.40 Write out an error log when backups include missing or failed-to-copy image/associated files.

Version 3.2.39 Limit thumbnail banner image heights to no more than the actual height of the underlying image (i.e. never enlarge an image in the List View's thumbnail banner). Also, allow external programs to modify image files, by not holding on to an image file that has been read in order to display its image.

Version 3.2.38 Pre-select the text in the search dialog, to make typing in new search text easier.

Version 3.2.37 Allow limiting the set of fields shown in the data-entry window, via use of a Field Profile. Also, improve the logic used to determine the order of rows in the index page of a generated web site.

Version 3.2.36 Fix bug with editor changes not being fully reflected in the collection window, and problems with Go to Next/Previous Record when the collection window's subsetting/sorting choices were changed.

Version 3.2.35 Add "begins with" and "does not begin with" as comparison criteria for subsets. Fix bug in web site generation that caused supplementary files not to get copied.

Version 3.2.34 Fix bug in importing data code that could cause imported data to land in the wrong field.

Version 3.2.33 Add search-and-replace capability. Also, allow user to turn off borders being drawn around thumbnails.

Version 3.2.32 Fix bug with sort order being incorrectly changes after modifying fields, and the ID # field was part of the sort key.

Version 3.2.31 Improve speed when editing and collection window is in List view.

Version 3.2.30 In printed reports, allow user to request that each record start on a new page.

Version 3.2.29 Provide "Previous Subset" and "Next Subset" buttons for cycling through subsets.

Version 3.2.28 Make the editor synchronization choice be sticky, within a session, for a collection.

Version 3.2.27 Fix another rare Excel import bug, and an even rarer bug when creating special hyperlinks.

Version 3.2.26 Fix bugs that could occur with Excel import.

Version 3.2.25 Remember if a collection window was maximized when re-opening it.

Version 3.2.24 Fix bug with importing from Excel on Windows 10. Stopped working recently, probably due to a Windows system update.

Version 3.2.22 Fix bug with checkboxes in editor window when navigating to next/previous record (checkbox state was not being updated correctly).

Version 3.2.21 Fix bug with adding records when subset is in effect and newly added record would be part of the current subset.

Version 3.2.20 Allow additional lines of labeling in Image Gallery by using an "Image Gallery" field profile. Also, added "Add a copy of current record" to context menus in Image Gallery and Item Details.

Version 3.2.19 Order subset names alphabetically in the Select Subset menu.

Version 3.2.18 Fix bug with one-field edit window; couldn't scroll all the way to see the last line.

Version 3.2.17 Fix bug with subsets getting forgotten when they used "All text fields" choice in a condition.

Version 3.2.16 Major rewrite of Image Gallery implementation. Avoids sluggishness that was being reported with large collections.

Version 3.2.15 Fix bug with occasional incorrect horizontal alignment of Image Gallery images after window resizing from a different view.

Version 3.2.14 Fix bug with occasional incorrect initial image sizing in Image Viewer window.

Version 3.2.13 Fix occasional failure when resizing Image Gallery.

Version 3.2.12 Fix bug where program would hang when an X-link text contained multiple lines.

Version 3.2.11 Prevent two copies of Recollector from starting. When the program is invoked when it is already running, bring the main window of the already-running program to the front. Do not start a second copy of Recollector at the same time.

Version 3.2.10 Fix bugs with image selection file dialog and drag-and-drop when Image Directory had an unusual form.

Version 3.2.9 Add support for checkboxes and spell checking in the editor.

Version 3.2.8 Fix bug with subsets that included IS EMPTY or IS NOT EMPTY condition.

Version 3.2.7 Fix bug with printing reports when text contains unmeasured characters in Windows' glyph tables.

Version 3.2.6 Put timestamps in page footers of all printed output.

Version 3.2.5 Fix bugs with the run-from-thumb-drive capability. This was broken in the new version. Now it works again.

Version 3.2.4 Some small cosmetic enhancements. In the editor, allow proportional fonts and given an option for two-line high text-entry fields for image fields.

Version 3.2.3 A variety of small bug fixes.

Version 3.2.2 Fix for bug with trying to create an Image Directory when no image directory for the collection previously existed. Also, more thorough checking for preferences directory on startup.

Version 3.2.1 Small fix for managed-access handling of collections to guard against missing the latest updates made by another user.

Version 3.2.0 Formal (non-beta) release of the new Windows version of Recollector. A few small bug fixes from the last beta version. Some added memory efficiency in the Image Gallery display. Context menus added to Image Gallery and Item Details.

Version 3.1.6 (beta) Major new release: Full rewrite of the application, targeting Windows 10 and other recent versions of WIndows (Win 7 and Win 8). Major new features: Support of unicode; managed-access (support for group collaboration on a collection database).

Version 2.6.12 Fix bug with using file dialog to save files (for example, when copying from a backup) if you specify a filename but remove the filename extension. The default extension (e.g. ".xml") was not being appended correctly.

Version 2.6.11 Fix bug with trying to print a report when one or more records has absolutely no data to print. This can happen, for example, if you restrict the report to just include a single field and one or more records has missing data for that field. After the fix, records with no data at all to print are simply skipped.

Version 2.6.10 Fix bug with keyboard cursor keys going unresponsive from List View and Gallery View after opening an editor window. Also, small enhancements to layout: (1) Prevent the initial column number column in List View from changing width when you scroll within the window; (2) Add a small bit of whitespace at the left of the Item Details display, so the text doesn't rub up against the left-hand border.

Version 2.6.9 When not in auto-save mode, change the prompt "Save unsaved changes?" dialog to offer three choices (Yes/No/Cancel), rather than just two (Yes/No). This allows the user to back out of the cancel/exit operation.

Version 2.6.8 Put in auto-rotation for rotated JPEG images (typically from cell phones).

Version 2.6.7 Add ability to have thumbnail images in the index page when generating a web site.

Version 2.6.6 Add ability to generate web site using PHP, rather than HTML, files.

Version 2.6.5 Fix minor bug with restore behavior: Failed when an earlier version of the target collection file wasn't in place.

Version 2.6.4 Fix problems when user specifies collection files or image files using network (UNC) paths, such as \\machine1\Users\smith\Desktop\abc.xml. Images did not display correctly in the Image Gallery and in image viewer windows in this case.

Version 2.6.3 Fix small bug with search subsets: Trying to create a search subset when a prior search subset was in effect did not always do the right thing.

Version 2.6.2 Add a template for mineral collections.

Version 2.6.1 Change to the internal format for marking sections of text as bold. This allows the plus sign (+) to be freely used in text, including having multiple adjacent plus signs (e.g. "A+++" as a condition value). This change involved bumping the internal collection version number (to 1.5), so the product minor version number has also been bumped from 2.5 to 2.6.

Version 2.5.13 Add ability to format sections of text as subscripts.

Version 2.5.12 Simplify creating W-links from visible text in the form of a URL. The Special Link Editor dialog will automatically start out, in this case, with W-link selected and the URL pre-filled-in.

Version 2.5.11 Fix recently introduced bug with printing from the Item Details window.

Version 2.5.10 Add ability to specify default values for fields. Beef up context menu on the list view, so that users can now also make a copy of the current record or delete the current record using the right-click context menu. Add a preference that causes the "Assign next 'ID #' value" button to be automatically pressed when adding a new record.

Version 2.5.9 Fix to a problem introduced with search subsets: report and web site generation could fail under certain conditions.

Version 2.5.8 Add support for a special number-type field, named Quantity* which acts as a multiplier when computing totals for currency-type fields. The product of the currency field's value times the value of Quantity* is used when computing totals in the Summary window and in the Currency Summary page of printed reports.

Version 2.5.7 Include files referenced in M-type and F-type links in the backup/restore capability.

Version 2.5.6 Allow M-type and F-type special hyperlinks to use simple filenames (rather than full path names), if the target file is located in the Image Directory folder. Also some extra bulletproofing to prevent start-up errors from causing program termination.

Version 2.5.5 Fixed recently introduced bug with password-protected collections not prompting properly for their password.

Version 2.5.4 Added the ability to select which fields are exported when exporting for the Recollector App.

Version 2.5.3 Added the ability to include jump-to hyperlinks to records in different collections (not just within the current collection). This is done using the R-type special hyperlink.

Version 2.5.2 A couple of minor bug fixes related to changes made in version 2.5.0.

Version 2.5.1 New feature: "Search Subsets". Allows user to quickly define a temporary subset whose condition is the specifications in the search dialog (string to search for, field(s) to search, whether or not to make the matching case-sensitive).

Version 2.5.0 Major update: Add support for multiple, simultaneously open, collections.

Version 2.4.25 Add buttons on the Image Viewer window that let you move through multiple images in the case that a record has more than one image.

Version 2.4.24 Fix several bugs with generating web site files. Under some conditions, the links in the index page pointed to the wrong records. Images could be duplicated when the collection included multiple image fields. The pound symbol (£) was not being correctly generated.

Version 2.4.23 Fix bug when generating web site when there is a record that contains a less-than character ("<") in a text field. This caused the web-generation process to hang.

Version 2.4.22: Improve layout in the Image Gallery. Reduction in blank space around images results in more images per page and a more useful presentation.

Version 2.4.21: Fix bug with trying to generate a web site with the output folder created at the top level of the disk (C:\). The program wouldn't let you do this; you had to create the folder at least one level down in the file-system hierarchy.

Version 2.4.20: Allow one-line text fields to use picklists.

Version 2.4.19: Add support for printing the Image Gallery.

Version 2.4.18: Make footnote-style hyperlinks behave as toggles: Click to show the footnote; click again to hide it. (Previously you had to explicitly click the footnote's own close button to close the footnote window.)

Version 2.4.17: Remember size of one-field editor windows, so they always start up the same size that the user last set for such windows. Also, fix bug with subsetting when criteria included matching a string that contains 8-bit characters (e.g. an accented character).

Version 2.4.16: Add a "Copy" button on Image Viewer windows, that allows the user to copy the window's image to the clipboard. Also, add a "Refresh Images" choice on the Options menu, that causes the program to refetch image data, so that if a user updates an image file (keeping the same file name), the program can be told to update its image cache to pick up the changed image(s).

Version 2.4.15: Add a search menu to the data-editing/entry window.

Version 2.4.14: Remember the directory chosen with a file selection dialog for various operations. When next doing that same operation, initialize the file selection dialog to display the same directory that was used the last time this operation was done. (This memory is done via preferences, so it lasts across sessions.)

Version 2.4.13: Bug fix: Layout in printed reports of records with multiple images (when omitting image field labels) was sometimes unattractive: When images required more than one line for layout, the second (and subsequent) lines were inappropriately indented in the display.

Version 2.4.12: Enhancements to keyboard shortcuts when editing text: word-motion commands now honor accented characters; added undo (Ctrl-Z) support; fixed bug with deleting selected text after Ctrl-Shift-End command selected all text from current position to end (it previously didn't delete when you hit the Delete key in this situation).

Version 2.4.11: Fixes for two bugs: (1) Error when trying to export to Excel on PC without Excel installed. (2) Incorrect processing when reading a collection file that contains image paths with embedded path components that begin with the letter 'n' (lowercase): The "\n" combination (preceding backslash and following 'n') was being incorrectly interpreted as a newline (paragraph separator), rather than as a normal part of the full pathname.

Version 2.4.10: During data entry, automatically format dates to conform to the user's chosen preference for how date values should be formatted.

Version 2.4.9: Make it easier for people running in demo mode to upgrade to fully licensed mode.

Version 2.4.8: Add 'Check for Updates' to the Recollector Help menu. Makes it easier for users to see if they are up-to-date and to upgrade if they aren't.

Version 2.4.7: Filter out non-breaking space (NBSP) characters which may have made their way into collection data via import or copy-and-paste. These characters can cause confusion when downloaded to the Recollector App, so now they are filtered out (converted to normal spaces).

Version 2.4.6: Treat secure URLs (beginning "https://") the same as normal URLs (beginning "http://"), in terms of recognizing them as valid links to network resources.

Version 2.4.5: Fix bug: Hyperlinks in text fields whose labels were supressed (by having the field name enclosed in parentheses) were not working.

Version 2.4.4: Added an option for putting a user-specified image in the header of each page of printed reports. This allows reports to be "branded" or otherwise enhanced by inclusion of an image (that could be an icon or an image of some nicely formatted/colored text, or combination of the two) as a page header. Also fixed the formatting of currency totals, so they don't print in scientific format if very large. Made the font used in reports be the same as the currently selected font for displaying Item Details.

Version 2.4.3: Added a preference that lets currency values always be displayed with a two-digit decimal part (e.g. 150.00 rather than 150), if so desired.

Version 2.4.2: Smoother start-up for new users: Welcome window and direct flow into creating the first collection. Also fix for small bug with Image Gallery display when collection is empty.

Version 2.4.1: Added a wizard for creating new collections, which simplifies and streamlines the process for getting started with Recollector. Also fixed some obscure minor bugs.

Version 2.3.10: Fix bug with subset definitions whose criteria used fields of type Currency or Dimension. These subset definitions would sometimes exclude records that should be included.

Version 2.3.9: Fix bug with creating collection from an Excel spreadsheet with multi-line text in one or more of the row 1 (header row) values of the spreadsheet.

Version 2.3.8: Fix bug with incorrect sorting of numeric values when negative numbers were included.

Version 2.3.7: Retain the size and position of the editor window across sessions. Avoids the user having to move and resize the window at the beginning of each session, to a preferred size and place.

Version 2.3.6: Added a preference allowing for European-style numeric separators (e.g.: 1.234,56). Also, adjusted the height of some text-entry boxes in the add/edit window. Windows settings for non-default type-size magnification was causing some of the fields to be too short.

Version 2.3.5: Fixed bug with generating web site when an Image field had a trailing semi-colon. The same bug would have shown up if an Image field had a leading semi-colon or an embedded doubled semi-colon as well. No error message was shown, but the generation of HTML files stopped when a record with this semi-colon problem was in process of being generated. A related, but as yet undiscovered, bug might have been in the code for some other features (e.g. report generation, backup), and I tried to add the same checking logic to these cases.

Version 2.3.4: Small change to recent password feature. Now the program remembers the last-entered password during a given session and tries to use this before prompting the user for a password. This speeds up the case of working with multiple collections protected with the same password or reverting a collection or restoring a collection from backup. Now the user won't be repeatedly prompted for the same password.

Version 2.3.3: Added support for password-protected encryption. The contents of collection files can now be secured by associating a collection with a user-chosen password. The collection can only be opened in Recollector after supplying the correct password, and the data in the underlying file are encrypted so that the data's privacy are maintained even if the computer containing the collection file is lost or stolen.

Version 2.3.2: Fixes to some incorrect updating of the Image Gallery after resorting in the List tab.

Version 2.3.1: A major update: An Image Gallery capability has been added to Recollector. Complementing the List view and the Item Details view, the Image Gallery presents a third way to browse through your collection: As an array of images.

Version 2.2.23: Added drag-and-drop support for putting filenames into image/audio/video fields in the data-entry/editing window. You can now select one or more files in a Windows Explorer window and simply drag and drop it into the appropriate text-entry field in the data-entry/editing window. Also added similar drag-and-drop support for identifying a media file (for M-type links) or an associated document file (for F-type links) in the Special Link dialog.

Version 2.2.22: Added a new template: watches, for watch collections.

Version 2.2.21: Date fields in the data-entry/editing window now have a "calendar" button next to them. Clicking on this button brings up a calendar widget, with which one can select the desired date. That date will then be automatically filled into the date field's text-entry box.

Version 2.2.20: Added the ability to generate a summary page for currency-type fields in printed reports (File > Generate Printed Report). The optional summary page lists totals for fields of type currency that are included in the report. Also added the ability to select "All fields (in Item Details order)" when choosing which fields to include when generating a printed report or when generating a web site.

Version 2.2.19: Added support for selecting multiple files at once for image/audio/video fields, using the Browse button in the data-entry/editing window. The file-selection window that comes up when you click Browse now allows multiple item selection, using the standard <Ctrl>-click and <Shift>-click mouse actions.

Version 2.2.18: New icon/logo for Recollector. Also, a new File menu choice: Add a Copy of Current Record. This allows you to create a record that is a close copy of an existing record.

Mac OS X: Current release: 1.8.21 (May 22, 2024)

Version 1.8.21 Improve presentation of output of Print from the List View.

Version 1.8.20 Allow Find and Replace to replace empty fields with a specified value.

Version 1.8.19 Fix bug with backups on collections using Managed Access when access is not enabled.

Version 1.8.18 Make search sensitive to diacritics.

Version 1.8.17 Improve layout of sequential images in printed reports.

Version 1.8.16 Get keyboard edit shortcuts (cut/copy/paste) work while in search, picklist and subset dialogs.

Version 1.8.15 Fix bug with modifying multiple derived variables at the same time; derivations could get confused.

Version 1.8.14 Allow user-supplied text for negative duration values in derived variables.

Version 1.8.13 Enhance the interface for editing and displaying hyperlinks. Capabilities now match those on the Windows version.

Version 1.8.12 Fix problem in editor, with right edge of text fields sometimes not being shown.

Version 1.8.11 Support making copies of just-added records, without having to leave the editor.

Version 1.8.10 Support parenthesized sub-expressions in derivation expressions.

Version 1.8.9 Include number fields, as well as currency fields, in summary page of printed reports.

Version 1.8.8 Fix bug with List-mode sorting; sometimes did not sort as expected.

Version 1.8.7 Support translation from English for hard-coded bits of printed reports.

Version 1.8.6 Fix bug with printed reports that include derived fields failing to print.

Version 1.8.5 Allow a date field to automatically reflect the last update time of a record.

Version 1.8.4 Support grouping fields in Item Details by adding extra space between groups. Also, make multi-paragraph text (when in PC-style mode) use justified text on all paragraphs, not just the first one.

Version 1.8.3 Bug fix in new release: Exporting collections that include derived fields can fail.

Version 1.8.2 Bug fix in new release: ID # field could be improperly ordered.

Version 1.8.1 Major upgrade, including the ability to define derived variables and to sort collections by the order of items in an associated picklist.

Version 1.7.64 Add auto-fill capability to the search dialog and the define subset dialog.

Version 1.7.63 Add preference to check for duplicate ID # values during data-entry/editing.

Version 1.7.62 Add ability to limit searches to full-word matching.

Version 1.7.61 Add preference that limits the thumbnail banner to display just one image.

Version 1.7.60 Make the "keep synchronized" editor checkbox setting persistent for a collection during a session.

Version 1.7.59 Fix incorrect description of subset definition when subset contains a numerical condition involving the ID # field.

Version 1.7.58 Make summary window scrollable. Compute totals for number fields (not just for currency fields) in the summary window.

Version 1.7.57 Add a preference that causes grid lines to be displayed in the List View.

Version 1.7.56 When exporting for download to Recollector App, suggest the same destination folder that was selected the last time an export was performed.

Version 1.7.55 Include subset definitions when writing out a collection template.

Version 1.7.54 Performance improvements to Image Gallery display and scrolling.

Version 1.7.53 Allow specification of a 'key' image, for initial display in Image Gallery, by prefacing the image file name with a '+' character in the image field.

Version 1.7.52 Several bug fixes: Incorrect sizing of thumbnail banner; bad vertical scrolling behavior in the Image Gallery; unrequested reformatting of keyed-in date values; errors in help contents; bad window-closing behavior with certain system preference settings.

Version 1.7.51 Fix bug with closing application when switching into or out of Managed Access mode when only the one collection window was open.,

Version 1.7.50 Fix bug introduced in last update: When window was closed with the thumbnail banner hidden, the window reopened with the thumbnail banner open and obscuring the list view.

Version 1.7.49 Make the thumbnail banner scrollable, in case a record has many images, so that you can see all the images in the banner, using horizontal scrolling as needed. Also fixed a but that cause the sort order to sometimes be changed (in particular, dropping the ID # field, if that was one of the sort keys) when returning from the Modify Fields dialog.

Version 1.7.48 Fix bug with text in Date fields that specified "AD" (or "CE") as part of the date. This caused a crash when trying to modify the collection's fields, as well as when sorting by the date field.

Version 1.7.47 Make size of editor window the same, even if opening for creating a new record as copy of the current record. Add <Cmd>-K as keyboard shortcut for Edit > Add a Copy of Current Record.

Version 1.7.46 Fix bug in edit subset dialog; incorrect relation specification occasionally generated.

Version 1.7.45 Allow numeric fields (currency, number & dimension) to be right-aligned in List View.

Version 1.7.44 Disallow styling (bold, italic, etc.) on the ID # field, as this broke jump-to links. Also, fix bug with Add New Record(s) menu item being disabled when not in List view.

Version 1.7.43 Support up to 8 sort fields, with user control of the maximum number of sort fields allowed.

Version 1.7.42 Add a preference that causes collections to be opened with their default sort order (rather than with the last-specified sort order), if a default sort order is defined. Also, a new Options menu choice to reset the sort order to the default.

Version 1.7.41 Sort using locale-specific alphabetization.

Version 1.7.40 Fix bug introduced by previous release: The new dropdown profile selection control in the editor window was not being correctly repositioned if the user resized the editor window.

Version 1.7.39 Let user select profile to limit fields displayed in the editor from a control in the panel at the bottom of the editor window, rather than having to open the editor prerences dialog to get at this. Also, fix bug that caused images not to get printed when printing from the Image Gallery under Mojave.

Version 1.7.38 Add a New Record button on the collection window, so you don't have to open a menu to get this functionality.

Version 1.7.37 Add yyyy-mm-dd as a pattern for generating dates from the calendar widget of the editor.

Version 1.7.36 New choice on the Edit menu: Fill in Empty ID # Values that lets you generate new (non-conflicting) numeric values for the ID # field of any record that currently has an empty value for that field. Also, added a descending-sort-order option to the index file of generated web sites. Also, fixed some bugs with using the ID # variable when defining subsets.

Version 1.7.35 Add ability to display just one image per field when producing printed reports.

Version 1.7.34 Add ability to have a 'default' sort order defined for a collection. Makes it easy to revert to a preferred sort order, with a single button clicks in the Sort dialog.

Version 1.7.33 [Not released.]

Version 1.7.32 Add new preferences related to images: (1) start image windows in full-screen mode; (2) start image windows with images displayed in full-resolution; (3) specify smaller height than 150 points for thumbnail banner images (allows more images to be visible when a record has many associated images).

Version 1.7.31 Catch and prevent attempts to use the Excel interface when running on Mojave (or later).

Version 1.7.30 Fix bug with the Summary window when running on Mojave, which caused the menus to go gray.

Version 1.7.29 Running in Dark Mode (on Mojave) made some text invisible. Force all Recollector windows to display using the non-dark (Aqua) theme, even when the system preference is set to Dark Mode.

Version 1.7.28 Allow non-ASCII unicode characters in collection names when creating new collections.

Version 1.7.27 Fix bug with X-links when keys contain non-ascii characters.

Version 1.7.26 Fix problems with text layout in wizard dialogs on some versions of Mac OS X.

Version 1.7.25 When starting up, with no collection windows open, put up a small window showing choices for opening a collection. Fix closing logic: With only one collection window open, clicking the Apple close box (red button at upper left corner of window) will exit Recollector, but will remember that the collection was open, so it will auto-open the next time the program is run.

Version 1.7.24 Fix occasional bug in report generation, which could cause the generation to hang.

Version 1.7.23 Fix annoying behavior when backspacing all text from the search string in the Search dialog. It used to cause an "Empty search string" warning to pop up. Also added some additional debugging support for printed reports.

Version 1.7.22 Notification, at start-up, if a newer version is available for download.

Version 1.7.21 Add auto-populating picklists.

Version 1.7.20 Fix bug with printed report templates not remembering the state of the compact layout flag and the justified text flag.

Version 1.7.19 Support ancient dates in date-type fields, by correctly interpreting "BC" or "BCE" (as well as "AD" and "CE") preceding or following a value that is interpreted as a year. This provides correct sorting and comparison for date fields containing years before zero.

Version 1.7.18 Allow subset conditions to specify values that should be filled in at runtime, rather than at subset-definition time. A value of '?' indicates that the value should be prompted for when switching to that subset.

Version 1.7.17 Add template facility for saving the choices in the Report Wizard and the Web Site Wizard. Support web-site generation with the index page split across multiple pages.s

Version 1.7.16 Upgrade the underlying file version to 1.6, to match the update made to the PC version. (The functionality enhancements made for the PC version have not yet been made for the Mac version, but the Mac version will be able to read and use 1.6 collection files generated by the PC version.)

Version 1.7.15 Write out an error log when backups include missing or failed-to-copy image/associated files.

Version 1.7.14 Allow limiting the set of fields shown in the data-entry window, via use of a Field Profile. Also, improve the logic used to determine the order of rows in the index page of a generated web site.

Version 1.7.13 Add search-and-replace capability. Also, add "begins with" comparator in subset condition definitions.

Version 1.7.12 In printed reports, allow user to request that each record start on a new page.

Version 1.7.11 Provide "Previous Subset" and "Next Subset" buttons for cycling through subsets.

Version 1.7.10 Make changes to width and position of columns in the List View, made by dragging with the mouse, sticky (i.e., remembered within and across sessions).

Version 1.7.9 Fix bug with checkboxes in editor window when navigating to next/previous record (checkbox state was not being updated correctly).

Version 1.7.8 Fix calendar bug in editor: Selected day on calendar would sometimes get translated to the following day, if local time and GMT are on different dates.

Version 1.7.7 Fix tabbing bug in editor: Tab key did not advance focus to next control from a multi-line text edit field if it contained any newline characters (for example, if it contained multiple paragraphs).

Version 1.7.6 Add support for checkboxes in the editor.

Version 1.7.5 Add debug logging for uncaught errors.

Version 1.7.4 Fix bug with Item Details, that only affected systems running OS X 10.9, and only under certain circumstances.

Version 1.7.3 Adding a debugging hook to check on any problems when generating Item Details pages.

Version 1.7.2 Introduced support for "managed access" (collaborative, multi-user, access to a collection database). Starting with this release, only the OS X 10.9 and later version will be updated. Users who are still on OS X 10.7 or 10.8 will need to continue to use version 1.6.11.

Version 1.6.11 Two minor bug fixes: (1) Program hung after clicking Copy fields in the editor window if you had filled in previously empty fields but hadn't yet saved the edited data. (2) Failure to read in collection files that contained very long lines (>1023 bytes) of multi-byte unicode character data.

Version 1.6.10 Fix logic for handling audio/video files, to avoid possibly long delays when adding very large audio or video files to a record.

Version 1.6.9 Reduce image sizes for printed reports; particularly helps when generating PDF files.

Version 1.6.8 Add ability to have thumbnail images in the index page when generating a web site.

Version 1.6.7 Fix bug with trying to use Copy Fields more than once in the Editor window.

Version 1.6.6 Add ability to generate web site using PHP, rather than HTML, files.

Version 1.6.5 Fix small bug with search subsets: Trying to create a search subset when a prior search subset was in effect did not always do the right thing.

Version 1.6.4 Update to help, and testing under El Capitan (OS X 10.11).

Version 1.6.3 Fix bug introduced in 1.6.1, that put plus signs (rather than bolded text), around field names in printed Item Details and in printed reports.

Version 1.6.2 Add a template for mineral collections.

Version 1.6.1 Change to the internal format for marking sections of text as bold. This allows the plus sign (+) to be freely used in text, including having multiple adjacent plus signs (e.g. "A+++" as a condition value). This change involved bumping the internal collection version number (to 1.5), so the product minor version number has also been bumped from 1.5 to 1.6.

Version 1.5.32 Add ability to format sections of text as subscripts.

Version 1.5.31 Provide the ability to lay out the Item Details view in the same way as is done by the PC/Windows version of Recollector: With a tabular layout, field names in the first column and values in the second. This is controlled via a new Item Details preference.

Version 1.5.30 Further fixes for bugs when leaving the editing window open while changing from List view to Item Details view in the main window. The Special Link Editor dialog did not function in this case. Also, improve the UI for setting up new W-type links: Automatically suggest the URL when the visible text appears to be a web link.

Version 1.5.29 Fix bug with leaving the editing window open while changing from List view to Item Details view in the main window. After doing this and returning to the edit window, the <Return> key was not functioning.

Version 1.5.28 Add ability to specify default values for fields. Add a preference that causes the "Assign next 'ID #' value" button to be automatically pressed when adding a new record.

Version 1.5.27 Add support for a special number-type field, named Quantity* which acts as a multiplier when computing totals for currency-type fields. The product of the currency field's value times the value of Quantity* is used when computing totals in the Summary window and in the Currency Summary page of printed reports.

Version 1.5.26 Allow M-type and F-type special hyperlinks to use simple filenames (rather than full path names), if the target file is located in the Image Directory folder. Include files referenced in M-type and F-type links in the backup/restore capability.

Version 1.5.25 Added the ability to select which fields are exported when exporting for the Recollector App.

Version 1.5.24 Added the ability to include jump-to hyperlinks to records in different collections (not just within the current collection). This is done using the R-type special hyperlink.

Version 1.5.23 New feature: "Search Subsets". Allows user to quickly define a temporary subset whose condition is the specifications in the search dialog (string to search for, field(s) to search, whether or not to make the matching case-sensitive).

Version 1.5.22 Add buttons on the Image Viewer window that let you move through multiple images in the case that a record has more than one image.

Version 1.5.21: On Subsets menu, list the subsets in alphabetic order, to ease locating a particular subset.

Version 1.5.20: Cosmetic fixes, only, to some labeling and to the Read.me file.

Version 1.5.19: Allow one-line text fields to use picklists.

Version 1.5.18: Add support for printing the Image Gallery.

Version 1.5.17: Make footnote-style hyperlinks behave as toggles: Click to show the footnote; click again to hide it. (Previously you had to explicitly click the footnote's own close button to close the footnote window.)

Version 1.5.16: Updated to run under Yosemite (OS X 10.10).

Version 1.5.15: Fix bug with trying to change sort order if no row is selected in the List view.

Version 1.5.14: Allow image windows to be closed via the keyboard in the traditional Mac way: with Command-W.

Version 1.5.13: Three bug fixes: (1) Fix inverted display of PDF files in image windows; (2) Update gallery view immediately when font size is changed; (3) Fix problem in Item Details printing layout when multiple images extend over more than one page.

Version 1.5.12: During data entry, automatically format dates to conform to the user's chosen preference for how date values should be formatted.

Version 1.5.11: Make it easier for people running in demo mode to upgrade to fully licensed mode.

Version 1.5.10: Fix tab-navigation behavior when adding multiple records at one time. Also, get the add data window to respect the user-chosen window size for the editor window.

Version 1.5.9: Add 'Check for Updates' to the Recollector Help menu. Makes it easier for users to see if they are up-to-date and to upgrade if they aren't.

Version 1.5.8: Treat secure URLs (beginning "https://") the same as normal URLs (beginning "http://"), in terms of recognizing them as valid links to network resources.

Version 1.5.7: Added an option for putting a user-specified image in the header of each page of printed reports. This allows reports to be "branded" or otherwise enhanced by inclusion of an image (that could be an icon or an image of some nicely formatted/colored text, or combination of the two) as a page header. Also fixed a layout bug in the report generator: If multiple images were placed side-by-side and the right-most image was shorter than any of the images to its left, subsequent text fields were not being positioned far enough down, and could overwrite the taller images.

Version 1.5.6: Added a preference that lets currency values always be displayed with a two-digit decimal part (e.g. 150.00 rather than 150), if so desired.

Version 1.5.5 Minor enhancements to the report generation code.

Version 1.5.4 Bug fixes in report generation (layout was a little off in some unusual conditions) and in the edit subset dialog (an error case was not being gracefully caught).

Version 1.5.3 Display units in header row of List View, when field is currency or dimension type. Also, fix small bug in Image Gallery display of labels when records have missing data.

Version 1.5.2 Update the online help to reflect the new create-collection wizard. Also added an introductory window to help start off new users. Made the show/hide pix choice sticky (remembered across sessions).

Version 1.5.1 Added a wizard for creating new collections, which simplifies and streamlines the process for getting started with Recollector. Also fixed some obscure minor bugs.

Version 1.4.15 Minor bug fix release. Fixed several small bugs in report generation (computation of totals for currency fields could be incorrect; setting fields from a profile was off on the fields chosen). Sorting by a currency field made more robust (now deals better with values that include a currency symbol or that have commas as thousands-separators).

Version 1.4.14 Improved error reporting for any problems that occur when exporting a collection file.

Version 1.4.13 Get two-finger swipe-gesture trackpad scrolling to work in the gallery view. Previously this moved the scrollbar but did not update the gallery view.

Version 1.4.12: Fix bug with importing from Excel when the column headers (row 1 values in the spreadsheet) contain multi-line texts. This produced a non-openable collection when creating a new collection from the spreadsheet.

Version 1.4.11: Fixed a couple of bugs in the layout of complex printed reports. Images and, in some cases, pieces of text were getting truncated in reports that included large amounts of long text, or image fields as the last field in the report layout.

Version 1.4.10: Fixed an obscure bug: If, in demo mode, you tried to open an existing collection that contained more than 25 records (obviously a collection that was created by a non-demo-mode copy of Recollector, since in demo mode collections can only contain up to 25 records), you got an error and the collection would not open. The collection should have opened truncated (showing only the first 25 records) and in read-only mode (to avoid danger of losing existing data). Now it does the right thing.

Version 1.4.9: Fixed minor bug: With a collection using numeric ID values, the "Add a new record" window should show an "Assign next 'ID #' value" button to the right of the ID # field. But if, in a session, a record was edited and saved, then the next time the "Add a new record" window was brought up, the "Assign next 'ID #' value" button would be hidden.

Version 1.4.8: Worked around bug that occurred on just some Macs but not others(!): Thumbnail images in the Item Details display did not properly open an image viewer window when clicked on. A Safari window opened instead (with no image shown). All other places where thumbnails were displayed (thumbnail banner on List View, Gallery View) worked fine when clicked on.

Version 1.4.7: Eliminated the (undocumented) requirement that had been there that required the user to restart Recollector after submitting the license key before the license key took effect. Now the program goes into fully licensed mode immediately after providing the license key, with no need to restart the program.

Version 1.4.6: Fixed a bug with start-up if the user chooses not to move Recollector to the Applications folder.

Version 1.4.5: Fixed a bug with thumbnails in the Item Details window when the image file includes an EXIF instruction to rotate the image. The images were not being rotated.

Version 1.4.4: Fixed two bugs (1) Blank imagewindow when double-clicking an Item Details thumbnail in a collection whose path name includes a space or other special character; (2) Incorrect refreshing of Image Gallery when multiple collections are open simultaneously.

Version 1.4.3: Added keyboard accelerators for Edit Record (⌘-E) and Add New Record (⌘-N).

Version 1.4.2: Small change to handling of passwords. Now, if reverting to an earlier version of a collection, the program will try to use the password you previously supplied, rather than re-prompting for the same password.

Version 1.4.1: Added support for password-protected encryption. The contents of collection files can now be secured by associating a collection with a user-chosen password. The collection can only be opened in Recollector after supplying the correct password, and the data in the underlying file are encrypted so that the data's privacy are maintained even if the computer containing the collection file is lost or stolen.

Version 1.3.1: A major update: An Image Gallery capability has been added to Recollector. Complementing the List view and the Item Details view, the Image Gallery presents a third way to browse through your collection: As an array of images.

Version 1.2.30: Added drag-and-drop support for putting filenames into image/audio/video fields in the data-entry/editing window. You can now select one or more files in a Finder window and simply drag and drop it into the appropriate text-entry field in the data-entry/editing window.

Version 1.2.29: Some bug fixes related to importing Excel data. Multi-paragraph texts were losing their paragraph separations upon import from Excel. Also, numeric values (including currencies and dimensions) were sometimes losing their fractional values upon import.

Version 1.2.28: Added a new template: watches, for watch collections.

Version 1.2.27: Date fields in the data-entry/editing window now have a "calendar" button next to them. Clicking on this button brings up a calendar widget, with which one can select the desired date. That date will then be automatically filled into the date field's text-entry box.

Version 1.2.26: Added the ability to generate a summary page for currency-type fields in printed reports (File > Generate Printed Report). The optional summary page lists totals for fields of type currency that are included in the report.

Version 1.2.25: Added support for selecting multiple files at once for image/audio/video fields, using the Browse button in the data-entry/editing window. The file-selection window that comes up when you click Browse now allows multiple item selection, using the standard <Command>-click and <Shift>-click mouse actions.

Version 1.2.24: New icon/logo for Recollector.

Version 1.2.23: Fixed bug with picklists not observing their strict vs. non-strict definitions.

Version 1.2.22: A new File menu choice: Add a Copy of Current Record. This allows you to create a record that is a close copy of an existing record.

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