How to Build Art Inventory in Google Sheets & Excel

If you run a gallery, studio, or creative agency, your art inventory is more than a spreadsheet; it is your memory. The challenge is keeping that memory accurate as artworks move, sell, and return. Let us walk through practical ways to build and maintain an art inventory template, from simple manual methods to fully automated workflows powered by Simular AI agents.

Method 1: Manual Tracking In Google Sheets

This is where many artists and small teams start.

1. Create a new Google Sheet.
2. Add columns such as: Catalog ID, Image URL, Title, Artist, Year, Medium, Dimensions, Location, Status, Purchase Price, Sale Price, Buyer, Notes.
3. Decide a catalog ID scheme, like CR-24-001 for the first work created in 2024.
4. For each artwork, paste a thumbnail link from Drive or your website into the Image URL column.
5. Update the Location and Status every time a piece moves or sells.

Pros:

• Free, familiar interface.
• Easy collaboration and version history.

Cons:

• Updates depend on your discipline.
• Prone to typos and missing records when you are busy.

Method 2: Manual Tracking In Excel

Excel shines when you want more structure and offline control.

1. Start from an art inventory template or build your own table with the same fields as above.
2. Use data validation lists for fields like Status (Available, Reserved, Sold, On Loan) or Location (Studio, Gallery A, Collector B).
3. Add formulas to calculate total inventory value, sales per artist, and price history.
4. Save a master workbook and a read-only copy for sharing with partners.

Pros:

• Powerful formulas and filters for deeper analytics.
• Works well for accountants and finance teams.

Cons:

• Harder to collaborate in real time.
• Version drift when multiple files are emailed around.

Method 3: Hybrid Workflow With Both Sheets And Excel

Many galleries use Google Sheets for day-to-day collaboration and Excel for quarterly reporting.

Typical flow:

• Live inventory in Google Sheets.
• Periodic export to Excel for financial analysis, insurance reports, or tax preparation.

Pros:

• Best of both worlds: flexibility plus rigor.

Cons:

• Manual exports and cleanup each time you switch tools.

Method 4: Automating The Boring Parts With A Simular AI Agent

Manual tracking works until you hit scale: more artists, more shows, more sales channels. This is where Simular Pro, a highly capable computer-use agent, changes the game.

A Simular AI agent can operate your computer like a focused assistant. You give it the rules; it handles the clicking, typing, and copy-paste.

Here is what an automated art inventory workflow can look like:

1. New artwork arrives.
   • You drop photos and a short description into a folder or form.
   • The agent reads the description, extracts title, artist, medium, year, and size.
   • It opens Google Sheets or Excel, assigns the next catalog ID, pastes in all details, and links the image.
2. A piece sells online.
   • The agent scans your email, shop platform, or CRM for new orders.
   • For each sale, it finds the matching catalog ID in your inventory template.
   • It updates Status to Sold, logs buyer info and price, and adjusts location and insurance value.
3. Preparing for a show.
   • You tell the agent to create a list of works for an exhibition.
   • It filters your inventory by artist, series, or year, builds a show checklist in a new sheet, and even drafts wall labels in a doc.

Pros of using Simular:

• Production-grade reliability across thousands of tiny steps.
• Works in the desktop, browser, and cloud tools you already use.
• Transparent execution: you can see and edit every step the agent takes.

Cons:

• Requires a bit of upfront thinking: defining your fields, naming conventions, and rules.
• Best results come after a short training period where you correct and fine-tune its behavior.

Method 5: Designing For Scale From Day One

Whether you are solo or managing a large collection, design your template as if an AI agent will be using it.

1. Standardize naming: consistent catalog IDs, clear status values, fixed location names.
2. Avoid free-text chaos for critical fields; use dropdowns wherever possible.
3. Keep one master inventory per environment: a single Google Sheet, a single Excel workbook.
4. Document your workflow in plain language, like a checklist you would hand a new assistant.

Those same instructions are exactly what you will give a Simular agent. Once the rules are clear, you can safely hand off the repetitive work and trust the system to keep up as your art business grows.