Art inventory software for galleries and what a registrar tracks for every work

Every other document a gallery produces is built from the inventory record. The offer PDF, the availability list, the online viewing room, the invoice, the consignment statement and the insurance schedule all repeat the same tombstone line, the same price and the same status. If the record is wrong, the error spreads into every document that follows, and the person who catches it is usually the collector or the artist, which is the worst possible audience.

A complete record also protects the gallery when people change. Registrars, associates and directors move on, and the knowledge in their heads leaves with them. A record that carries its own history (where the work has been, who has seen it, what was agreed with the artist) keeps the gallery working the morning after someone hands in their notice.

• One record per physical work, never one record per image
• One source of truth that every document reads from
• History stored on the record, not in someone's inbox

Start with the fields that let anyone in the gallery identify the work without looking at it. These are the details that appear on wall labels and on every offer, so the format must be consistent across the whole inventory.

• Inventory number, unique and permanent, assigned when the work enters the gallery and never reused
• Artist name, linked to an artist record rather than typed as free text, so spelling stays identical everywhere
• Title exactly as the artist gives it, including "Untitled" with any parenthetical subtitle
• Year or range of years of execution, with the convention for circa dates written down once
• Medium as the artist describes it, for instance oil on linen or archival pigment print
• Dimensions in inches and centimeters, height before width before depth, with framed dimensions in a separate field
• Edition information for prints, photographs and sculpture: edition size, artist proofs and the number of this impression
• Signature and inscription notes, including location on the work

A useful habit is to agree on one tombstone format for the gallery and write it into the first page of the registrar's manual. Artist, title, year, medium, dimensions. When every record follows the same order, generated documents look professional without manual editing.

Identification fields rarely change once they are correct. Status and location change constantly, and they are the fields most likely to be out of date in a spreadsheet. A collector who is told a work is available when it was sold yesterday will remember the mistake.

Keep status to a small, fixed list. In Gallerists the statuses are available, on hold, sold and consigned, and every change is stored with the date and the person who made it. Avoid inventing new statuses for edge cases; add a note instead.

• Status from a fixed list, with the date of the last change
• Hold details: who the work is held for, by whom and until when
• Current location: gallery floor, back room, offsite storage, at the framer, at a fair, on loan
• Location history, so you can reconstruct where a work has been
• Expected return date when a work is out on approval or at a fair

Holds deserve special attention. An open ended hold is one of the most common reasons a work stays off the market for months. Every hold should carry an expiry date and a reminder to the person who placed it. On the Gallery plan and above, holds in Gallerists expire automatically and send reminders before they lapse.

Price is sensitive information, and it needs structure. A single "price" column hides the difference between the retail price, the price agreed with the artist, the net to the artist and any discount that was approved.

• Retail price and currency
• Price history with dates, so increases are documented and consistent
• Consignment status: owned by the gallery, consigned by the artist, consigned by a third party
• Consignment terms linked from the artist record: commission split, term of the consignment, discount authority
• Approved discount ceiling, if the artist has agreed to one
• Sale record once sold: buyer, date, final price, invoice number

Keeping consignment terms on the artist record and linking each work to them avoids the classic problem of a work being sold at a discount nobody was allowed to give. On the Gallery plan, consignment records and artist statements are generated from the same data, so the artist sees exactly what the gallery sees.

The registrar's fields that collectors never see are often the ones that save the most time. When a work is requested for a fair, a loan or a sale, the shipping and condition details decide how fast it can move.

• Condition report notes with date and author, plus photographs of any issues
• Framing details: frame type, glazing, whether the frame is included in the price
• Crate or packing dimensions and weight, if the work has a dedicated crate
• Handling notes, for instance fragile surface or requires two handlers
• Insurance value, separate from retail price where the gallery's policy requires it
• Provenance notes and exhibition history, with sources

Store these as fields, not as a paragraph in a notes box. Structured fields can be filtered: you can find every work that needs a crate, every work with glazing, or every work last condition checked more than a year ago.

Images are part of the record, not a separate folder on a shared drive. Each work should have a primary installation or studio image, detail images where texture matters, and the image used for offers. File names should include the inventory number so images can always be matched back to their work.

Catalog descriptions are where many galleries fall behind, because writing them takes time. A short, accurate description makes offers and viewing rooms far more persuasive than a tombstone line alone. Gallerists drafts AI catalog descriptions from the image and the record (50 per month on Studio, 200 on Gallery, 1,000 on Program and 3,000 on Enterprise), and the gallery edits and approves every one before it appears anywhere.

• Primary image, detail images and installation views
• Image credit and photographer, if required
• Catalog description reviewed by a person in the gallery
• Keywords and tags for internal search, such as palette, subject or series

A clean inventory is a habit, not a project. The galleries that keep good records usually follow a few simple rules and make them part of the weekly routine.

• Create the record when the work arrives, before it is hung, photographed or offered
• Assign one person to approve new artist names, media and series so lists stay tidy
• Review every hold once a week and release or extend it on purpose
• Reconcile location against a physical walk through each quarter
• Export the full inventory as CSV regularly and keep it with the gallery's backups
• Restrict who can change prices; on the Gallery plan and above, roles separate sales, registrar and viewer access

If you are moving from a spreadsheet, do the cleanup before the import, not after. Standardize artist names, split dimensions into separate fields and remove duplicate rows. CSV import and export is included on every Gallerists plan, so the move is reversible and the data stays the gallery's.

Print this list, pin it next to the registrar's desk and use it for every new work.

• Inventory number assigned and unique
• Artist linked to an artist record
• Title, year, medium and edition entered in the gallery format
• Dimensions in inches and centimeters, framed dimensions separate
• Status set, with hold details and expiry if on hold
• Current location recorded
• Retail price, price history and consignment terms linked
• Condition notes and images attached
• Framing, crate and handling notes complete
• Catalog description reviewed and approved