What's new?

We’ve added new fields to sort on to change the order in which your games are displayed in your list. Your game list will adapt to sort and show the field you’re sorting on. On top of that we’ve redesigned the Select Sort Order screen to make it more clear what you’re choosing.

Open the Select Sort Order screen by tapping the menu top right, then tap “Sort order”.

All available sort fields:

Platform, then Title (New!)
Platform, then Release Date (New!)
Title
Release Date
Order of Entry (New!)
Purchase Date (New!)
Purchase Price (New!)
Price Charting Value (New!)
Current Value (New!)
Completion Date (New!)
My Rating (New!)
Quantity (New!)
Index
Storage Device (New!)

All fields can be sorted either ascending or descending. Tap the field you wish to sort on, then tap “Apply” to confirm.

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Fixed:

The app did not open the details page when a search result was selected in the quick search box while the [All Games] folder was active in phone mode.

We had several reports from users about a crash when searching for an item in the collection. This crash has been reproduced and now fixed in the latest build!

Fixed:

Crash during a search in the device’s database.

We’ve just updated Game Connect to introduce an easy way to deal with “Unrecognized barcodes”.
A new screen that not only helps you to add the game to your database anyway, but also helps your fellow Game Connect users by instantly adding the missing barcode to the CLZ Core central online game database.

(this feature was introduced for our Windows, iOS and Android versions earlier, and in the meantime, people have used this new tool to add over 49 thousand new game barcodes to our Core!)

In the Add Games screen, when a scanned or typed barcode is not recognized, a new “Unrecognized barcode” screen will appear.
In this screen, find the game by searching for its title (and find a cover if you want) then click Add to Collection.
This will:
1. Add the game to your own database, with the information you picked.
2. Add the game to our Core central online game database.

The result: for the next user who searches for this particular barcode, it will be recognized 🙂

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Quick Search: Search-As-You-Type suggestions

Instantly find and select a particular game in your local database:

In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the title you are looking for.
While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching games (for most games, it only takes 2 or 3 letters before it shows up).
Once you see the game you were looking for, tap it to bring up its detail page
TIP: Tap the search button on the keyboard or tap “View All Results” to perform the normal search.

Quick Search now searches more fields

Now also searches in:

Series
Descriptions
Notes
Tags

Full list of fields that are now searched:

Title
Barcode
Platform
Series
Descriptions
Notes
Tags

Fixed:

Faster loading of details screen.
Crash within a few seconds of opening the app.
Crash when pressing ‘Change account info’ in the sync screen.

key quick search search search-as-you-type

Up until today, the quick search box in Game Connect (and the CLZ Cloud viewer for games) only searched in the Title, Platform, Barcode and Tags fields. Pretty limited, but necessary for performance reasons.

However, with the new search engine we created last year, it became possible to search more fields while keeping the search super-fast. So lets use that capability!

From now, on if you use the search box, it will also search in the Series, Notes and Description fields. The complete lists of fields that are now searched:

Title
Platform
Barcode
Tags
Series
Notes
Description

Example: searching for “tennis” not only give you games with “tennis” in the title, but also games where the word “tennis” appears in the description:

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Live today in your Game Connect software: a completely re-designed Edit Game screen with an improved look, layout and usability!

New look and layout

We’ve moved some fields around and to have them grouped and placed more logically. You’ll notice that we’ve also updated the look of certain buttons so it’s all easier on the eye, and there’s only one big blue important “OK” button to save your changes.

Updated dropdown and pick list fields

The pick list fields have been updated so they’ll only show options from your own collection instead of all available options in our online database. This makes it a lot faster to quickly pick something from a pick list that you used before!

You can just start typing to filter to the pick list entry you want to use, or open up the dropdown to scroll and pick.

Multi value pick list fields such as the Genre field, have a blue plus button to pick a genre from your genre list. Click it, and either start typing or just pick a genre from the list.

New Pick List fields

We’ve updated the following fields from plain text fields to “pick list” fields. This means that those fields now have a dropdown which you can click to quickly pick an existing pick list entry for that field.

The following fields haven been updated from plain text to pick list fields:

Location
Condition
Purchase Store
Storage Device
Owner

These field now all have a dropdown to pick an entry. You can also type into them to search or create a new entry for that field.

Panel with personal fields on all tabs

At the bottom of the edit screen we added a “sticky” panel that you can see on all edit tabs. This panel contains some of your most important personal fields so you can always edit them quickly.

New Find Cover pop-up

The Find Cover pop-up has been updated to the latest version we introduced in the Add Screen. Check it out:

editing key

Fixed:

App shortcut wasn’t working in the launcher

You may need to re-add your app shortcut to your launcher screen by tapping/holding the app in your list of apps!

Quick Search: Search-As-You-Type suggestions

Instantly find and select a particular game in your local database:

In the Quick Search box, just start typing the first few letters of the title you are looking for.
While typing, a drop-down list will appear, showing the first five matching games (for most games, it only takes 2 or 3 letters before it shows up).
Once you see the game you were looking for, tap it to bring up its detail page
TIP: Tap the search button on the keyboard or tap “View All Results” to perform the normal search.

Quick Search now searches more fields

Now also searches in:

Series
Descriptions
Notes
Tags

Full list of fields that are now searched:

Title
Barcode
Platform
Series
Descriptions
Notes
Tags

key quick search search-as-you-type

Fixed:

Main Screen:
- using CTRL to deselect items would not update the selected counter at the left bottom
- showing/hiding the quick filter panel would expose the details view when it was closed
- when the details view image popup was scrolled down, opening it again would scroll down again
- quick search suggestions: selecting a suggestion would not clear the previous quick search
- selecting the window’s “restore” option when running full screen could hang the program in some cases
- refresh of the statistics view could fall back to the currently active folder instead of selected statistics field
User Defined Fields: fields with an ampersand (‘&’) in their name weren’t always displayed correctly throughout the program
Edit Game: clicking OK while uploading cover would cause a crash. Buttons are disabled now during upload.
Clicking OK/Next/Previous in an edit pick list item screen without editing its details would trigger unnecessary cloud changes
Using “search” in some file open dialogs for images wouldn’t find .png files
Syncing with CLZ Cloud: locally inserted items would update empty fields with Core fields after syncing

New:

Added option to disable backdrop image downloading.

Fixed:

We fixed a crash that could happen while syncing with CLZ Cloud.

backdrop clz cloud

In this maintenance build, we fixed a long-standing problem:
On Windows systems with the DPI or Font Size set to 125% or 150%, many screens had strange font size and layout problems, particularly visible in the Edit Game and Edit Hardware screen, but also affecting other screens.

This has been a particularly tricky problem to fix, but Ronald and AJ jumped into the magical world of Windows display settings and, after a week of cursing and yelling, they have finally been able to fix it. Phew… peace and quiet again.

dpi font size

A new v4.8.1 update for your app is available now, with:

Automatic CLZ Cloud syncing

Add or edit games and your changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly.
Made changes on the desktop or Connect side? Just start the app and changes will download automatically.

Note: Auto-Syncing is switched OFF by default. Switch it ON in the “Sync with CLZ Cloud” screen.

The CLZ Cloud syncing will let you:

Sync your data between devices, e.g. between your phone and your tablet. Or from your old phone to your new phone.
View your database online using the free CLZ Cloud viewer website.
Make an online backup of your data. Better safe than sorry!

New: ‘None’ folder entries

Added ‘None’ entries to list of folders: The [None] folder groups the books you have not set the field for on which you’re currently folder grouping.

Fixed:

Search cleared when the X button was pushed in the search bar of the main screen.

clz cloud key

We have just updated both the Connect web-application and the free CLZ Cloud viewers to make them a lot faster.

The folder panel now uses “lazy-loading” which makes it load (a lot) faster.
When selecting a folder, only the list panel is re-loaded, where previously the entire page was refreshed.

The above changes will make browsing your CLZ Cloud or Connect app a lot snappier and will prevent server performance problems (two birds with one stone!).

The performance improvements are especially noticeable for large book, music and comic collections, as these generally have loooonnnngggg lists of author, artist and series folders.

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Now live in your Game Connect software, a complete re-design of the Add Games screen, with a new look, easier interface and new features.

Adding Games by Barcode

Scanned barcodes will be automatically added to your queue, with the game information populating instantly. Use the big blue Add to Collection button at the bottom right to add the selected game to your database, OR use the little blue “+” buttons to add straight from the queue.

Adding Books by Title and Platform

Search by title to see a list of matching game results. Optionally, filter the results by Platform.

Not the right cover image? Use the built-in Find Cover tool to pick the correct one.

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Various tweaks and fixes, based on your v18 feedback:

Tweaks to the Edit screen:

Developer/Publisher lists: right click to directly access that specific Manage List screen.

Fixes:

Edit Multiple: boolean fields would be reset to “No”.
Add from Core: Stopping a running search could cause an Access Violation.
Main Screen: Selected filter wasn’t restored on starting the program.
Select Column/Sort/Folder fields: adding/removing a field after changing the order of the fields, would reset that order again.
Various stability improvements.

In this “between Christmas and New Year” week, a huge update to the look and feel of our Connect web-based software.

We removed the tabs at the top that let you switch between the programs, to give you more screen space for the software you are in. (you can still switch using the app-switcher button top right).
Dark toolbars with white text and buttons everywhere, while keeping your list and details pages light and clear.
All tools and feature are now accessible from the “hamburger” menu on the top left.
Your account settings and log out options in a “user menu” on the right.
TIP: the new look is also available in your free CLZ Cloud viewer!

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Fixed

Pick Item Screens: when using the quick search the list wasn’t always sorted correctly
Manage Pick List:
- When using the quick search the list wasn’t always sorted correctly
- “auto resort” check box didn’t work
Reassign Index fields sort fields were stored as “reassignindex” as sort fields preset
Manage Presets: removing all presets would cause an Access Violation after closing the screen
Edit Game: navigating Links using ALT+N or ALT+P would navigate the games instead

New:

Pick Item Screens: adding a new item will now use the quick search string to pre-fill the name field

Fixed:

Edit Screen: ALT+N/ALT+P for Next/Previous played a Windows sound
Edit Screen: Adding a new item to a list sometimes displayed a popup that was too small
Reassign Index Fields: Saving your selected fields wasn’t possible sometimes
Export/Print field selection menus were missing “Manage Presets…” caption
Clean Templates: Several layout improvements

NEW: Fully Automatic CLZ Cloud Syncing!

The free CLZ Cloud service is at the center of all our cataloging solutions (desktop, mobile and web), the glue that binds them all together.
Tens of thousands of users are using the CLZ Cloud syncing every day, to transfer data between their desktop, Connect and mobile software, to update their online collection list, or simply for keeping an online backup of their precious database.

Now, it is time to take the CLZ Cloud to the next level, with automatic syncing:
Add or edit games in Game Collector and these changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly. Did you make changes using CLZ Games or directly in Game Connect? Just start your software and changes will download automatically.
No more need to go to the Sync with CLZ Cloud screen, ever.

With “Sync Automatically” switched on…

Your online cloud backup is always up-to-date.
Your cloud viewer always shows the current state of your collection.
All your CLZ tools (desktop, mobile and Connect) will always be in-sync.

Automatic Cloud Syncing is an optional feature, switched OFF by default. If you don’t want to auto-sync, or don’t want to sync with the CLZ Cloud at all, just leave it switched OFF.

Revamped Edit Game screen

A huge refresh of the Edit Game screen, bringing the look and feel more in line with the recent Add Games from Core screen.

Button bar is now at the bottom of the screen
With OK button high-lighted in blue, nice Next/Prev arrow buttons, etc…
Clearer blue + buttons for checkbox list fields (like Genres)
Same blue + buttons for dropdown fields (like Platform and Format)
Revamped Edit screen for pick list items
Button bar at the bottom with blue OK button, smaller generate buttons, etc..

But it’s not all just cosmetic changes:

Improved interface for adding Publishers and Developers

The new interface helps you make better use of your existing publisher and developer pick lists:

Drag the icon in the first column to change the order.
Click the “x” in the last column to remove entries.
Right-click to Modify the name and sort name of a company in the list.

To add a Developer to the list:

1. click the “+ Add Developer” button, or hit Insert on your keyboard
2. A new screen appears, showing your existing creator pick list.
3. Type a few letters in the search box to find the creator you want to add, e.g. enter “id” to find id Software.
5. Hit the down arrow on your keyboard a few times to select the actor from the search results
6. Hit Enter to return to the Edit Game screen with the developer added to list.

ONLY when the developer is not in your pick list yet, there’s 3 extra steps:

4a: click the New Developer button top right
4b. enter/paste the display name
4c. click OK

Simplified: Edit Multiple Games screen

Now use checkboxes to explicitly indicate which field(s) you want set.
Safer and clearer, no more unexpected changes.
To clear a field, just click the checkbox and leave the box empty.
The box will highlight in red to indicate the CLEAR action. No more hidden F8 keys.

Simplified screens for selecting Column, Sort and Folder fields.

The ability to select your own Columns for the List View is an important customization feature of our Game Collector software. The same holds for selecting the sort order and the folder fields for the folder panel.

However, the “field selection” screens for doing these customizations have always been an area of confusion. So for v18 we decided to re-imagine both the field selection screens and the system for creating/managing your own presets.

Simplified Field Selection screen:
- Available fields are now grouped, like the tabs in the Edit Game screen.
- Easily find the field you want with the search box top left.
- Use checkboxes on the left to select fields.
- Use the “x” button on the right to remove fields.
- Drag and drop fields on the right side to change the order.
- Rename the field set at the top right.
Simplified system for managing your field presets:
- Just click the Columns or Sort Order button to EDIT the current preset.
- Click the little arrow to the right of the Columns or Sort Order button to open the preset menu and switch to a different preset.
- Choose Manage Presets from the preset menu to edit your presets and create new ones.

NEW: “Clean” template for the details panel, in Light and Dark styles

A complete refresh, based on the recent Connect/Cloud details page updates. Clean, clear and modern, with some fresh layout ideas:

Cleaner look, in both Light and Dark styles.

Now shows just one embedded trailer video, with a trailer selection bar beneath to switch between multiple trailers.

No more Standard edition: Pro-only features now available for everyone!

Since last week, we stopped selling the Standard edition of Game Collector. From now on, the Pro edition is the only edition we sell, and will just be called “Game Collector” now.

Our gift to all users on the Standard edition who have a valid Update Plan:
Starting with v18, you now get access to all Pro-only features:

Batch editing with the Edit Multiple feature:

Save time by editing multiple items in batch, e.g. to fill in a field value for many items in one go.
Customizable pre-sets for sorting, columns and folders:

Create your own pre-set field combination for sorting and columns. Define your own folder options, even multi-level folder combinations.
User Defined Fields:

Create your own fields (text, number, pick list, checkbox or date) and rename pre-defined fields.
Export features:

Export your database to a CSV or XML file.

clz cloud edit multiple editing key template

A new v4.8 update for your app is available now, with:

Automatic CLZ Cloud syncing
Add or edit games and your changes will auto-upload to the CLZ Cloud instantly.
Made changes on the desktop or Connect side? Just start the app and changes will download automatically.

Note: Auto-Syncing is switched OFF by default. Switch it ON in the “Sync with CLZ Cloud” screen.

Don’t have a CLZ Cloud account yet?
If you don’t have a CLZ Cloud account yet, We strongly recommend to signup up for one from the app. Using the CLZ Cloud is completely free!

The CLZ Cloud syncing will let you:

Sync your data between devices, e.g. between your phone and your tablet. Or from your old phone to your new phone.
View your database online using the free CLZ Cloud viewer website.
Make an online backup of your data. Better safe than sorry!

clz cloud key

In today’s update for the CLZ Games app, we have made further tweaks to the Add screen, to make it clearer than previous versions:

Add from CLZ Core:
- Color high-lighting: Games already ‘on wish list’ now have an orange title, games already “in collection” show up with a blue title.
- Slightly smaller font for the game title, so that longer titles fit better.

adding key

In today’s update for the CLZ Games app, we have made further tweaks to the Add screen, to make it clearer and (hopefully) more stable than previous versions:

Slightly smaller font for the game title, so that longer titles fit better.
Color high-lighting: Games already ‘on wish list’ now have an orange title, games already “in collection” show up with a blue title.
Improved scroll behaviour.