TracStor

TracStor›Tutorials

Learn TracStor in a few minutes

9 short narrated videos, about 8 minutes in all, recorded in the real app, plus written guides for the parts that need a microphone, a camera, an NFC tag or a printer. Every video has captions, and the steps are written out beside it.

Getting started

1:05 · narrated · captions

Your first bin

Create a bin, give it a category and a place, and see its code.

  1. Tap Add on Home and choose Bin.
  2. Type a name (“Camping gear”) and pick its type: box, toolbox, drawer, bin, shelf or other.
  3. Tap Categories. Type a word such as “camping” and TracStor finds the category that holds it (Sports & Outdoor). Tap it, then Done.
  4. Tap Location and pick a place. Add a common place creates Garage, Closet, Attic, Self-Storage Unit and others in one tap.
  5. Tap Save. TracStor offers a QR Label or Scan existing code; choose Not now to label it later.
  6. Every bin gets a six-character code such as JH8LEL. Write it on tape or type it into search to open the bin.
0:50 · narrated · captions

Add what's inside

Type items into a bin, set counts, and fix a mistake in one tap.

  1. Open the bin. Under Items, tap Type (or Dictate to say it, or Photo to start from a picture).
  2. Enter the name and, if you have more than one, the quantity. The category starts as the bin's.
  3. Save & add another keeps the sheet open; Save closes it.
  4. New items appear at the top, highlighted and marked Just added · tap to edit.
  5. Use − and + on any item to change its count without opening it.

Everyday use

0:38 · narrated · captions

Places

See what's where, put places inside places, and add a storage unit in one tap.

  1. The Locations tab has a card per place with its icon and how many bins and items are there. Add location creates one; Add a common place lists twenty ready-made ones (Closet, Garage, Attic, Self-Storage Unit, Vehicle…).
  2. Tap a card for that place: its bins and items, Add bin here, Add item here and Add a place inside.
  3. Nest places as deep as you like: “Storage unit › Back wall”, “Garage › Workbench”. Choosing a place in a filter includes the places inside it.
  4. Manage renames, nests, reorders or removes places. Removing one never deletes bins or items, and Undo brings everything back.

Say it instead of typing

Dictate items one at a time and fix them before they're saved. Written guide

  1. Open a bin and tap Dictate. Say the item, for example “Phillips screwdriver”. TracStor stops listening when you pause (or tap Done); the ring around the red mic grows when the phone hears you.
  2. Review dictated item shows what it heard, word for word, with a count of 1. Fix the name or count, or tap the mic to say it again.
  3. The category is worked out from the name (hammer → Tools & Home Improvement), or taken from the bin. Tap it to change it.
  4. Take a photo right there if you like, then Save, or Save & next to save it and listen for the next item.
  5. Talk naturally: filler words are ignored, corrections work (“no, four”, “scratch that”), and names you've used before are recognised first.
  6. The mic on Home's search box, and on names, notes and keywords, works the same way.

Photos

Photograph a bin, what's inside, or an item, and pick the cover. Written guide

  1. Each bin has Photos of bin (the outside, so you recognise it) and Photos of contents (what's inside). Items have their own photos.
  2. The camera icon takes a photo; the picture icon adds from your gallery, several at once.
  3. You can also take photos while adding: the new-bin form, Add item and Review dictated item each have Photo. On a bin, Photo starts a new item from a picture.
  4. The first bin photo is its cover, shown in lists and in stacks. Open a photo to make another one the cover, reorder or delete.
  5. Photos are saved as ordinary pictures in Pictures › TracStor, so they're in your gallery and in backups.

Loans and reminders

Note who borrowed what, and get reminded on the day you want it back. Written guide

  1. Turn on Settings › Advanced Mode.
  2. On an item, the Loan card: tap Loan it out, type who has it, and optionally pick Want it back by.
  3. That day at 9 AM TracStor sends a notification (“Time to get back: Cordless drill. Mike has it.”); tapping it opens the item.
  4. While it's out, lists show Loaned to Mike · back by Oct 9, in red once it's overdue. Tap It's back when it's returned.
  5. Loans are recorded in the item's history and can be filtered under Loans.

Organizing

1:21 · narrated · captions

Floor plans

Draw a room, add its areas, and put bins in them so you can see what's where.

  1. Open a place (Locations › the place) and tap Floor plan.
  2. Tap Edit layout. Tap the size (“12 × 10 ft”) to set the room's width and length.
  3. + Area adds a part of the room: a closet, the workbench, a shelf wall. Drag it to move it; drag its round corner to resize it. Tap an area to rename it or take it off the plan.
  4. Tap Done. Then tap an area and tap each bin below that's in it; the bin takes the area's color. Tap it again to take it out.
  5. From a bin, tap the picture at the right of its header (Where is it?) and tap an area, or + New area, to move it there.
0:47 · narrated · captions

Stacks

Tell TracStor how bins are stacked once; then every item says which box to pull.

  1. Open a place (Locations › the place). The Stack card appears when two or more bins are there.
  2. Tap Arrange. Tap a box (in the stack or under Not in the stack yet), then tap the + spot it goes in. A box already there swaps places.
  3. Row 1 is the bottom row, on the floor; boxes count from the left as you face the stack. Placing a box selects the next one, so you can tap spots in order.
  4. Tap Done. Each bin and each item in it now says “Bottom row, 1st box from the left” with the stack drawn and the box pinned; lists show “Row 1 · Box 1”.
  5. Several stacks in one place? Add a place inside for each wall: “Storage unit › Left wall”.
0:39 · narrated · captions

History

See everything that happened to a bin or item, and filter it down.

  1. Tap the clock on a bin or item, or View full history › under Added / Last updated.
  2. A bin's history includes everything that happened to the bin and the items in it; an item's history follows it between bins and places.
  3. Filter chips: Change (created, added, edited, moved, removed, restored, photos, tags), Item, What changed, Category, Location and Date. Search this history finds any word.

Move and delete

Move items between bins, delete a bin with or without its contents, and undo. Written guide

  1. Move a bin: tap the location chip under its name and pick a place, or tap Where is it? and an area on the floor plan.
  2. Move items: in a bin, long-press items to select several, then move them to another bin. On an item, change In bin or Location; it saves straight away.
  3. Delete a bin from its ⋮ menu (or long-press bins on Home, then the trash icon): Delete bin (keep all items in inventory) or Delete bin (remove all items in bin), then Yes.
  4. Undo appears right away. Deleted things are kept for 30 days before they're removed for good.

Labels and tags

0:39 · narrated · captions

Labels and codes

Show a bin's QR label or big tape code, then print it, save it or share it.

  1. Open a bin and tap QR Label (in its header or the ⋮ menu). Items have one too, under Label & tags.
  2. QR label: name, code, category and a sample of what's inside, sized to your roll. No location, so it stays right when the bin moves.
  3. Tape Code: the code as big as it fits, for labels you read rather than scan.
  4. Print goes straight to a Clabel CT221B or another TSPL Bluetooth printer. Save Label as Image and Share work with anything else.
  5. Several at once: on Home, long-press bins to select them, then tap the QR icon to print them all or make a letter-size PDF sheet of 30.

NFC tags

Tap your phone on a tote to open it, even with TracStor closed. Written guide

  1. Buy NTAG213, NTAG215 or NTAG216 stickers (see Hardware); on metal, use anti-metal tags.
  2. On a bin or item, tap Add NFC tag (⋮ menu, or Tags & labels) and hold a blank tag to the back of the phone, near the top. TracStor writes the bin's link onto it.
  3. From then on, tapping the tag opens that bin, even when TracStor is closed. Change NFC tag writes a new one and unlinks the old.
  4. A tag TracStor doesn't know offers Create new bin, Link to existing bin or Link to an item.
  5. Nothing happens? Move the phone slowly over the top of its back and hold still for a second. Metal blocks NFC.

Print on a label printer

Print bin labels on a $22 Bluetooth thermal printer, straight from TracStor. Written guide

  1. Turn on a Clabel CT221B (or another TSPL Bluetooth label printer). TracStor finds and pairs a CT221 printer by itself, using its pairing code (0000).
  2. Close the Clabel app if it's open: the printer takes one connection at a time.
  3. Open a bin's QR Label and tap Print. The first time, allow Nearby devices. The line under the button says what's happening (“Sending the label…”).
  4. Several at once: on Home, long-press bins to select them, tap the QR icon, then Print.
  5. Fine-tune in Settings › Label printer: label size (50 × 30 mm by default), darkness, gap, upside down, and Print test label.
  6. “Is the printer on?” means TracStor couldn't reach it after 5 seconds: turn it on, keep it close, and close the Clabel app.

Scan labels and codes

Open a bin by scanning its QR label, or link a barcode already on a box. Written guide

  1. Tap a scan icon (Home, a bin's top bar, or the Scan tab) and point the camera at a label. A TracStor label opens its bin or item. Your phone's own Camera app works too.
  2. Labelled with a short code instead? Tap Type a code at the top of the Scan screen.
  3. A box that already has a barcode or QR code: on the bin, Link existing code (or Scan existing code right after creating it). Scanning that code then opens the bin.
  4. An unknown code offers Create new bin, Link to existing bin or Link to an item.

Your data

0:59 · narrated · captions

Back up, restore, start fresh

Save everything to one file, put it back on any phone, or empty TracStor and undo it.

  1. Settings › Backup & export › Back up now… saves TracStor-backup-<date>.zip: every bin, item, location, floor plan, category, tag, the history and all photos, plus bins.csv and items.csv.
  2. Save it to Google Drive or copy it to a computer. Settings shows when you last backed up.
  3. Restore from a backup… shows what's in the file and asks before replacing everything. It works on a new phone too. Undo the last restore puts back what was there.
  4. Settings › Admin console › Data › Delete all data… empties TracStor and starts it fresh. Type DELETE to confirm; tick the box to delete the photos in Pictures › TracStor as well.
  5. A full backup is saved first: Undo delete all on the same screen puts everything back.

More help in the app: tap ? on Home (or Settings › Help) for the full guide, with what's new in every version. Questions? Email hello@tracstor.com.