👋 Welcome to Artwork Archive.
This step-by-step guide is designed to help you set up your account and start managing your artwork inventory effectively. By following these instructions, you'll learn how to upload your artworks, organize your inventory, manage sales and clients, and generate professional reports. Let's get started!
Step 1: Set Up Your Account
🎥 Watch the Overview Video: Get a thorough walkthrough of your account features.
👉 Join a Live Session: Sign up for the next live learning session.
Update your Account Settings.
Verify your login email
Set your currency and measurement preferences
Adjust your email preferences
Add your PayPal email for receiving payments from online invoices
Only available on the Artist Professional and Master plans
Complete your profile information.
Update your profile information in the My Profile page including artist name, contact details, and upload your headshot, logo and report header
Add your artist bio and statement. You can also upload the PDF files of these documents in the My Docs page
Remember:
Your default settings keep all profile information private.
You can always return later to complete your profile information and decide whether to make your profile public.
Step 2: Initial Artwork Upload
🎥 Video Tutorial: How to Upload Artwork
Prepare and upload artwork images
There are three ways to get artwork into your account:
Upload new pieces one at a time
Add up to 20 pieces at a time with Bulk Upload
Import via spreadsheet using our Import Service
Image Upload Specifications:
We accept most image file types, with a maximum size of 30 MB per image.
We recommend uploading high-resolution images for your pieces.
You can upload up to 30 images for each Piece Record, allowing you to showcase your artwork from various angles or include detail shots.
If you have a Public Profile or share your artwork through a Private Room, the images you upload will be automatically optimized and resized for web viewing to ensure your artwork looks its best online.
Your original high-resolution images will be securely stored within the Piece Record under the "Original Image Files" section, located at the bottom left of the page, ensuring you always have access to the highest quality version of your artwork images.
Input detailed information for each Piece Record.
Include details such as title (required), date, medium, dimensions, price, and status.
If you don't have all the information available, you can always come back and fill in the missing details later, as the title is the only required field.
Once a Piece Record is created, you can add more information like provenance records, exhibition history, location history, and publication history.
Professional and Master plans can also add additional files and piece-related expenses.
*For help understanding each field, refer to our Guide to Filling Out a Piece Record.
Feeling overwhelmed? We recommend starting with the artwork freshest in your memory, then go back and add older pieces on those rainy days when you have more time.
Step 3: Organize Your Inventory
🖥️ Webinar: Organize Your Inventory Like a Pro
🖥️ Webinar: Keep Track of Your Artwork Using Contacts, Locations, and Exhibitions
Customize your main dashboard (Pieces Page)
Choose your preferred view for displaying your artworks:
Gallery View: Displays your artworks as thumbnails in a tiled layout.
List View: Shows your artworks in a list format with detailed information.
Table View: Presents your artworks in a tabular format, allowing for easy comparison and sorting of data.
Slideshow View: Showcases your artworks in a full-screen slideshow format, ideal for presenting your portfolio.
Sort the pieces on your main Pieces page: Change how your artworks are ordered by sorting on title, creation date, price or other attributes. For instance, sort your collection chronologically to see your progression over time.
Create Collections to manage your artworks effectively
🎥 Video Tutorial: Creating Collections
Group your artworks into Collections based on themes, styles, or series
You can create new Collections from the Collections page or add pieces to Collections from within each Piece Record
Use Tags for categorization
Add relevant Tags to each Piece Record to categorize your artworks by theme, style, technique, or any other criteria
Utilize the search or filter function in your inventory based on specific Collections or Tags
Create Location Records
A Location is any place your work is showing outside of your own inventory. By default, the platform recognizes any piece not assigned to a location as being located in "your inventory."
If you have pieces stored anywhere outside of your personal inventory, such as a gallery, multiple art studios, storage facility, or an installation site, create a Location Record for that specific place to keep track of your artwork's whereabouts at all times. This information will be stored not only within the Location Record but also within the Location section on each individual Piece Record.
Note that Location Records are not meant for storing the address of the buyer, as that information will be stored within the buyer's contact record.
Create Exhibition Records
The Exhibitions page allows you to track information related to each future, present, or past exhibition, competition or art fair you've entered.
Log important information for each exhibition such as pieces submitted, pieces accepted, contact information, important dates and anything else you want to keep track of related to this exhibition.
Once an Exhibition Record is created, Professional and Master accounts can add Additional Files to the record, such as press releases, marketing materials, contracts, etc.
If the important dates for your Exhibition are in the future, they will also automatically populate in your Schedule in Artwork Archive so you never have to miss an important deadline.
Step 4: Manage Sales & Clients
🖥️ Webinar: How to Use our CRM to Grow Your Art Career
Create Contact Records
Add Contact Records for each client, gallery, collaborator, supplier, or other key individual related to your art business. Additionally, create a Contact Record for buyers when registering a sale to keep track of your customers and their purchases.
Include essential information such as name, email, phone number, and any relevant notes.
Once a Contact Record is created, Professional and Master accounts can add Additional Files to the record, such as commission agreements or contracts.
You can also add reminders within a Contact Record that will automatically populate in your Schedule in Artwork Archive so you never miss an important meeting or follow up.
Did you know?
Any reports or invoices shared from within Artwork Archive to a contact will automatically be stored within their Contact Record, providing a convenient record of your communication history.
Log sales information
When an artwork is sold, register the sale and update the Piece Record with the following details:
Sold To: Link to an existing Contact Record or create a new one for the buyer.
Sale Price: Enter the price at which the artwork was sold.
Discount, Commission, or Tax: Include any applicable discounts, commissions, or taxes associated with the sale.
Sale Date: Specify the date when the sale took place.
Notes: Add any relevant notes or additional information about the sale.
Sale Location: Indicate the location from where the piece was sold, such as a gallery or exhibition.
Note: When you register a sale, the status of the Piece Record will automatically update to "Sold" to ensure accurate inventory tracking.
Step 4: Generate Reports
🎥 Video Tutorial: An Overview of Reports in Artwork Archive
🖥️ Webinar: Using Artwork Archive Reports to Present Professionally and Streamline Your Workflow
Easily create various types of reports including artwork labels, tear sheets, portfolio pages, inventory reports, invoices, consignment reports, and more.
Customize your reports with your branding, including your logo, profile image and header.
Save your frequently used report settings as templates for quick access in the future.
Step 5: Share Your Artwork
🎥 Video Tutorial: Public Profile Overview
🎥 Video Tutorial: Getting Started with Private Rooms
🖥️ Webinar: Sharing Your Art Using Artwork Archive's Public Profile
🖥️ Webinar: Customizing an Artwork Archive Public Profile
By default, all of the information within your Artwork Archive account is private. However, you can choose to share your artwork with others in various ways:
Only available on the Artist Professional and Master plans
Create password-protected online viewing rooms to share specific artworks with clients, collectors, or galleries.
Collaborate, receive feedback and manage inquiries directly through the platform.
Showcase your artwork to a wider audience by creating a public-facing artist profile.
Choose which artworks, collections, and information to display on your Public Profile.
Password-protect your Public Profile to use as a portfolio.
Embed your Public Profile within your existing website.
Generate professional-looking inventory reports, portfolios, price lists, and more to share with clients, galleries, or collectors.
Customize your reports with your branding, including your logo, profile image, and contact information.
Download your reports as PDFs, email the URL or share instantly right from within your Artwork Archive account.
Additional Support Resources
If you need further assistance or have any questions not covered in this guide, please explore the following resources:
In-product help
Within your account, you'll find helpful links at the bottom of your left menu with embedded educational content to help you learn more.
Help Center
Visit the rest of our comprehensive Help Center, where you can find help articles like this one, FAQs, how-to guides, and best practices all in one place.
Demo webinars
Our customer success team conducts regular webinars to demonstrate Artwork Archive's features and answer customer questions during Q&A sessions. Watch past recordings or sign up for our next live one here.
Chat with support
If you need extra assistance with your setup, reach out to our support team via the green messenger icon located at the bottom right corner of any page on artworkarchive.com. Our support staff is available Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm MST, and always ready to help.