Customizing How You View Your Collection

views stacks thumbnails sort search customization

Once your collection has some items in it, the browsing experience matters as much as the data model. MDCollections gives you multiple view modes, custom stacks, sorting, and search, all configurable per collection.

This guide walks through the main view options, how to configure them, and how to make them fit the type of collection you are managing.

View Modes

MDCollections offers different ways to display your collection items. You can switch between them at any time depending on how you want to browse.

List View

List view shows items in a compact, scannable format. It works well when you care more about fields and comparison than about browsing visually.

Thumbnail View

Thumbnail view displays items as a visual grid. It works well for collections where the image is the quickest way to identify something.

The thumbnail shown for each item comes from the Thumbnail Property configured in collection settings.

Switching Between Views

Tap the view mode button in the collection to switch between list and thumbnail views. The app remembers your last choice per collection.

Stacks — Grouping by Property

Stacks let you group items by any property in the collection. Instead of one long list or grid, items are broken into groups based on a shared value.

How Stacks Work

When you enable a stack, MDCollections groups your items by the values of the property you select. For example:

A book collection stacked by Genre shows groups like Fiction, Non-Fiction, Sci-Fi, Biography.
A tool collection stacked by Room shows groups like Garage, Workshop, Kitchen.
A wine collection stacked by Region shows groups like Bordeaux, Napa Valley, Barossa Valley.

Each group is collapsible, and items inside each group still respect the active sort order.

Setting Up Stacks

Before using stacks, decide which properties should be available as grouping options.

Open your Collection Settings.
Find the View Stacks configuration.
Select the properties you want to be available as stack groupings. Any property works — tags, text fields, dates, or any custom property.
Press Save.

Back in the collection view, choose a grouping property and the items reorganize instantly.

Switching Between Stacks

You can switch grouping properties at any time. Group by genre, then by year, then by condition, all without changing any data.

Choosing Thumbnails

The thumbnail image is what represents an item in grid views and cards. Choosing the right thumbnail property makes visual browsing much more useful.

Setting the Thumbnail Property

In Collection Settings, choose which image property generates thumbnails. If your items have multiple image fields, pick the one that is most useful for fast recognition.

This applies collection-wide, so all items in the collection use the same property for their thumbnail.

Sorting Your Collection

Sorting controls the order items appear in list view, thumbnail view, and within stack groups.

Sort by Any Property

Tap the sort button to choose which property to sort by. You can sort by:

Name — alphabetical order
Date properties — chronologically by date added, purchase date, or any date field
Number or currency properties — by value, price, or any numeric field
Any custom property — whatever makes sense for your collection

Sort Direction

Toggle between ascending and descending order. Sort books A–Z or Z–A, sort by price low-to-high or high-to-low, sort by date newest-first or oldest-first.

Searching Your Collection

Search lets you find specific items quickly, no matter how large your collection gets.

How Search Works

Tap the search bar at the top of your collection and start typing. Results filter in real time as you type, narrowing down to matching items instantly.

Configuring Search Properties

By default, search matches item names. You can also include additional properties so searches are more useful.

In Collection Settings, find the Search Properties option and select which properties should be searchable. For a book collection, you might include title, author, and tags. For a tool inventory, name, brand, and category.

If you search “Makita” and brand is searchable, every Makita tool appears even if the word is not in the item title.

Putting It All Together

The real value comes from combining these features. Different collections can end up with very different browsing setups:

Book collection — Thumbnail view showing cover art, stacked by genre, sorted alphabetically by title, searchable by title, author, and tags.
Tool inventory — List view showing name, brand, and condition, stacked by room or storage location, sorted by name, searchable by name and brand.
Wine collection — Thumbnail view showing bottle labels, stacked by region, sorted by vintage year, searchable by name, region, and varietal.
Trading cards — Thumbnail view showing card fronts, stacked by set or rarity, sorted by card number, searchable by name and set.

Each collection can have completely different view settings. Experiment with different combinations until you find what works for how you browse and organize.

Tips

Set up stacks early. Even a small collection benefits from grouping, and it quickly reveals missing or inconsistent property values.
Use thumbnails intentionally. Pick the image that helps you identify items at a glance. For books, it’s the cover. For tools, it might be a photo of the item itself. For wine, the label.
Combine sorting with stacks. Items within each stack group still respect your sort settings.
Keep search properties focused. Including every property can create noisy results. Start with the fields you would naturally search by.