SM3

[AmyW]

OMG overload :shock: :shock:

How on earth do I enter all 30+ batches of soap I've done so far without sitting here for a week? I got my base oils and their $ amounts entered. But oh my word. I just got 4 boxes of supplies today, I probably have 30 FOs and I am not entering all those too. Ack.

*hides under desk with oj & vodka wonder what she got herself into*

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Where's the fire?


Take your time. No need to enter it all in one go. Give priority to your deliveries so you can price your batches as you make them and put your recipes in later. :wink:

 

[AmyW]

Guess it doesn't matter if I do or not! I can't enter the date I made the batch so I guess I'll just keep my Word file for past batches and use SM for future. Was looking forward to being able to see creation dates at a glance. Little disappointed but oh well!

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Well, you can enter the recipe and then print it out and change the date manually and put it with your soap. :wink:

 

[AmyW]

I am wanting a database on the computer with batch number, name, date created (plus recipes and notes) so I can just number the batches and cross reference to the database. I apparently didn't read the features clearly enough. It would be a nice feature to have, back dating recipes. I should have just sucked it up and learned excel instead of spending $50

Another question: I can't figure out how to get it to give me the same amount of water that soap calc gives me. I use the default 38% water as % of oils in soap calc.

 

[BakingNana]

Amy, you can change the date on a batch from My Products once the batch has been made. When you click on My Products, you'll see your batch list at the bottom of the page. Choose the batch you want to change, click "edit", and change the date. SM3 is completely flexible in changing data on a batch already made IMO. I, too, had many many batches to enter (80+). I just worked on it at night watching TV. Didn't take that long, especially if you've used the same recipe for multiple batches. You can just "make a batch" of that recipe, then go to My Products, "edit", and change the info to the particulars for that batch. Goes quickly.

I also notice a slight difference between SoapCalc and SM3 in water calculations, but after checking them manually I think SM3 is more accurate. At any rate, the differences aren't significant enough to worry about.

HTH.

 

[AmyW]

Looks like that's only a Pro feature, I only bought the lite since I'm not selling I think it'll work great if I ever sell but I'll just stick to Word and soap calc for now and open it up when/if I ever sell. Sucks to have spent $50 on it and not use it but I supposed it's a lesson learned not to let shiny software grab my attention LOL

The water amounts are 5-10oz difference for a 26oz batch, I'm not comfortable using that much less water at this point.

Thanks for the advice

 

[samicamp]

You are a brave soul. I have just printed out all of my soapcalc recipes and scribbled notes and keep them all in a binder. Your way sounds so much better.

 

[Dragonkaz]

You are a brave soul. I have just printed out all of my soapcalc recipes and scribbled notes and keep them all in a binder. Your way sounds so much better.

I'm a computer addict (that happened way before soap making lol) ... and love designing spreadsheets etc. But ... I still prefer to keep a book full of notes about each batch of soap I make. I love the look of my notes, as there is emotion in the way I've written and the style of handwriting I've used. I continue to write notes about old batches whenever I use a bar of soap from that lot, or a someone has trialled that soap and gives me feedback.

 

[AmyW]

I thought about the binder, because it's really the best idea IMO, one page for each batch, keep notes while the bars are curing and being tested...but my chicken-scratch sucks LOL I hate writing, much prefer typing! I take notes while I'm making the batch then transfer it to my word file and sometimes still can't read what I wrote.

 

[srenee]

I love my SM3. Now I just need to synch them between my laptop and my desktop.