Organize Citadel paints in Excel: the simple way to stop duplicates

Why Excel quickly becomes a problem

The first issue is maintenance. Every purchase, every new box, every Warhammer project means updating the file. Miss it once, and your Excel sheet is already unreliable.

The second is readability. As the list grows, you stop seeing the whole picture. Similar names, variants, extra tabs, and personal notes pile up. You spend more time checking the spreadsheet than painting.

The third is that spreadsheets were not built for the hobby. Excel does not understand your armies, your actual needs, or duplicate paints across projects. It stores rows. It does not help you decide quickly.

Building a Citadel paint Excel inventory: 5 concrete steps

If you still want to go with a spreadsheet, here is the minimal structure that actually works. Six columns are enough: Brand, Name, Reference (product code or hex), Quantity, Status (full / open / empty) and Project(s). Nothing more to get started.

Step 1 — Start with your open pots only. List what you actively use first, not your whole collection at once. A reliable partial inventory beats a complete one you abandon after two weeks.

Step 2 — One row per reference, not per pot. If you own three pots of Nuln Oil, put 3 in the Quantity column. Multiple rows for the same reference create exactly the duplicates you are trying to avoid.

Step 3 — The Project column is the most important one. It tells you immediately whether a colour serves one army or several. That cross-reference is what prevents unnecessary purchases. For multi-army tracking, see also our guide on managing Warhammer paints.

Step 4 — Update right after each purchase, not before ordering. The most effective habit: unbox your pots and fill in the spreadsheet in the same session. Wait until the next day and you will forget.

Step 5 — Use a filter on the Status column before each order. Filter for 'empty' or 'almost empty' to see only what genuinely needs replacing. This prevents adding a pot that is still half full.

The real limits of the spreadsheet method

The Excel method works up to around fifty pots with one or two active projects. Beyond that, three problems become painful. The first: manual deduplication. If Macragge Blue serves your Space Marines and your Ultramarines, you have to manage that by hand. The tool does not know.

The second problem: cross-brand conversions. If you mix Citadel, Vallejo, and Army Painter, your spreadsheet does not tell you that Vallejo Medium Blue (70.963) is almost an exact match for Macragge Blue (ΔE ~4). You have to look those equivalents up elsewhere, for example in the Warhammer paint conversion chart.

The third: project-based shopping lists. Excel can tell you what you own. It cannot generate a list of what is specifically missing for your next Blood Angels project, subtracting what you already share with your Dark Angels. That is exactly where a dedicated tool makes the difference.

Excel vs dedicated app: the honest comparison

Excel wins on flexibility. You can add any column, note recipes, prices, sources. It is a general-purpose tool and you probably already know it. For a stable collection under 50 pots with one active project, it is a perfectly viable solution.

A dedicated app wins on three specific points: automatic deduplication across armies, a project-based shopping list (only what is missing, not the whole inventory), and cross-brand equivalents if you work with multiple ranges. Those are exactly the tasks a spreadsheet cannot handle on its own.

The honest verdict: both approaches complement each other rather than compete. An Excel spreadsheet stays excellent for noting custom recipes, scheme variants, and past purchases. A dedicated app is more efficient for operational management — knowing what to buy before a session or an order.

A simpler alternative to organise your paints

That is where ChromaStack becomes the logical answer. Instead of maintaining a manual spreadsheet, you use a tool designed for miniature paints.

You pick your armies, see the useful paint list, mark what you already own, and let the tool deduplicate references. You no longer have to cross-check tabs to know whether a pot is already on your shelf. And if you mix brands, you can also search for equivalents directly from the ChromaStack homepage.

The benefit is not just cleaner organisation. It is speed at the key moment: before a purchase, before an order, before restarting a project that sat untouched for weeks. Excel helps briefly. ChromaStack gives you an actionable view.