Gift Tracker works best when you use it as a practical history and planning tool, not as a messy note dump. The recommended flow is simple: create the person, add the occasion, save ideas or real gifts, and review the history before buying again. This guide walks through that flow step by step.
1. Create the person first
Start by creating a person with a clear name. If useful, add relationship, notes, preferences, colors, sizes, or small details that help later. This step matters more than it seems because it makes every future gift decision faster and better informed.
2. Add one or more occasions
Attach important occasions to that person: birthday, Christmas, anniversary, or a custom event. That keeps the history readable by context instead of turning it into one generic list. Knowing when you gave something is almost as useful as knowing what you gave.
3. Use statuses properly
The app separates ideas, planned gifts, bought gifts, given gifts, and archived entries. Those states are not cosmetic. They help you keep early thoughts separate from gifts that are already complete.
- Idea: something worth keeping for later.
- Planned: you chose the gift but have not bought it yet.
- Bought: the gift is already purchased but not given yet.
- Given: the gift was actually delivered.
- Archived: a closed record you still want to keep in history.
4. Save enough context with each gift
When you add a gift, do not stop at the title. Use price, notes, category, occasion, and any detail that will matter later. A simple entry like book may be too vague next year. An entry such as hardcover history novel for birthday, 24 EUR will be much more useful when the next occasion arrives.
5. Review history before buying again
Before committing to a new idea, open the person and scan what you already gave. This is the core value of the app. The history, together with duplicate-safe checks, helps you avoid repetition and notice when you keep returning to the same type of gift too often.
6. Use ideas and reminders proactively
Not every entry has to be a completed purchase. Keep ideas in the app and create reminders when an occasion is getting close or when you want to revisit a planned gift. That makes the app useful months before the event, not only on the day you buy something.
7. Export when you need a wider overview
If you want an external view, you can export the data to CSV. It is useful for personal review, yearly summaries, or simple backup workflows. Still, in most cases the built-in view remains the fastest place to check history and decide what to do next.
If you want the broader overview first, read the Gift Tracker presentation.