Making my first collection (start here)

My data was in a rather irregular Excel spreadsheet with about 3,000 rows and 20 columns. I discovered http://www.getpivot.com/developer-info/cmd-line-tools.aspx, which is very valuable. I first downloaded the command-line tool, but I couldn’t get the sample to work, which was discouraging. (I tested with a sample program from TimHeuer.com, just changed the collection name from dog breeds.) My policy throughout has been “just find something that works”. I had much better luck with the Excel add-in from the same site. I’d recommend to a beginner to start with “New Collection”, “Import Images” from the usual Sample Pictures library, and see what it does for you, then paste in your own data. “Quick Preview” didn’t work for me, probably because I lacked another Excel option, but “Publish Collection” worked (slowly), and the test ran, after a few obstacles, which I’ll list in the next post.