A database of inventory is only homework until you ask it questions. Collections are how PDQ Inventory answers — live, self-updating lists like "PCs running old Chrome" or "machines nearly out of disk". Build them once and they stay true after every scan.
Ask an admin what they actually open PDQ Inventory for and it is rarely the raw computer list. It is questions: Who is low on disk? Whose browser is three versions old? Which PCs missed the critical update? A collection is a saved filter that answers one such question, and because it re-evaluates after every scan, the answer never goes stale the way an exported spreadsheet does. PDQ even maintains a Collection Library of ready-made collections so you start from answers, not from a blank page.
PDQ maintains the Collection Library and keeps it current as software versions move. It already contains collections for popular applications (current and outdated versions), hardware (low memory, low disk, specific models), operating systems, runtimes and Windows updates. Import the handful that match your daily questions first — most admins cover 80 percent of their needs without building anything.
Beginners often build static lists for questions — and then the list silently lies as PCs change. If it can be expressed as a rule, make it dynamic.
The classic early-warning list. Filter on the disks data PDQ collects: computers whose C: drive free space falls below a threshold you choose — a percentage or an absolute size. Review it weekly; a PC appearing here is a "your disk is full" support call you get to make before the user does, while it is still a cleanup and not an emergency.
Pick the one or two applications your office actually depends on or worries about — typically the browser, the PDF reader and the video-call client. The Library usually has "outdated" collections for them ready-made. If you build your own, filter on application name plus version older than your chosen baseline, and update the baseline when you roll out a new standard version.
The Library's Windows Updates collections show computers missing critical updates, which is your patch-gap list. Read it together with scan freshness: a PC whose last successful scan is a month old showing "no missing updates" is not patched — it is unknown. Pair the updates collection with a "not scanned recently" check before you report the network as compliant.
Collections can feed other collections ("outdated Chrome AND in the Accounts department"), reports, and — if you also run PDQ Deploy — deployment targets, so the fix goes exactly to the machines the collection found. Name collections in plain English a colleague can understand at a glance, and review the list quarterly: delete collections nobody has opened, because a library of dead questions is as useless as no questions.
Import the Library collections shown in this guide, then watch the full tutorial video to see collections working live in the console.
▶️ Watch Full VideoDynamic collections do — their membership is re-calculated from the inventory data after every scan, so a PC joins or leaves the list as its data changes. Static collections are fixed lists you edit by hand. Most question-style collections should be dynamic.
Yes, and it should be. The same PC can be in "Less Than 8 GB RAM", "Outdated Chrome" and "Accounts Department" simultaneously. Collections are views over one database, not folders that move computers around.
Use the Collection Library first — PDQ maintains those definitions as application versions change, which saves you constant filter editing. Build your own only for questions the Library does not cover, like your in-house software versions or your own disk-space threshold.