Needing advice as to which app to use to create a data input resource.

ladyck3 

Hi and welcome to Microsoft's Excel forum. I've been retired for two decades, have entered into my 80s, and am still loving to work with and learn Excel.

During my working career, I actually was given the nickname "Wiz" because of my perceived expertise with Excel; like you, perhaps, it was more that I wasn't afraid to try things out and I knew where to go to look things up. I also, maybe unlike you, had used Access and IBM's DB2 mainframe database extensively, learned SQL, and really liked relational databases.

With all that by way of background, I do think Excel can help you here, but more as a solid database which could point you to the places where you stash those PDF documents. It sounds like you already know how to create hyperlinks to do that (personally I'd be satisfied if my Excel database just stored the directory and file name so I'd know where to go look).

Drop downs for selecting from among a predetermined set of categories--those are easy.

You need to be a little clearer on what that "cover sheet" is supposed to do.

I think you can accomplish all this in Excel, yes. WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE for you to post copies of your current spreadsheet in OneDrive or GoogleDrive and paste a link here that grants us edit access? That way we could see what you already have and suggest ways to add the features you're seeking.