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My Work Flow

gendover wo dateGenealogy Do-Over Week 1 — 2-8 January 2015

Topic 3: Establishing Base Practices and Guidelines

I needed to do something a little different with regard to adding media and information to my genealogy software since I decided to do a separate “research” database (in Family Tree Maker) and a “sourced” database (in Roots Magic). And I still need to get a grip on the somewhat willy-nilly approach I’ve been using since finding so much information available online.

I still want to use OneNote in tandem with my genealogy software. I know some of the things I am doing in OneNote can be done in my software but the software has its drawbacks. One, I can’t spread everything out to view at once, I have to open each document separately. When I put screen clippings into OneNote, it helps to be able to “view” it all at once. Two, I don’t like either Roots Magic or Family Tree Maker’s timelines. They don’t suit my purposes as I like to make notes of conflicting or missing information right on the timeline. It then becomes the pre-research plan. Later, I can copy and paste research notes from OneNote into my software if I decide I want that information in my genealogy database. The trick is to remember to date everything so I know whether or not the software has the latest notes.

I was playing around in Scapple (mind mapping software from the creators of Scrivener) and made myself a chart back in July 2014 to illustrate (for my own purposes) how I should be working with the documents I already have. They need to be scanned, the information extracted and added to my genealogy databases. New source documents are coming in as well so they need to be dealt with.

Work Flow screenclip(A downloadable PDF of this chart is listed below under Helpful Resources.)

Obviously all the steps aren’t necessary for every document but I wanted a checklist of sorts to be sure that things get added to OneNote and timelines. You’ll notice that the last steps include putting the information in genealogy software. All of this is subject to change because I tweak things as I go.

Some things I still need to decide on:

  1. I want to set aside 2 days per week to work on family history. I need to pick 2 days and stick to my plan otherwise I get wrapped up in quilting for days and weeks on end and don’t get back to family history research. (Case in point is this post. I had to drag myself away from my quilting software where I have spent the last 3 days drawing an applique quilt border.) I am thinking Tuesday and Wednesday because those are the 2 days the local family history center is opened. I can only get there every other week but at least I know it would be open if I decided to go and do some research on my designated genealogy days.

  2. The To-Do List… One long list or many little lists? I’m leaning towards one list because I like the way everything shows up in a prioritized list when I open Family Tree Maker. But the question is where to put the one list? Maybe one list for each of my 4 surname notebooks? Yes, I think I will play around with that idea. Now my OneNote Surname Notebook looks like this when I open it.

ONSurname-main-to-do

The very first section is an Inbox. Anything I clip from the web ends up in the Quick Notes section of my personal ON notebook. I then sort through those web clips and add them to the appropriate Surname Notebook Inbox unless I know exactly which Family Group Section it belongs to — then it goes there. The next section is for my new To-Do List. It’s just a tickler list of things that need to be done. More elaborate plans and information are listed on my Research Plan and Research Record in each Family Group Section.

Helpful resources:

  1. My Genealogical Workflow PDF

  2. Creating Timelines That Produce Answers from Ancestry.com

  3. A 10-Step Plan: Getting Sources & Citations Under Control by Lynn Palermo

  4. Conclusions & Baby Steps (to the evidence analysis process or GPS) available at FamilySearch.com

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Post edited 23 April 2020 to relink Conclusions & Baby Steps article at FamilySearch.com and remove two links pertaining to a podcast also at FamilySearch.com that appears to be no longer available. This post contains affiliate links to both Scrivener and Scapple at Literature and Latte. I will earn a commission if you purchase either product through the links provided. It does not affect the price you pay for the products.


Cite This Page:

Erin Williamson Klein, “My Work Flow.” My Family History Files, 14 January 2015 (https://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/organization/my-work-flow/ : [access date]).

Please do not copy without attribution and link back to this page.


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Favorite Genealogy Pins for January

New pins to my Genealogy board this week include links to two new [to me] resources that may be helpful in researching my mother’s Irish and Scottish ancestors.

The following two links are to an article and a video lesson on FamilySearch.org that are relevant to current goals and research:

Because I don’t want my family history to just exist as files on my laptop, I pin links to creative ideas that showcase ways to display and use my family history records but not the typical scrapbooking page.

I really like this chart!

Pinterest, for those who do not know, is a way to categorize and bookmark links on the Internet in a visually appealing way. You can create a board on any topic of interest and “pin” a link to almost any website you find of that you want to bookmark for your chosen topic. The pins show up on your board using a photo or graphic from the website. You can write your own descriptor for the link.

For more pins to genealogy resources, articles and creative inspiration, be sure to look at my Pinterest board at Pinterest.