How do you organise?

[Phoenix]

I used to write up my notes in a single book. It was all to hand in one place, and chronology had the advantage of seeing where my thought processes led. Horrified to realise the last entry is 1981

Then I had individual sheets for each family and lots of lever arches.

Then I just had the rough notebooks and heaps of photocopies.

Then I had a progam which would make life easier.

Now I just have chaos

[Merry]

I gave up writing anything down years ago. If I find something new I just add it to my tree immediately. Anything else, such as things to do later, ideas I've had, etc etc etc etc all get added to the relevant area on my tree program. If I need to find something I know that's where it will be and it won't go missing! I can search using any word I've typed so no rummaging in folders or notebooks.

I have a filing cabinet with documents in it, but have got rid of about 70% of the paper notes because I just don't think to look in there if I'm wondering about something.

An example of what happens if I write something down is......the other day there was a thread on here describing about three generations of a family and I kept getting confused about the generations, so I drew a tree on a piece of A4 computer paper along with a few scribbled notes to help me. A week later I found it on the coffee table with a load of dau's drawings all over it and a quarter torn off presumably because someone had used the other side to write something important and taken their piece!

[Margaret in Burton]

Same as Merry. The only lever arch folders I have are full of certs. Everything else is on my tree program.

[maryphil]

I am terrible, I do lots of voluntary research and write loads of notes on old envelopes bits of paper anything to hand. It drives the OH up the wall. It does end up in reports etc at a later date
For my own info. I've at last put on Family Tree Maker 2012 and have started organising my own files. It is supposed to sync with Ancestry and the settings I used were to make my trees public. As yet I haven't been able to find my trees when searching for them,I must be doing something wrong.
By the way thanks for the birthday wishes, I'm only a newbie but felt really wanted.
Regards
Mary

[Mary from Italy]

I have one folder on my computer for each of my main surnames, and when I find information that isn't certain, or too long and detailed to go on the family tree program, I add it to the folder.

Each main person has their own file within the folder, and I copy entries I've found on TNA, Google books, newspaper cuttings, etc. into it.

Sometimes I just have one file for a whole family if there isn't enough information to be worth starting individual files.

If there's a lot of information I divide it between several files.

For example, in my Mallet folder I originally had files like Mallet_Jonathan.doc, Mallet_Thomas.doc, etc.; then when those files start getting too long and unwieldy (especially containing images, like copies of newspaper cuttings or Google books pages), they get subdivided into files like Mallet_Jonathan_cuttings.doc, Mallet_Jonathan_TNA.doc, etc.

I also have separate folders for copies of BMD certs, burials and headstones, transcribed documents, wills, etc.

Plus I have a couple of boxes full of certs, wills, documents etc.

It's still all fairly chaotic, but I can usually find stuff I'm looking for, although it's surprising how often I find information I think is new and then look at the person's file and discover it's already there.

[Mary from Italy]

Originally Posted by maryphil

For my own info. I've at last put on Family Tree Maker 2012 and have started organising my own files. It is supposed to sync with Ancestry and the settings I used were to make my trees public. As yet I haven't been able to find my trees when searching for them,I must be doing something wrong.

Hi Mary, and welcome (belatedly)

Do you want to post the name of somebody in your tree, and we'll try searching to see if it comes up on Ancestry? I don't have a tree there myself, so I'm not sure what you could be doing wrong, if anything.

[maryphil]

Mary
Thank-you for your help I've just had another look, it seems I do have old trees on Ancestry under a different user name, I think maybe I need to get those deleted first. I put in John Weatherhead born 1701 Bedfordshire and this old tree came up and,also my cousins tree and several others but not my new one. My correct user name is michaelwooldridge2. I'll keep trying.
Regards
Mary

[Mary from Italy]

No, you're right, the only tree that comes up with a similar name to yours when I search is the Whead tree with the username mwooldridge12. There's no public or private tree under your new name.

You could try deleting the old ones if it'll let you, and then starting again. If that still doesn't work, I expect somebody'll be along who knows how Ancestry trees work and can advise you.

[Merry]

I don't know anything about Ancestry trees as I don't have one, but this comment struck a chord!!

it's surprising how often I find information I think is new and then look at the person's file and discover it's already there.

[ElizabethHerts]

My system is very similar to Mary's. I now record a lot more on my tree, as I find Family Historian very useful for this.

I have a family history folder on my computer, which is divided into sub-folders featuring each surname. Each of these surname folders is in turn divided into married couples. I try to write a chronological account of each, but I now find I can increasingly use my computer to produce something similar. However, as I have been able to print or save baptismal, marriage and burial records, I often incorporate the image into my Word document.

I still have many lever arch files, but I have thrown away a lot of the stuff I initially printed off. I find my ever-increasing collection of wills fills them up very nicely.