Spring Cleaning Continues

My cat Whirly inspecting the new supplies

As I mentioned in a blog post last month I am organizing my genealogy paperwork a la Mary Hill.  I got all the necessary supplies today.

The gray one on the left I've had for about 20 years, I got the black one today.

My colors are set (this can be done easily in Legacy 9).

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Spring Cleaning 2018: Using Mary Hill's Color-Coding System in Legacy

My pedigree with Mary Hill's color scheme, which is included in Legacy 9.

I have a tendency to overthink things.  Organization is one of them.  I've needed something that works for my genealogy papers and notes, and while I have my online files well organized, until now I had yet to settle a system for my offline work.  I think Mary Hill's relatively uncomplicated color-coding filing system might just do the trick.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars has a great collection of how-to organization videos, most only for subscribers.  Mary Hill presented "Get Organized Using the FamilyRoots Organizer Color-Coding System" in 2014.  I prefer the narrative and explanation of the webinar, but if you don't have a subscription to Legacy Family Tree Webinars, you can visit her website The FamilyRoots Organizer Color-Coding System.

I already have the folder box with the lip or ridge around the edge.  Now I need to buy the appropriate hanging colored folders and supplies and can set up my color coding system.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Passwords on Rolodex

My password rolodex

Let's just say I'm selectively organized.  Much of my house looks like the aftermath of a game of Jumanji, but sometimes I figure things out.

A few years ago I realized that I use a variety of sites with passwords daily.  The computer can save the passwords, of course, but when there is a computer crash those passwords have to be typed back in.

I read somewhere that a Rolodex could be used to store the passwords.  It can't be hacked online, and it is conveniently accessible.

The username and password I use for GenealogyBank can be accessed immediately.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: Karen Clifford's 2011 Webinar "Organizing for Success"

Karen Clifford, CEO of Genealogy Research Associates, shares her tips on setting up an efficient organization system using Legacy in the webinar "Organizing for Success."  You can also see much of this information at her site FileYourPapers.com:

Have you ever found a relative sharing erroneous data on your favorite research line? You're willing to take the time to politely point out those errors (to prevent others from being misled), but the complexity of how to explain your years of research settles upon your brain like a fog. You rally to the attempt, only to be thwarted by an inability to quickly locate the key supporting documents. After hours of effort, a numbing paralysis sets in at the realization that in order to adequately explain your conclusions, you will need to reconstruct your research process. The result thousands of individual family relationships that could be explained just STOP, or end up in heaps of unsubstantiated opinion files on the Internet. People have asked me over the years, how I can research hundreds of families in the same week, return to a specific spot where I left off fifteen years ago on a client's line, and in a short review period take off again. The best way to prevent a wasteful repetition of work is by consistently using an organizational system that weaves together paper files, research notes, to do lists, evidence located, and conclusions reached. This incredibly simple, yet very successful organizational system has been successfully used by thousands of genealogists. With this system, the essential evidence and its supportive explanations are located in a safe retrievable place, available for constant re-examination. This frees the mind to focus on a new hypothesis, to creatively compile a life-time of work, or to calmly summarize your work for others. In fact, this organizational system makes the entire research process more efficient.

Originally recorded August 3, 2011.  Runs 1 hour 58 minutes.  If you are a Family Tree Webinars subscriber you can skip to the lecture, otherwise you will have to sit through information about 2011 genealogy events.




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Free Saturday Night Webinar from Legacy Family Tree: "Digital Research Guidance, Research Logs, and To Do Lists: FamilySearch, Research Wiki, and Legacy Family Tree" by Geoff Rasmussen

Don't have a human research assistant to help you with all the information you juggle?  Me neither!

In "Digital Research Guidance, Research Logs, and To Do Lists: FamilySearch, Research Wiki, and Legacy Family Tree" Geoff Rasmussen has some great ideas on using all the amazing tools available to the modern genealogist for organizing research.

Everyone can use a little research help every now and then, right? Learn about best practices in using the latest technology to organize and plan your research strategies. Call on these digital research assistants 24/7.

Geoff Rasmussen will educate, compare, and contrast two major research guidance tools: FamilySearch's Research Wiki, and Legacy Family Tree's Research Guidance. You will learn how to easily keep track of what you've previously researched, as well as plan your research To Do List.

The webinar was originally recorded on August 14, 2013 (1 hour, 21 minutes).  Most of Legacy Family Tree Webinars are not free and I recommend subscribing to their site for full access to all their amazing, affordable genealogy webinars.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Free Tuesday Night Webinar from Legacy Family Tree: "Organize Your Online Life"

I can ALWAYS use a refresher on organizing my time and efforts online.

Thankfully Lisa Louise Cooke has addressed this issue in "Organize Your Online Life" which includes discussion on tools such as bookmarks, email, Google Books, YouTube, Google Alerts, and Evernote.

The webinar was originally recorded on July 20, 2016 (1 hour 47 minutes).  The video is free for non-subscribers through July 27, 2016.  Most of Legacy Family Tree Webinars are not free and I recommend subscribing to their site for full access to all their amazing, affordable genealogy webinars.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.