Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Airtable template for tracking research on her own ancestors. She has added a DNA status field in order to show which level she has reached for incorporating DNA evidence into her ancestral research. We discuss the levels for documentary research, created by Yvette Hoitink, and the DNA levels that we came up with ourselves. RootsTech Giveaway To enter the giveaway, go the comments section of...
It’s exciting to have new DNA analysis tools continually developed by amazingly smart and creative people! Hybrid AutoSegment is a brand-new 3rd-party DNA tool from Genetic Affairs. This tool gathers DNA segment data from 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, My Heritage, and GEDmatch together in one report. Having the segment information all in one place streamlines the process of examining, analyzing, and figuring out which of our DNA segments we inherited from specific ancestors. Now, we...
Are you a Microsoft Office user? Do you need a way to organize the plethora of documents, photos, emails, and more that come with research? The Microsoft Office suite includes OneNote which has many applications for organizing our genealogy. It may be just the tool you have been missing in your genealogy toolkit.Today we have a blog post from a guest blogger, Nancy Avis, who shares the way she uses OneNote. Using OneNote for Genealogy...
Do you have a specific way to deal with the genealogy documents that you scan or download from a website? Have you set up digital file folders for your documents? How do you attach a citation to a document so it doesn’t become separated from it’s source? These are all questions we grapple with until we decide on a protocol that works for us. There is no one size fits all, when it comes to...
What lies ahead for genealogy and family history in 2020? Taking a look back at 2019 can be helpful in predicting where we might be headed in 2020. The most viewed blog posts on Family Locket for 2019 included those on DNA, Organization, and Productivity. If you missed any of these, I invite you to do some browsing and see if there is something that could help you in your research for 2020. Below are...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about setting up an organizational system that you trust to hold your projects and give you reminders about what needs to be done on any certain day. What good is a filing system or calendar that is never used? Have you tried a new tool but given up when it didn’t meet your needs? This is the time to revisit how you’re organizing your genealogy and make...
Are you keeping your genealogy systems updated and functional? You might have spent a considerable amount of time organizing your records and prioritizing projects, but then you took a research trip, attended a conference, or watched a webinar, and now have a stack of papers and a flash drive full of digital records. If you’re feeling weighed down again, the step you might be missing is reflection. Regularly capturing the new items that have risen...
Are you ready to get your family history and genealogy papers and processes organized? Those stacks of file folders, documents, and lists of to-do items aren’t going to help you make progress in your research until you have an organizational method that works for you. If you don’t know where to start, I have some ideas to help you! This article is part three in my series on applying concepts from David Allen’s book Getting Things...
What is holding you back from making progress on your family history projects? Too many to count? Not knowing where to start? If just thinking about your projects sends you into panic mode, it’s time for an intervention. I previously wrote about Family History & Getting Things Done, using David Allen’s book, Getting Things done: the art of stress-free productivity, as a model. The ideas in the book have been a game changer for me....
Are you drowning in a mountain of inherited genealogy? Do you have photos to scan and organize? Would you like to write histories of all your ancestors? Are there brick walls to break down? Do you have a life outside of family history and genealogy? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then you might be feeling overwhelmed with all you need to do. I recently discovered David Allen’s book, Getting Things done:...