-->

Genealogy Do-Over Tools

A few of the sites, programs and other interesting items, that are relevant to my Genealogy Do-Over.

The Do-Over process and main resource sites


Computer Programs (&/or apps)

  •  Onenote: Free version available from http://www.onenote.com/ – I have chosen this for my main administration.  I am sure I will still be learning aspects of its use for months, if not years, but so far it seems to be just what I need.
  • Evernote: Free version available from https://evernote.com/ - I have got as far as signing up and downloading this (some issues even with that, as I had some form of Evernote installed from years ago related to a Wacom pen, and the program wouldn’t allow installation when there was a previous version installed.  Found the solution through an online forum, which involved removing registry entries – not something I particularly like having to do!) Numerous sites with information about using Evernote, so I shall focus on learning from those by other genealogists, such as Lynda Peach, with her Evernote book reviews on her blog at http://www.idogenealogy.net/ and her Pinterest board at https://www.pinterest.com/idogenealogy/evernote/ .  My plan is to use Evernote for saving many of the documents I find online, thus keeping them separately from my “admin” files and therefore (hopefully) keeping everything more organised and manageable (as well as below the “free” limits.)
  • Evidentia: 14 Day free trial version available from http://evidentiasoftware.com/.  Unfortunately, I barely had time to watch the videos on this before getting interrupted with a non-genealogy task, so my free period ran out.  It did seem a useful program for helping to reach sound conclusions, so I am sure I shall come back to it, once I start regularly researching again.
  • Legacy Family Tree: Free standard edition available from http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ but more featured deluxe edition also available.  Will be trying this over the year, as a potential alternative to Family Tree Maker, which I have used since I began researching years ago.
  • Family Historian: 30 day free trial available from http://www.family-historian.co.uk/ .  I had purchased a copy of the program without trying it first, which was a mistake, as the program was updated to version 6 before I had even opened the packet.  They were going to send a voucher for a discount on the upgrade, so I was still going to use it, and comparing it to Legacy was an afterthought.  But time has moved on and I haven’t received the voucher yet. The packet is still unopened.  Perhaps I should ebay this and just try Legacy alone.  After all, how many genealogy programs do I really need on my computer?
  • Transcript: One of two programs mentioned by Dick Eastman (http://blog.eogn.com/2015/01/17/transcript-a-windows-program-for-transcribing-documents/) for transcribing documents.  Transcript is available free from http://www.jacobboerema.nl/en/Freeware.htm (There is also a pro version)  Still to be tried out but other “Do-Overers” think it is useful so I am certainly looking forward to testing it out with some of the Wills I have.
  • 2Do, or ToDoist? ToDoist is another program rated highly by Dick Eastman (http://blog.eogn.com/2015/01/01/organize-your-to-do-list-with-todoist/ ) .  However, I have had 2Do (from http://www.2doapp.com/ ) loaded on my phone for some years so think it would be better if I actually just learnt how to use that properly, to start with, as I am sure it has all the features I will need.
  • Folder Marker.  Another free program, with a pro version available, obtainable from http://www.foldermarker.com/.  A tool for marking your digital folders by colours, in order to indicate priority (high, normal, low), project completeness (done, half-done, planned) project status (approved, rejected, pending) and type of information stored within (work, important, temp and private files).  Again, downloaded but not yet used – but quite liked by others doing the Do-Over.

Other things of interest

Mindmapping
One of the Do-Over participants mentioned Mindmapping – there’s a free interactive course on Tony Buzan’s site at http://www.tonybuzan.com/about/mind-mapping/ on how to mindmap.  However, I realised I already have a mindmapping program on my phone (which I don’t use!) as well as probably still owning (somewhere in the house) Tony’s original book, bought when I was a teenager, so I am not downloading or buying any further resources for this, even though I do plan to use the technique more.  Since all one needs to mindmap is a “pen” and a “surface”, I plan to use pages in my OneNote notebooks for now (which means I don’t even need to carry different coloured pens with me!)

Scanfest
The opportunity to do your scanning whilst communicating with other genealogists elsewhere in the world who are doing the same thing!  Run from the Ancestories blog.  See http://ancestories1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/scanfest-is-coming.html
I haven’t joined in with this yet but it seems a good idea for passing that scanning time more profitably.

So, there we are, just a few of the tools I have been (or intend to) learn more about, as I carry out my Genealogy Do-Over and learn how to improve my research.  No doubt, I shall be adding more comments here as things progress.

No comments:

Post a Comment