I use a combination of Alan's and Jacki's systems, but I add the date. My electronic file cabinet (Windows Explorer) has a folder for each surname and under that a separate folder for each couple (think MRIN, but without using the actual #, since I want to keep the family info together even with a second marriage), such as folder for Joe and Jane (Jones) Smith, and a separate folder for Steve and Sally (Brown)Smith, with maiden names in ( ).
The files in each folder are listed by date (yyyy mo dy),then name the document pertains to, and what the document is, such as, 1879 04 01 Joe and Jane (Jones) Smith-Marriage, or 1880 05 15 John Smith-Birth. When I open the folder for Joe and Jane (Jones) Smith I see, at a glance, the history of the family. No, this doesn't group the documents by person (all of John's documents together, then all Sally's documents), but I can see: (comments in ( ) are my narrative, not part of file name) 1885 01 01 Judith Smith-Birth 1885 03 01 Judith Smith-Death (daughter dies at 2 months of age) 1886 07 04 Steven Smith-Birth 1888 09 01 Judith Smith-Birth (birth of another daughter named Judith) 1890 12 15 Samuel Smith-Birth 1890 12 16 Samuel Smith-Death (child dies at 1 day old) 1890 12 20 Jane (Jones) Smith-Death (mother died after childbirth) 1892 01 12 Joe and Bertha (Johnson) Smith-MARRIAGE (father remarries, CAPS bring your eye to a new marriage) 1892 12 02 Andrew Smith-Birth (child of Joe & Bertha, step-brother to Steven and Judith) Opening this family's folder gives a quick look at what has happened and where something I find might fit in the overall scope of things. I haven't yet found where a father died and the mother remarried and had children with the new husband - in my families the mother dies and father remarries. If the husband dies and wife remarries and has children with the new husband I probably will add a new FOLDER for the new couple under the existing folder in order to keep the family relationship intact, (and not make myself crazy). Perfect, maybe not. However, after many different tries this is the approach that works best for me.....until I find something that works better! Faith ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jacki Richey" <pdxjacki...@hotmail.com> To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 9:27:37 PM Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Source Name Filing System Alan, I use a similar system, but I put the person's last name first, then first name, then middle initial, then the type of document. That way all the documents and photographs for the same person are together. I find that more useful than having documents of the same type together, such as all obituaries together. When the document or photograph has a whole family, I use the name of the head of household & add FAMILY. I scan as jpg files, but I see that you convert to pdf files. Why is that? Thanks, Jacki > From: a...@ajsquared.us > To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com > Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Source Name Filing System > Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:45:42 -0500 > > Jerry, > > Please forgive me as I am a little confused by your comment. If I > understand your comment correctly let me go into some detail.... > > This naming scheme is for file names of scanned source documents like > birth certificates, marriage documents, obituaries, diplomas and school > related documents etc where the focus of the source is 1 or 2 people. > So I find an obituary and i make it a PDF and name it: > > OBIT-Doe_John_B-1234-a.pdf > > I would not make multiple copies of the file with different names if multiple > people were listed in the source. In fact my note at the end indicate I am > still trying to find a solution to that problem of a source that covers many > people. > > Also note based on past posts to the list and I am not trying to link every > source to every person. I wanted a system so that I could find sources later > if I was browsing to them in my file system not just link to them in Legacy. > In the old days of paper files it was almost easier than with electronic > files. > > If you have another naming scheme for sources that is logical and helps > you keep them organized on your computer for future needs, sharing and > later retrieval i would love to see it. I am not stuck on my format > yet as I am still experimenting. > > If I did not understand your idea or you have additional thoughts please > feel free to share. > > thanks for the comment. > > > > On 7/21/2011 6:39 PM, Jerry wrote: > > Hi Alan. Your naming scheme is interesting. However, if I am understanding > > correctly, wouldn't you use thousands of separate sources if you used each > > person's name in your source? Just wondering what I am missing since the > > source is already linked to the person without having their name as part of > > the source name. Thanks, Jerry /MerriamFamilyTree.org > > > > Alan Jones<a...@ajsquared.us> wrote: > > > >> I have seen a few recent posts about how people name their actual file > >> names for source files. I asked a related question sometime back and > >> based on some responses I came up with a format. This format I came up > >> with I have stared using but am still trying to work though details. > >> > >> I in the interest of giving back to both those that helped me and others > >> that may be wanting to see what I did below is the format I have tried > >> to use. The format may be hard to read as i stripped the HTML out. > >> > >> I hope this helps someone and I would love to hear other peoples > >> thoughts on this style. Email me on or off list as appropriate. > >> > >> > >> > >> Source Name Filing System > >> > >> > >> *Format* > >> Naming format, will use sub directories to group many like items for > >> easier searching. Use "__" (underscore) for spaces i.e. between first > >> and last name and middle name. Use a dash between fields (name vs > >> record type). > >> > >> > >> Document Type (abbreviation) > >> "-" (dash) > >> Last name of person (as listed in document married if applicable) > >> "_" (underscore) > >> First Name > >> "_" > >> Middle initial (or full name if others are similar) > >> "-" dash" > >> RIN (Record Identification Number) use minimum of 4 numbers for RIN > >> "-" dash > >> > >> [rest optional] > >> -- (two dashes if naming a 2nd person like a marriage document) > >> <<repeat Last, First, Middle name and RIN section if needed>> > >> > >> <<optional "-" dash and letter (a-z) if there is more than one > >> document of a type use consecutive letters. > >> If documents are variations of the same document in some > >> cases use the same letter then a consecutive number > >> >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> *Examples:* > >> OBIT-Doe_John_B-1234-a.pdf > >> OBIT-Doe_John_B-1234-b.pdf > >> > >> MAR-Doe_John_B-1234--Smith_Sally_J-9876-a.pdf > >> > >> AWD-Jones_Jerry_G-0002-a.jpg > >> AWD-Jones_Jerry_G-0002-b.jpg > >> AWD-Jones_Jerry_G-0002-b1.jpg > >> > >> > >> *Source Abbreviations Used* > >> > >> AWD -- Awards and Special Recognitions > >> BIB -- Family Bible > >> BR -- Birth Record including Birth Certificate, Birth Announcement, etc > >> CHUR -- Church Related Document > >> CEN -- Census Related document (not sure on naming as it may have > >> multiple people > >> DIP -- Diploma or related document for High School, Collage (undergrad > >> or graduate), etc > >> SCH -- School Related document if not a Diploma > >> FB -- Facebook Related Source Document > >> MAR -- Marriage Related Source Document > >> OBIT -- Obituary from Newspaper, Funeral Home, or related source > >> PIC -- Picture, used for the 1-5 select pictures of a person stored as > >> source material. Some pictures may have witting on them. > >> > >> > >> RIN -- Record Identification Number, when typing RIN for source > >> documents enter minimum of 4 numbers and proceed with 0 if the RIN is > >> smaller. > >> > >> > >> > >> *Document Format and Manipulation* > >> Most documents should be storied in PDF Format. > >> > >> To Reduce the number of documents in some cases one may want to combine > >> 2 or more PDF Documents into one document. Tools like PDFsam > >> http://www.pdfsam.org/ and jPdf Tweak http://jpdftweak.sourceforge.net/ > >> can be use to combine/split PDFs. > >> > >> > >> If needed use a tool like PDFCreator from http://www.pdfforge.org/ to > >> convert a document convert a document/web page to PDF. > >> > >> > >> *Additional Notes* > >> Still working out how to deal with documents where multiple family > >> members are mentioned in a single document. EX: Census documents, > >> family bibles, etc. > >> Use Just a last name and something else? > >> > >> > >> Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
