I agree with so much of Susan's approach -- there's just not space, time
or energy anymore for creating a home museum. My paper files are also
considered backup-only, being stashed in one wide filedrawer, as
everything is scanned onto my computer, along with text versions when
appropriate and possible.
Just a couple of thoughts, tho...
One is that I DO SAVE any eMail which has become source information,
even after copy/paste into Legacy. This preserves the tracks, and makes
it easy to ask the source when yet another question occurs! However,
using Outlook Express for this has proven too unreliable and horribly
difficult when switching computers or harddrives. Thus am trying
Thunderbird as a free replacement; so far so good but not yet done testing.
The other is that if our home burns, our computers just may be included
in the casualty. Even if the fire never happens, computers die -- had
several of those over the last 20 years! Yes, passing on the CD's
would help, but would they include absolutely everything -- probably
not. I haven't yet done this, but perhaps using an online backup
service would make sense? Would be interested if others have!
Back to work now!
RonKZ
now in New Mexico USA
http://zelltree.com
Susan Malone wrote:
I have found it helpful to "copy and paste" the details from emails and
other online sources directly into my Legacy database- it either ends up
in the "notes" section on a person (head of family if it is about
several members of one family) or directly as a source (I use
"correspondence" as a catch-all source, and enter the date, letter or
email, who from, etc in the source details) I rarely print up the emails
since I don't have an entire room to dedicate to genealogy files... (nor
do I save the email once I put the information into Legacy). I no longer
save every piece of paper either.... I used to save all of the census
records and so forth- it takes up more room than it's worth. If I
document exactly where they were in a census, then I can find them again
easily if I have any questions... About the only records I save now are
vital records that I had to pay for to get. They get filed under each
family. I love the filing system recommended at family search- it's
color coded (4 colors, based on your 4 grandparents), and each folder is
a direct ancestor family. I just file all documents in the appropriate
family folder. Then I have all of my research for a particular family
all together in one place. It makes it so much easier when analyzing a
family to see what you need to do next. I have a big wall chart that is
color-coordinated to match the filing system too- I love color, so this
works well for me :-). I have found it to be very helpful to take the
time and go back over the past 30 years of research, and enter every bit
of information into Legacy (typing in exactly what it says on each
document)-- I notice details I hadn't before, and now, I can easily
share all of my documents and research with my children without the
hassle or expense of copying each record. If my house burned down, I
would not have to retrace any of my research- it's all on my computer,
and I regularly send copies (email or on cd) to my daughters who live
elsewhere... Simple, efficient, easy... Works for me.
Susan Malone
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paula
Ryburn
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 9:09 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Correspondence Tracking
Marina,
Someone on this list recommended to me to enter the emails as sources,
which
is of course what you should do if the email is the source of
information
you are entering/have entered into Legacy. I think there are examples
of
that type of source on the Legacy website. Personally, I have a master
source like "Aunt Suzi" and then details or letters, emails, interviews.
That just seemed more manageable than each one being a master source. I
don't know about your outbound emails though...
Now, if you're getting multiple emails per day, I'm assuming you're not
able
to "keep up" entering the data. I keep my emails in folders by family
line... my 4 grandparents, and my husband's line, since the cousins I
communicate with typically talk about more than one surname. I don't
print
them. I also have not "kept up" entering the data. So, technically, I
could lose information should I change email programs, etc.
To "catch up" I plan to work on one family line at a time, rather than
chronologically. And once the emails are entered as sources, they
should be
pretty easy to find within Legacy. (Interesting how other life events
get
in the way of doing the fun stuff, eh?)
I don't know about the Correspondence flag, but now that you've
mentioned
it, I will take a look! ;)
Thanks,
--Paula
Texas
Currently researching: Goodale in Mass., NY, Mich.
I am just wondering if anyone uses Legacy to track incoming and outgoing
correspondence (particularly email). I am getting so many emails about
various family lines that it is hard to keep track of them.
Currently I store the emails in Outlook in a folder for the surname and
print copies of them and put them in a file. But now that I have
hundreds of emails this is becoming unmanageable when trying to find
them.
I notice that the to-do list area has a correspondence flag. Is this a
viable option for storing emails Any comments/ideas?
Marina
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