(Archived) How do you set up EN for genealogy

[hampan 0]

I've searched the forum and there are not many posts on this.  I'm wondering if it's bc it's not a good place for family history research?  I'd like to hear how you've set up nbs/tags for this hobby.  At the moment I'm using paper(s), computer and  Ancestry.com.  I'm not suggesting EN replace a software program but at least be a repository for all the bookmarks and notes on paper I have collected.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Some people have found ways to tweak Evernote for genealogy.

http://www.toniasroots.net/2010/06/24/using-evernote-for-genealogy/

 

Evernote can be a handy reference spot to store some supporting documentation.

Just toss in a note and tag it with "Genealogy".

 

Most genealogists, however, rely on programs that are designed specifically for genealogy.

 

Evernote does not have the ability to handle date calculations (who lived the longest on my mother's side), family relationships (2nd cousin once removed), family trees (charts and graphs), and many other relationship tasks.

[ka7ple 9]

We mainly use EN to store all of our photo's birth/death records and other info off of sites like Ancetory.com the Clipper and Clearly work well for this. I use a specific Notebook for "Family Stuff" and tags to organize within that notebook. WE use EN more as an archive rather than tracking the acutal geneology. My wife uses a couple of different programs for the "Tree".

Hope that helps

Ka7ple

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I've searched the forum and there are not many posts on this.  I'm wondering if it's bc it's not a good place for family history research?  I'd like to hear how you've set up nbs/tags for this hobby.  At the moment I'm using paper(s), computer and  Ancestry.com.  I'm not suggesting EN replace a software program but at least be a repository for all the bookmarks and notes on paper I have collected.

 

 

I use EN for the research part.  IE, if I suspect this person is or is not the person I'm looking for, I'll make a note about why I'm thinking that.  Also, scans/screen caps of info that is helpful in the research.  As far as the actual genealogy program, I would think EN would be a bear to use for that.  (And I'm a huge proponent of EN & use it hourly pretty much every day.)  Right tool for the task & all that jazz.  So my tree info goes into Genopro.  IME/IMO, it's never been one of the top recommended apps, but I love it & have used it for many years. 

[Analyst444 182]

I've done quite of bit of genealogy research on my family and my wife's. Here are my thoughts for you.

 

There are at least 4-6 excellent software packages designed exclusively for Genealogy, not the least of which are Family Tree Maker and Roots Magic. Some or all of them are very good at capturing information that you find on the Internet. These specialized genealogy software packages are not particularly expensive, ranging from $30-$75. So, ultimately, you want to get all of your genealogy information ending up in one of those packages. That will make it easy for you to construct genealogy charts, books, etc.

 

The role that I can see Evernote playing is to be a genealogy information capturing tool and a temporary holding repository, until you have the opportunity to move the information from Evernote to one of the other packages. A simple structure for Evernote would be to create a Notebook named "Genealogy" and place all such Notes in it. Each genealogy related document you find or web clipping would become its own Note. I'd suggest the following format / syntax for the title of your notes: xxxxxxxxxx, yyyyyyyyyy - zzzzzzzzzz, where xxxxxxxxxx is the last name of the person that the Note corresponds to and yyyyyyyyyy is the person's first name. That way, Evernote will be able to sort the Notes by person, bringing all the information you've collected for one person physically close on one Evernote screen. zzzzzzzzzz would be the a short description of the material in the Note. Examples are (birth certificate, draft registration card, shipping manifest, census list, etc.).

 

I hope you feel this response is helpful.

[Nabo 0]

^{I'm a new Evernote User but I'm finding it to be a great tool to organizing Location files, general reference information I want to be able to reference, reading lists, places to check, etc. I've created a number of notebooks and am putting info in as I uncover it. I'm hoping it will eventually take the place of some of the location notebooks I have. I think it may also be useful for research calendars and research plans, etc. Things that don't fit into Family Tree Maker.  And as a place to sort info for someone who might not quite fit into your family files yet. I think it's another excellent tool to have in the tool box.}

[hampan 0]

Thank you to everyone who helped me out on this.  Off topic, but BurgersNfries mentioned Genopro.  In researching it, no doubt of it's quality. I'm wondering how computer-literate you have to be to use it.

[Analyst444 182]

hampam - if you are thinking about buying a genealogy software package, I'd suggest you check out one of the Internet sites that rates them. Here is a good example:

http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ppc-index.html?cmpid=412215&s_kwcid=TC|17114|genealogy%20software%20comparison%20chart||S|p|15262194386

 

In regard to your inquiring about computer-literacy required, if you can browse the Internet, navigate from site to site, click on hyperlinks, etc. you will likely have enough computer skills to use one of the better genealogy software package. However, the issue is not going to be computer-literacy, it is going to be "learning curve". While it would take you only 5-10 minutes to catch on to how any one feature of these programs work, they each have hundreds of features. So, it will easily take you or anyone 25-75 hours, using lots of their features, before you have a full grasp of what the software can do and how to use it.

 

Never the less, if you are going to get into researching your family tree and spend a fair amount of time on it, those programs will be well worth the time and effort needed to learn how to use them. - - - The days of collecting documents about your ancestors and putting them in manila folders, and hand-drawing genealogy charts are behind us.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Analyst444 - Excellent suggestion

The info on that comparison chart is great. The one I use is in the top 3. It is easy to use, and can be very powerful, especially if you want to keep track of the source of the information.

[hampan 0]

I have looked into the ratings, but I was wondering specifically about Genopro (mentioned by BurgerNfries), which never seems to be on the lists. I know there is a learning curve for all of them, helped by lots of tutorials etc, but wanted to know if Genopro is any harder to use - was it designed for academics or more tech-saavy people?  Has she stuck with it bc it's the one she started with, but wish it had more bells and whistles, or would she still choose it today, over one of those top three?

I'm sure the answer is to try them out, which can be done for free I know.  For the time being I am trying ot get my genealogy bookmarks and scanned notes into one place - EN.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I have looked into the ratings, but I was wondering specifically about Genopro (mentioned by BurgerNfries), which never seems to be on the lists. I know there is a learning curve for all of them, helped by lots of tutorials etc, but wanted to know if Genopro is any harder to use - was it designed for academics or more tech-saavy people?  Has she stuck with it bc it's the one she started with, but wish it had more bells and whistles, or would she still choose it today, over one of those top three?

I'm sure the answer is to try them out, which can be done for free I know.  For the time being I am trying ot get my genealogy bookmarks and scanned notes into one place - EN.

 

I haven't done much genealogy in the past few years & so I've not kept up with what the latest "hit features" are with the various software.  But I was always surprised that Genopro wasn't more highly recommended & appreciated.  I bought this several years ago, but IIRC, some of the features that I liked about it were that it will export to html & Genopro even provides you with webspace to publish your family tree.  (At no extra cost.)  There were two ways to publish regarding living people.  You could publish with their information or without - it would simply show a male or female person but not their name or detailed info.  You can even change the css in the template so that when you publish the html, it has your own background, colors, etc.  And the support forum was helpful.  I believe they have a trial version, so if it seems like something you may be interested in, I would suggest trialing it.

[Analyst444 182]

Wow, hampan, I'm having a hard time getting you off the "ease of use" thing. If you were to try out 2 or 3 of the genealogy software programs on the chart I referenced for you in my post yesterday (or perhaps GenoPro, although I have no experience with it), I'd guess any difference you detect in "ease of use" amongst them would be very small. I suggest there are other criteria that are more important than "ease of use". I listed several below.

 

However, given your focus on "ease of use", consider starting out your family tree research using Evernote. I laid out an approach in my May 21st post of this subject. If after adding 50 people to Evernote using an approach like that (or a similar one), I'd bet you will either abandon your work on developing your family tree or you will be ecstatic when you buy a piece of software that is specifically designed for genealogy. (Evernote does a fantastic job for what it was designed to do, but it wasn't designed to be a great word processor or a great spreadsheet program.)

 

 

********************************************************************

 

Criteria for Deciding which Genealogy Software to Buy

 

 

Ratings - How does it compare to other genealogy software programs? (Functions, ease of use, documentation, etc.)

 

Connections - How well / how easily does it work with / interface with other Internet-based genealogy web sites (in particular, Ancestry.com and Family Search)?

 

Compatibility - Will the software be able to import and export data with other genealogy software programs so that you can exchange information with other people who have different software? Will the software make it possible for you to upload your family tree information to the Internet and keep the information perfectly in-sync with the information on your computer?

Developer Support - How good is the technical support? Customer service?

 

Community Support - Are there people (family, friends, genealogy clubs, user groups, etc.) who have the software you are thinking about acquiring and will they be able and willing to help you use it?

Enhancements - How often are new releases of the software coming out?

Company Life - Will the company be around in a couple years?

Cost - How much to acquire? Is there an annual renewal fee? Is technical support free?

[hampan 0]

Ok Analyst 444, you're right - this is my last mention on this.  It's not ease of use.  It's just that I started this search 40 years ago on foot with paper, left it as I moved overseas and am now back at it bc of the Internet.  I know I need to use a software program but it seems daunting to enter it all, so I want to be sure before I choose.  I had been leaning towards Roots Magic but GenoPro with its added ability to do genograms sounds appealing. I will take advantage of the trial and report back.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

but GenoPro with its added ability to do genograms sounds appealing. I

Now that you mention it, I think that was another thing I liked about Genopro.  You can specify discord between family members.  Although that's something that may be painful for those still living, it can be informative & helpful in years to come.  As one of the family historians, I include this info & what I know about it to the best of my knowledge.  (After all, much of what we know today about things in the past is because someone, somewhere documented it.)  This may be something most/all genealogy software provides today.  And...IIRC, one or both of the two top genealogy softwares did not provide trial versions.  Sure, they had 30 day money back guarantees, but even ~5-7 years ago, trial software was pretty much the norm.  The fact that they didn't have this indicated to me they were not really keeping up with technology. 

BTW, regarding exporting & html...to elaborate on Genopro's ability to export to html...  I've had my own personal website for over 16 years.  This alone was helpful to me b/c that meant I could export to html & post on my personal website.  Since Genopro provides webspace, I've only used theirs, though.  Exporting to html is nice b/c it allows you to share with others, who have internet access but may not have a genealogy program to import the standard GEDCOM info into.  (And yes, Genopro will export to GEDCOM.)

 

FWIW, I have no affiliation with Genopro other than a happy customer.