Wisdom Wednesday – Let’s Get Organized Part I

I think we can all agree that as genealogists, we keep piles paper records, photographs, and massive amounts of electronic records and images. But here are some questions to ask yourself regarding all of these records.

• What format are your records in? Only paper? Both paper and digital?
• Are your paper records and photographs scanned and saved digitally also?
• Are they organized regardless of format?
• Are you attaching all your records to the individuals in your genealogy software program or are they floating around on your computer?
• Can you locate a document for someone within a few minutes?

Whether your records are in paper or digital format, Sort Your Story can help you get organized.

Let’s talk about how to get started.

• Create a folder on your desktop called “Genealogy Images.”
• Pull out your documents and photographs to scan.
• Create a plan to scan all the documents and photographs. This project does not have to be completed in one day. Just make it a priority to complete.
• Scan your documents and photographs.
• Add metadata to the file as you save it so it is searchable.
• Save these files as TIFFs with a label you will recognize in the “Genealogy Images” folder you created.
• Now “Save As” these files into the folder in the size of a thumbnail.
• File the original document or photograph so you could retrieve it later if necessary.

Want more tips on getting organized and using Sort Your Story? Stop by next Wednesday to learn more.

© 2011 Lorel Kapke, 19201 Sonoma Hwy. #341, Sonoma, CA 95476-5413