Cyndi's List

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Evernote Email for Genealogy

[ATTN: This article was originally published on 30 May 2014. It has now been moved here from the old blog host and it will require updating soon.]

Your Evernote account provided you with an Evernote email address.

To find your email address in the desktop version go to Tools > Account Info
To find your email address in the web version click on your name in the upper right corner, go to Account Settings
To find your email address in the iPhone and iPad apps click on the gear next to your name in the upper left, go to General > Evernote Email Address
To find your email address in the Android app click on the icon next to your user name, go to Account Info

So, why do you want or need an Evernote email address? Particularly for genealogy?

Keeping copies of key emails in your Evernote notebooks does two important things for you research:
- It brings them into the same filing space as your other research notes and documents.
- It makes them searchable along with the other research notes and documents.
- Yes, often your email is searchable within the email program. But putting it into Evernote means you do one search across all of your research notes and emails at the same time.
When you receive an email query from a potential cousin, forward a copy to your Evernote address to be filed in your notebooks and saved for future reference.
When you write a research email include your Evernote address as one of the recipients. A copy of your message will be saved in your notebooks for future reference.
Research trips:
- Create a notebook for travel.
- When planning a research trip you may receive e-mail confirmations from airlines, hotels, and conferences or seminars.
- Forward confirmations to your Evernote account and keep them in a Travel notebook so that they are easily accessible through the app on your tablet or smart phone while you're at an airport, at the hotel, or in a shuttle or taxi.
- Better yet, instead of forwarding them, use your Evernote e-mail address when registering and the original confirmation will go straight to your Evernote.
- No more print-outs for your trips. Put all relevant travel info into one notebook and they go with you everywhere you go. For example: airlines confirmation, hotel confirmation, seminar registration, weather information clipped from the web, travel checklist, packing checklist, tourist info, maps, and anything else you would normally print and take with you.
- You may want to encrypt any text within notes that contain passwords or sensitive/private information. Encryption is done within the desktop version for Mac and Windows: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/28451608
Genealogy software:
- Create a notebook for your genealogy software program.
- Bring all of your genealogy software info into one filing space in Evernote.
- Include clippings from the web about how to use the software, and hints or tips.
- Forward email newsletters to Evernote when they contain hints or tips that you want to keep and refer to later.
- Forward email confirmations when you purchase programs or upgrades.
- Forward any email correspondence you have with tech support when dealing with specific issues.
- You may want to encrypt any text within notes that contain passwords or sensitive/private information. Encryption is done within the desktop version for Mac and Windows: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/28451608
DNA research:
- Create a notebook for your DNA research.
- Bring all of your DNA research into one filing space in Evernote.
- When testing multiple family members and/or multiple DNA companies, create a master note with a table that includes the DNA company information, names of people tested, kit numbers, passwords, etc.
- Forward email confirmations to Evernote when you purchase kits. These usually include registration or login information.
- Forward email notifications that tell you that you have matches or new people to contact.
- You may want to encrypt any text within notes that contain passwords or sensitive/private information. Encryption is done within the desktop version for Mac and Windows: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/28451608
Society memberships:
- Create a notebook for your genealogical and historical society membership(s).
- Create a master note with a table that includes a list of all your societies, your membership numbers, etc.
- Forward email confirmations to Evernote that include your membership information with expiration dates.
- Forward email newsletters that have information that you might want to refer to later.
- Set an Evernote reminder on the note to remind you when it is time to renew your membership.
- You may want to encrypt any text within notes that contain passwords or sensitive/private information. Encryption is done within the desktop version for Mac and Windows: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/28451608

About Evernote Encryption: http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/article/23480996

Evernote for Every Genealogist

http://www.CyndisList.com/evernote

Evernote Tags for Genealogy

[ATTN: This article was originally published on 7 May 2014. It has now been moved here from the old blog host and it will require updating soon.]

One of the powers behind Evernote is the search function. And tags for notes make that search even more powerful. Think of tags this way: they function just as tabs do in your physical notebooks. They help to sub-divide, thus sort, the contents within a notebook.

You can create up to 10,000 different tags. You can have up to 100 tags per note, but that is overkill. I suggest you give notes at least once relevant tag. Two or three should do it in most cases.

Suggestions for tag types:

Family group name(s) within a surname notebook
For example, within my INGLE, ENGLE, ENGEL notebook I have tags for David Henry Ingle, Adam Monroe Ingle, Mathias Engel, etc. These are my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd great grandfathers. I then tag notes for anyone who is a descendant of these people.
Individual's name
This can be used if you want to tag each individual person in a family group. However, I wouldn't do this for all people in your research. You have a total limit of 10,000 tags. I would only create tags for individuals that have a high profile in your research.
Maiden names
Because a notebook will be for the husband's surname, tagging a maiden name of a wife helps you sort.
Record type
For example: Deed, Census, Will, Taxes, Military, Pension, Map, County History, etc.
Repository name
For example, specific archives, libraries, or web sites used for the research contained within the note. I have notes tagged "FHL" for the Family History Library or "ACPL" for the Allen County Public Library.
Tasks to Accomplish
For example:
- "Add to Genealogy Database"
- "Find Original Source"
- "Create Citation"
- "Confirm"
- "More Evidence Needed"
- "To Read"
- "To Transcribe"
Genealogical Education
- ____ Webinar Notes
- ____ Conference Notes
- ____ Lecture Notes
- Syllabus/Handouts

Evernote for Every Genealogist

http://www.CyndisList.com/evernote

Evernote Was Made For Genealogy, Part 2

[ATTN: This article was originally published on 5 May 2014. It has now been moved here from the old blog host and it will require updating soon.]

In the first post I described what Evernote is and what types of notes we might create for genealogy.
http://cyndislist.blogspot.com/2015/06/evernote-was-made-for-genealogy.html

What I didn't say in that first post requires a post of its own. If you aren't already keeping a research plan and research log in some sort of research workbook (physical or virtual), it is time to do so. And the research workbook is why Evernote was made for genealogy.

I became a genealogist in 1980 because of a high school project, a family tree book filled out by my maternal grandmother, and a trip taken by my Aunt Daisy to visit all the relatives in Indiana and Virginia. My first research notes were copies of family group sheets and pedigree charts that she had filled out and had made copies for me. As she started talking about the people she met I made notes in the margins and on the backs of the papers. As I moved on in my genealogical learning process I started my own 3-ring binders for each surname to store those sheets and to insert new pages with notes and documents. When I finally had space for large filing cabinets I was able to keep everything in hanging files and folders instead of the binders. When I started to visit libraries and archives, and when I went on a trip to visit extended family, I began to use individual steno notepads for each surname I was researching. By 1988 my Dad had purchased a computer and a copy of the first version of Family Tree Maker for DOS for me to use. I went to his house to load all of my family information into the software. By the time I got my own computer I moved my database over and started keeping my research notes in Word documents. As I upgraded through new versions of FTM and then on to Generations, The Master Genealogist, and RootsMagic, I also kept research notes in the miscellaneous or notes fields within the software. Several years ago I purchased a copy of MS Office Student which included OneNote, a program similar to Evernote. So, I played with it for research notes as well. For the last 5 years I have been extensively using Evernote as my genealogy research notebook.

That recap tells you that I've done exactly what most of you have done. In 34 years I've accumulated: paper, forms, photocopies, tablets, documents, post-it notes, letters, scraps of papers, envelopes, photos, conference/seminar notes, business cards, flyers, pamphlets, and numerous electronic notes and digital files stored on hard drives, CDs, flash drives, and on the cloud. Everything I need for my research is scattered across more than 3 decades of genealogical educational growth and technological advances. I need to bring everything into one place, cull out the stuff I no longer need, and better organize the stuff I need to keep. Computers and software should make our research easier. This is where Evernote works for me.

I can scan all those scraps of paper and place them in Evernote. The scraps are now all in one place and they all become searchable.
I can keep research notes in folders by surname, just as I did with tablets and notebooks. But now those notes are searchable across all notebooks at one time. So, wherever there is a person that appears in more than one family the search will find them.
I can have more than one type of media contained in one research note. For example: a selection of a web page clipped into a note, marked up with Evernote webclipper tools, and typed notes above/below that clipping that explain why I made the clip, what I intend to do with the clip, and how it applies to whatever I'm doing. Another example: an image and a PDF file can be stored in the same note together, along with typed notes or handwritten markup in the note. I could have a scanned image of an obituary and I can add personal notations and transcribe that obituary in the same note. This would be helpful whenever the scan of the image isn't the best quality. Here's an example of a U.S. census record found on Ancestry.com. I clipped the text from the search results on the site into a note. Then I clipped the original census image into the same note: http://goo.gl/i7tP94. In the old days we might have printed a page with each and put them together into a sleeve protector in a notebook. Now they are in digital format and searchable.
Having my seminar notes in Evernote along with my research notes means that I find new resources to use in my research. For example, if I do a search on Virginia or Indiana or Dodge County, Wisconsin up pops my research notes for ancestors from those areas along with those notes I took at a recent genealogy conference about how to do research in those areas.
Having my research notes all in Evernote means I can access them anytime and anywhere. I don't have to lug that heavy notebook or multiple tablets with me anymore. And how practical is it to haul around a large 4-drawer filing cabinet with you? I have my notes with me on my phone, my iPad, my Chromebook, and my laptop. And because Evernote is also available on the web I can access it from any library and even when I'm visiting a friend's house.

Recently, while giving my lecture on using Evernote I talked about all of the above. A gentleman in the audience asked me why I would bother keeping all of this information in Evernote. Why not just put it all in my genealogy software program? First, we gather data from numerous sources. We may need to evaluate all of those sources and come to a decision about the evidence contained within. That can take time. I don't enter anything into my genealogy database until I'm comfortable with the data and the research and reasoning behind using it. Also, the Notes or Miscellaneous fields in genealogy software programs generally have a size limit. You may not be able to add large chunks of text or attached files, depending on the program. Therefore, Evernote holds all my research notes, while the database holds my research conclusions with source citations.

If you plan on using Evernote to hold all of your research notes and you have a lot of existing files you may or may not want to bring them all into Evernote right away. It depends on the quantity and the quality of the notes. For example, I have some notes from very early on that I know aren't helpful based on my experience today. That is the quality issue. The quantity issue depends on your Evernote account:

Both the free version and the premium version have unlimited storage. So all of your notes and files can be stored within--eventually.
The free version has a monthly upload allowance up to 60 MB
The paid version has a monthly upload allowance up to 1 GB
The free version file size for a single note is up to 25 MB
The paid version file size for a single note is up to 100 MB

During initial setup you might bring in notes slowly to accommodate the monthly upload allowance. If you store files on a cloud service such as Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, or Microsoft SkyDrive, you can set up links to those files within a note in Evernote. You are making a table of contents via links/bookmarks to your cloud files. You could even do these in individual notes within each of the surname notebooks. Doing this means you still bring your research focus into Evernote and individuals files can be moved into or copied into Evernote later.

Evernote for Every Genealogist

http://www.CyndisList.com/evernote

Evernote Was Made For Genealogy

[ATTN: This article was originally published on 5 May 2014. It has now been moved here from the old blog host and it will require updating soon.]

I will admit it. I'm an Evernote junkie. I love this tool and all it has to offer. I started this blog to demonstrate some useful features and to share ideas with fellow genealogists on how to use Evernote to make research a bit more organized and productive. For more ideas, see: http://www.CyndisList.com/evernote/

What is Evernote?

Evernote is a notebook container
Evernote is a note-taking and note-filing system
Evernote holds multiple notes within multiple notebooks
Evernote is a container for every scrap of paper, every note, and every digital scrap of paper that you save, putting them all in one convenient place
Evernote syncs all of your information across the web, your computer, and all of your mobile devices so that your notes go with you everywhere
Evernote makes all your notes and files searchable, even within an image
Some people use these terms to describe Evernote
- "everything bucket"
- "brain dump"
- "universal inbox"
In short: where you have piles of research notes and printouts and scraps of paper on your desk, on your computer, in notebooks, and in your filing cabinets, you can now put all of those things into one searchable software application - Evernote
Evernote overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjn6YkCY2yA

The types of Evernote notes can be any or all of the following -- and even multiple types contained within a single note if you like:

text notes
handwritten notes
digital images
photos
audio files
PDF files

Evernote notes can be used for storing many things, for example:

research notes
research logs
timelines
to do lists
checklists
post-it notes
web site clippings
screen shots
bookmarks
e-mail messages and threads
scanned images
photos
business cards
receipts
recipes
seminar notes
webinar notes
reminder notes
travel notes (i.e. itinerary, flight info, packing list)

Evernote for Every Genealogist

http://www.CyndisList.com/evernote