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Organizing Information in Legacy/Ancestry.com
I'm wondering what others do in regards to what information they ultimately enter into Legacy. I started out by entering everything, including notes taken during conversations with relatives, etc. It has become cumbersome and cluttered. I am playing with the idea of only putting verified information in there when I obtain original records, but I don't know how that will play out when I get into the earlier years where there aren't as many records or if they are missing. Plus one of the reasons I bought Legacy was for the Research Guidance section. I just don't know if I'm using Legacy to it's full capacity. Any suggestions?
Also, is anyone also keeping trees on Ancestry.com? I love having the information on there because I can look for hints and keep track of info that I later enter into Legacy. But essentially I'm maintaining two family tree databases. I just wonder if I'm making it harder for myself than it needs to be. That was one thing I definitely miss about FTM -- the connection with Ancestry.com.
Any hints or suggestions on what you do would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Views: 108
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bob Rowe on
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One hint to help unclutter any reports is to take non-essential information and enclose it in double square brackets: [[Uncle Jim was a drunk]]. This will not show up in a report unless you specifically want it printed by unchecking [or checking] a box.
I keep a tree at ancestry but don't keep it up to date except to occasionally upload a current gedcom. I like having my data at Ancestry so that it can be found by others that might be related to me.
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Permalink Reply by Monica Palmer on
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Thanks Bob! So do you enter every little tidbit into your legacy file? Or just verified information?
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Permalink Reply by Clifton Cann on
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The square brackets was new to me too Bob. Thanks. I have been maintaining both Ancestry and Legacy databases for my tree. It is a lot of work but the Ancestry database has been the source of an amazing amount of hints and ideas. I try to enter everything into Legacy and to maintain a standard methodology in that regard. Sticking to a regimen cuts down on the clutter but it still gets a little overwhelming at times. I have found though that every little tidbit can add up to some fairly significant finds in some cases so I hate to leave anything out. You do have to be careful to source everything and note your confidence level though.
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Yes, I tend to put in all the tidbits. At some later date those tidbits might help me in my research.
I learned about the double square brackets by going through Report Options. On the Privacy tab, there is a section for 'Override Private Settings'. The fifth item says 'Print [[private]] notes'. You can also read about it in 'Help' under Privacy. I was entering everyone's SSN in the notes section, and I had entered a number of them in the Events section. I found the wife of a deceased cousin and sent her a report in the hope of getting her help filling in some blanks in my tree. She became very upset that I had her late husbands SSN in the report. Even after explaining that it becomes public when we die she still wanted it removed. Now I put all SSNs in double square brackets. They never show up in a report, but I still have them. Legacy's Search was very helpful in finding all the SSN entries so I could remove them from Events and re-enter them in Notes. -
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Permalink Reply by Joyce Walth on
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Thanks for the great info, Bob! I'm glad there is someone who works with Legacy extensively to offer these great tidbits of info! I have too much ADD, I think! LOL
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It's good to know I'm not the only one who uses both Legacy and Ancestry at the same time. I keep my tree at Ancestry and update it as best as possible but do most editing work in Legacy
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