Tag: family tree

Maintenance

How to Manage Multiple Family Trees to Benefit Your Research

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Many genealogists have family trees on sites such as Ancestry and MyHeritage, and also in family history software on their computer. While multiple family trees have powerful research advantages, they can quickly become a liability if poorly managed.

Inconsistent information between trees wastes research time and prevents you achieving your research objectives. Outdated data leads you down wrong paths. Missing documentation undermines your credibility. The solution isn’t fewer trees. It’s better family tree management.

This guide shows you how to maintain multiple genealogy trees effectively, keeping them accurate, consistent, and useful for your research.

Note: This post only deals with multiple trees about the same family. It does not cover situations where you may have different unrelated trees for clients or friends.

Why Genealogists Use Multiple Family Trees

Different platforms serve different research purposes:

Commercial genealogy websites like Ancestry and MyHeritage offer vast record collections. Having a family tree on these platforms helps you find new information and sources.

DNA testing company websites provide tools for analysing genetic matches. Your family tree is key to understanding how you connect with DNA matches.

Desktop genealogy software gives you comprehensive research tools, detailed reporting options, and control over your data format and privacy.

Collaborative family trees like FamilySearch and WikiTree connect you with other researchers working on the same families and can help you solve research problems.

Each platform has strengths. The challenge lies in managing family tree data across all of them to keep obtaining the benefits.

The benefits and alternatives are discussed in my blog post, Where’s the Best Place to Put Your Family Tree.

The Costs of Poor Family Tree Management

Inconsistencies between your family trees can create serious research problems.

You can waste hours or months investigating leads based on incorrect information. You may miss out on research leads because your online tree lacks recent updates. And the stories or presentations that you base on your family tree will be vague or incorrect.

Inaccurate family trees can also mislead other researchers, as they copy your mistakes and spread inaccurate genealogy information.

Core Principles of Managing Multiple Family Trees

Effective family tree management rests on four foundations:

  • Accuracy: Names, dates, places and relationships must be correct.
  • Documentation: Include quality source citations and supporting evidence in research notes.
  • Consistency: Information must match between your trees.
  • Security: Regular backups to protect your research from loss.

These principles guide decisions about maintaining your family trees.

Refer to my blog post Create an Accurate Family Tree by Fixing Errors for more on accuracy.

Step 1: Designate Your Master Family Tree

Choose one family tree as your master family tree. This becomes the most complete, most accurate version of your research.

I recommend using family history software for your master tree. Programs like Legacy Family Tree, Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic offer extensive organisation tools, great source management and complete data control.

Your master tree should contain:

  • Every person you’ve researched
  • Full source citations for all information
  • Digital copies of important documents and photographs
  • Research notes and conclusions.

All other trees become working trees. These are extracts or subsets of your master tree designed for specific research purposes.

Step 2: Establish a Master Tree Maintenance Routine

Your master tree requires regular attention, even when you are not actively researching.

Immediate updates: When you discover new information on any platform, update your master tree straight away. This prevents the accumulation of inconsistencies.

For example, if you find someone in a census record on Ancestry:

  1. add it to your Ancestry tree
  2. copy the information to your master family tree on your computer
  3. download a copy of the census to your computer
  4. attach that file to the person in your master family tree.

Research focused updates: When you sit down to work on a specific family or research problem, it’s a good idea to check and correct anything related to that family or research problem in your master tree and the relevant working tree before you do more research.

Weekly maintenance: Spend about 30 minutes each week reviewing and improving your master family tree. Check for obvious errors, add missing source citations, enhance documentation for one family line, remove or merge duplicate profiles.

Monthly deep cleaning: Choose one surname or family group for thorough review. Verify all dates and places. Ensure every piece of information has proper documentation. Look for gaps in your research.

This systematic approach maintains data quality and prevents overwhelming cleanup tasks.

flow diagram illustrating the process of updating your master family tree and working trees, to keep them consistent

Step 3: Synchronise Your Working Trees

Create Update Schedules

Establish regular intervals for synchronising your working trees with your master tree. The frequency depends on your research activity:

  • Daily researchers: Weekly updates
  • Weekend genealogists: Monthly updates
  • Casual researchers: Quarterly updates

Document your last update date for each tree to maintain accountability.

Focus Updates by Platform

Rather than trying to update everything simultaneously, rotate focus between platforms:

  • Month 1: Update your Ancestry tree with new master tree information
  • Month 2: Review and update DNA testing company trees
  • Month 3: Update your WikiTree profiles

This approach makes updates manageable while ensuring nothing gets neglected long-term.

Software-Specific Syncing

Some genealogy programs offer automated syncing features:

Family Tree Maker allows you to synchronise family trees in your desktop software and on Ancestry, and can save significant time.

Legacy Family Tree offers FamilySearch synchronisation, but it works differently as it is a collaborative tree. Synchronising is best done one profile at a time with selective amendments to ensure accuracy.

Step 4: Implement Cross Referencing Between Family Trees

Cross-referencing helps you navigate between trees quickly and maintain consistency between individual profiles.

In Your Master Tree

 Add custom facts or notes containing platform identifiers:

  • FamilySearch person IDs
  • WikiTree person IDs
  • Stable URLs to person profiles in an Ancestry or MyHeritage family tree.

More information: How to Use FamilySearch Person IDs and WikiTree ID

In Your Working Trees

Add private notes containing your master tree person numbers. This creates bidirectional linking between all your trees.

Example: Legacy Family Tree software assigns a unique RIN to each person (Record Identification Numbers). Learn how to find them in this article from Legacy.

Create a Management Plan

Managing multiple family trees requires you to remember which platforms you have a tree and when they were last updated. Consider a spreadsheet or Notion project plan to list your trees and track your maintenance.

Step 5: Implement a Back Up Plan

Your master tree deserves the most protection:

  • Configure automatic backups within your genealogy software
  • Create weekly manual backups to external storage
  • Store monthly backups in cloud storage or off-site locations.

Working Tree Backups

Working tree backups should be unnecessary, if you keep your master plan backed up. However, you can download GEDCOM files from online trees for added security. While GEDCOMs don’t include media files, they preserve your basic family structure and can be used to recreate trees if needed.

Note: Collaborative trees like FamilySearch and WikiTree don’t offer GEDCOM downloads.

Step 6: Using GEDCOM Files Strategically

A GEDCOM file is a great way to create a new research tree, but it is not a good tool for updating existing ones.

Be careful to privatise information on living people or sensitive information before uploading a GEDCOM file to create an online family tree.

Common Family Tree Management Mistakes to Avoid

Neglecting the master tree: Working trees receive attention while the master tree stagnates, undermining the entire system.

Inconsistent update schedules: Sporadic updates lead to confusion about which information is current.

Skipping backups: Hardware failures and platform changes can destroy years of work.

Creating Your Family Tree Management Action Plan

Start implementing better tree management:

This week: Choose your master tree and document your current working trees

This month: Establish your update schedule and start adding cross-references between trees

Ongoing: Follow your maintenance routines and backup procedures.

Consistency matters more than perfection. A simple system has greater chance of being implemented.

Multiple family trees boost your research power when managed properly. Start with your master tree designation and improve your system gradually.

About the Author

Danielle Lautrec is a genealogy educator, researcher, and author of The Good Genealogist. With qualifications in history, family history, and historical archaeology, she teaches for the Society of Australian Genealogists.

Sources and resources

Best tools for creating genealogy timelines: A comparison

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Your ancestors’ lives span decades and centuries, but family trees charts cannot adequately capture the chronology of their experiences. Genealogy timelines enrich family history research, revealing how historical events shaped your family’s journey, and uncovering patterns that traditional charts miss entirely.

Genealogy timeline tools range from basic spreadsheet templates to sophisticated diagramming software. The variety of timeline tools can overwhelm researchers trying to choose the right solution.

This comparison cuts through the confusion, evaluating seven leading tools across two crucial categories: creating beautiful illustrative timelines for sharing your discoveries, and building powerful analytical timelines for serious genealogical research.

Please note: This article reflects my personal opinions based on my experience. Your preferences may differ depending on your research style, budget and familiarity with software.

First, consider the purpose of your timeline and your audience

Before choosing a tool, think about what you want to achieve with your timeline. Ask yourself: is your timeline for illustration or analysis?

  • Illustrative timelines are used to clearly display or summarise information. They are useful for presentations, reports or sharing with family.
  • Analytical timelines help you test hypotheses, identify inconsistencies and evaluate evidence. They are useful for research planning, DNA analysis and problem solving.

Your choice of a timeline tool also depends on your audience. Family and friends will probably prefer illustrative timelines, while analytical timelines are more suited to other genealogists.

The right timeline tool depends on your goals, audience, budget and comfort with software. Here is my comparison, to help you make your decision.

Quick overview: Timeline tools at a glance

ToolBest forCostComplexity level
SpreadsheetsDeep analysis, data comparisonFreeLow-Medium
NotionResearch planning, linked notesFree/PaidMedium
SmartArtQuick simple illustrationsFree with OfficeLow
SmartDrawBasic diagramsPaidMedium
VisioCustom diagramsPaidMedium-Difficult
LucidchartProfessional illustrationsPaidMedium
Family history softwareIndividual timelinesFree/PaidLow

Comparison of timeline tools

Spreadsheets, such as Excel, Airtable & Google Sheets

Best for: Deep analysis, sorting, filtering, comparisons

Assessment: Spreadsheets are one of the best tools for genealogy timelines. They allow detailed, flexible analysis using features like sorting, filtering and hiding columns. The formatting features allow you to illustrate your timeline in different views. You can use built-in templates or build from scratch. Easily modified and you can store multiple timelines on different worksheets within a spreadsheet.

Learning curve: Low-Medium. You only need to learn a few features and basic formatting

Availability: Free with Microsoft Office; Airtable has a free plan; Google Sheets is free with a Google account

Verdict: Ideal for analytical tasks. Handles a lot of data. Familiar and powerful, while still being quite simple to use.

Extract from an analytical timeline in Excel, containing information about when my family lines arrived in Australia

Notion

Best for: Master timelines, linking events to research notes and research plans

Assessment: Notion uses databases, making it a flexible tool for capturing timeline data with context. It’s not designed for diagrams, but the table view can be customised to show events by person, place, or date. Data can easily be rearranged using sorting and filtering.

Learning curve: Medium.Learn how in my article, How to build a timeline in Notion (with linked views)

Availability: Free for individuals; paid plans for teams

Verdict: Excellent if you already use Notion for research notes and research planning. Less suited to complex analytical tasks.

SmartArt (Word & PowerPoint)

Best for: Simple illustrative timelines

Assessment: SmartArt is a quick way to create basic timelines. You just insert a Process diagram into Word or PowerPoint. Limited in customisation and not suited to analysis, but perfect for simple illustrative timelines.

Learning curve: Low

Availability: Free with Microsoft Office

Verdict: Handy for quick visuals and beginner-friendly.

Simple illustrative genealogy timeline, shown as an arrow with events marked on it. Created using SmartArt
Simple illustrative timeline created using SmartArt

SmartDraw

Best for: Simple illustrative diagrams and bar charts (Gantt-style, showing the duration of an event)

Assessment: Offers horizontal and table formats, with templates for quick setup. You can customise text, colours, and add images. Suited for illustrative purposes, not complex analytical timelines. Produces good quality images for inclusion in presentations or reports.

Learning curve: Medium, but easier if you are familiar with the software or similar tools

Availability: Free trial; subscription required for ongoing use

Verdict: Suitable for presentations. Subscription cost is hard to justify if timelines are your only use.

Visio

Best for: Simple illustrative flowcharts and diagrams, including timelines

Assessment: The desktop version is more customisable than SmartDraw. Like SmartDraw, you can customise text, colours, and add images. Suited for illustrative purposes, not complex analytical timelines.

Learning curve: More difficult than SmartDraw

Availability: Basic version included with Microsoft 365 business; full version is a paid app

Verdict: A mid-tier option—more flexible than SmartArt, less than Excel or Lucidchart. Good if you already have access.

Lucidchart

Best for: Both illustrative and analytical timelines, where customisation is important

Assessment: Offers vertical, horizontal, Gantt and bar chart timeline templates. Highly customisable with colour coding, shapes and labels. Strong contender for both illustrative and analytical needs.

Learning curve: Medium. Learning the features and processes takes a little while, but step-by-step instructions are provided

Availability: Free trial; subscription required

Verdict: One of the most versatile options. Worth if you need complex visuals or also want to create family tree diagrams. Easy to insert a Lucidchart into a Word document or PowerPoint presentation.

Genealogy timeline in a horizontal line format with key events for a couple, from Lucidchart
Example of a simple illustrative timeline in Lucidchart. Many more formats are available.

Family history software

Best for: Simple timelines for an individual, not requiring customisation

Assessment: Limited to events of an individual within the context of their immediate family. Very little customisation available. Easy to incorporate into a report generated by the software.

Learning curve: None, the timeline is generated automatically as you enter data to your family tree

Availability: Included in all family history software. Some, such as Legacy Family Tree, are free.

Verdict: Very useful for day-to-day research and simple illustrative timelines in reports. Limited value for complex analysis.

Example of a genealogy timeline in Legacy Family Tree Software, showing four columns: Age, Event, Date, Information
Example of a timeline in Legacy Family Tree Software.
Tip: Change to Report style then copy and paste the data into a spreadsheet if you want to add or amend the data.

Final thoughts

From my experience, three tools emerge as the clear winners for different genealogy scenarios. Spreadsheets excel at analytical work. Their sorting, filtering, and comparison capabilities make them the most powerful choice for serious research. Lucidchart takes the stands out for visual presentation, offering professional-quality timelines to enrich your family history. For quick, everyday use, SmartArt provides the perfect balance of simplicity and effectiveness.

My recommendation? Start with Excel to build your analytical skills and understanding of timeline creation. Once you’re comfortable with the fundamentals, add Lucidchart for when you need to create impressive visuals for sharing. This two-tool approach covers 90% of genealogy timeline needs while keeping costs reasonable and learning curves manageable.

Learn more about using genealogy timelines in my article, Use Genealogy Timelines to Organise, Analyse and Improve Your Research

For more articles about resources and tools for family history, go to the Resources page.

For more of my articles about using Excel for family history, go to the Using Excel page.

Sources and resources

Why Notion helps your family history

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Using Notion will help you take a more systematic approach to your family history research and be better organised. It will give you more control, save you heaps of time and improve the quality of your family history.

Notion is a project management and productivity tool. It helps you achieve better quality family history by providing means to:

  • plan research, and prioritise and track research tasks
  • plan and coordinate writing projects, such as coursework, articles, blog posts and social media, and
  • plan and manage your genealogical education.

Notion is also a notes management tool. It helps you analyse information, and document and organise your research notes by providing a means to:

  • connect research plans with research notes and evidence documentation, analyse information and find research leads
  • use your notes to answer research questions and progress projects
  • organise source citations and link them to research notes.

Notion is designed to be used as a workspace. It is kind of like having your own private website, in which you can create pages and store information in the cloud.

Snapshot from my family history research hub in Notion

Notion is not an alternative to family history software or online family trees. It is tool to supplement and support that software or online tree. For example, I use it for research notes and working documents, not final documentation of my family history.

Any improvement that you can make to the way that you organise your research and research notes will make a difference when you need to add information to your family tree or software, write a presentation or story, or do more research. Your Notion workspace will become a treasure trove of resources.

This is the first in a series of posts about Notion. More coming soon.

Back to the Notion in family history page.

Advice, Methodology

How to solve a genealogy research problem, with tools

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Family history frequently presents research problems. While online sources make information more accessible, interpreting that information can be a challenge. That challenge can be made easier if you have a systematic process and tools for solving genealogy research problems.

Genealogy research process

Firstly, make sure that you are following the five-step research cycle.

Process diagram showing 5 steps in the research process. Step 1 Goals, Step 2 Scoping, Step 3 Tasks, Step 4 Research, Step 5 Review
The Research Process (Source: The Good Genealogist, D. Lautrec 2022)

Research process steps:

  1. Identify your aims, objectives, research questions and hypotheses
  2. Scope to review the state of knowledge about your topic and the sources available
  3. Identify the information needed and the sources that may provide that information
  4. Conduct research
  5. Review

If you need more information about the research process, check the articles on the Plan page and Chapter 2 of my book, The Good Genealogist.

Genealogy research problem solving process and tools

This research process works well in most situations. However, sometimes you need to add a problem solving process. And you need tools to help you with each step.

Step 1 – Clarify

Revisit step 1 of the research process to review your research questions and hypotheses.

Make sure that your questions sit under relevant aims and objectives. Aims and objectives provide important context for your questions. They help clarify why the questions need to be answered and may even demonstrate that your questions need to change.

Try wording the questions differently. If you are not already working with hypotheses, generate some for each research question.

Tool:

Step 2 – Scope

Revisit step 2 of the research process and re-scope the problem.

Examine the sources and information again. Analyse your conclusions and the evidence. Consider whether the conclusions are reasonable and defensible. Examine whether there are gaps or inconsistencies that you missed the first time.

Tools:

  • Revise your scoping paper if you already have one, or write one if you do not.
  • Try transcribing key sources. This may help you notice details that you missed when reading.
  • Apply the Tree Health Assessment Tool to your tree. If you have already created the chart version, now create a table version examining more of the information in your tree.
  • Revise the evidence summaries for relevant conclusions (aka proof summaries), or write some if you do not have any. (see The Good Genealogist)
Four generation family tree chart in fan format, coloured green yellow and pink based on the amount of evidence for each person and relationship.
Example of a Tree Health Assessment chart. Green indicates good evidence, yellow indicates some evidence, pink indicates no evidence.

Step 3 – Fix

Research problems often occur as a result of errors made in previous research.

You must have a Solid Foundation. Identify any errors, inaccuracies or weaknesses in your family tree and fix them.

Tools:

Step 4 – Analyse

Analysis and more analysis!

Critical analysis is important throughout the research process. However, thinking of it as a separate step reminds you to do it more consciously and thoroughly.

Try breaking your research problem into smaller chunks. Tackle smaller pieces of the problem instead of the whole, and you may get closer to an answer.

Examine possible causes of your research problem. This may help you identify tactics to employ.

Analyse all of the information, sources and evidence more thoroughly and more objectively. Examine what other researchers have concluded about your research problem.

Tools:

  • Mind mapping is a great tool for breaking down problems, identifying gaps and highlighting inconsistencies.
  • A timeline is an essential analytical tool for all genealogy research problems.

Step 5 – Identify

Identify research leads.

Sources that you may not have examined before. Repositories you have not tried. Inconsistencies that should be resolved.

Identify extended family, friends, associates and neighbours (FFANs). Sources about these people may supply information relevant to your research questions.

Consider alternative explanations. Generate a wider range of hypotheses to explore.

Tools:

  • see tools listed in step 4
  • Revise your research plan if you already have one, or write one if you do not.

Step 6 – Investigate

Implement your research plan, investigate all research leads.

Update your documentation as you work, including relevant evidence summaries and your research plan. The process of documentation will help your analysis.

Problem solving method

There are three important things to keep in mind when solving family history research problems.

Do it again!

The research process and the problem solving process are both cyclic. You need to keep repeating the steps until you are finished.

Each time you revisit a problem or a source, you may notice something new.

Do things differently!

No problem is solved by continually doing things the same way. You must force yourself do something differently each time.

Do things more thoroughly!

Tough problems take time to solve. Pay attention to the details. Develop your analytical skills.

Diagram illustrating examples of ways that a genealogy researcher can approach things differently.
Solve a genealogy research problem by doing things differently (Generations Genealogy)

Feature image generated by AI within WordPress

stacked brown envelopes in organized rows
Methodology

How to manage your family history research notes

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How often have you tried to find some information or your family history research notes and you just cannot remember where you put them?

Perhaps it was some notes you made last time you were at the archives? Or a valuable piece of evidence that would support a conclusion in your family history? Or perhaps it was an outline of a story that you plan to write?

You gather huge amounts of information when researching family history. You need a system to manage that information so that it is available when you need it.

What are family history research notes?

When we research family history, we put a lot of effort into entering information into a family tree and writing up stories. Behind the scenes we also do a lot of other writing. This other writing is what I call research notes.

See the previous posts:

Flow diagram showing the five steps of the research process: Goals, Scoping, Tasks, Research and Review
 Research notes are taken throughout the research process
(Lautrec, The Good Genealogist, 2022)

You need a notes management system

A notes management system for your family history research notes improves the organisation of all your writing and documentation. But it is not just about organising your files. It is also about the tools that you use, and having an efficient and effective workflow.

A notes management system will turn your scrappy notes into a valuable resource to add to your family history.

An ideal notes management system:

  • is accessible, whether you are working online or offline
  • helps you find your notes quickly
  • helps you use your notes to answer research questions, write papers and stories, and progress projects
  • helps you connect ideas and notice patterns
  • connects related notes to each other and connects notes to the information in your family tree
  • is as simple as possible, so that you will implement it
  • adds value and is not a time-waster.

The system you choose will depend on how you like to work and the software tools that you have.

Diagram showing five steps in the workflow of a notes management system: Take notes, Organise notes, Review notes, Connect notes, Use notes

Family history research notes on paper

There are downsides to taking notes on paper. Notes on paper are not easily searchable and they are easily damaged or lost. Scraps of paper do not encourage a systematic approach to research.

However, I find that I often have my best thoughts when I do not have access to a computer – when I am driving, walking, relaxing in the backyard, or just as I am waking up. Writing by hand can aid comprehension. Sometimes it is the only way that my brain can work through a problem!

So, I do actually make a lot of notes on paper. I also highlight sections in a book or on a photocopy of a source, and I make notes in the margins! Sometimes I even use post it notes! I am sure that I am not the only one.

There are also some well-known note-taking systems that use index cards and this was a common approach in family history before personal computers.

So the key is, if you use paper, how do you get it into a notes management system?

Organising paper research notes

If you take research notes on paper, you must then take it to step 2 in the workflow diagram above. Capture those notes and organise them in your notes management system.

Four ideas for capturing paper research notes

Take a photo:

When I was being interviewed by Cassie and Shaun Gilmartin for The Family History Book, they told me that their favourite method was to take a photo or scan of their notes. If you use this method, make sure you have a process for transferring them to the relevant folder on your computer or attaching them to your family tree.

Use a journal:

Journals are not just for diaries and artwork. I write research notes in my journal. If I do end up with a note on a scrap of paper or post it note, I stick them into the journal.

I tried organising my journal into sections by topic but it was not very effective. So now I simply write a few key words in the top left corner of the page that indicate the subject of that page.

I put my journals into a tray next to my computer at the end of the day. As I transfer the notes on a page to their rightful place (such as my family history software), I put a tick in the top right corner so that I know that page has been dealt with.

Use folders:

Many genealogists like to have ring-binder folders for groups of ancestors. If you use this method, you need to be conscientious about putting your notes into the right folder. You also need to set up the folders in a way that makes the information retrievable.

Use templates:

Paper research notes can be standardised and organised using forms and templates. Popular examples are family group sheets, family tree charts and census research forms. Templates improve the useability of the folder system.

Research notes in an online family tree or family history software

Placing research notes in an online family tree or family history software connects your notes to the relevant person and associated information. This has a number of benefits:

  • a family tree or family history software provides an organisational structure for your research notes, which makes them easier to retrieve and apply
  • your family tree or software provides context for your research notes, which aids interpretation
  • your research notes provide context for the information in your family tree or software and can be used to explain or elaborate on that information
  • combining information and research notes in the same place makes it easier to conduct further research.

The notes fields are located on the profiles of individuals or an event. However, not all research notes are specific to an individual or an event, so they need to be stored elsewhere.

Example of research notes attached to the profile of my great grandmother in Legacy Family Tree software

Organising research notes in a family tree or software

You need to add research notes to your online tree or family history software in a systematic manner. Messy digital notes are as useless as notes on scraps of paper.

You can provide structure to your notes by using standard headings. Information can be slotted under these headings at different times, from different sources.

The headings you use will depend on the topics you make notes about. I find it useful to have these headings: birth, death, marriage, names, immigration, research questions, inconsistencies and research leads.

After you solve a research problem, you can tidy up your research notes and keep them as an evidence summary.

Family history research notes stored on your computer

Storing research notes on your computer gives you more flexibility in the way you organise and manage your notes. You are not limited to putting notes on a specific individual or event. You can group your notes any way that you like, using a folder system or a file naming system.

Organising your computer research notes

To make good use of your research notes, you need to connect them to related notes and to the information in your family tree. You could achieve this by implementing a folder structure that mirrors your family tree.

I have three main folders on my computer – Names, Places and Themes.

Within the Names folder I have a folder for each grandparent line. Within those folders I have sub-folders for each surname and within those I have sub-folders for each family group.

My Places folder is divided by country and my Themes folder is divided by topics, such as convicts, mining and migration.

If you are not always good at filing notes exactly where they belong as you create them, you may need an inbox. An inbox keeps your notes together in one place until you have time to deal with them. At that time, you can review them and move them into their correct folder.

Research plan or log

Placing family history research notes in a research plan or research log connects your notes to the subject of the plan, your research questions and tasks. This has similar benefits to placing your notes in a family tree or software.

If you use this method, you need a process to extract information from your research plan or log into your online family tree or family history software. I keep track of this step using a column in my research plan. I tick off each row after I finish analysing the information and update my tree.

Note taking apps

Note taking apps are digital tools that help you store, organise and access your notes. Many are cloud-based, which means they can be used on multiple devices whenever you have internet access. They can also be linked to an online family tree, using hyperlinks.

Take a look at my articles about the app, Notion.

More information

Read more about improving the quality of your family history in my book, The Good Genealogist.

Post last updated 30 April 2025