Tag: Notion

Sources and resources

Manage your family history blog using Notion

generationsgenealogyaus

Notion is a great project management tool. It is not just useful in planning your research, you can also use it to write articles about your research. Here are two ways that you can manage a family history blog using Notion.

You can use Notion to:

  • store a list of your family history blog post ideas
  • write the draft posts
  • gather images
  • plan and draft social media posts
  • track progress
  • store copies of the final blog post and links to social media posts.

The foundational databases provide the project management structure for all types of projects, including writing projects. You do not need to construct any additional databases. If you have not already set them up, instructions are provided here.

The four foundational databases are: Projects, Research Questions, Tasks and Notes.

Option 1: Website is the Project

Create a project for your website in the Projects Database.

You could use the Research Questions Database to list each blog post and link them to Tasks and Notes. However, I it may be less confusing if you create a Note for each blog post in the Notes Database and link them to the website Project.

I find it useful to use the title of the blog post as the title of the Note. The title of the Note can be amended as work progresses.

Family history blog post tasks

Create Tasks for each blog post for any actions that you want to track.

You could just have one Task – ‘write [title] blog post’. Or you could break the process down into multiple tasks, such as:

  • Research for [title] blog post
  • Prepare draft [title] blog post
  • Finalise [title] blog post
  • Create social media posts for [title] blog post.

Keep each Task title unique, as this will help you track progress in your linked databases. I do this by putting part of the blog post title in the task names (see [title] above).

Make sure that you link each Task to the Note for the relevant blog post. That will allow you to filter or sort your linked databases to show Tasks for a particular post.

Tracking progress on blog posts

If you choose to just have one Task for each blog post, consider adding a To Do checklist on the Notes pages to help you keep track of your work.

The Tasks Database is already set up with tools to mark individual tasks as completed. However, you also need a way to mark off a blog post as completed.

Add a checkbox property column to your Notes database, called Archived or Completed. Use it mark off a blog post Note after it has been published. You will not lose the archived Notes. They remain in your Notes database.

Create a linked view of your Notes database on the page for your website project. Instructions are provided in Plan your family history with Notion. Add a second tab with a copy of the database. On the first tab, add a filter so that it shows Notes that have not been archived. On the second tab, add a filter so that it shows Notes that have been archived, i.e. published blog posts.

Option 2: Each family history blog post is a Project

Another option is to create a new Project for each blog post. I personally prefer this option, but both work fine.

If you choose this option, you can use the Type property column in the Projects Database to identify all of the Projects that are blog posts. Just add another type, such as Blog post.

Then create Notes and Tasks for each blog post, similar to Option 1.

You will still need to add a checkbox to mark off completed posts, but for this option you would add it to your Projects Database instead of your Notes Database. I also added a Status property column to my Projects Database (see image below).

Extract from an example Projects Database, where each post is a Project.
Only one task is listed per project in this example, but you could have many.

More tips

Consider creating a template for your blog post Notes pages, to help you create quality blog posts. This could include headings such as topic, draft titles, opening paragraph, list of images, internal and external links.

Consider adding a checkbox property column to your Notes database and/or your Tasks database to identify Notes and/or Tasks that are related to blog posts. This will help you filter for all blog Notes and Tasks. You could also use a different icon on Notes and Tasks that are blog related.

Use a keywords property column in your Notes Database or Projects Database to record the subjects of each post. This will allow you to filter for posts on each subject and view how many blog posts you have written (or have planned) on a particular subject.

After you publish your blog post, add the URL to the Notes page for that post. You could also add a property column to your Projects Database (for Option 2) or your Notes Database (for Option 1) to store the link.

Back to the Notion main page on my website for more articles.

Sources and resources

Plan your family history research with Notion

generationsgenealogyaus

You can use Notion to create a master family history research plan which is linked to your research notes. You can also generate a list of high priority research tasks, and shortcuts to your favourite projects and notes. Here is how to do it.

Firstly, you need to have your foundational databases set up with some projects, research questions, tasks and notes in them. Instructions are provided in my article, Manage family history projects in Notion. You will get a better idea of how the planning tools work if you have at least four projects, and 5-10 questions, notes and tasks.

All of the tools described below are created using what Notion calls ‘linked views’ of databases. So, step one is to learn how to create a linked view!

How to create a linked view of your databases

Use ‘linked view databases’ to make copies of data from your foundational databases and display that data in different ways on multiple pages.

Any changes made to the content or properties (columns) of the linked view will also change the content or properties of the foundational databases. Similarly, any changes made to the content or properties of the databases will change the linked views. This is very useful for maintaining data integrity and it also saves you time.

A linked view can reference one of the databases, two, three or all four.

  1. To add a linked view, type /linked view of database where you want the table to appear or type /table and select Table view – database.
  2. Then choose the database you want to get data from. If you want to incorporate data from multiple databases, choose the one you want to appear in the lefthand column of the new table.

Instructions from the Notion website.

The following examples demonstrate how you can format the table – including changing from a table to a list.

Create your master research plan

A master research plan on your Home Page will show where you are up to and help you focus on high priority tasks. It will also help you find the relevant pages within your Notion workspace.

A research plan sets out the tasks that are needed to answer a research question or test a hypothesis. Some researchers also use a research log to record what they find. This Notion master plan combines a plan, a log and your research notes. This will help make you super-efficient!

The Plan page on my website has articles about research planning.

Using Notion means that you do not need to have multiple research plans. You can use your four foundational databases to create one master plan for all of your research. This helps you be more strategic in your research, identify priorities and track progress.

  1. Go to your Home Page. Click where you want the master research plan table to appear. This table will need the full-page width, so do not put it in a column.
  2. Create a linked view database in Table View (see above) and select your Tasks Database. This will place the tasks in the lefthand column of the table. This is useful, as tasks are the operational focus of research.
  3. Click on the 3 dots to the right of Title of the Table (between the word Table and columns) and click Hide Database Title.
  4. Add a row above the Table and add a heading: Type ## hit enter, then type Master Research Plan
  5. Click on the Tab in the top left corner of the Database where it says Table, and click on Duplicate to create a copy on a second tab.
  6. Click on the first Tab again, then right click the tab, select Rename, rename the tab as High. Click on the second Tab and rename it as All Tasks. This second tab is an unfiltered copy of the database, which saves you having to go to another page when you want to look at the full database.
  7. Click on the first Tab again to select it. You now need to add a filter so that it only shows the high priority tasks. Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the master research plan, click on Filter to open the + Add filter box, then click on Priority to add that as the filter. You can also add a filter by clicking on the Filter Button, which looks like three horizontal lines (see image below).
  8. This adds a Priority filter button, which appears just under the tabs (see image below). Click on that button and a list of your priorities (High Medium Low) will appear. Click the checkbox next to High. Click outside the popup box to close the box and save your changes.

You have now set up a filtered list of your High Priority Tasks.

Empty master research plan in Notion with an arrow pointing to the filter button.
An empty master research plan, showing the filter button.

When you look at a task in this table, and scroll along that line, you will see which research question and project the task applies to. You will also see the notes page where you will record your notes for this task. This gives you fast and easy access to each of these pages.

If the associated questions, projects or notes do not appear in your master plan:

  • Check that you have set up your foundational databases and added pages to each database correctly.
  • You can may not have assigned them to each other. You can assign a task to a project from this table by clicking on the cell in the Research Projects column and selecting the project name. Similarly, you can assign a task to a research question by clicking on the cell in the Research Questions column and selecting the relevant research question.

Other tips

You can also create new pages from this table. For example, if you do not have a notes page for a task, you can create one by clicking in the cell in the Research Notes column and typing the name of the new note.

You can change the order of the columns in your master plan if you wish, by drag and drop. I like to have column 1 as Tasks, column 2 as projects, 3 as research questions and 4 as notes.

Create a gallery of research projects

A gallery view of your projects on the Home Page provides an easy way to access your projects quickly. When you created your project pages, I suggested you add cover images. It is these images that appear in the gallery view.

  1. Go to your Home Page. Click where you want the gallery to appear.
  2. Create a linked view database in table view (see above) and select your Projects Database. This creates a copy of that database on your Home Page.
  3. Click on the tab where it says Table, select Edit View, then select Layout, then click on Gallery. The table will change to show a box or card for each project.
  4. Click the three dots in the top right corner and select Layout again to adjust the settings: change ‘card preview’ to Page cover and ‘card size’ to small or medium.
  5. Now add a filter so that the gallery just shows the projects for your grandparent line projects.
  6. Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the gallery, click on Filter to open the + Add filter box, then click on Type to add that as the filter. You can also add a filter by clicking on the Filter Button, which looks like three horizontal lines (see image above).
  7. This adds a Type filter button, which appears just under the tabs. Click on that button and select Names. Click outside the popup box to close the box and save your changes.

If you wish, you can repeat the process to create a Gallery view of your Country Projects (select type = Places) as a new table below it, or you can add that as a new Tab on this table. And you can add another gallery view table, or tab view, for your other research projects (select type = Theme).

Tip

You can change the order of your projects in the gallery by drag and drop.

Create lists of favourite projects and notes

You will end up with a lot of pages in Notion, so you may want some shortcuts on your Home Page to current projects and notes. You could add these by adding links to each one, or you could use a linked view instead!

If you followed the instructions in Manage family history projects in Notion, you already have a Favourites column in your Notes Database and your Projects Database.

  1. Go to your Home Page. Click where you want the list of favourite projects to appear.
  2. Create a linked view database (see above) but select List view instead of Table view. Then select your Projects Database.
  3. Now add a filter (see above). Click on Favourite as the filter and when it gives you the options of Unchecked and Checked, select Checked.
  4. Now you have a list of the projects you had selected as favourites. If none appear in the list, go to your Projects database and select some.

Repeat the process to create a list of your favourite notes pages, by selecting the Notes Database.

Create more tables on your project pages

Your master research plan contains all of your projects, questions, tasks and notes. It is also useful to have a subset of the master plan on your project pages.

  1. Open the page for your paternal grandfather project. You can do this by clicking on the relevant image in the gallery view you created on your Home Page, or by clicking on the project in the Projects Database.
  2. Follow the instructions for the master research plan (above), up to and including step 3. Inserting a replacement heading is optional.
  3. Now you need to add a filter so that your table only shows tasks for your paternal grandfather project.
  4. Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the table, click on Filter to open the + Add filter box, then click on Research Projects to add that as the filter. You can also add a filter by clicking on the Filter Button, which looks like three horizontal lines (see image above).
  5. This adds a Research Projects filter button, which appears just under the tabs. Click on that button and a list of your projects will appear. Click the project for your paternal grandfather line.
  6. Click outside the popup box to close the box and save your changes.

Repeat this process on your other three grandparent line project pages, and on any other project pages that need a subset of the master plan.

Tips

Drag and drop the Research Questions column so that it is column 1, then Tasks as Column 2 and Notes as Column 3. This make it easier to plan and conduct research.

Hide columns if they are not important in this view or to make the table fit onto a page without having to use a scroll bar. Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the table (or list or gallery), select Properties, then click on the black eye next to any property/column that you want to hide (e.g. Research Projects). Hidden columns get moved to the bottom of the list and the black eye turns grey. (More tips on filtering in another article, soon).

Back to the Notion main page on my website for more articles.

Sources and resources

Family history macro buttons in Notion

generationsgenealogyaus

Macro buttons can be created in your family history Notion workspace to speed up data entry and promote consistency. When you click on a Macro button it completes a series of actions. Use macro buttons for repetitive processes, such as the creation of pages for research questions, tasks and notes (see my article, Develop family history projects in Notion).

Where to store your macro buttons

Go to your Home Page, click somewhere down the bottom and type /page to create a new page to store your macro buttons. You can move this page to your Resources page later (or put it there now if you have already set up a Resources page).

Macro button for a new project

When clicked, this button will add a new Project Page to your Projects Database and then it will open that Page.

  • Type /butt and select the block option Button. This opens the button form.
  • Click on the smiley face at the top to choose the icon for your button. As this button will add a new Project, use the same icon you used in your Projects Database. I use the file-box icon.
  • Click on the light grey text that says New button and type NEW PROJECT. This will be the text on the button.

First Action:

  • Click on + New action, just above the blue Done button
  • Select the second option, Add page to
  • Then, where it says:
  • Do
  • + Add page to Select database v
  • Click on the v to bring up a list of all your Databases, select Projects.

Second Action:

  • Click on + Add Action (just above the blue Done button)
  • Select Open page, form or URL
  • Then, where it says Open Select Page v
  • Click on the V to bring up a list of Pages. Above that list of Pages are two options, select Page Added.
  • It will now say Open Page added v in Centre peek v      Click on the v after Centre peek and change it to Full Page.
  • Click the big blue button that says Done.
  • You should now have a button on your Page that says NEW PROJECT.

Macro button for a new research question

Repeat the process, but name the button NEW RESEARCH QUESTION and insert the icon you used in your research questions database.

Macro button for a new task

Repeat the process, but name the button NEW TASK and insert the icon you used in your tasks database.

Macro button for a new notes page

Repeat the process, but name the button NEW NOTE and insert the icon you used in your notes database.

Using your macro buttons

To make it easier to copy and paste the buttons as a group, you can group them inside another block which is called a Callout block.

Example macro buttons in callout boxes. The grey shading has been changed to Default, which creates a thin border. I also have a macro button for an Evidence Note, which I use to document the evidence for a conclusion.
  • Type /call and select the first option called Callout. This creates a grey shaded block with a light-globe icon. You can keep that icon, or click on it and ‘remove’ it.
  • Drag each button inside the Callout block, by clicking on the 6 dots that appear when you hover your mouse to the left of the button.

Copy and paste the Callout block with buttons to your Home Page or to a project page:

  • click on the 6 dots that appear when you hover your mouse to the left of the callout block
  • press CTRL C on your keyboard to copy it to your Clipboard
  • navigate to your Home Page or project page
  • click on a row above your list of databases
  • press CTRL V on your keyboard to paste it to the Page.

You can also paste these onto other pages later.

Back to the Notion in family history page.

Sources and resources

Develop family history projects in Notion

generationsgenealogyaus

After you have set up the foundational Notion databases for family history, you need to develop your project pages so that they assist you with your research. You can do this in many ways, but this article will provide you with the basics and some suggestions.

If you followed the instructions in my article, Manage family history projects with Notion, you now have a Project database, a Research Questions database, a Tasks database and a Notes database. And you have also created projects for your grandparent lines, and some places and themes.

Each line in a database is a page in Notion, so when you created these projects you also created a new page for each project. I call these ‘project pages’.

The next step is to add research questions, tasks and notes to your projects. This process also creates a new page for each question, task and note. I call these ‘research question pages’, ‘task pages’, and ‘notes pages’.

Every research question, task and note must be assigned to a project. That connection is what helps you manage your projects and progress your research. It also helps you navigate around your Notion workspace and find the relevant page.

Use macro buttons

I recommend you create and use macro buttons to add new pages, as they save time and promote consistency. Place copies of the macro buttons on your Home Page and on any other page where they will be useful, such as your project pages.

Instructions for family history macros in Notion

Add research questions to projects

Grandparent line projects need research questions or hypotheses to guide and focus the research. You can also develop research questions for place and theme projects, but those are not essential.

  1. Go to your Home Page, or to the relevant project page if you have added macro buttons to that page. Click on your New Research Question macro button to add a new research question to your Research Questions Database. The page for that question will automatically open.
  2. Click on the light grey text that says New Page and type a research question, such as: Who was Maria Shaw’s father?
  3. Add the ? icon. You do not need a cover image.
  4. The Properties (columns) are listed under the Title. Find the one that says Project, click to the right and select the project for the grandparent line relevant to your question. Fill in the other properties if you can, or leave that until later.
  5. Repeat, this time add another research question, such as: Where and when did Paul Willis die? Assign it to the project for the grandparent line relevant to your question.
  6. Repeat until you have at least one research question for each of your grandparent line projects.

If you wish, you can use the same process to add questions to place or theme projects. Just choose the relevant project in step 4.

Example Research Question Page assigned to the relevant project

Add tasks to projects

Grandparent line projects need clearly identified tasks to find answers to research questions and test hypotheses. You can also identify tasks for place and theme projects, but they are not essential.

Follow the steps above to add some tasks to your projects, but this time:

  • use the New Task macro button
  • choose an icon for tasks, such as the list icon
  • assign them to both a research question and a project.
Example Tasks page assigned to a project and to a research question

You can record working notes on a task page. However, you should put any notes that you want to keep on the associated notes page, as task pages should be archived when the task is completed.

Add notes to projects

Follow the steps above to add notes pages, but this time:

  • use the New Notes macro button
  • choose an icon for notes, such as a music note
  • assign them to a research question, a task and a Project.

Unlike tasks, notes pages do not get archived, so you should use these pages to record your notes about the tasks and questions.

Example notes page assigned to a project, a research question and a task. It is a good idea to include the unique identifier number of a person in the title, to cross reference to your family history software.

You can also create notes pages that are assigned to a project but do not have a related question or task. For example, you can add notes pages to a place project for a country for towns or villages within that country.

Consider using different icons for different types of notes. I use:

  • a magnifying glass icon on notes pages that are evidence summaries
  • a quarter music note (one vertical line) for notes pages from books and other sources
  • an eighth music note (two vertical lines, see image above) for other notes pages.

Customise your project pages

Your project pages are like a Home Page for your project. Customise them however you like, but for project management purposes I recommend they contain:

  • key information about the project, such as a family tree chart
  • a summary of progress, your research goals and priorities
  • links to other pages related to the project, and
  • anything else that will help you manage the project.

Links to other pages can be created by typing /link to page and then select the relevant page. URL from external web pages can also be added.

You should also customise the project pages using linked databases. Instructions for these will be provided in other articles.

Back to the Notion in family history page.

Sources and resources

Manage family history projects with Notion

generationsgenealogyaus

Applying a project management approach to family history helps you be more systematic and organised. This article provides instructions for setting up the foundational Notion databases for family history. Other articles will explain how to use the databases to schedule and track your projects.

Components of family history project management

Projects are comprised of a set of tasks that aim to accomplish a goal. Project management involves planning, scheduling, prioritising, tracking and note taking.

Manage Projects in Notion by creating Databases containing a collection of Pages. Link the Databases so you can view their content in different formats, categorise, sort and filter in useful ways. From these Databases you can then generate to-do lists, reminders and shortcuts to your favourite Pages. More on this in another article.

I use four foundational Databases to manage family history Projects. These are:

  • Projects
  • Research Questions
  • Tasks
  • Notes

I call these the foundational databases, as they are essential for managing your research. I also have more databases which I will describe in other articles.

Create the Projects Database Page

Click on your Home Page under the title somewhere.

Type /data and a list of database-type blocks will pop up. Choose the second one, Database – Full Page.

This will open up a new Page with an empty Database on it. Because you added the Page from the Home Page (and did not use the pencil icon next to your name in the Navigation bar), this Database Page is now a sub-page of your Home Page. This is how you create a well-organised workspace.

The light grey text on this new Database Page that says Untitled is both the name of the Page and the name of the Database. Click on it and name it Projects.

Hover your mouse above the title and click on the text that says Add icon. Click on the dot to choose a colour, then type the word File into the search bar and select the first icon to insert the file-box icon.

Next you add columns to your Database.

Column 1 is automatically called Name. You add new columns (called Properties in Notion), by clicking on the + sign next to the existing column. The Property type determines the kind of data you can enter in that column and how it is formatted.

The image here shows examples of Property types.

Add another column and choose Select as the Property Type. This allows you to type a list. Later, when you add Projects to the Database, you will be able to select a word from the list instead of typing it. This saves time and promotes consistency.

Rename this column by replacing the word Select with Type. Then click on the + sign next to Add Options and add your list of project types: Names, Places and Themes. You can change these later if you wish, but follow my set up for now to learn the process.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

I also like to add a Favourites column to select a subset of Projects that can appear on your Home Page. See instructions under Create the Notes Database Page, below.

Create the Research Questions Database Page

Go back to your Home Page by clicking on Home in the Navigation Panel or the Breadcrumb.

Click on the line under Projects and repeat the process you followed for the Projects Database, this time naming the new Database Page: Research Questions.

Add an icon to the Database. Type the word Question into the search bar and choose the ? icon.

Next you add columns to your Database.

Column 1 is automatically called Name. Click where it says Name and rename it as Question or Hypothesis.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Add another column by clicking on the + sign next to the first column.

Choose Status as the Property Type and keep the title. Also keep the default options, which are: Not Started, In Progress and Done. This property helps you track progress on your research questions.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Add another column, choose Select as the type. Click on the name of the column and rename it to Priority.

Click on the + sign near the words Add an Option and add the options of Low, Medium, High. The colours are applied automatically, but can be changed by clicking to the right of them.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change

Add another column, choose Select as the Property Type. Rename the column to Rating.

Click on the + sign near the words Add an Option and add the options of Tidy Up, To Progress, Challenging. This property helps you identify the effort required to progress the research question.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Create the Tasks Database Page

Go back to your Home Page by clicking on Home in the Navigation Panel or the Breadcrumb.

Click on the line under Research Questions and repeat the process, this time naming the new Database Page: Tasks.

Add an icon to the Database. Type the word List into the search bar and choose one of the list icons.

Next you add columns to your Database.

Column 1 is automatically called Name. Rename it as Task Title.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Add Column 2, choose Status as the Property Type and keep the default options.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Add Column 3, choose Select as the Property Type and rename the column to Priority. Add options: High, Medium, Low.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Add Column 4, choose Select as the Property Type and rename the column to Family Group. You can add some family groups to the Options now, or leave this until you are entering data. You will be able to use this property later to filter a database view to show a particular family group.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Create the Notes Database Page

Go back to your Home Page, by clicking on Home in the Navigation Panel or the Breadcrumb.

Click on the line under Tasks and repeat the process, this time naming the new Database Page: Notes.

Add an icon to the Database. If you want to use the list icon, type the word note into the search bar and choose one of the icons.

Next you add columns to your Database.

Column 1 is automatically called Name. Rename it as Note Title.

Click outside the popup box to exit and autosave the change.

Add Column 2, choose Checkbox as the Property Type and rename it to Archived. You can use this to Archive Notes when they are no longer current, rather than deleting them. You will be able to use this property later to filter a database view to so that only active notes are shown.

Add Column 3, choose Checkbox as the Property Type and rename it to Favourite.

Add Column 4, choose Select as the Property Type and rename it to Family Group. You can add some options if you like or leave that for later.

Add Column 5, choose Multi-Select as the Property Type and rename it Key words. You can add some key words now, or later when you enter data to the database.

Add Column 6, choose Created Date as the Property Type. Alter the default to make the time ‘hidden’, so that just a date is shown.

More columns can be added later.

Relate the Databases to each other

The next step is to connect each of the four Databases with the others. This is what Notion calls ‘relating’ the Databases.

Relating your Databases allows you to create tables that contain data from multiple Databases, filtered for a specific purpose. For example, a table with a list of research questions and the tasks for each question for a particular family line. Examples and instructions will be in another article.

Step 1

Open your Projects Database (click on link on your Home Page).

Add another column by clicking on the + sign in the header row of the Database. Choose Relation as the Property type. That will bring up a list of Databases that you have in your workspace. Choose Research Questions, then click the blue button labelled Add relation.

Add another column in the same way, this time choosing your Tasks Database. Click Add relation.

Add another column in the same way, this time choosing your Notes Database. Click Add relation.

You have now related your Projects Database to your other three Databases.

Step 2

Repeat the process for the other Databases.

  • In the Research Questions Database, add Relation columns for Projects, Tasks and Notes
  • In the Tasks Database, add Relation columns for Projects, Research Questions and Notes
  • In the Notes Database, add Relation columns for Projects, Research Questions and Tasks.

All four Databases are now connected to each other.

Add some Projects to the Projects Database

Grandparent projects

Dividing your family history research into your grandparent lines helps to make your research more manageable. Create a Project for each grandparent line.

Go to your Projects Page. Click on + New Page in the last row of your Database to add a new Project to your Projects Database.

This opens a small box. Type the title of your new Page in that box, which is the surname of your father’s father. Hit Return, then open the Page: hover your mouse to the right of the title until you see Open, click on Open.

Add an icon, choose blue as the colour and a tree as the icon. Add a cover image, click on Change cover, click on Unsplash, type blue in the search bar and select an image. Click outside that box to exit and save the cover image.

Click on the 3 dots in the top right corner of the Page, select Customise Layout. In the section on the right side of the page, change Inline comments to Minimal by clicking that box; and change Page discussions to Off. Then click the blue button at the top that says Apply to all pages. This turns off some distracting elements that you do not need. You should only have to do this once for each Database.

Repeat Steps 1-3 to add Projects for your father’s mother (choose green), your mother’s father (choose red or pink) and your mother’s mother (choose yellow).

Go to your Projects Database Page and you should see your four Projects listed in column 1.

Place projects

It is useful to have a Project for each country that is relevant to your research. You can then create Notes within that Project about towns, villages, counties and so on.

Go through the same Steps 1-3 in the section on Grandparent Projects, but this time:

  • Create a Project for each country relevant to your research
  • Assign them to Type: Places, by clicking where it says Empty next to Type (below the Page title)
  • Choose an icon for these projects, other than a tree, to distinguish them from your Grandparent Projects
  • Choose a cover image appropriate to the country.

Theme projects

It is also useful to have Projects on the themes relevant to your research. For example, if you have a lot of convicts in your family, as I do, you could have a Convicts Project. If you use DNA in your research, you could have a DNA Project.

Go through the same Steps 1-3 in the section on Grandparent Projects, but this time:

  • Create Projects for themes relevant to your research
  • Assign them to Type: Theme, by clicking where it says Empty next to Type (below the Page title)
  • Choose an icon for these projects, other than a tree, to distinguish them from your Grandparent Projects
  • Choose an appropriate cover image.

Instructions and examples for adding Research Question, Task and Notes pages.

Back to the Notion in family history page.