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Date Published: January 30, 2013

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Click here to download the Show Notes pdf

After publishing the Evernote for Genealogy Premium Video I told you that I planned on covering using Evernote for Genealogy more in the future. And we are starting with this episode!

MAILBOX:

This first email comes from Alex in Alabama who writes:

“One of the reasons I’ve become involved in genealogy is that I have the interesting aspect of researching my father, Fletcher Harvey, and my mother, Ann Harvey Harvey. Yes, she was a Harvey, too. How would you suggest setting up those initial surname folders? Just one big ol’ Harvey folder? Maybe Fletcher’s family and Ann’s family?”

Lisa’s Answer: The trick to the hard drive organization system is to stay consistent, and to fashion it after the Census – that is by “head of household”.

While it would seem logical to create two Harvey files – one for Fletcher and one for Ann – stick to head of households. So the first folder would HARVEY and the first name of Fletcher’s dad who was the head of the household. Ex: HARVEY JOHN

For Ann’s side you would have HARVEY and her father’s first name, because he was the head of the household. Ann was born a HARVEY but moved on to become a different “HARVEY”. In my system, women’s records are filed under the surname they held at the time the record was created – either their maiden name, or their married name.

Here’s a quick tip from Premium Member Christine in Houston:

I had a recent disaster where not only did my computer hard drive fail, but the backup drive was damaged as well and NONE of the contents were saved. Bye bye three years of hard work. But, I had shared with a close cousin on one side and he is gradually helping me with some of the lost bits. Luckily my main tree is also on Ancestry, but what I lost was documentation.

I was interested in the hard drive organization podcasts. I figure I might as well start over doing a little better with citing and organizing. Actually much of what you had suggested I was already doing. But I found one feature on the MAC which I would add to your suggestions.

MAC (and I’m sure Windows as well) allows you to color code both files and documents. After thinking about it a while I would suggest doing this at the great grandparent level. Just makes for a few fewer files all one color. (MAC has seven colors-or so plus uncolored that makes 8 family branches)

If you are very visual, like me, you can look at the color on the folder or the file label and tell just where it came from. I also did this AS I CITE. So I know which things have been properly cited because they are already colored.”

Watch the Hard Drive Organization videos in the Premium Video section of this website

I find that color coding can really speed up finding your way through folders on your computer. I did cover this top in Premium episode 86.

and in that episode I mentioned a freeware add-on for Windows called Folder Marker.

Folder Marker Free lets you do color code folders on the fly from the right-click menu of a folder. So there is no need to go through additional dialogs boxes! Simply select the folder you want to mark, right-click on its icon and select a color-coded icon from the drop-down menu. The icon will be assigned to the folder at once.

You can also mark several folders at a time. Simply select a group of folders with the mouse and assign a new icon from the right-click menu.

You can also assign certain logos to your folders such as “high priority”, “half-done work”, “important files” and so on.   It even lets you upload a few of your own icons if you’d rather use them instead.

If you want to go full throttle with visual folders, there is a really nifty little utility program that you can use to take any picture that is BMP, JPG, or PNG file format and convert it into an ICO format. Using this program, you can take your favorite picture of an ancestor, let’s say, and convert it into a Windows Icon.

The program is called ImagIcon

You can take an image and save it as an icon in all of the different sizes: 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, and 64×64. For you genealogy bloggers out there, the 16×16 size can be used to give your web site a logo in the IE address bar. For example, in Blogger while writing a post, you can see the orange icon in the address bar.

The program also lets your transform the images. You can scale the image to make it smaller or flip it horizontally or vertically. And if you don’t care to save the image as an icon, you can convert between any of the three formats: PNG, JPG, or BMP. Simply drag a picture into the colored area after configuring your settings and the picture is automatically converted!

You can change the settings by click on the Options menu item. Icon Settings allows you to pick the size of your final icon. Image Transform lets you pick the transformations you want if you are converting between picture formats (JPG to PNG).

GEM: Evernote VS. One Note

Genealogy research requires a lot of note taking, and it doesn’t take long for notes to pile up everywhere: stacks of paper on your desk and floor, sticky notes surrounding your computer monitor screen, and binders full of organized pages.

Migrating to a digital note taking system will save you time, space and headaches. But which one should you use?  The two top contenders are Evernote and OneNote, and one question I get asked a lot is which one should I use?

In this gem Evernote and OneNote go head to head in a comparison match. If you already have a favorite then you’re good to go because the good news is they are both great programs. But for those on the fence, it can help to look a bit closer at what each offers so you can pick the one that’s right for you. Both programs are noteworthy – the choice really comes down to your computing needs and work style.

Evernote vs One Note Comparison

What is it?

Evernote: A suite of downloadable software (desktop client), mobile apps, and Web based services focused on note taking, web clipping, and archiving.

OneNote: A Microsoft software program designed for note taking, organizing, and integration with Microsoft software. Mobile apps also available.

Types of Notes

Evernote: Allows you to create a wide range of notes including typed text, web clippings (customized screen shots using the Web Clipper), audio, video, photographs, and tables. Evernote’s free Skitch program and app lets you annotate your notes and do free hand drawing.

OneNote: Allows you to create a wide range of notes including typed text, web clippings, audio, video, photographs, “Inking” (free hand drawing with your finger or stylus), tables, and Excel spreadsheets.

Cost

Evernote: Free account allows you to download the Evernote program and provides you with 60MB of free synchronized cloud storage per month.

For $5.00 per month or $45.00 per year Evernote Premium gives you much more uploading capacity, greater sharing options, access to note history, PDF searching, faster image recognition, and no ads.

OneNote: OneNote is included in the Microsoft Office software suite along with programs such as Word and Excel. You may already have it on your PC. Check under Programs in your PC’s Control Panel. New version slated for 2013.

Sign up for a free SkyDrive account for cloud storage (7GB free, additional storage available for a fee.) Available as a stand alone software program for $79.95 at www.microsoft.com/office/onenote

Operating System

Evernote: PC and Mac

OneNote: PC Only

Apps

Evernote: Free iOS and Android Apps. Loads of additional apps that integrate with Evernote are available in the “Evernote Trunk” at trunk.evernote.com

OneNote: Free iOS and Android Apps. The OneNote app has very limited capabilities compared to software program.

Web / Screen Clipping

Evernote: Yes – When the Evernote desktop client program is open on your computer the web clipper can be found in your Task Bar by right-clicking the Evernote icon. You can also download a web clipper plugin to your favorite browser.

OneNote: Yes – The screen clipper is built into the program. You will find it under the Insert menu.

Cloud Synchronization

Evernote: Automatic synchronization through the Evernote system when connected to the Internet.

OneNote: OneNote syncs with SkyDrive and SharePoint (must be signed into a Microsoft account or a Microsoft Online Services ID)

Unique Strengths

Evernote:

• Tagging allows sorting of notes regardless of which notebook they reside in.
• Web sharing flexibility including unique URL links, and social media
• Alphabetical organization of notebooks
• OCR technology applied to images making text searchable

OneNote:

• You can mix note taking mediums (that is include typed text, scribble “ink” notes, graphics, etc.)
• Integration with other Microsoft software programs
• Collaboration features
• Ability to convert your handwriting to text