Non-software options?

Question

Does anyone NOT use genealogy software for their offline genealogy research management? If not, what do you use? If you use Microsoft Word, how do you do things?

Comments

Hmm. I copy what I want onto an email form along with its URL and mail it to myself

or I find what I want in a search and copy that directly into the profile along with the source citation

3x lost all in computer crashes and abandoned that whole approach ... if WT crashes ... well, i'm 76 now so I don't expect to try it again

Answer 1

If you want to use Word be sure to use a table of contents. That way you can organize your work by creating links to what you have.

However, I find Excel much more helpful. I have spreadsheets on all sorts of things. Some of the things are the questions on the census, surnames, historical eras, WikiTree projects, etc. I just find Excel easier to work with since you can put whatever you want in a box and make the box whatever size you need. I have a list of frequently used sources that is 3 columns. The first is it's name (so I can find it and it's alphabetized), the second is the citation that I can copy/paste into WikiTree, the third is the <ref></ref> tag.

You can also use Google Docs or Sheets for free online.

Answer 2

I don't use any offline software to keep or organize my research. That is what WikiTree is for. I can organize all sorts of information in all sorts of ways, including any speculation. That way it is available for anyone to view and to hopefully collaborate with.

However, if you do have to use something, I would second Lucy's recommendation of using Google Docs and Google Sheets. They are free, just as good as the Microsoft tools, and you don't have to worry about backing everything up. Plus, if you do want to share it with someone, it is super easy to do so, and to collaborate with others. But, at that point, that's where I would recommend sharing it on WikiTree for collaboration.

Comments

I am convinced by the experts who argue for one to have their own tree/research that cannot be changed by others or be subject to the vicissitudes of the internet.

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I think a lot of people, especially younger people, do not use a desktop or laptop. They are looking for an option to use with their phone or tablet. But I do agree with you, Ryan. What a shame to lose all your work. I lost mine twice.

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It's partially because I don't want to lose my work that I want a good non-software option. Nothing endures like the written word.

Answer 3

I have used FamilyTreeMaker for many, many years and I still use it. However, I find that I am using it less and relying on WikiTree more. I do still use FTM to some extent and try to keep it somewhat current. I can also try out a twig of supposed ancestors until I figure them out and want to post them here.

Answer 4

I use Microsoft One-note.  One section per Major surname, one page per person ( I tend to keep spouses with the male profile, often as a sub-page) I copy complete citations from FamilySearch using the "copy to clipboard function and reformat them there to the preferred "named inline reference" form. Ancestry.Com and Scotland's Pople require a bit more work, but a quick copy-paste captures the resource and details for later reformat. Once I have a reasonable amount of references (one if that's all I can find).  One-Note is in the cloud (stored on one-drive) so crashes are protected, and I back up to a USB external nightly anyway.  One note is easy to organize and accepts many different formats by copy-paste, including most images and HTML, so all is good.

Answer 5

I have a -small- pile of pieces of paper with hand drawn diagrams and name variations. Still the best for a quick overview or thought experiment.

Answer 6

Besides various online genealogy programs (main program geneanet) I have summarized all names, dates and other facts in an Excel spreadsheet, which I had created as a dBase III spreadsheet in the early 1990s and have upconverted again and again over the years.
The backup used to be done every evening via 5.25 inch and later via 3.5 inch floppy disks. With the rise of sticks, I backed them up on those.
After also having several unrepairable hard drive failures, I put it all in a cloud in addition to storing it on my PC and also save it to an external hard drive once a week.
With the saves, I've lost very little data during the crashes, which I've been able to restore after a few hours of additional work.
I do the same with my more than 6500 copies of original documents.
Only linking from the Excel spreadsheet to the original documents, which are located in folders with the corresponding ancestor number, I have not yet tackled with hyperlinks.
To keep an overview, I still have my overviews in paper form, which I designed in the mid 1980s. After I had used DIN A4 formats at first, I have already changed to DIN A3 after a few days, so that I always get three generations on one page now. In addition to the relevant data, I also enter the corresponding places, so-called house letters, wills and other documents with statements about the ancestors. In order to keep the overall view and to look for something quickly or to explain connections, this is still the best possibility in my opinion.
I have about 4000 documents in the original or as a copy in folders in the basement, but I hardly use them.