More Fun With Evernote Genealogy Binders

Evernote Genealogy Binder for my son's Schulze ancestors

I'm discovering so many great tools using Evernote to create virtual Genealogy Binders.My first blog post on using Evernote can be found at Using Evernote to Make Virtual Binders for Genealogy Organization 

The latest trick I've found is an amazing time-saver and one I touched on briefly in my last blog post More Ways to Use Evernote to Create Virtual Genealogy Binders. Now I've fine-tuned this method and want to share it with you. It has saved me so much time and duplication. This is the method where instead of creating a new note in your Evernote Binder and methodically importing one file at a time by using the FILES>ATTACH FILES command in Evernote, you accomplish this in a different more efficient way by importing files as batches directly from your computer drive. 

First step is to make sure your computer files are named correctly. I've discovered that if you name your genealogy file (either image or document) with the exact name you want to use as the Title of your note in an Evernote Binder, this file name is imported as the Title of the note. So if you import a file named "jacobdewhirst1820baptism.jpg" the title will be automatically inserted as "jacobdewhirst1820baptism" 

Instead of having to rename it in the note to "Dewhirst Jacob 1820 baptism Yorkshire England", make sure your file on your computer hard drive has the name you want in the Evernote note so that you do not have to redo anything.

Previously I titled my notes in my virtual Genealogy Binders with the year then the person's name then a description. But since Evernote limits how many Binders you can create,I soon realized I needed to put all the siblings of my direct ancestors in the same binder. I can't create one binder for each person. So I needed to rename my notes with the surname then the first name then the year, followed by the description. That way each individual's notes will be grouped together and in chronological arrangement.

It is easy for me to make sure my computer files follow this format. For example as I am searching on Ancestry.com and saving various records for Jacob Dewhirst and family, I rename each file as it is downloaded. The 1841 census for Jacob gets the name "Dewhirst Jacob 1841 Census Yorkshire England" His baptism record gets the file name "Dewhirst Jacob 1820 Baptism Yorkshire England" 

Adding files in batches to Evernote

The next time-saving step is to go to my computer folder where the files are for Jacob Dewhirst. I can highlight them all, right click and choose "ADD TO EVERNOTE". Every file I've highlighted pops into my default notebook in Evernote. 

Now it is very easy to open that default notebook, highlight  all the newly imported files (they will all be together because of how I named them), right click and choose "MOVE TO NOTEBOOK Schulze Genealogy" 

Files added in batches to my default notebook
then moving them to Schulze Genealogy notebook/binder

Every image and document I imported is now very nicely in place in the correct notebook and best of all it is already titled and has been arranged automatically by Evernote in the binder. 

The other tip I have for you is to put quotation marks around the title you give your default notebook in Evernote. That will pop it to the top of the alphabetical list of your notebooks and this is very handy when you want to open that notebook to move your recently imported files.

More Ways to Use Evernote to Create Virtual Genealogy Binders

Ready to send files from Frank Simpson folder on my computer

As a followup to my last post on using Evernote to create virtual Genealogy Binders I have continued playing with organizing my genealogy files using Evernote. There are a few more features I've discovered along the way which I want to share with my readers.

First, a caveat - be careful using the "Merge" feature! Once you merge notes, this action cannot be undone. Supposedly you can retrieve the original notes from your Trash and restore them to Evernote as individual notes but I am using a Mac and the notes I accidentally merged are not in my Trash.  

UPDATE! I found the trashed notes. They are not in the computer Trash bin but in the Evernote Trash. If you choose to view all notebooks, the Trash bin is displayed and opening it will show you the original notes. You can easily restore them to your binder or notebook so that you don't have to redo them.

Merging notes is something I do want to play with as I can choose PRINT in Evernote and then save the merged notes as a PDF file. That would allow me to more easily share or print the merged file for a hardcopy binder if I choose to do so.

Right click option to Send to Evernote

Next, a nice little feature I discovered this morning is a much easier way to insert notes into a binder (notebook). I have been creating a notebook (Frank Simpson) then within Evernote choosing the option "New Note in Frank Simpson". An empty note window opens and I then select "File>Attach Files" and search for whatever picture or document I wish to add. Then I give the new note a title and it's done.

The original notes restored and the merged notes still in the notebook/binder

This morning I found that I could do this in a different way. I open my Finder window (in a Windows computer that is the same as Explore) which shows all the folders and files on my computer. I go to where I know I have photos and docs for Frank Simpson. Yes I actually have some of my genealogy files organized so that I can choose a folder which contains all the documents and photos I have for an individual. 

Once I see the files for Frank I select the first one, right click and choose "Add to Evernote". The photo or document pops up in my default Evernote Notebook. It isn't in Frank's notebook but that's okay. I rename the note using the year as the first word in the title. I could also rename each note with surname then first name then description. Whatever I use as my renaming convention it needs to be consistent. 

I  continue sending all the photos and documents to Evernote. They are all in my default notebook. Now I make sure I am in that notebook and choose View>Expanded Card View. That pops up all the notes in that default notebook and because I have chosen alphabetical order for my notes, I can easily see all the notes I just added for Frank.

Next I highlight all the notes for Frank, right click and choose "Move to Notebook...." There is a small arrow which allows you to choose the notebook you want for those notes. I choose SIMPSON FRANK and bingo, all the notes I inserted from my hard drive are now in Frank's virtual binder. 

This method appeals to me as a more efficient way for me to put all my genealogy photos and documents into Evernote. Some of you might be asking "Who is this Frank Simpson?" Well he was my grandmother's younger brother. He came to Canada from England at the age of 15 to live with his older brother, but sadly died of appendicitis in Toronto in 1908 shortly before his 19th birthday. My grandmother often spoke of him and how much she missed him. I have the book he won at the age of 12 which is inscribed to him, and also the receipt for his funeral and burial plot so I feel very connected to him.