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Paper, paper everywhere...

Paperwork got you down?


Today's project  = print, file, organize.

I'm a happy researcher now after having spent the past hour organizing my random collection of photos, sources, and comments saved on my already cluttered computer desktop.  Everything is now neatly arranged in family folders, photos have descriptive file names, and unnecessary files are in the recycling bin.  I even tackled the HUGE list of emails I've saved in a "family research" file in Thunderbird (Outlook for hippies...LOL).  Printed all and filed accordingly.  It's only taken me, oh, 9 months!

If you are a fellow genealogist, what's your preferred method/system of organizing all of the random bits and clues you collect along the way?  Outside of Family Tree Maker (a fabulous Ancestry.com product, by the way) which stores all source documents...how do you like to keep track of the emails from family, historical societies, etc.?  Still working on my own system.  I have two accordion files - one for each "tree".  Inside each, I have info filed by generational number.  Anything "paper" goes into the file...printed emails, random notes, items I've ordered via mail.  Otherwise, I have everything digital stored in Family Tree Maker and on my computer desktop (with identical copies stored on backup drive).

A nice way to end the week...feeling organized.  Now, to work on my closet....

-Sarah





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