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**ttl** · 26 February 2014, 11:46 AM

Re: Best Practices

First, ReunionTalk is a great place for discussions like these, although to quibble this might be better placed in the Genealogy subforum.

Best practices is a worthy subject, and I'm pretty sure no one has developed a reference document for the forum. Ben Sayer at http://genealogytools.com is often pointed to a place for how to use Reunion, and I believe there's some process info there too.

That being said, there may be consensus on this board regarding some topics, and conflicting opinions on others. To get a response on this board, it's probably best to ask about things issue by issue because as someone trying to answer, it's sometimes a bit difficult to tackle a really broad, generic question. This would be a good thread to post each of those individual best practice as it applies to [data du jour] questions.

Regarding census data, I think it might be one of those topics that people have widely varying opinions. I tend to parse out the data from census sources into residence, name, and birth/death fields, attaching the census citation as a source as needed. From the meatier censuses, I might extract a tidbit or observation and include it as a note. If you do like the "census as an event" approach but don't like it in the family group sheet, you can adjust that in the FGS layout. Or you could develop multiple layouts, with and without that data.

The only data entry practice I advocate is to be sure to document source material well enough to reconstruct your research results, but that's more of a basic practice than a best practice.

**Charles Bourland** · 27 February 2014, 10:24 AM

Re: Best Practices

Originally posted by Terri Works View Post

Is there such a thing as a Reunion list of "best practices"? Like I have said before I am new to Reunion and feeling overwhelmed. I'm spending most of my genealogy time lately entering data and learning all the features. I pick up ideas from this forum but I really am at sea. For example: I was entering census information in Notes but then read that I should be using Events. So working with my granddad's file, I entered all the census info and residence info I had as Census and Residence events. But when I printed out a Family Group Sheet for him it looked pretty awful so i ended up moving everything back to notes.
But maybe I'm not even supposed to be showing that kind of info on a Family Group Sheet - maybe that should be limited to DOB, DOD, marriage and children.
There's a user group an hour away but I really cannot justify the drive right now. I wish I had someone to talk all this over with, but I don't.
So - here I am hoping this is an acceptable forum for my level of questions.
Thanks for your indulgence.

It depends on your "objective". If your objective is to make a list of "stuff" you have found on relatives, then Events would be ok. But if, as I think better your objective is to create a readable document called a Biography on Granddad or a document called Our Family History for youngsters and others to read in the future, I would declare those readers would be absolutely bored with a list of facts and on the other hand ecstatic reading a well documented biography in date sequence with Endnotes as proof. Some good examples can be seen at www.genealogyhowto.com.

**rclrocco** · 27 February 2014, 02:19 PM

Re: Best Practices

There may not be such a thing as "best practices" but I hope this may help you if you are relatively new to Reunion. I was too some six years ago and have a learnt a lot over that time, much of if from this Forum. If I was starting out again, these would be my half a dozen or so Golden Rules.

ALWAYS ENTER A SOURCE, BEFORE YOU ENTER DATA. No matter how tempting it is to enter someone or some family, "just because you know them", DON'T. Try not to enter any person, date, event or fact, without first entering the source. You will be so pleased you did this later on . Take time to learn about entering sources and the many different ways there are of using these. Make plenty of use of "Copy and Paste"; Duplicate entries and you will save yourself much time.

USE THE LOGS. A very under rated feature of Reunion, but SO useful. Record every step of your research, even the negative searches. You can organise logs by surname and use all kinds of clever ways of entering, "what I did today" notes. This becomes invaluable if , like me, you forget something you did a while ago. The logs not only record all your research but can stop you going over old ground again. I now have about four years of research logs for each of the surnames I am looking into - I only wish I had logs going back for all thirty odd years of my hobby.

USE FLAGS. a flag is such a useful little device . I have mine set to record about ten main items such as Birth Marriage and Death Certificates ; a Will; and so on. You can quickly see what data you have on someone as their "card" pops up on screen. To explain a little, open the Manual, and choose any Flags you wish to set. Then each time you find say, a marriage Certificate for someone, then tick that flag for the couple involved.

USE MULTIMEDIA. Attach these to people, to sources and to anything relevant. Include not just photos, photocopies and other images , but tapes, film clips, videos, interviews, records of unique conversations , artefacts, heirlooms and so on. I've included several old family cine films, converted to Dvds.

EXPERIMENT. Reunion is a fairly bulletproof program; you won't break it, so try different things. Set up trial family files to see what effect things have. Take screenshots of your screen and email them to others or attach them to posts to ReunionTalk and your learning experience will come on leaps and bounds. Try setting up Views as you want them; Reunion Preferences to suit your research or interests, use Smart Lists to display things how you wish. A favourite of mine is to include Census entries as an event for people, and using the Smart List feature, I can have all the Census Entries displayed in a persons details in chronological order. I also like to have a Biography wherever possible for someone in my files. I do this sometimes in Word or Excel in two columns: date is one and the other is the event. Then I copy and paste this into a Person's Notes Field in Reunion.

BACKUP. Don't put this in the , Oh I'll do that later category, plan a simple strategy and stick to it. Time Machine, and just copying your Reunion files to a memory stick or pendrive are among the easiest methods. Then you can enjoy knowing that your data is safe, whether you do something wrong, your hard drive crashes, lightning wipes out your router, or your son spills his beer on your keyboard, etc etc

ASK FOR HELP. Remember everybody else started out with Reunion at some time, and don't be concerned about asking simple questions on here. If you don't ask, you won't learn! And don't forget the magic words of please and thank you !!

Sorry to go on a bit, especially if this is not what you're after, but I hope it helps.

**ttl** · 27 February 2014, 03:36 PM

Re: Best Practices

Rupert... outstanding list!

**Harvey Researcher** · 27 February 2014, 05:52 PM

Re: Best Practices

Originally posted by rclrocco View Post

T

ASK FOR HELP. Remember everybody else started out with Reunion at some time, and don't be concerned about asking simple questions on here. If you don't ask, you won't learn! And don't forget the magic words of please and thank you !!

Sorry to go on a bit, especially if this is not what you're after, but I hope it helps.

Fantastic summary, and great to see. I especially like your "ask for help" paragraph.

I remember being frightened off this forum a couple years ago, when I asked for help and I got to tersely to "read the manual." Often its a case of not being able to find it in the manual, or not quite understanding what the manual says.

I still don't feel I use Reunion as good as I could. Often wish there was someone close by who could give me tutorials - being a "self-learner" is a valuable skill, but sometimes you do pick up bad habits, or don't do something "best practice". I learn best by being shown and by doing.

Ben Sayers tutorials are invaluable, but most of the examples are US-based, and sometimes its hard to equate it to the UK research, wish more UK examples were used.

**AE Palmer** · 27 February 2014, 06:44 PM

Re: Best Practices

Originally posted by Terri Works View Post

Is there such a thing as a Reunion list of "best practices"?

// cut //

So - here I am hoping this is an acceptable forum for my level of questions.
Thanks for your indulgence.

The following link is not exactly a comment on "best practices," but seeing a cry for help, you may wish to check the Genealogical Course matetrial I have developed to give your project a real kick in the "up-and-running" pants. <https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ccx5dfr3xm0urhe/2Bw-IggNoy>.

Enjoy!

**DelbertCurlin** · 28 February 2014, 06:29 PM

Re: Best Practices

Thanks for this list : I copied it and filed it in a folder I call My Reunion Helps.

This will probably generate several questions as I try to implement as I have such a hodgepodge of data and really don't understand how Source works even though I have tried to enter sources I never succeed in getting them to take no matter what I click on.

**Jan Powell** · 28 February 2014, 06:40 PM

Re: Best Practices

[QUOTE=AE Palmer;40535]

**Terri Works** · 28 February 2014, 10:19 PM

Re: Best Practices

I want to say thank you - the replies have been fantastic - but I don't want to cut off the comments! Please - keep them coming. I lurked for quite a while before ever posting and was a bit intimidated, but really - what helpful, friendly folks you all are!
Terri

**Bob White** · 01 March 2014, 01:46 AM

Re: Best Practices

And, Terri, there are more in your neighborhood. If you are in Sacramento on the 4th Wednesday of any month, feel free to drop in to the local Reunion group. We meet in the Arden area. For details, email me... sactobob at gmail.com.

**fjvanbodegom** · 01 March 2014, 04:04 AM

Re: Best Practices

Hello Mr. Palmer,

On the ReunionTalk, chapter Best Practices (http://www.reuniontalk.com/showthread.php?t=9076) you put a link about a genealogical course.

Do you have objections that I put this course (of course with referral to you) on the Dutch Reunion website on the Support page (http://www.cq-software.com/index.php...ruikers-vragen)

BTW: In your report I see a small report where you mention Friesland; do you know the website about Friesland: http://www.allefriezen.nl/en-GB/
If you need translation, let me know

**AE Palmer** · 03 March 2014, 06:03 PM

Re: Best Practices

Originally posted by fjvanbodegom View Post

Hello Mr. Palmer,

On the ReunionTalk, chapter Best Practices (http://www.reuniontalk.com/showthread.php?t=9076) you put a link about a genealogical course.

Do you have objections that I put this course (of course with referral to you) on the Dutch Reunion website on the Support page (http://www.cq-software.com/index.php...ruikers-vragen)

BTW: In your report I see a small report where you mention Friesland; do you know the website about Friesland: http://www.allefriezen.nl/en-GB/
If you need translation, let me know

You may link it to your Dutch web site with my blessings.

As for the Friesland web page, I was not aware of it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Please contact me off-list at <apalmer6 AT verizon.net> so that I may utilize it to best effect.

Arnold

**AE Palmer** · 03 March 2014, 07:01 PM

Re: Best Practices

Originally posted by DelbertCurlin View Post

Thanks for this list : I copied it and filed it in a folder I call My Reunion Helps.

This will probably generate several questions as I try to implement as I have such a hodgepodge of data and really don't understand how Source works even though I have tried to enter sources I never succeed in getting them to take no matter what I click on.

Having a hodgepodge of data is NOT all that unusual! It becomes more manageable as you become better aquainted with the process of sourcing your research. That said, successful implementation of your source material is a two-step process: creating the source itself and the citations that link the "raw data" to the factoid (name, date, place, etc) you wish to reference.

When creating a source in Reunion v10, the very first thing to do is to identify the source TYPE (book, letter, vital record, will, etc). Each type will have a set number of fields. Fill them out as best you can so that the PREVIEW looks like a Chicago Style footnote. (Note: you do not have to fill out every field -- oftentimes it is better that you delberately leave some fields blank!) When everything looks good, simply press the DONE button at the bottom of the page. Voila, a brand new Source ready to use. (If this does not happen, there is something seriously wrong with your file and YOU should contact the good folks at Leister, Inc.)

And now for the really [not so] hard part: each time you want to document a fact, event or other material, engage the SOURCE LIST from the sidebar menu (bottom left of the screen) and select the source you wish to use by highlighting it. Then drag it to the source citations list at the bottom of the center page. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

BTW, you will probably end up tweaking your list of sources and the fields for each type over a period of time. (It took me more than a year to get my (600+) sources neatly squared away.)

**mmbate** · 24 March 2014, 02:03 AM

Re: Best Practices

Rupert, doe you mind if I publish your best practices in our local newsletter. It's VicGum
http://vicgum.asn.au/gumnews.html This is great basic stuff.
thanks
Meg Bate
Reunion User,
Melbourne, Australia.

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