Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Adding Notes to the FamilySearch Family Tree Using RootsMagic

I've written quite a bit over the last two years about adding content to the FamilySearch Family Tree using RootsMagic's FamilySearch Person Tools.

One of the more recent additions is the capability to add Notes to a person profile in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  In addition to Person Notes, the system will also add Fact Notes.

Here is an example using my great-grandfather, Henry Auastin Carringer (1853-1946), who is Person Profile number LCRX-2DT in the FamilySearch Family Tree in case a reader wants to check him out:

1)  Here is the "Edit Person" screen for Henry Austin Carringer in my RootsMagic database.  I have a long person note for him attached to his name, but I also have a number of Fact Notes for his life events in the Facts/Events list.  I highlighted his Birth Fact, and then opened his Birth Note:


2)  To add "Notes" to the FamilySearch Family Tree, the user needs to open the "FamilySearch Person Tools" for the person (on one of the View screens, click on the FamilySearch icon - see  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/06/using-rootsmagic-6-to-update_5.html).  Here is the screen for Henry Carringer showing My RootsMagic Person and My FamilySearch Person:


In the tabs under the person's name at the top left of the screen above are tabs for "Find Matches," "Share data," "Discussions," "Sources," "Notes," and "Changes."

3)  I had zero Notes in the Family Tree for this person.  I clicked on the "Notes" tab and saw a list of "RootsMagic Notes" in the left-hand column and "FamilySearch Notes" in the right-hand column:
 

4)  I want to add Notes from my RootsMagic list to the FamilySearch Family Tree for this person.  I clicked on the "Birth note" in the RootsMagic column, and a popup box opened asking "What do you want to do with this RootsMagic note?"


There are two radio buttons - one to "Add this note to FamilySearch" and the other to "Add this note as a source in FamilySearch."  I picked the "Add this note to FamilySearch, and selected the person to attach the Note to (if you don't select a person, you will get a reminder).  After a short time, the Birth Note was added to the "FamilySearch Notes" list.


5)  I went ahead and added many more RootsMagic Notes to the FamilySearch Notes list:


During this process, the user can run their mouse over the FamilySearch Note and briefly see the content, as shown below for the Marriage note:


6)  I then went to the person profile for Henry Austin Carringer in the FamilySearch Family Tree and saw the list of Notes:


7)  Readers may note that I did not add the "Person note" from the RootsMagic list to the FamilySearch Notes.  I use the "Person Note" to write a biography of the person involved, which is usually composed of the information in the Fact Notes.  So adding both the Person Note and the Fact Notes to FamilySearch Notes would be redundant.  This is my choice - your choices may vary. I do add the "Person Note" as a "Life Sketch" in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

8)  While my Fact/Events in my RootsMagic database are in chronological date order (except for the Shared Facts), they are not added in chronological order, or in the order they were added, to FamilySearch Notes.  In the case above, the latest Note added is listed first in the FamilySearch Family Tree Notes section for the Person.  I don't see a way to put them in chronological order, except to add them in reverse chronological order from RootsMagic.  That can be done, but if you add another Note because you found a new record, it will appear at the top of the list.

I find this RootsMagic interface with the FamilySearch Famly Tree to be very easy to use and it works very well.  It does take some time (usually a few seconds) to transmit something to FamilySearch.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/adding-notes-to-familysearch-family.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

UPDATED:  18 September:  added description of how to open the "FamilySearch Person Tools" screen.

2 comments:

Geolover said...

Thanks, Randy, for this especially well done explanation of how to do this.

Unknown said...

Hi Randy,
Love your detailed "how-tos" such as this post. However I am stumped at step 2-Where is this:FamilySearch Person Tools.

Thanks for all your diligent work!

Jane