Family Historian User Group

Is there a simple way to incorporate BMD data in its own field rather than add it in the Notes Section?
In the birth record there are 'spaces' for date, age, place, address, note etc.
Is it possible to add a 'space' for BMD data : District; volume; page?
Any advice greatly appreciated, TIA
CJ

That is quite a fundamental question, and suggests you may not appreciate the significance of Source Citations.
Forgive me if I have misinterpreted your question.

Let me first summarise, and later go into more detail.
When for example you add a Birth Event do you add a Citation link to a Source record?
e.g. The cited Source record may capture the details of the GRO Birth Index or the Birth Certificate.
There are a number of Citation and Source fields to hold the GRO reference (District; volume; page) you mention.
e.g. The Citation has a Where within Source field and the Source record has a Publication Information field, and a lot more to hold a transcript and image, etc.

See how_to:index#recording_facts_and_sources|> Recording Facts and Sources and start with how_to:adding_bmd_data#adding_birth_marriage_and_death_information|> Adding Birth, Marriage, and Death Information followed by glossary:sources|> Using Source Records that goes into much more detail.

A popular way of capturing BMD and other sources is to use ancestralsources:index|> Ancestral Sources.

If all this is new to you, despite having used FH for 10 years, then it may take a while to all sink in, and you will no doubt have many subsidiary questions.

As you will find from reading around this forum there are many different ways of doing this. It is a matter of personal choice.

My way is to use a 'lumped' source such as 'EW Birth Index 1837-2007' then record the date of data entry in the Entry Date field, set an Assessment, input the reference in the Where in Source Field and additional information such as mother's maiden name or age at death in the Text from Source field. I use the Notes field to record any oddities or observations about the record. I chose this method as it followed on from using TMG.

See the attached image for an example.

David uses the Method 2 'source lumpers' mode discussed in glossary:sources|> Using Source Records.

If you regularly cite the same Source for several Facts, such as all the household members of a Census return, then that can produce a great deal of duplicated data entry that database purists frown on.
The Method 1 'source splitter' mode avoids such duplication, and also makes it easier to find Census household members linked to the particular Source record.
This method is particularly applicable where you keep both transcript Text From Source and Media images.

Ancestral Sources supports both methods, and both methods have a role to play in different types of Sources.
For example, GRO BMD Index sources are well suited to Method 2.

Thanks for the information Mike and David. I apologise for not acknowledging your help earlier.
(As you may gather I tend to conduct my researches in 'fits and starts' so have only just got around to reading your replies!)
I can see that I need to do a bit more searching of the forum and the Knowledge Base.
Cheers and thanks again,
Chris

As Miketate suggested, this is where source infomation is useful.
As a ‘splitter’, I add the GRO ref as a source, with titles such as GRO B 1867 Q1 Stepney 1C 567 or GRO M 1892 Q1 Newington 1D 523 or GRO D 1925 Q3 Poplar 1c 312
For births, this is used as a source for year, and location of birth, and copied for name.
For marriages, this is used for year and place of marriage, and copied for names of Bride and Groom.
For deaths, this is used for year and place of death, and copied for name, and birth year (as age is now shown for all)

I use Splitting from most entries, but if I only have the GRO Index I have a single source for that and put the information in Text from Source on the citation.

There is a plugin in the store which does this and creates a Birth / Marriage / Death Fact if one does not already exist.

Add a General Record Office Source and optionally Event