* workflow and getting organized

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mjashby
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by mjashby » 22 Dec 2014 20:05

Extended Date Function for MS Excel: http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/fi ... ons_xdate/

"Description: Excel cannot work with dates prior to the year 1900. The Extended Date Functions add-in (XDATE) corrects this deficiency, and allows you to work with dates in the years 0100 through 9999."

Hope it helps.

Mervyn

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tatewise
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by tatewise » 22 Dec 2014 20:26

An alternative is to use OpenOffice Calc.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry

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makfai
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by makfai » 23 Dec 2014 00:27

mjashby wrote:Extended Date Function for MS Excel: http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/fi ... ons_xdate/

"Description: Excel cannot work with dates prior to the year 1900. The Extended Date Functions add-in (XDATE) corrects this deficiency, and allows you to work with dates in the years 0100 through 9999."

Hope it helps.

Mervyn
Thanks Mervyn. I had seen a few links to this macro but decided to stick with my work-around. MS Access does not have this date problem.
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by jmurphy » 23 Dec 2014 08:05

makfai wrote:I am keeping an eagle-eye on your experiments! :lol:
In case anyone else is interested, Thomas MacEntee of GeneaBloggers fame has announced an upcoming schedule of events he is calling the Do-Over:

Announcing the Genealogy Do-Over

Genealogy Do-Over: Schedule of Topics

His reasoning is that when we first started out, we didn't know what were doing. We didn't make plans, or cite our sources -- we just gathered everything every which way. So he's doing a 13-week series of blog posts on making a fresh start, and inviting people who want an interactive experience to join him in a Facebook Group.

I had already decided to start over before Thomas posted his Do-Over plan, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

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British Kiwi
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by British Kiwi » 08 Jan 2015 06:43

This has been an interesting post as I am currently reviewing my processes and file naming conventions. I am also taking a course and finding a huge amount of nee information online which is a little bit overwhelming. I have only just recently upgraded from versio 3.2 to 6 and am trying to use as mucb of the functionality as possible. Two things I have now implemented to help keep track of what I need to do and what I have done is firstly a To Do list from the Knowledge Base and then based on this I have created a Research Log. I used a custom attribute and have then created a report. I still need to tweak it a bit and no doubt I will be asking Mike and Jane for their assistance but this is helping me so far to keep a handle on what I need to do and what I have done. Of course I'm happy to share my research log if it is helpful though I suspect you are looking at more sophisticated methods.

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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by jmurphy » 08 Jan 2015 08:11

During the past week or so, I have joined the Facebook group dedicated to the discussion of the Genealogy Do-Over. People have been sharing research logs, and it has been fun to see what other people design.

There's no need to apologize because your tools are simple. Sometimes simple tools are the most effective. We all have to find what suits us best. As long as your log works for you, that's what matters.

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British Kiwi
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by British Kiwi » 08 Jan 2015 10:54

I have requested to join that group too. Though I really should try and minimise my genealogy time at the moment. I have also been having a look at GenQuiry too and might give that a go. My method seems to cover what I need as a basic log, but I think GenQuiry might tick a few boxes in regards to mapping my progress. I often get side tracked and find lots of new sources but no time to process them. Hopefully I could use it to track my thoughts for use at a later date.

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makfai
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by makfai » 13 Jan 2015 23:33

I have started experimenting with TRELLO https://trello.com/platforms It means I can access my research across platforms.

I didn't appreciate its value until I got into it but one of the advantages would be, for example, allowing other contributors (family members?) to have an input or view of what research you are doing.
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Re: workflow and getting organized

Post by jmurphy » 01 Jul 2017 08:35

Since the last time I posted here, I've been using Scrivener as a research notebook, and it's working out pretty well. I was doing something where I wanted an index card program, and suddenly I said -- oh, wait a minute, I have one. I haven't begun to learn all the bells and whistles, but who cares? I brush up on individual features as I need them.

My only regret is that I haven't got a Mac, so I can't use all the cool features the Mac version has which are not found in the Windows version. But even the Windows version is pretty cool.

iOS users can, of course, sync with the Mac version. You lucky people.

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