* Having trouble with many Notes

[donone]

I am having a little trouble with which note is which in various displays.
In the individual tab there is a note against Marriage.
When looking at the yellow Source tab alongside it there is a larger note box at the bottom. Writing in one does not appear in the other so they are different.
Can somebody assist with what could be considered the normal use for each of those note boxes, ignoring that I can do as I please, what is typical?

ID:5906

[AdrianBruce]

The way I use them - and I like to think it's the way that they are intended to be used - the note at the foot of the yellow source tab is a note about how that single source relates to the fact. Whereas the note on the individual's tab(s) to the left, expand on the event or fact that is being mentioned.

For instance:
Note on the left against the marriage event - 'This was a Church of England ceremony.'

Note on the right in the source pane - 'This is the only wedding of a Fred Bloggs in Cheshire in the 1890s, so this is taken to be the record of Fred's marriage.'

Now, if you're OK with that, then I'd point out that you can also have a Note against the source record - so that's 3 notes we can have:
- one against the fact that is the full story;
- one on the source pane saying how the source relates to that one fact;
- one on the record for the source talking about the source as a whole - remember the source can give rise to lots of facts.

Usually I write my stuff like 'This is the only wedding of a Fred Bloggs in Cheshire in the 1890s, so this is taken to be the record of Fred's marriage' in the note on the source record and leave the note on the yellow pane empty. But if I've got a source record that covers lots of events such as 'English Registration Indices 1837-1905', then 'This is the only ...' gets written on the note on the yellow pane.

[NickWalker]

This does get complicated!

• There is a 'local note' for facts, in this case a marriage, where you might decide to put a note such as the witnesses.
• A source (e.g. the Marriage of John Smith and Alice Jones' can have 'Source Text' and 'Note(s)' - you might use the source text to record a transcription of the certificate.
• A citation that links a fact to the source can also have text and notes (this is the yellow section)

Some people use the Source to be more generic (e.g. Marriage Certificates) and then record the details of each marriage in the citation text.

So what you have are various places to record text but how you use them is up to you. Personally I would never record anything in the citation text or note. I will occasionally add notes to the local note for the fact. I will usually transcribe the marriage certificate (or census details, etc.) in the source text. I like to have all the detailed notes recorded in one place (the source text) so I only have to edit it or read it in one place. The problem with having notes spread across local notes, citations and sources is that you end up having multiple copies of the same information recorded.

There is more about this in the Knowledge Base - search for Sources.

Nick

[tatewise]

Firstly, I suggest you use the various Note fields only to record information that does not fit anywhere else.

Yes, there are a lot of Note fields.
Virtually every entity has one.
In fact most of them can have an unlimited number of instances of their Note field.
There are no prizes for filling them all up!

Choose the Note field that is the nearest to the item that the Note Details affect.

If the Note relates to an Individual as a whole, then use Note in their Property Box on the Main tab or the Notes tab (these are both the same data).

If the Note relates to a particular Fact for one Individual then use the Note in the Property Box on the Fact tab when that Fact is selected.

If the Note pertains to a particular Citation then use the Note in the Sources pane of the Property Box for that Citation. Remember there can be several Citations for any Fact.

If the Note affects a Source Record (that can be linked to many Citations) then use its Source Property Box Note.

Likewise for Multimedia Records or Repository Records or Family Records you can add a Note.

On top of all that there are Note Records that can be linked to almost any other Record.
Use these to create shared Notes, that are common to several items, to avoid duplicating any data entry.

There is some guidance on Notes in the Getting the Most From Family Historian 4 PDF.
Lookup Notes in the Index and there are plenty of references.

[NickWalker]

When I saw the question, I knew a few of us 'usual suspects' would enjoy the challenge of answering this one.

[donone]

I thank the 'usual suspects' for their insight and guidance.
I am grateful and the opinions need careful thought before filling in and then having to change. I think a sprinkling from each opinion and following up the references will sort the wood from the trees.
I have enough to set my strategy, thank you.