4 ways to adjust your display

Each month I prepare a short digital skills session for our local genealogy group which I present via Zoom. This month is about Chrome: vertical bookmarks, tab groups, split screen and reading mode.

Problem: My bookmarks bar takes up too much space on my screen

Solution : Settings > Bookmarks and Lists > Bookmarks bar > Only show on new tab page

Problem: I have multiple tabs open and can’t see them all across the toolbar

Right click on blank space in toolbar or right click on any tab > Show tabs vertically

To close the vertical display right click in a blank space of the vertical display  > Show tabs horizontally

Problem: I want to be able to see an ancestor on both FamilySearch and Ancestry to compare sources

Choose the Split Screen icon on the left of the toolbar, then in the right-hand panel choose the extra tab to display. To revert to single tab use the options displayed under the icon.

Problem: I want to keep (any group of tabs) e.g. Facebook, Gmail, Substack and Bluesky open, but I don’t want them cluttering up my tabs and distracting me from my research

On a new tab - Create new tab group from icon on far left or right click on any tab and Add tab to new group 

Give the group a name, choose a colour. Drag the tabs onto that group. Click on the group name to open or close the group.

My Daily group closed

My Daily group open

Useful when you are researching a particular topic and have opened multiple tabs on that topic that you want to read later.

Reading Mode  

Right click on a webpage and choose Open in Reading mode. Use tools at side to increase or decrease text size. This is particularly useful on pages like this Saving Genealogy Societies where there are videos and advertisements.

On an iPad, tap in top left hand corner of the search bar.

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

Buried in the Details

Preserving the Details on the Tombstones 

The original meaning of graveyard referred to that area allocated for burials next to church building. 

Cemeteries are land dedicated to the burial of the dead. 

Both of these places have tombstones which through the years may deteriorate and become hard to read.

In this day and age we have many and varied online indexes to some of these places helping us to find the images of tombstones of relatives.

Digital Preservation

When I write for my family and future descendants I want my readers to be able to see what was on the original tombstone. Sometimes these are so degraded that a photo does not display the words clearly. 

Here I have used ChatGPT to clean up the images of these two tombstones. 

I provided the exact text in order to get the enhanced images. In the first instance I also requested that the green weed be removed.

I tried the same exercise in Gemini  but found Chat GPT’s rendition of the stones a better fit for purpose.

Yes, AI enhanced but it is likely that the reproduction is closer to the original than the degraded tombstone.

Have you tried this enhancement?

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

The Digital Graveyard

Cleaning up the clutter

The house could do with a good clean, but it's the digital world that has my attention at the moment. Since we acquired our first computer in 1985, developments have been rapid. Accounts long forgotten lurk in a kind of digital graveyard, and I've decided it's time to lay several to rest. Over the years I was an early adopter of many sites and apps, each promised something useful. Those accounts largely free, had their uses but their moment is now long past.

Do you honestly know how many accounts you have accumulated over the years on sites that no longer exist? If you have a password manager you may be surprised what's still lurking therein. I found three saved passwords for sites that had vanished entirely. Then there were the others, one account now occupied by a casino, and another quietly taken over by a more respectable firm.

I was reminded of an earlier digital life today when I logged back into a long forgotten SlideShare account. I had not used it for 12 years but it still held a range of presentations I had uploaded and shared.  I took a screenshot to mark the occasion, then deleted the content and the account.

As I grow older I feel a growing responsibility to leave behind only what will genuinely be useful for my descendants. The digital world is cluttered enough without my adding to it indefinitely. I'm working to clean up my corner.

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

1926 and all that

Some aspects of the lives of my ancestors in 1926 via ChatGPT

At the beginning of Family History Month in August I suggested bloggers revisit the year 1926 to look at who was alive in that year, how old they were and what were their circumstances?

Several people participated, links below. If I missed your post, please add in the comments.

Jennifer Jones Mundane to Magnificent - Australia Family History Month 2026

Linda Curry Life in 1926 

Anne Young My family in 1926 

and mine Ancestors: Mundane to Magnificent 100 Years ago and 

Living in 1926: Scattered Lives

Alex Daw https://familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2026/09/mundane-to-magnificent-ancestors-from.html.

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

On Fixing my Feedly

A faithful servant

For many years I have relied on Feedly to deliver the blogs and websites I want to read to my iPad. It is a free valuable service, and I have folders of collected sites by genre.

Genealogy and DNA

Books

Tech

Libraries and Librarians

General interest

Food and Recipes

Sewing

History

It is simple to add a site to your feed, simply copy the URL of the site use the Follow Sources in Feedly and add the URL there.

During this last week an anomaly appeared in my Genealogy folder. The posts were in an Asian script and several were appearing each day - an unwanted invader. Perhaps a dormant genealogy blog had not revisited their space for a long time or a domain name I was following was taken over.

To Remove a Feed

Feeds can be removed in the app by holding down the name of the feed in the sidebar, then selecting Unfollow.

To remove when logged in on a web page, from the side bar, choose the three dot menu which reveals Unfollow.

Aaron’s blog was not the offending feed but is used here to illustrate how to Unfollow a feed.

Aaron has moved from Blogger  to Substack you can find his Musings about Librarianship https://substack.com/@aarontay and add his wisdom to your Feedly.

Back to reading now I've cleaned up my account.

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

Blogging in April 2026

Blogging in April 

Here is a list of Australian and NZ bloggers I have so far come across who are participating in the 2026 A-Z April Blogging challenge. The challenge is to post each day in April except Sundays using the alphabet as a guide.

Some are telling the stories of their families, some are focused on places or their experiences and objects. There is sure to be plenty here for your reading pleasure throughout April. 

Anne Young  -The Goldfields of Central Victoria 

Jennifer Jones - Women in my Family History at Tracking down the Family

Jill Ball - Island Hopping 

Linda Curry - The Lost Summer 

Sandra Williamson - Behind the Newsprint

BrizzyMay Quirky Australian Towns

Sarah Whiley Over my Head

and mine - Living in Kashmir: A Year of People, Places and Memories  

If I have not found your blog, please let me know and I shall add you to this list.

 

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

On Leaving Evernote

Evernote not forever

AI generated image

As a long term user of Evernote it is with some regret I now find myself copying and migrating all my accumulated notes, the digital brain, elsewhere. 

When I wrote about the free account in 2016, I was just one of many who were delighted with the features offered. Special interest groups promoted its use for storing, notes, clippings, images and more. Templates were developed and ideas for indexing individual notebooks flourished. The ability to sync across all platforms was excellent. One cannot expect free software storage but as payment plans were introduced so too were limitations imposed. I removed the app from my phone but retained it on my iPad and my computer. In 2021 when I reviewed my usage, the cost was AU89.99.

Searching is powerful, tags, titles, and text within notes. Later iterations brought OCR and handwriting recognition. There is no doubt it is, and has been, a very a useful tool but I just don’t need to spend the AU309.99 per year to maintain my current level of usage. To reduce the amount of notes for the cheaper rate would defeat the purpose of maintaining a subscription as I would be unable to add any more.

The price rise takes effect for me on March 20th, 2026, just a few weeks away. The notification re this price rise arrived 2 days ago.

The export option is not friendly, exporting to .enex files.

I have cancelled that forthcoming payment.

The Exit Strategy 

• Review Notebooks: currently General, Genealogy (3 notebooks in this stack), Receipts, Recipes, Sewing, Technology tips, Trips (4 notebooks in this stack) and Writing.
• Determine priority information 
• Determine where to store saved information 
• Delete outdated notes
• Download PDFs
• Copy text from any notes that were added by typing or speaking. These include some notes taken when talking with siblings.

Progress

Today I have managed to review the Sewing notebook and remove or delete all those files. 

From the General notebook I’ve saved all the household manuals, coffee machine, new oven, washing machine, stick vacuum, microwave etc. These are now housed in one folder in Google Drive, easy to find there when needed.

I will need to review at least 50 notes each day between now and March 22nd. 

So many software services now operate as subscriptions rather than outright purchases, that one needs evaluate usefulness within one’s discretionary spending.

Farewell Evernote.

16 March update - Accomplished, migrated, deleted account.

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info