Smart tables for your family history

Think of a spreadsheet as a smart table for sorting and organising your accumulated data. Whether you're using Google Sheets, OpenOffice Calc, Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or other programs, use the power of digital tables to manipulate your family history data.

10 uses

1. Track certificates bought and/or ordered
2. Timelines - for individuals and/or families
3. Census data across the years
4. Tracking DNA data matches / DNA contact list
5. Land records
6. Research plans
7. Records downloaded from a particular dataset 
8. An index of photos digitised
9. Progress sheet of biographies/ blogposts/ reports written 
10. Checklist of resources for a particular area/country

This is a compilation list, some of the best explanations of how and why to use a spreadsheet program for your family history data. 

https://generationsgenealogyaus.wordpress.com/resources/using-excel/ 

https://www.familyhistoryfanatics.com/genealogy-spreadsheets 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiMXWjHlj5RRgZG4aCinoL6o_2R8iGEEc&si=SartZNl6SBWsiJT_

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJUpgvagmBH8fvWp0IEeOYW93NoSXhCZW&si=isoVuZTcp6YqAcMC

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

Interactive charts for family history bloggers

Producing a visual interactive chart for your Blogger blog

While most genealogy programs will produce a csv or spreadsheet chart of some sort, they are usually not friendly for Blogger blogs. For those not using TNG site building software or Webtrees there are some other options. Two of the simplest options are outlined below.

An organisational chart using Google Slides

1. On a blank slide choose Insert - Diagram
2. Select from the range of organisational styles available
3. Choose how many levels to display, the options are 3,4 or 5. On my slide I chose three. 
4. Choose a colour then add the chart to the blank slide. 
5. Modify the text and add the links to your blog posts. The text in the slide above is Roboto font, size 18, white, bold and each name is linked to an individual post on my Earlier Years blog.
6. Select the whole chart and drag to enlarge to fit the widescreen slide
7. Under the file menu choose publish to the web. Any changes you subsequently make, will be automatically updated.
8. Choose embed - this one is the small size, copy and paste the embed code into the HTML editor of your blog.

*Alternate strategy when a diagram does not meet your needs

Start with a blank slide, insert a basic shape, fill with colour, double click in it to add generic text and format the font and size. Now duplicate as many of that shape as needed, arrange on slide then use elbow joiners to link the shapes. Add the names and links to the shapes. Proceed as detailed above.

Make a copy of your slide in Google Drive and rename to Template - blog family tree so that you can use the same slide for a different family without affecting your embedded publication.

Using a Google spreadsheet

A pedigree view can be simulated in a few different methods in spreadsheets. This is a simple one.  Here's a link to a diagrammatic spreadsheet of  Hannah's ancestors created in Google sheets.

• I've used three columns and enough rows to allow for the descendancy to show. 
• The cells have added colour and links added to individual posts.
• Under the file menu choose publish to the web. Any changes you subsequently make, will be automatically updated.
• Choose embed - copy and paste the embed code into the HTML editor of your blog.
• The same spreadsheet is shown below published to the web and embedded here. 
• The embed code does not have any details for height and width so only shows this small scrollable box.

This one has some added HTML in the code to improve the size of the display.


Warning: if you copy from here do paste into a plain text editor such as notepad, check and compare it before adding to your embed code.
Paste in the embed HTML then add in the code in red after the word  iframe and before src=

frameborder="0" headers="false" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="true" 

Then after widget=true copy and insert webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="640"

Once again, save a copy of your spreadsheet renaming it as a template so that it can be reused for the next family.

If you are more adventurous visit Tony Proctor's blog Parallax View to investigate how to embed an SVG family tree.

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 This post was written by Carmel Galvin and first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

Excelling file names

On a recent trip to South Australia, I acquired 319 new digital items to be filed and named. Many of these are scanned photos, images captured from newspapers, photocopied documents, and photographed family memorabilia. What a bonus for a budding family historian to have acquired so much in a short period but how will I process and organise all this information? On looking at my file naming practice I spotted many errors had crept into my system over the past three years. This time, I was determined to stay consistent by using Excel to generate file names.

Spreadsheets have a function useful for this purpose: Concatenate. This simply means that all the information entered into a series of cells will be combined together into one cell. Why use this for file naming? The column headings on the spreadsheet prompt me to enter the different types of information; names, dates, places, and events. Basically, it is a guide to answering questions about files.

• Who is it about?
• When did it happen or when was it generated?
• Where did it take place?
• What is it about?

So my spreadsheet column headings reflect the type of information I wish to record. Any cell can be left blank if the type of information in that column is not relevant to the file to be named.
In the column where I want the file name compiled, in this case, I3, I added the formula =CONCATENATE(A3,B3,C3,D3,E3,F3,G3,H3) to join together or combine the information from the cells in columns A to H. This creates my completed file name.

Next , I used the fill handle, (drag down from the bottom right-hand corner of cell I3) to copy the formula down into all the cells in column I. Now any information I add in new rows will automatically be compiled in Column I.

I’ve added an underscore in column E to separate the numbers where there are two dates, simply for ease of reading. I’ve used fill down so that I don’t need to type that underscore every time.

If spaces are required between names one could add two double quotes around a space, into the formula. So to get Horgan John rather than HorganJohn I would need to amend part of the formula (A3,B3) to (A3,“ ”,B3)

The second tab on my spreadsheet replicates the formula for photographs, not all of which are related to family history pursuits. The reminder headings may be interpreted differently as the name column may be used to describe the contents of the photo. By keeping the sheets separate I will be able to sort the data in different ways.

I’ve added a Column J which contains a link to the file on my computer. This link is inserted once the file has been renamed using this system.  Now I need to get back to sorting and naming all those files.

This post on GFC Learn Free explains the concatenate function. There are many excellent Excel tutorials on YouTube. Google Sheets or Open Office users will find this function can be replicated in those spreadsheet programs.

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com