My top five reasons to organize digitally

Regular readers of this blog know that I prefer organizing my genealogy files digitally. I almost never print anything I find online and things that come to me on paper get scanned and organized on my hard drive.

Today, I wanted to simply share the top reasons for my preference for digital organizing of genealogy records:

1. It’s more portable. I love that my research is with me wherever I go. I use Reunion genealogy software on my Mac and attach my source documents to each source record. The data is stored in Dropbox and easily accessible on my phone through the ReunionTouch app.
2. It’s easier on my eyes. Early on, I would print census records on 8.5″ x 11″ paper and have to use a magnifying glass to read them. My eyes aren’t getting any younger and I really appreciate that I can just zoom in on documents in Preview, the app I use to read pdfs and jpgs.
3. It takes less effort to file digitally. It is so much easier to rename a file, then drag it file to a folder on my computer than it it so open a file cabinet drawer and locate and open a folder and file (or open a binder to the right place and insert a piece of paper).
4. It creates less clutter. I don’t have a pile of genealogy papers waiting to be filed. I don’t have unruly paper files or binders. I just have a nice neat hard drive. (True confession: I do, sometimes, I have a tidy digital backlog of files waiting to be processed into my software.)
5. It’s less expensive. Since I’m not printing documents I find online, I save money on paper and toner. And I may save a tree or two while I’m at it.

I could go on; there are more than five reasons I love digital organization for my genealogy research! An important note: since I know that hard drives can fail, I backup my genealogy files in three places (Dropbox, an external hard drive and in the cloud via Backblaze.) A good back-up routine is critical.

If you’re interested in making the switch, check out my blog post Getting started going digital. And if you’d like a deep dive into exactly how I organize my research digitally, you can my purchase my Orderly Roots guide, How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow.