Have you been thinking about going paperless with your genealogy? I made that transition about six years ago and have never looked back. In 2015, I wrote a post called 8 reasons not to print that pretty well spells out my reasoning behind embracing digital organizing.
Making that transition is the kind of thing that you might be putting off, thinking you’ll need time to think it through and come up with and implement a plan. Most of us are not working at this time of COVID-19, so now might be a good time to start the process. And here’s a great (if I say so myself) resource to help you get started: The Paperless Genealogy Guide, a 40-plus-page downloadable pdf that I wrote in 2017 with scanning expert Brooks Duncan of DocumentSnap. We wrote the guide as we were working on the Going Digital talk we gave together at RootsTech that year.
One thing I want to make clear as you’re pondering going transitioning to digital: You don’t have to scan your existing paper files all at once. Just figure out what your digital workflow will be (here’s mine) and think about your digital file naming convention and computer folder structure. Once you know those things, you can just start with next document you find online. Rather than print it, just do this: rename it, process it and then file it digitally. You can then work on the backlog a file folder (or half hour) at a time until it’s done. But the key is not to add to the backlog. From this point forward process all incoming documents digitally.
So that it’s handy, I’ll share with you my file-naming protocol and folder structure. They’ve been working well for me for years but of course you might have or come up with something that works better for you.
My file-naming protocol:
Year Document Type-Ancestor Name-Locality of document
Example: 1938 death certificate-George Washington Adams-Indianapolis Indiana
My folder structure:
Genealogy/Surnames/[Surname]/Last Name, First Name, YOB-YOD
Example: Genealogy/Surnames/Adams/Adams, George Washington, 1845-1938
I have a folder for each individual. For married women, I file them under their married name (if there’s more than one, I use the one pertains to me) and put their birth name in parentheses.
Example of wife: Genealogy/Surnames/Adams/Adams (McEuen), Henrietta, 1847-1902
This is the kind of information that’s covered in The Paperless Genealogy, along with a lot more. The guide also includes information on selecting a scanner, keeping your data safe, and what you do (and don’t) need to get started. It also includes our Paperless Genealogy Checklist to walk you through the steps you need to take. The Paperless Genealogy is $9 and available instantly. Read more about it and purchase it at the DocumentSnap website.
I like to put the year first too, but then I think of the person before documents. So far I haven’t been using the locality in the name, but maybe I’ll think about adding that. I don’t like to bother with spaces, hyphens or underscores (especially not underscores!) so my document name ends up being – 1922 Van Loo Jacob birth certificate. My folder structure does need working on since I apparently have some duplicates … I haven’t been consistent as to whether I file things under Documents/Genealogy, or Photos/Genealogy. It’s excellent advice to start now with filing new documents digitally, and tackle the already printed ones later!
Thanks for commenting, Carol. The important thing is creating a naming structure that works for you! For me, the date and the document go together (it’s a 1938 death certificate in my mind). I don’t know that adding the locality has been hugely helpful, but it does help remind me what the document is when I see the filename, I think.
Just bought your book. I have things all over the place. This sounds like just what I need. Excited to start using this. It makes so much more sense to me than any thin else I have tried
Excellent, Martha! Feel free to reach out with specific questions if they come up!
I have been digital for some years now. Recently, I found a lever arch folder full on printed version of British Census pages that came from Ancestry. Rather that scan them, I will go back to Ancestry and and download them as an image/pdf.
Other thought is to take a photo of them.
John, it’s an interesting question whether it’s easier to scan or to find and download. If you’re maintaining a tree on Ancestry, it certainly makes sense to find them there, add to your tree, then download them. Otherwise, I would probably find it fastest to scan them. Whichever way you go, happy exporation of those documents!
Thanks for your post. I guess this is the time for me to start going paperless. Plan to buy the book tomorrow. I will probably keep the documents that are original and the documents that I had to pay for I will eventually discard. I already have my file system and naming style so I will probably keep that
Exciting, Jerry! Of course, feel free to reach out if you have questions you think I can answer!
I’ve been paperless for a couple of years and have tried many different filing methods and image naming standards. In addition to direct line ancestors, I also research collaterals as well as unproven collaterals, so I don’t want to set up a folder for each individual. In the past year I have simplified so my basic folders are People and Places.
Folder:
Family History / PEOPLE / Maternal Line (or Paternal Line) / Surname (by direct line and/or major collateral surname)
File image example: ANISTON Jennifer [Pitt_Theroux] -Photo-YYYY MMM DD-PLACE.
Folder:
Family History / PLACES / State / General State Sources / County / type file (census, city directory, etc.)
File image examples:
1879 – Mobile City Directory_HAR_pg 83
CEN-1880-AL_Mobile_Mobile_ED134_pp268A
Thank you for sharing your experience and this very helpful naming system. I’ve been struggling on how to get everything together so that others after me would be able to find my notes and gatherings useful. I’m converting to your system today!