Use these step-by-step instructions to organize notes in Evernote notebooks.
Recently Donna watched one of my Evernote for genealogy webinars. She wrote in afterward to give the webinar a thumbs-up and ask this question about how to organize notes in Evernote notebooks:
“I…have been happily using Evernote for a while now so I already have lots of notes, notebooks and stacks. Got web clipper, made my Genealogy and Personal notebooks, added tags you suggested, and discovered Evernote Clearly is no longer available. But you’re right, I’ve lost some of the notes in the myriad. What is the best way to begin putting notes into the new Genealogy & Personal notebooks? Is there another video on that? Thanks for being there for us, Lisa, All our stuff can become overwhelming if it can’t be organized.”
Genealogy Gems
I’m so glad that Donna found the video helpful!
The thing about getting organized is that sometimes it can gobble up all your research time. So one approach I often recommend is just to move Evernote notes as you use them. That way you can keep researching, while getting more organized each day. As you create new notes you’ll be putting them directly where they belong, and as you use existing notes, you can tidy them up as you go.
If you feel more comfortable getting everything moved in one fell swoop, that’s good too. One way to save time is with a simple trick: decide what you have more of (Genealogy or Personal) and then move ALL your notes into that notebook. So if you have more Genealogy notes, all your notes will be in that notebook. Now you only have less than 1/2 of your notes that need to be moved to Personal.
You can move the rest to the other notebook by selecting multiple notes at once. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown:
1. Click the Genealogy notebook in the left column.
2. In the center column are all of your notes. Click the first note in your list to be moved.
3. Hold down the Control key on your keyboard.
4. Now click to select each additional note you want to move to the Personal notebook. (Use the wheel on your mouse to scroll down as you need to.) Your notes will be collecting in the right-hand window pane, and a dialog box will appear.
5. In that dialog box, click the Move to Notebook button and click to select the desired notebook from your list (ex. Personal).
6. For good measure, click the Sync button to manually synchronize all of your notes.
I heard back from Donna with this comment:
“Thank you Lisa! Within a matter of minutes I was able to move my notes and notebooks into the two stacks. Now that Personal and Genealogy are separated, I’ll follow your suggestion to tidy up the notes as I go and add all my tags (which I hadn’t realized the importance of before the video). Ahhhh! It feels so good to have it clearly organized! You rock, Lisa!”
This website is packed with resources for using Evernote for genealogy! Click here to find free tips and videos to get started. To REALLY make Evernote work for your family history, become a Genealogy Gems Premium website member. Members have a full year’s access to my Ultimate Evernote Education for Genealogists instructional video series with their membership.
Recently, Norma wrote in with this question about getting DNA from a hair sample:
“My sister-in-law’s father passed away before she could have his DNA tested. She does have samples of his hair. She was wondering if there is a lab who would do DNA testing for genealogy using hair samples? FamilyTree DNA and 23 and Me both do not do testing on hair. There are no other male relatives that she is aware that could be tested. She is interested in the yDNA especially.”
I turned to Your DNA Guide at Genealogy Gems, Diahan Southard, and here’s her answer:
“Good question! This is a common concern for many. Unfortunately, cut hair (which I am assuming is what you have) does not contain the necessary material for DNA testing. If he had any teeth pulled that she had saved, that would be a good source. Even sometimes a razor will work.
But even if you could find a suitable sample, as you mentioned, the standard genealogical testing companies do not accept non-standard samples. There is a company who does, called Identigene, but the testing is expensive, and really won’t give you what need, which is access to a yDNA database to look for matches.
Your best route is to continue to look for a direct paternal descendant of the line of interest. If your friend’s dad didn’t have any brothers, then what about her grandfather? Are there any first cousins around? What you are looking for is a living male who has the surname you are interested in.
If you can’t find one, your friend can still explore the autosomal DNA test, which will tell her about her paternal side, just in a less direct manner.
Check out these compelling WWII photos! These remind me of the vivid scenes in the best-selling novel Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave.
Recently, I’ve been inspired and riveted by the stories in Everyone Brave is Forgiven, the current Genealogy Gems Book Club featured title. Though author Chris Cleave writes so compellingly you feel like you’re there, I love pictures. So, I curated this mini-exhibit of five stunning WWII photos of London during The Blitz. I have also included a bonus sixth photograph of Malta where part of the book takes place.
[Note: click on images to see original files and full source citation information.]
WWII Photos from London
View of London after the German Blitz, 29 December 1940.
London Underground station, in use as an air-raid shelter during World War II.
Children of an eastern suburb of London, made homeless by the random bombs of the Nazi night raiders, waiting outside the wreckage of what was their home. September 1940.
During a 1942 training exercise, ambulance crew and civil defense workers place a “casualty” into an ambulance. Women comprised most of the crew of the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service during WWII.
Blitz Canteen: Women of the Women’s Voluntary Service run a Mobile Canteen in London, 1941.
Service personnel and civilians clear up debris on a heavily bomb-damaged street in Valletta, Malta on 1 May 1942.
An ABC Action News Report presents a scary-to-us scenario:a family’s home movies disappeared with the company hired to convert them to DVD. The family only got their 16mm home movie reels back when the local news media went after the business owner. Here’s the story (now archived on YouTube). Keep reading for advice on how to make sure you hire reputable photo and film preservation services.
After watching this genealogy-version-of-a-horror-movie, I contacted ScanDigital, a reputable company that’s done some photo digitization work for me in the past. I asked them for tips on how to work with digital conversion companies.
“Sending precious, one-of-a-kind family memories can be a very stressful task,” responded Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Koa Nu’uhiwa. “We suggest to all of our customers that they start by using a service they feel comfortable with. Comfort levels vary and are affected by a number of things, ranging from price, location, reputation, ease of use and friendliness of customer service interactions. It’s important to find a business that meets the criteria that fit your needs.”
How does ScanDigital make their customers comfortable with sending off their originals through the mail? (I admit, I spent a fair bit of time on their site before I was ready to do this.) Here’s what they told me people should consider:
“Safety and security of materials while in our hands. We store every order in a plastic bin that is bar-coded and labeled with the customer’s name, order # and estimated completion date. Materials for each order are kept separate from materials for other orders to ensure things are kept safe, secure, and separated from other customers’ materials.
How to ship materials to us and how we ship materials back. We recommend using a shipping service that the customer trusts. We prefer UPS because that’s who we trust for 95% of our shipments, but they may not be the best option depending on your location. Ultimately, as long as you have tracking and can verify your package is delivered to our headquarters, that is the most important. All of our packages are provided with tracking so we can check the status of the shipment. Additionally, ScanDigital is partnered with The UPS Store for safe and convenient shipping. ScanDigital customers can take their order to The UPS Store and tell them they would like to use the UPS Corporate Returns program to ship their materials to our headquarters. The UPS Store will provide packing material, pack your order for you, and ship it to us at no cost to you. It’s a partnership that’s been very convenient and helpful for many of our customers.
What it will cost to digitize the collection of analog memories. Our prices are clearly listed on our website, but we also have a great team of reps who can walk customers through pricing and even place orders over the phone. Often times, we can provide custom pricing, based on the materials a customer has, and ensure the pricing is very clear.”
Of course, ScanDigital isn’t the only reliable company out there that can get your photos scanned and home movies digitized. You may find a local bricks-and-mortar place that will do this for you. Some chain retailers have started offering this service, like Costco and Walgreen’s in the U.S. (though they may be mailing things off for you, too–ask them!). Cyndi’s List has this directory of Scanners and Scanning Services vendors.
Wondering what file formats are recommended for long-term digital preservation? Click hereto learn more!
Here’s this week’s group of new genealogy records online. Though not all these databases are new, many have been updated and are definitely worth another look! Records for: England, Ireland, Australia, and the United States.
ENGLAND – WARWICKSHIRE – BURIALS.Warwickshire Burials, 1836-2006 at Findmypast now has over 175,000 new records. This collection contains more than 1 million records which include inscriptions from the Clifton Road Cemetery in Rugby.
ENGLAND – SURREY – MARRIAGE. New records have been added to the Surrey Marriage Index, 1538-1887 on Findmypast. Though it is only an index, it now offers over 755,000 records from 178 parishes in Surrey, England.
IRELAND – COURT REGISTERS. Findmypast has added Irish Petty Sessions Court Registers, 1828-1912to their collections. This database includes details of victims and witnesses, as well as those accused of a crime. The Petty Sessions were the lowest courts and often heard cases about money and domestic disputes. Another exclusive database for Ireland research is the Ireland Poor Law Reports, also found at Findmypast.
AUSTRALIA – BEACHPORT – RATE BOOKS.South Australia Rate Books is an index of about 4,000 records. This index was transcribed from rate assessments for the coastal district of Beachport between the years of 1882 and 1888. Information varies, but may include your ancestor’s name, assessment year, assessment number, occupier, owner, situation, and town.
UNITED STATES – HOMESTEAD RECORDS. Ancestry.com has updated their U.S., Homestead Records, 1861-1936 this week. These records currently only cover six states, which are: Ohio, Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, and Nevada. They will be adding more states in the future. These documents are part of the Records of the Bureau of Land Management. Many application and case files contain valuable pieces of genealogical data.
Be sure to check in next week to see what’s new in genealogy records and collections. Sign-up for Lisa’s free weekly e-newsletter so you are sure not to miss it. Just enter your email address in the sign-up box at the top of this webpage or scroll to the bottom if you are on your mobile device. You’ll also receive a free e-book with Lisa Louise Cooke’s best Google search strategies for genealogists!
This website is packed with resources for using Evernote for genealogy! Click here to find free tips and videos to get started. To REALLY make Evernote work for your family history, become a Genealogy Gems Premium website member. Members have a full year’s access to my Ultimate Evernote Education for Genealogists instructional video series with their membership.
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Of course, ScanDigital isn’t the only reliable company out there that can get your photos scanned and home movies digitized. You may find a local bricks-and-mortar place that will do this for you. Some chain retailers have started offering this service, like 
Here’s this week’s group of new genealogy records online. Though not all these databases are new, many have been updated and are definitely worth another look! Records for: England, Ireland, Australia, and the United States.