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Archiver > TMG > 2005-11 > 1133111619


From: "Teresa Elliott" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Research tasks
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 11:20:04 -0600
References: <001c01c5f28e$9da15140$4402a8c0@emily> <6.2.1.2.2.20051126165229.0249df40@mail.bellsouth.net>


Thanks to everyone who responded. Keep em coming. Seems I am one of the
few that puts all my tasks on a tag and not a person.
What I had in mind for creating mulitple tasks is say I find an index online
for a will book. I want to record everyone who might be listed on the will
book and create a task for them. I'd like to be able to create the task one
time, with the repository attached and have TMG somehow copy it 30 times,
and then I could add each person as I go. I know it probably doesn't make
since to you guys, but there are times when I would find it very handy.
Problem is, I also attach the tasks to tags, so the tag with task would have
to all be created together, so I may already have the most efficient way.
I am glad to see that others do keep their tasks. Thought I was the only
one. <G>

I appreciate the answers I have gotten so far. I don't use the keywords
section, and so I think I have realized that I can use it for my book and
page number and then search on that. I'd still like separate fields for
them, (or the abilty to add fields as I needed sorta like the sources are
set up) but for now, I can see some possiblities.
Teresa
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Hoffman" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 5:12 PM
Subject: Re: [TMG] Research tasks


> Teresa Elliott wrote:
> >1: Do you create bulk research tasks? For instance, do you find out
> >about a book at the library and search for everyone in your database who
> >would be in the book, and create tasks for all those people for when you
> >get to the library?
>
> By "bulk research tasks", do you mean kind classified in the TMG Research
> Log Focus field as "General topics"? If so, yes, I have a few of these.
I
> use these for noting general areas to research. A general area might be
> newspaper microfilm, census microfilm, or whatever when the focus person
is
> not just a few persons, but maybe dozens of families having many different
> surnames. Usually these are what might be called "fishing expeditions."
I
> may be fairly sure that a few persons would be in this film or whatever
but
> would realize that I have not researched this material and it should
> contain a great deal on many others. So I create this to fully explore
the
> material. Once I have completed the basic research in such films, book,
> etc. and then find someone(s) that should also be found there, I will
start
> making individual Research Tags for the persons/events.
>
> >If so, would you like an easier way to create those tasks in
> >bulk? Assuming that the task information would be the same for everyone
> >on the list.
>
> No, it does fine for me. But your question implies that what you want to
> do is to create the General Topic Task and then somehow "split" that into
> individual Tasks for a group of persons. Maybe mark the persons on the
> Picklist and then TMG would then finalize the creation of one Task for
each
> person selected. Or, instead of a single Task for each person, keep the
> one Task but allow for more than one person (, event, Source, Repository)
> per Task.
>
> >2: What information do you need for each task? I'd love to have a field
> >for book and page number. I currently use the task name, but would love
> >to have a separate field that I could search for the book and page
number.
>
> Depending on the Task, I wind up putting that in the Task Name, Keywords,
> or Memo field. Possibly sub-dividing the Task Memo might provide the user
> with some way to "standardize" Tasks in a more structured way. The List
> of Tasks report might also need re-structuring to provide for a columnar
> format although this be hard to achieve and be readable (in the sense of
> small fonts) without limiting field sizes.
>
> >3: Do you delete completed tasks, or do you keep them for later
research.
>
> Keep them. This holds my notes as to what I found -- especially negative
> findings. In some (few) cases, I have re-opened a "Completed" Task when
I
> discover a new Repository or Source to research for the Task.
>
> >4: Would you like to see more ways to output the data? I'd prefer to be
> >able to print it out to Excel so that I could sort the information by
> >columns. Also every research log or calendar I have ever seen is in
> >columnar form.
>
> As noted above, a columnar style report might be nice although that may
> limit entry capacity.
>
> >5: Would you like a way to see ALL of the person's task in the research
> >log and not just those where he is P1 or P2? Maybe an option to see ALL
> >tasks and then an option to see ALL +Witnessed tasks.
>
> I have a few (half-dozen or less out of 43,000) persons that are in a Tag
> as a third or more Principal (e.g., three or more land-owners). So I
don't
> see a need for researching someone as a Witness. But this ties back to
the
> General Topic Task above with the idea of creating multiple Tasks or a
> multiple (more than two) Principal Task.
>
>
> Lee Hoffman/KY
> TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
> My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
> A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)
>
>
>
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