My 1/25 message entitled “Family Misc notes in marriage window” got lots of views but no response, so I’m going to recast the whole problem in the hopes of getting some other views on this.
My method of using Sources and Detail Fields is to make the source general, ie, “1900 Federal Census,” so I can use that source over and over. Then, in Detail, I add 2 types of info: 1) info that particularizes the source, ie, Baker Twp, Whatcom Co., WA (etc, etc); and 2) info that the source provided (ie, “Enumerated as John Doe, 36, with wife Jane, children Bill, Suzan and Dolly, etc, etc.” This is the approach that makes sense for me, I like it, and for the most part, it works. But there are times when the 255 character limit comes into play. If the data applies to just one person, an easy answer is to just add in the Detail Field something like this: “See note on ....” then enter the data into a Personal Note. It’s easily added to reports, and you get easy visual feedback in the application that the data is there.
There’s a problem with this work-around when the data applies to 2 or more members of a family, as in a census or marriage record. I can put these notes into a Family Note (in the Edit Family window), but there is no visual feedback to tell me that such a note exists. One a marriage record, I could add something like “See note...” in the Event Memo field, but that’s kind of funky.
Of course, the underlying solution would be to have a much larger character limit for the Detail Field, but it is what it is, at least for now. I’m really interested in hearing suggestions or work-arounds from others who use Sources and Details like I do.
Ken
My method of using Sources and Detail Fields is to make the source general, ie, “1900 Federal Census,” so I can use that source over and over. Then, in Detail, I add 2 types of info: 1) info that particularizes the source, ie, Baker Twp, Whatcom Co., WA (etc, etc); and 2) info that the source provided (ie, “Enumerated as John Doe, 36, with wife Jane, children Bill, Suzan and Dolly, etc, etc.” This is the approach that makes sense for me, I like it, and for the most part, it works. But there are times when the 255 character limit comes into play. If the data applies to just one person, an easy answer is to just add in the Detail Field something like this: “See note on ....” then enter the data into a Personal Note. It’s easily added to reports, and you get easy visual feedback in the application that the data is there.
There’s a problem with this work-around when the data applies to 2 or more members of a family, as in a census or marriage record. I can put these notes into a Family Note (in the Edit Family window), but there is no visual feedback to tell me that such a note exists. One a marriage record, I could add something like “See note...” in the Event Memo field, but that’s kind of funky.
Of course, the underlying solution would be to have a much larger character limit for the Detail Field, but it is what it is, at least for now. I’m really interested in hearing suggestions or work-arounds from others who use Sources and Details like I do.
Ken
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