Getting around the character limit

[eventide]

Anyone have a suggestion for getting around the character limit in the source fields? I have a really long URL that misses the 255 character limit. I could use a ulr shortener, but that just masks the url and isn't really informative to anyone who may want to know where the source came from.

[Mark]

One option would be to put the URL in the free-form text field of the source. That has a limit of 30,000 characters, which should be sufficient.

HTH

[eventide]

Thanks, Mark. Didn't think of that.

[Paul Reitz]

Here's an easy way: add a favorites bar bookmark for TinyURL! to your web browser.

When you're on a web page you want to later reference, click that TinyURL! bookmark; it opens a window with a short equivalent. Click on "[Copy to clipboard]' link, and it's now on your clipboard ready to be pasted. Go back one click in the browser to display the desired page.

TinyURL example.png

To more easily recognize that shorter link, I convert it to bold and colored text by Cmd-Tabbing to a (perpetually open) TextEdit RTF file that already has a correctly-formatted note, all by itself on a separate line. Double click the note to select it, Cmd-V paste the new one, select the new URL, and Cmd-C again to the clipboard. The text format isn't maintained in Reunion source detail fields, but doesn't interfere, and stands out well in note fields.

This is now my favorite way of working. It's much faster than, for example, searching again in Ancestry to locate the data, even if you know the sometime odd way the source was redacted. When new data is coming too fast and furious to be transcribed real-time, I paste the short URL to a note record in that person's or a nearest relative's page.

Of course, if the URL is to an Ancestry or other subscription site, one must be logged in for the link to work, but it's no worse than having the long URL.

Also use to it locate previously-found newspaper clippings on the old Google News Archive, which can't be readily searched anymore.

HTH!

-Paul

[Bob White]

URL's are almost like mirages -- except they don't usually disappear but oftentimes get revised by website reorganizations and modifications. Just a reminder that depending on links for more than a relatively temporary basis is not a good habit to get into. As the younguns say.... Just saying!

[Paul Reitz]

Bob, I use this method when researching, to save data found at Ancestry, FamilySearch and Newspapers.com, for which it has worked well. It is much faster than using their search engines.

For something I want to keep, I download it... as if that was permanent! lol

[Tom Robinson]

Here's an easy way: add a favorites bar bookmark for TinyURL! to your web browser.

Keep in mind this makes links on the web even more ephemeral: those shortener services sometimes shut down, and the resulting short address gives you no clues about the destination site.