Top Three Tips for Organizing Digital Research Files for Genealogy

Genealogists create lots of digital files in the course of their research. Some are downloads, some are scans of paper records in our research collections. But all of them need consistent processing if future search results are going to be useful.

1. Use consistent naming conventions.

Here are some file-naming conventions I use:

Baptism Records: SurnameFirstNameBaptism.jpg

Birth Certificates: SurnameFirstNameBirth.jpg

Christening Records: SurnameFirstNameChristen.jpg

Death Certificates: SurnameFirstNameDeath.jpg

Marriage Records: GroomSurnameBrideSurnameMarriage.jpg

Obituaries: SurnameFirstNameObit.jpg

2. Use the only the surname at the time the record or photograph was created.

Let’s follow an example for records on one person, Anna Schumann Kirschstein Kahns, throughout her life:

SchumannAnnaBaptism.jpg – A baptism record file for Anna Schumann

KirschsteinSchumannMarriage.jpg.– First marriage record

KahnsKirschsteinMarriage.jpg – Second marriage record

KahnsAnnaDeath.jpg – Death record

3. Match the surname on the digital file name to the name you use in your family tree software.

I name all files consistently to match the main name for that person in my family tree software. Then, within that person's profile on the software, I note variant names and their sources. This works well for me, allowing for records to be retrieved quickly and easily through consistent naming, but still retaining the variants needed for continued research.

Because it's a fairly complex topic, my presentation on organizing your research has a lot of detail that can seem too dense just for one hour. So I've put together an e-book, Sassy Jane's Guide to Organizing Your Genealogical Research Using Archival Principles. Because professional archivists manage vast paper records as well as digital files, their standards and practices are useful to consider when organizing your research. The $10.50 e-book is a 40-page PDF file. It covers in detail the following:

• Top Ten Organizing Ideas You Can Borrow from Archivists
• Controlled Vocabulary
• Organizing Digital Files on Your Hard Drive
• File-naming Conventions for Digital Files
• Metadata for Organizing Family Photographs
• Managing Paper Files
• Citing Records
• Scanning Tips

To order my e-book via auto download, click the button on the top right of this post.