Tech Tuesday – Evernote, I’m finally using it

I know this isn’t something new to most of the genealogy community….or probably to any community by now. It just hasn’t been something I’ve felt I had a need for. Recently though, I discovered a need to keep a large amount of information organized by multiple categories. With all that I’ve heard about Evernote, I decided I’d give it a try. 

I decided to go to RootsTech 2012 and while I’m there, I’m hoping to spend some time in the Family History Library, even if it just the late night for conference go-ers. Although there is now a vast number of records, books, periodicals, and other genealogy resources available online, there’s still a lot that isn’t. I decided I would start searching the FHL catalog at FamilySearch for books and films about the places my ancestors have lived. (If you didn’t know you could do that, you should definitely check it out).

Well, this search (which is an ongoing effort) has produced a large number of references. I didn’t want to take a 3″ binder of printouts with me to the Conference, so I started thinking of a way to keep it electronically.  Ideally this would be something I could access on my smartphone. It occurred to me that Evernote might be my solution. Conveniently, there’s an Android app and a Chrome extension.  I perform my search, select the book or film I’m interested it, select the text of the record in my browser that I want to save, and click the Evernote button on my Chrome toolbar. Voila! Everything I’ll want to know about that book/film when I get to Salt Lake is ready to be viewed on my phone.  Particular useful is the ability to tag each note. I’m applying tags so I can sort books from films, records by state or city, and the type of record. I’m confident that I’ll be able to maximize my time in the library thanks to this handy app.

Select and clip, it's as easy as that.