Jean, I think the To Do feature can serve both purposes you outline. The To Do reporting capabilities are incredibly flexible if you make use of features like adding categories, filtering, etc. I have categories for things like Court, Probate, Manuscripts, etc., but I don't necessarily limit a To Do item to one specific source. You could have a category called Research Questions if you wanted to set it up that way. It took a lot of practice and playing around with the features to figure it out, but once I did, I don't find printing out a Research Plan to take with me on a trip or printing a Research Log afterward cumbersome at all. Your research log won't look like a traditional research log, but it can easily contain all the necessary elements.
I do create sources, but I cut and paste them into the Description field of the To Do item. I got in the habit of doing that when there was a bug that didn't print the sources with a To Do report. I like being able to see the source right there, before the results, and not attached as endnotes. If I'm able to create source citations from a card catalog before the trip, so much the better: then all I have to do is type in the Results when I'm at the repository (or make handwritten notes on a printout if for some reason I want/need to). This is difficult to explain in writing, so I'll take the liberty of sending you some sample reports offline so you can get an idea of how I use the feature. I've written about it before on this list at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg10091.html Hope this helps a bit! Connie --- On Wed, 8/17/11, Jean Suplick <[email protected]> wrote: I see two ways to use To-Do lists: for managing a classic style research log (source based) and for managing research questions. For me, there is a distinction between the two. Research logs are source-based. There is one entry per source consulted, and you note when and where you consulted it, what you searched for (e.g. surname), what the results were, and enough details about the source to create a citation. So for John Doe, I might have a list of associated To-Do items each related to searching a different source. In this model, I could create a report out of Legacy that would be my research log. Using Legacy to do this seems cumbersome to me. And going through an intermediate step of generating & printing a report to take on a research trip seems like too many steps to me. I find myself using To-Do's differently, though. When working in the Family view and editing details or notes about an Individual, I add a To-Do item based on a research task (Locate death record) or question (Where is he in the 1880 census?) rather than source. Then in the Description field I note all the likely sources to check and any thoughts I have that might aid in the search. Then on a research trip, I can use the Results field to note which sources I consulted and the results of searching those sources. But it's all lumped together with a single To-Do item. I know I can create sources and link them to the item, although I'm not sure I want to use that feature for To-Do's. In this style of working, I prefer to take my laptop on the research trip, and work interactively in Legacy to type in my results and sources. (There are a handful of features that would make this usage model easier, and I've submitted a handful of enhancement requests on the Legacy website!) My concern is that if I ever need to create research log for some reason in the future, I'm not sure I could construct one easily if I use To-Do Lists this way. Could I? How do you organize yourself around using To-Do lists? Jean Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
