* Research note confusion

[MichaelM]

Even after reading the help file and the kb article (https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/research-notes) I really don't understand how research notes are used in practice. The standalone aspect, as discussed in the kb, seems clear enough, but it's the linking I'm having trouble with.

1. Looking at the Notes tab for an individual, I can add a research note via the Add Note button, Shared Research Note. That seems to work, and is presumably the main way to add a RN to a person. That's what I'll mostly want to do.

2. BUT, when I then look at the list of RNs in the Records Window, there seems to be no indication of the linked person. The Links column shows 1 link, but gives no indication of who that relates to. And opening the individual RN does not show the person either. So how can I get from the RN to the linked person? And is there a way of modifying the columns to show the actual link(s)?

3. I can also add a person to an existing RN: double-clicking on the text to get the RTF viewer, then Add link to individual Record via the toolbar icon. That puts a live link into the body of the text, but on going back to the RN list, the Link column still shows 1.

Could someone kindly explain to me how all this is supposed to be used?

[redvanman]

Michael

there seems to be no indication of the linked person.

In the records window, select the Research Note that you are interested in. View- > Record Links will show all the records that link to the research note, and it is the number of those that appears in the links column.
Links the other way are in the Research Note text, so you can just open the note to see those links.

Beacause the records window doesn't show links from research notes, I frequently put the names of one or more key individuals in the title of the note, for example More about Robert Tubbs (1810-1881). This is just an aide-memoire, as the note contains information about many of Robert's relatives which I still have to sift through and add to FH as individual records. This is the way I normally use Research Notes and as questions and conjecture become concrete knowledge, and I record it in other FH records, I delete it from the Research Note which eventually I delete in its entirety.

Alyn

[tatewise]

See the KB Finding Where Records are Used for methods of finding what links to any record(s).

No, it is not possible to add column(s) to indicate those links.
If say there were 20 links to the RN, how would that be displayed in columns?

[MichaelM]

Interesting, thanks. View > Record links seems powerful, as it's very general, but it doesn't make working with a list of research notes easy. It's a modal dialogue box that has to be closed before moving on to the next note in the list, and re-opening. Multiple clicks every time.

The kb page you referred to mentions a plugin I hadn't tried called Where Used Record Links which looks much more promising, though. When run on a list of RNs, it creates a result set replicating the list but with an additional Record Where Used column. That's quite nice, as both the RNs and the linked record names are directly clickable to refresh an always-open focus window. Allows switching between different RNs and their linked records with just a single click.

[Gowermick]

Like Alyn (redvanman)
I always prefix my research notes with my custom ID and name, e.g J246 Fred Smith: Where did he go after 1891?
This way, when viewing the notes in the records window, I can see at a glance who it refers to, without having to find the linked person as suggested!

[MichaelM]

I'll definitely be naming RNs as suggested, and thanks to you both for the idea. But I'll also be playing with the plugin as it's good not only to be able to tell who is referred to, but also to be able to go quickly to them

[David2416]

Hi,
In FH V7 you can add a link to the person as shown in this screenshot

Research note.jpg

click on the chain link icon toward right hand of the menu bar to open selection dialog.

Research note 2.jpg

[MichaelM]

Unless I've misunderstood (very possible!), I believe that was point 3 in my original post.

[David2416]

Unless I've misunderstood (very possible!), I believe that was point 3 in my original post.

You are of course quite right. The active links will show up if you have the property box open, and you can navigate through the list of research notes and see the links in each note in the property box