* File Naming Convention

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bonalymac

File Naming Convention

Post by bonalymac »

Hi, I'm a newbie and just completed the first batch of tutorials, and now starting to enter the first batch of live data .

I'm keen to ensure that I have a file and folder naming convention for the various multimedia files. I know that starting off properly makes the future (potentially) a lot less messy.

I haven't found anything by searching the forum yet, so I'd like to pick the experts brains as I'm sure many of you have been through this and endured the problems of a poor system of naming.

Is it best to start a file name with the type eg B Cert or Name? The latter would keep all fields for an individual together while the former would keep all B certs together.

Should all B Certs be in 1 folder etc or should they be kept by family?

I know there will be no right or wrong ways, but presumably there are optimum ways.

I'd appreciate any comments.

Thanks

Colin
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

Good questions Colin.
There is some advice in the [kb]|[/kb] at how_to:organise_your_files|> Organise Your Files.

That refers to ancestralsources:index|> Ancestral Sources that has templates for naming records and files, and is designed for capturing Census & BMD records consistently and efficiently. Checkout its tutorials.

Bear in mind that the Media filenames are rarely visible in FH as they only appear in Media records.
It is the Media and Source record names that are far more important.
Also FH provides all the coupling between Individuals & Families and associated Source & Media records, so the file organisation is not as crucial as it first seems.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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bonalymac

Re: File Naming Convention

Post by bonalymac »

This is quick help. It is much appreciated. Hope you don't mind too may stupid questions while I learn

I've just follwed the tutorial advice and ended up with my first file named
Marriage District of Kelvin in the Burgh of Glasgow (870 Garscube Rd, Glasgow G20 7EL) 15 Jul 1915 David Rountree & Margaret Lamond
if FH is going to manage it all as you say, then as you say it will be less important. I now need top look at "Media and Source record names" to see what I ended up with to make sure they are sensible.

Thanks

Colin
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by johnmorrisoniom »

Your media name can be as long and complicated as you like. But you may run into problems if the filename itself is too long (Especially if you use dropbox and the like for file syncing)
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bonalymac

Re: File Naming Convention

Post by bonalymac »

I have set it up to use DropBox as suggested in one place. So I maybe need to look at that. I had named this file "M Cert David Rountree". which seemed adequate. Ancestral Sources recommends re-naming it so I did so, but with the advice from tatewise, I am coming to the conclusion that a simple naming format is adequate if FH doesn't actually display them anywhere serious.

If it avoids potential issues with syncing I'm all for it.


Thanks


Colin
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by johnmorrisoniom »

In the example you gave I would use that as the source title, but my media title would be:
"Marriage 1915 Kelvin - David Rountree & Margaret Lamond" if it were a certificate
If the image was of a Register page (either 2 or 4 marriages) I would use
"Marriage 1915 Kelvin - (Page No)"
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

Yes, that is all following the default conventions, but remember that AS can be customised to use your own naming style.

BTW: Your Place name of District of Kelvin in the Burgh of Glasgow is unconventional.
The Place field should use comma separated parts rather like your Address.
See Tools > Work with Data > Places & Addresses to see how comma part management is supported.
See also glossary:places|> Places and Addresses which is one of the topics in how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers that should have been working through.

Is 870 Garscube Rd, Glasgow G20 7EL the address of the marriage ceremony?
It would be rather better if formatted with extra commas 870, Garscube Rd, Glasgow, G20 7EL so that the house number and post code are in separate part columns. Then all Garscube Rd entries and all Glasgow entries will sort together whether there is a house number or post code or not.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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bonalymac

Re: File Naming Convention

Post by bonalymac »

This
"Marriage 1915 Kelvin - (Page No)"
is a much better name

I must admit I thought the "Kelvin" was odd, but I changed it to that based on what I thought was the advice in the Tutorial.
The Church Parish from the transcript should be entered into the Place field, and the Church Address into the Address field (e.g. Place: Newton, Surrey, England and Address: Parish Church).
.

I've just had another look at the tutorial tho and just spotted that the text was not as clear (to me) as I thought. The way I read it, was that the Parish Name should go in "Place".

I will now go and read the detail about use of commas, as that was the church address.

Incidentally, I notice that there is no mention (That I spotted) of a registration date, or Registrars name. I added it to the Auto Text manually.

Thanks for the help

Colin
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

Yes, the Parish Name does go in the Place field, but not literally as it appears in the Marriage Certificate.
In the tutorial the Certificate says Newton in the County of Surrey.
So the Place field becomes Newton, Surrey, England comma separated town, county, country.
In your case the Certificate says District of Kelvin in the Burgh of Glasgow.
So the Place field becomes Kelvin, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

The reason there is no mention of a registration date, or Registrars name in AS, is that Marriages are not registered separately in the way Births and Deaths are. The marriage is registered at the time of the ceremony, recorded by the minister, and witnessed. I am interested in what date and name you entered into the Auto Text manually and where you gleaned those details.
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LornaCraig
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by LornaCraig »

Mike,
To answer your last point: in Scotland the registration of the marriage was (and still is, I think) separate from the ceremony. The last column in the statutory Register of Marriages is headed "When and Where Registered and Signature of Registrar", and typically the registration date is a couple of days after the date of the ceremony.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

OK Lorna, I live and learn. AS certainly does not cater for that.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by IanTS »

This may help ... here in Scotland there are indeed “complications” with Places in terms of the actual event and registration of BMD. For example ... in a marriage you need to decide whether to have the “Place” as the Registration District, or the actual location the Marriage took place in. The two are often different. In the early years from 1855 it could be simple as the Registration Districts were based on the Civil Parishes (1028 of them) but as years went on the Districts changed and Parishes changed. An example of the “complication” ... a Marriage happened in 1873 in Northmuir, Parish of Kirriemuir, Forfarshire by the Minister of Kirriemuir. But … the Registration of the Marriage was recorded 3 days later in Kirriemuir, Parish of Kirriemuir, Forfarshire by the local Registrar. Nowadays Northmuir is part of the Town Kirriemuir, but in 1873 it was a separate village in its own right. I took the decision to record the “Place” as the actual location of the event, not the registration of the event, and have stuck to this for all Scottish BMD records. Another good example are the irregular marriages that took place at the Marriage House on the Coldstream Bridge over the River Tweed, but if the couple were "caught out" the civil registration (or in the case of Old Parish Records the rebuke) could be in a different County altogether ! It is similar in Births, the child may have been born at the Grandmother's house (quite common) in one Parish, but the Father then registered the Birth in their home Parish which may have been in a different Registration District/Parish. In some rare cases both registration Districts would have a record of the Birth. I have an example of a child born in Kelso Prison, registered a few days later in Kelso, but then on release of the mother the birth was registered a second time in the mother's home Registration District of Yetholm.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

Yes, that "complication" applies to all BMD events that are registered later, but I hadn't realised it applied to Scottish Marriages.

Users of FH usually record the Date, Place & Address of the actual event in the BMD Event details.
The Certificate and the Date, Place & Address of the registration are recorded in the Source Citations.
Some users like to set the Citation Entry Date to the registration date.

More pedantic users will record the registration as a separate custom fact with its own Date, Place & Address and recorded against the registrant Individual.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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bonalymac

Re: File Naming Convention

Post by bonalymac »

Woke up to some interesting additions. Thanks.

Mike,

you said
The Certificate and the Date, Place & Address of the registration are recorded in the Source Citations
a_fh.jpg
a_fh.jpg (246.64 KiB) Viewed 15424 times
Is this how you mean?

Colin
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

Yes, that is an acceptable method, or you can just rely on the Source record Text From Source transcript and its attached Media image of the Certificate.

A snag with adding data to the Citation itself is where the same Source is cited by multiple facts.
e.g. The Residence and Occupation and Birth entries in your screenshot.
You would have to manually copy the Entry Date and Note into each Citation if you wanted them all to be similar.

Whereas, the Source record and Media only exist once, and are created entirely via AS.
If any updates are ever needed, then only one record needs editing, rather than multiple Citations.
This is the advantage of Method 1 'splitter' style Source Citations as explained in glossary:sources#sources_and_citations_-_how_to_use_them|> Sources and Citations - how to use them which is one of the topics in how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers, which was recommended to you when you posted the Census & BMD collection (15308).
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by IanTS »

More food for thought ... hope it helps ...

I have chosen to transcribe the entire registration within the “Text from Source” box. An example is below. In terms of naming conventions (your original question) I keep mine short and simple. The Source for the Birth below is called “Birth 1871 STEWART William North Berwick, Haddington, Scotland 713/00 0020”. The actual source file name (downloaded file from the NRS) is even simpler, it is “Birth 1871 STEWART William”.

All my source files have the file name form <type> <year> <surname> <foremane>.

My FH Sources tend to follow <type> <year> <surname> <forename> <parish> <county> <reference>.

I tend to shy away from long descriptive titles/names and have all the relevant information stored within the Source in the “Text from Source” box. I tend not to use the “Note” box, when I do it is just to clarify maybe the location name or some other aspect of the source as an “aid memoir”.

Here is an example of one of my “Text from Source”:

National Records of Scotland
1871 STEWART, WILLIAM (Statutory Births 713/00 0020)
———————————————————————————————————————————————
1871 BIRTHS in the DISTRICT of NORTH BERWICK in the COUNTY OF HADDINGTON
———————————————————————————————————————————————
No. 20
————————————————————————————
(1). Name and Surname.
William
Stewart
————————————————————————————
(2). When and where born.
1871
February
Twentyeighth
10h 0m P.M.
Shore Street
North Berwick
————————————————————————————
(3). Sex. M
————————————————————————————
(4). Name, Surname, & Rank or Profession of Father.
Name, and Maiden Surname of Mother.
Date and Place of Marriage.
John Kinloch Stewart
Police Constable
At North Berwick
Mary Ann Stewart
M.S. Begg
1866 June 15th
Marytown
Kirriemuir
————————————————————————————
(5). Signature and Qualification of Informant,
and residence, if out of the House in
which the Birth occurred.
John Kinloch Stewart
Father
Present
————————————————————————————
(6). When and Where Registered,
and Signature of Registrar.
1871,
March 8th
At North Berwick
Wm Calder
Registrar
————————————————————————————

PS ... Tabs have been removed by posting the above, the actual info is indented by a Tab.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

Ian, you could have posted a screenshot to retain the Source record layout.

BTW: Have you defined that Text From Source style as an Auto Text Template in AS?

Regarding filenames, I use the format <surname>, <forename> <date> <type> to sort all the source documents chronologically together for any one person. e.g. DODD, Harriett 1912-06-13 Death
They then sort in much the same order as FH entries in the Records Window on the Individuals tab when sorted in the default record order by surname, and expanded to show events.
This applies to all manner of documents not just BMD.

The one exception is Census records where I use <year> <reference> <surname>, <forename>
e.g. 1841 HO107 0307 15-20 07 TATE, John
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by IanTS »

Hi Mike ... To answer your question about the template ... yes and no !

I have been doing this for far too many years and started in the early days with a WORD document template for sources and just carried on using it. I used to spend long days at the NRS in Edinburgh before the age of technology ... I do miss the days of using microfilm sheets :D ... I did attempt to create a template for AS ( I use AS for all Census sources) for Scottish BMD but to be honest I found it easier to use the WORD template then cut and paste it into the Text from Source box ... I know, not the way it should be done, but with your prompting I may now go back to try template creating in AS :D

And yes, I really should have posted a screen shot, but was doing 3 things at once at the time ! No excuse ;)
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by divester »

I am new to Family Historian. I have some paper documents and files on family history, but have yet to develop a computerized filing system. Before taking a first step, I figured I could benefit from the experience and wisdom of those who have been at this for awhile.

Apart from genealogy, I have organized many family photographs (digital photos and scans of prints and slides) using a program ACDSee Pro 2020. In that project, I have developed what I gather is called an accession number filing system. The aim of that media filing system (folders and file naming convention) is to enable the computer to identify, store, and retrieve each unique media file. The filing system is NOT primarily designed to serve as a way to organize, search, and locate media files directly from the file folders. That function, i.e., organizing, searching, and locating media files with respect to who, what, when, where, etc., is achieved through use of metadata, tags, facial recognition, etc. (That function could, I suppose, also be achieved through development and use of an index. Computerized searching via metadata, etc., seems easier and more comprehensive and flexible though.)

I am considering using a similar approach for genealogical documents. While an accession number could be any unique number (assigned perhaps sequentially) and nothing more, I think I’d like something a little (but not much) more organized by broad types of documents. Under the system I have in mind, file names of documents would be comprised of three or, perhaps, four parts: (1) Designation of the type of document, (2) designation of the year of the document, if known, and otherwise with a designation “UKN,” (3) a record number assigned by me (likely sequentially), and (4), if an original physical document also is to be retained and filed, a designation of the location of the original document. Original physical documents will be filed in a Filing Cabinet in folders corresponding to the types of documents and subfolders corresponding to the year of the documents or in numbered Boxes with like folders.

The types of documents and the designations of those types would be something like:

AB Articles, Books, Newspapers (Information, excerpts)
BS Biographical Sketches and Stories
BB Birth and Baptism
CY Cemetery
CN Census
CH Church
CO Correspondence
CR Court Records
DR Death
DS Directories
DV Divorce
IM Immigration
LD Land
MA Marriage
ME Medical
MI Military
MS Miscellaneous
PR Probate
TX Taxes
TBF To Be Filed

Examples of file names:

BB_1925_000001 (Document, digital only)
BB_1925_000001_IFA_FC (Document, original in Filing Cabinet)
BB_1925_000001_IFA_12 (Document, original in numbered Box)

Does this approach appear workable? Pros and cons? Pitfalls?
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

You only briefly mention Family Historian (FH).
Is it your intention that such documents would form the basis of your genealogical research Media captured in FH?

Having an organised structure for filing documents is certainly better than none.
I would be tempted to put such documents into PC sub-folders with names similar to the filing cabinet folders.
That way the PC folder structure mirrors the filing cabinet structure, and incidentally is more efficient to search.
So I would give those folders names just like those in your list. e.g.
AB Articles, Books, Newspapers
BS Biographical Sketches and Stories
BB Birth and Baptism

Bear in mind that many formal documents such as Birth, Baptism, Census, Death, Burial, Marriage, etc, have their own formal numbering schemes, but those can be captured in the FH Source record details separated from the Media.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by steveflanuk »

Just to add another possibility to the excellent suggestions so far.

Personally, I use reference details where possible. For example, for birth/death registrations I go with quarter_year_volume_reference (for example Q1_1934_8b_402). If there is more than one entry with the same reference, then I'll add the given name, surname and individual record id.

For marriages I will have 2 entries, so add _groom and _bride to both registration entries.

If there is no reference info available (for example birth certificates) I'll give it a filename of document type_first given name_surname_individual id (for example birth_certificate_joe_bloggs_12)

I always use an underline character (_) instead of a space, but that's just my preference (you may prefer using a dash character [-])
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by divester »

Thank you for the thoughts and suggestions.

I have yet to figure out how to integrate the filing system with FH. From reading other posts here, I understand that one approach (and perhaps the easiest) is to keep these files in the FH Media File. Another is to link to an external file. That approach, I gather, is doable, but makes backup and migration to another computer a little tricky.

ACDSee makes use of whatever folder structure is used in Windows, thus avoiding creating multiple documents in different locations. That, I gather, is the "external file" approach.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by tatewise »

If most Media are to be linked into FH then it is best to keep the files within the FH Media folder for the reasons you have correctly given, but that can have as complex a sub-folder structure as you like to help organise the files.

There is nothing to stop ACDSee from using that FH Media folder structure as they are simply Windows folders.
Thus FH and ACDSee can share the same Media folder structure inside the FH Project structure.

See how_to:v4:understanding_projects|> Understanding Projects especially the Project Structure section.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by divester »

Thank you for explaining that FH uses Windows folders, so FH and ACDSee can share the same folder structure inside the FH Media Folder.

I was hoping and thinking something of this sort was possible. It's comforting to get confirmation from someone who knows. Even this basic stuff, obvious to you, is still getting sorted out in my mind, so I appreciate you spelling it out.
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Re: File Naming Convention

Post by divester »

I recognize too that I'll need to somehow segregate the photos I include in FH from my overall family photo files, which encompass all sorts of photos not pertinent to genealogy. I would like to avoid, or at least minimize, creating duplicates. Perhaps I can segregate the media files with a file system that puts some Windows folders in FH and leaves others out (all of which would be available to ACDSee). To the extent I end up picking and choosing individual photos from here and there in the folders (likely I think), I may just need to create duplicates of those and insert them in FH with some appropriate folder system (that perhaps mirrors the system, or pertinent parts of it, outside FH).
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