* Text from Source

[Johnr65]

Going through changing 1881 Census to Census as Generic term, I've noticed that some of the source citations show the whole family, name, m/f, age and job as shown in the actual census in the 'text from source' ; shouldn't this just show the reference numbers for the census?

[tatewise]

It can show whatever you choose to put there.
A full transcript of the original document is a very typical use for Text From Source (as its name implies).
The reference numbers should go elsewhere such as Publication Information or even the Source Title.

[Johnr65]

When I do them myself without using AS, I put the title as census year and person and put the reference numbers in the 'text from source box'. It seems that AS puts everything in the title including name, reference numbers and place and actual census details in the text box. Seems wasteful to me?

[Johnr65]

When I've finished changing 1881 census to just census, I'll go back and amend the titles and text from source in my tree.

[Johnr65]

I guess this way of doing things is due to the way that AS is set up?

[BillH]

When I do them myself without using AS, I put the title as census year and person and put the reference numbers in the 'text from source box'. It seems that AS puts everything in the title including name, reference numbers and place and actual census details in the text box. Seems wasteful to me?

AS can put whatever you want into the title. Depending on whether you use method 1 or 2, just change the appropriate Title Template in the options to have whatever you would like it to have.

Bill

[tatewise]

Yes, that is the default way that AS is configured and is a very popular strategy. (Other configurations are possible.)

The Text From Source box provides a transcript of the Census that is searchable computer text.
You could just attach a Media image of the Census page, but sometimes the handwriting can be difficult to read and it is not searchable text.

You had to subscribe to Ancestry or FindMyPast to obtain those Census details.
If you only record the Census reference then you would have to go online to check the Census details and that may need a further subscription.

[Johnr65]

Surely Mike, when I enter the census details onto the AS template that should be enough especially as I save a copy of the transcription to the FH tree? It seems as if I'm duplicating my work so that my tree becomes ever larger in size for the drive capacity!

[jbtapscott]

I would suggest it depends on how you will using your data. I generate a website from my data and therefore having the transcript in the Text from Source field allows visitors to see what the original document had on it. I have a PDF of the transcript and a copy of the IMG file for my own "local" use but none of this gets included on my website for copyright reasons.

[Johnr65]

How do I change methods on AS?

[tatewise]

After you enter the Census details into AS and use Save, the transcription is saved in your FH data in the Text From Source box of the Source record automatically, and nothing is retained in AS, so there is no duplication.
That is the "whole family, name, m/f, age and job" details you said earlier you have found in the Text From Source box.
So that text is the one and only transcription entry.

Don't worry about drive capacity.
If you save a copy of the Census Media image then that is probably about the same size as 500,000 text characters.
The transcript text is probably only a few hundred characters. So is tiny by comparison.

For example, consider the Family Historian Sample Project.
Its GEDCOM file where all the text characters of the entire Project database is held is about 90,000 bytes.
All the Media image files amount to about 8,600,000 bytes, i.e. nearly 100 times larger.

So if you are worried about disk space, review whether you have any duplicated Media image files.
However, these days disk drive space is extremely cheap, so don't worry.
You can easily check how full your disk drives are...
Open File Explorer on This PC and all disk drives are displayed with a bar chart and numbers showing how full they are.

In what way do you want to change methods in AS?
Having reviewed what I've explained above, do you really want to change anything?
I advise that you do not change anything. It is all working just fine.

[Johnr65]

Mike, I'd like to delete the initial information which is duplicated on each census on each individual record in the text which is 'name, sex, age, job, place, etc' just the headings but leave the body of the text as is?

[tatewise]

Just select that text you want to remove and delete it, just as you would in any editor.
But if you do that will you know what the values underneath represent?
IMO it is a rather unusual thing to want to do.

[Johnr65]

Where does the 'text from source' appear apart from on my tree?

[tatewise]

Nowhere!

Unless you mean the Ancestry or FindMyPast online transcript where you found the Census details originally.

[ColeValleyGirl]

It will appear in reports, if you configure it to do so, but you can easily exclude it.

[Johnr65]

I see so it's only for my benefit and any others who view my tree on my pc?

[tatewise]

Yes, well that applies to absolutely everything in your FH tree database on your PC, unless you've exported it anywhere else.

Where did you suspect it might otherwise be seen?

[NickWalker]

The reason why it really helps me to have a transcription of the census record (and other sources) in the source text is when I am looking through the information about someone in my tree, in a very small number of clicks, I can see at a glance who else they were living with, what they stated their place of birth was, who else they were living with at the time, etc. without having to go through the much slower process of viewing the original census image, scrolling around the image to locate the individual, potentially struggling to read what it says, etc. The images are there and linked to the source for when I do want to see the original record, but the transcript gives me a quick method to refer to the data.

Generally the source text doesn't show up in reports and certainly not in printed trees, but I do quite often tick the options to include the source text in reports, depending on who I'm producing the report for.

It doesn't do any harm having the source text in your file, as Mike (Tatewise) said the increase in the size of the file is irrelevant. If you absolutely don't want to have a transcript then just don't fill in source text in AS, leave it blank.

[Johnr65]

Well in that case seems a good idea to keep it at method 1.

[Johnr65]

I had a look at my media for individual people on my FH family tree but although I can see the actual image, I can't see the 'text from source'? Is there a way to do this?

[tatewise]

You say you are using Method 1, so the Text From Source is in your Source records.
See the FH Help > Quick Start Guide section Cite Your Sources on Page 9 that explains how to Show Sources and where to double-click to open the Citation Window where you will find tabs for Text From Source and for Media.

In this thread, we have been discussing Census records, so on the Facts tab, select a Census event and then display the associated Source Citation as explained above. There you will find the Text From Source and Media for that Census.

The same strategy works for any other event.

[Johnr65]

Thank you Mike.