Saturday, August 1, 2015

HOW I SAVE COUSIN CONTACT INFO USING EVERNOTE


We all get them.  Those contacts from cousins we’ve never met.  Maybe we have a connection, maybe we don’t.  They might contact you in any number of ways:
  • by email
  • via Facebook
  • by phone
  • maybe on Pinterest or Twitter
  • or maybe even by good old snail mail
HOW DO YOU KEEP THEM ALL STRAIGHT?

I definitely struggled with this question for many years.  I first started saving all communication in surname folders in my email. Then, I began saving their names, numbers and addresses in my contacts in yahoo or on my smart phone.  I would add little notes indicating which line of the family they were related to.

HOWEVER, those methods didn’t seem to be a good long term working solution.  For one thing I couldn’t do a surname search if I’d forgotten the name of a particular cousin.  I mean let’s face it, they usually don’t have the same surname as the ancestor we are related to.

I thought about using Excel and that wasn’t a bad idea.  After all, you can sort and search in that program pretty easily.  But, I wanted more than that.  I wanted to be able to store all the communication between myself and those cousins, in one place, searchable and easily organized.

Then it came to me.  EVERNOTE!!! 

I’m a daily user of Evernote for everything from genealogy tips, storing my blog posts, setting appointments to recipes and landscape ideas.

I started this process not long ago and here is what I’m doing.

1.  I open a new note in Evernote
2.  I copy and paste any messages between myself and the cousin contact.
3.  I tag the notes with the appropriate surname.
4.  I annotate the notes with my own messages regarding the contact or the pictures.

NOTE:  I have redacted names & emails to protect those cousins who may not want their information made public.

Here are some of my cousin notes stored in Evernote. 

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT) 
Evernote cousin blog - 1

Evernote cousins-2_Page_1
THESE TWO IMAGES REPRESENT BACK & FORTH COMMUNICATION
Evernote cousins-2_Page_2

Evernote cousins-3

Another thing you may have wondered about.

How do you save those private messages you receive from cousins on Facebook?

Again, they often contain information we want to use later or even photos.

I use Evernote for that too.  Here’s how:
  • Open a new note in Evernote
  • Copy the text of the message
  • Paste it into the note, tag it and save it
  • You can also copy and paste any images the same way
Here is the private message I received from a cousin connection on FB.
 
Kind of difficult to read that information she shared with me, isn’t it?
Evernote-5 annotated

When I click on that image it opens in a new window in Facebook.
I purposely left all the black around it to show you exactly what you will see.

Evernote cousins-6

When I right click on the image, these are my choices.

Evernote cousins-7

The bottom line here, is that there are many ways you can save that precious information. 

Whether you choose Evernote, Excel, Word or One Note, just be sure you don’t lose track of those cousins.

NOTE:  If you have Evernote Premium you can forward emails to your Evernote account directly from you personal email.  Each Evernote account has it's own email.  Find yours by going to "Tools" and "Account Info."

I’d love to hear how you keep track of cousin contacts.  Please share with me here via a comment or in your own blog and then share the link.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
EVERNOTE - A Very Useful and Free Tool to Help You Organize Genealogy and Everything Else
INTELIUS.COM - How to Connect with Cousins

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Dawn,
      It's still a work in progress for sure. But, by using the tags in Evernote at least now I can find everyone.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. Diane I do mine the same way. I love Evernote!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shannon,
      When it comes to Evernote, you are my hero. You have amazing knowledge of the program. I do love it though and use it daily for all aspects of my life.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  3. I have a "Cousin Connections" tag in Evernote. It's a great way to keep track of all of them. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jana - it's certainly the best way I've found to keep track of them. We can add notes, copy and paste emails, or just forward them. So many good options.
      Thanks for your comment.

      Delete
  4. Great idea, and I appreciate the detailed info. I need to learn more about Evernote and start using it!

    ReplyDelete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.