Gedcom Census Version 6

[RJ_Paton]

Gedcom census is I believe an invaluable tool for users of FH . It makes census entry so much easier and logs the information in all of the "correct" places.

Technically you don't have to re - enter all previously input information although ultimately it might lead to a neater way of working.

[kerryb]

Maybe I should have said that I previously had never entered any census information on to my family tree software  , the previous package I used had no means of doing so, another good reason to have FH, it helps to combine all information you have about an ancestor in a nice tidy and easy to read way.

Kerry

[DudleyWinchurch]

In the GEDCOM system additional field types can be created for any specific purpose and FH3 allows/encourages you to exploit this.

I used to just list my census details in the notes field of each individual in FH, using copy and paste to reduce the workload on repeated information, but this very clever census utility adds a "census event" field to each record (and does it as you go, so you enter  the reference and address etc. then as you add each person, it creates the appropriate field in each record without having to key in the basic details over and over again).

Also, if you use some of the other features of FH such as setting flags on records to mark the existence of certain events, it can be used to automatically set your census flags.  These, in turn can be used to link symbols to the diagram boxes for each individual so, on my diagrams, for instance, I can see who has which census events listed.

Not only that, but the combination of FH3 and the census utility means that, if you have an image of the census page, then it can be linked, once only, to the source record for that page which is, in turn, linked to each record that cites it (so doesn't have to have the image separately included in each record for it to be available).

I hope I have explained this without getting too techie, but I'm sure that you can tell that I'm very enthusiastic about this tool, even though I've only been using it for a few weeks now.

[kate*k]

Thank you all for your replies, they are very helpful. 

I think we were working in the same way Dudley with the inputting of census information and the flags.  The ability to flag is great I've got them for the censuses, BMD certs, parish records, killed in action etc and find them invaluable for a quick look at a tree to see what info is missing.

As to the census facility - I'm going to give it a go.  I particularly like the thought of being able to link just one census scan to everyone's record.

Thanks everyone
K