Pick up where you left off¶

Family history is rarely done in one go. You find something on a Tuesday evening, and then three weeks pass before you sit down again. The question then is: where was I?

Under Research there are three tools for exactly that – bookmarks, research notes and Recently changed. They solve different things, and together they save you from starting over.

Which tool for what?¶

Situation	Use
"I want to look closer at this person – but not now"	A bookmark with a short note
"I'm working on a question that involves several people and places"	A research note
"What was I doing last time?"	Recently changed – or the Continue where you left off card on the welcome page

Bookmarks – quick notes on single records¶

The bookmark is the quickest. One click on the bookmark icon in the header of a person, place or event, and it's saved. Click again to write a note.

Write the note as an instruction to yourself three weeks from now:

❌ "Check"
✅ "Check the baptism witnesses in Kumla C:4 p. 112 – could Lars be a maternal uncle?"

Under Research → Bookmarks you see them all, most recently added first. Remove the bookmark when you're done – the list should be what you have left to do, not everything you've ever looked at.

Research notes – for questions that span a lot¶

A note is a single place for a research question: "Who was Anders in Lerbäck?" or "Grandmother's maternal line". You link to it every person, place and event that belongs to it.

The most important field is Reminder. Write there what you did last and what the next step is, every time you put the work down:

Went through Kumla AI:10–11. Anders isn't there. Next step: AI:12, 1877–1882, and the moving register.

The text shows right on the note card, so you can see where you were without opening anything.

Use the status:

Active – what you're working on now. Try to keep them few.
Paused – you're stuck or waiting for something, such as a reply from an archive.
Completed – the question is solved. Keep the note as a record of how you got there.

Filter on Active when you sit down, and you'll only see what's in progress.

Recently changed – your automatic log¶

You don't need to do anything for Recently changed to work. The tab shows the people and places you most recently added or changed. Records that came from an import and that you haven't touched aren't shown, so the list is about your own work.

Click the tree icon on a row to continue with the person's branch in Research branch.

A habit that lasts¶

Spend two minutes at the end of every research session:

Update the Reminder in the note you worked on.
Bookmark what you didn't get to, with a note.
Remove the bookmarks for what you finished.

Next time, start on the welcome page: the Continue where you left off card and your active notes show the way.

Longer reasoning in the blog

If the Reminder text gets long, it's better to write a research log in the blog and link it to the people. See The blog – more than family stories.