Using Research Logs and To Do Lists

Question from Bruce:

The beginning training video talks about the importance of Research Logs, then goes on to talk about the To Do List. Does that mean that you can use the To Do List as a research log? Do any of you do that or do you use a Research Log outside of Legacy?

In my first class en route to receiving a Bachelor's degree in genealogy, my instructor told us that Research Logs really are not that helpful. Of course I was shocked to hear this, but then he explained that even if we kept a good log for all our research, the stack of research logs could create a ceiling-tall pile, and we would not be able to find anything. This made sense.

However, I remember one day having a great idea to look for probate records for an ancestor in Venango County, Pennsylvania. So I set aside some time and money to drive to the Family History Library, where I searched its collections. I did not find what I was looking for. It appears that I had the exact same great idea a year before, when I looked for the same record – with the same result. My research log, kept in Legacy, showed me this.

Has this happened to you, too? You're looking at a document and you get the feeling that you've seen this before – perhaps you've looked at it 5 time previously.

If you kept a research log, you might have noted that you already did this research, there's no need to do it again, and again, and again.

Legacy's To Do List functions as a Research Log and a To Do List. It helps you organize all of your past research and keeps track of the research you have planned for the future. If you want to view all of the research for an individual that you've already completed, or marked as Done, just click on the Filter Options tab and mark the status as Done, and click Apply. Your To Do List is now filtered to show you those tasks that are completed. This is the Research Log.

Or, if you want a list of those tasks that you still have to work on, from the Filter Options tab, simply select the status of Open and click Apply. The resulting list is the To Do List.

My professor was right when he suggested that paper research logs can overwhelm you. But Legacy's To Do List overcomes these challenges by helping you organize your past and future research efforts.

An in-depth tutorial of using the To Do List can be viewed in the Legacy for Beginner's training video.