Source Box Folder Limit

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: A comment about a limit on the number of folders prompted me to do some research.

First, there appears to be a fifty-folder limit. I do not know if that is the case or not, but for starting this discussion, I'll accept that limit as a fact. Please correct me if:

a) there is no limit
b) the limit is more than 50 folders.

Folders automatically order in alpha-numeric order. I recently added a folder for the purpose of holding header/separators that I want to place in my relatives that have a large number of sources. The header/separators help me organize those sources into a manageable order.

Sources, on the other hand, are not searchable (by title) and, as far as I can determine, cannot be ordered within the "home" folder or any other folders. It would be nice feature to have.

My real question is why have a lot of sources?

For me, I see the source box as only a place to temporarily store a source that I would link to another person at some future time. I have very few (8) of those sources.

I have read of others using the source box while they research a family or name in a particular place -- a place to store possible sources that will apply to people they create in the tree or to aid in generally researching the name/family for some other purpose (outside of FamilySearch).

That makes a lot of sense, but the limit on folders does not.

Another discussion (these are all at least two or more years old) asked to be able to nest folders, that is place folders inside folders. That is a great idea and one that merits consideration.

At one time, whenever an external program attached a source, it added the source to my source box. This was a pain because I had to go in and clean the source box of those externally added sources. That has been fixed and now my software temporarily adds the source to the source box, then attaches the source as intended and removes the source from the source box. Good fix and helps keep clutter from the source box.

Regardless of your reason for keeping a large number of sources in your source box, I believe we need several things. Most of the time, it is a good idea to start new discussions, but in this case, I would like to see what other people want with regard to the source box.

1 -- No limit to the number of folders.
2 -- The ability to nest folders within folders
3 -- The ability to sort or at least rearrange sources, including within a folder.
4 -- The ability to have the same source be in more than one folder (a move to or copy to option)
5 -- The ability to select more sources (for action) than are shown on the presently-displayed page.

Any other ideas, and from FamilySearch folks, what is currently in discussion or in the works.

LegacyUser

Juli said: One feature that I was wishing for today was some way to tell at a glance whether an attached source is in my source box or not.

This arises because when you find a record of interest, such as a marriage, you can (usually) attach it to profiles, but not to couple relationships. If you happen to forget to make sure the dratted little box is checked, it will not be available to attach as a source for the couple relationship. So then you'll have to backtrack and figure out the magic sequence (I think "View"? Something illogical, anyway) that'll allow you to copy the listed source from the profile to your source box, then you have to go and fix it in the source box (removing the stupid "copy of" text that it adds to the title), and _then_ you can finally go and attach it to the couple relationship. (And to the parents of the other spouse while you're at it, if it's the sort of marriage record that includes parents. And occasionally to the witnesses.)

Some of this would be moot, of course, if "couple relationship" was included as a checkbox on the tagging feature.

LegacyUser

Juli said: On the title topic, I haven't ever had more than five folders, so I haven't a clue whether there's a limit, and if so, what it is.

One possible use I've thought of is to somehow take advantage of the fact that the folders are sorted by name, while the sources themselves are in whatever haphazard order they happened to be added. You could technically make folders by decade or by surname and sort your sources into them, to make it easier to find the right marriage record or funeral notice or whatever that you need to attach to more people.

I haven't done this; what I actually have is folders by type: one for funeral notices, one for marriages, and an unsorted jumble in the "home" folder. If I were working in an area where census-type records were a usual source, then I'd have a folder for them, too. I basically figure the source box is primarily for storing the sorts of sources that will be attached to lots of people.

Sometimes a more individual-type record also turns out to be relevant to someone else, such as a record where so-and-so is the informant, putting a lower bound on his death date. This is another context where my first suggestion (a way to tell at a glance whether a source is in the box) would be handy: the source box gets so jumbled so quickly, it's generally impossible to tell whether I'm not finding the source because it's not there, or because it's on another screenful of a different folder.

Which leads naturally to the biggest wish list item of all: why isn't there any provision whatsoever for searching the source box? Does it really need to imitate a shoebox that faithfully?

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: In reading through some of the other discussion threads, one person said they have set up a set of A to Z folders. I didn't pay a lot of attention to see exactly how they used them, but that is a start.

On your point about informants, my wife ran across a bunch of records in Lincoln County, Kentucky, where a certain person kept showing up as a witness or something in a lot of family records. She was finally able to chase him down and it turned out that he was just another member of the family who attended a lot of family events, like weddings, and so on. While that has no bearing on online genealogy (she's a paper person), having a folder just for that person would be a good one.

LegacyUser

Brett said: Tom and Juli

YES, "Please" ...

I would love to see the "Source Box" feature:-

1 -- Have NO limit to the number of Folders
2 -- Have the ability to NEST Folders within Folders
3 -- Have the ability to SORT or at least rearrange Sources, including within a Folder
4 -- Have the ability to have the same Source be in more than one Folder ( a move to or copy to option )
5 -- Have the ability to select more Sources ( for action ) than are shown on the presently - displayed page
6 -- Have the ability to SEARCH for "Sources" within my "Source Box"

AND,

As 'Juli' raised the subject; but, not actually related to the "Source Box" feature ...

I would also love to have the ability ( lets say, automatically, by way of a "Check Box" ) to be able to attach a "Source" to, both, the (1) "Couple"; and, (2) the "Parent-Child", relationships, when I was attaching that "Source" to an individual / person - it would save a lot of time and actions ( extra "Clicking" and "Selecting" ).

Brett

ps:

But, due to the volunteer nature and limited resources of "Family Tree" ( "FamilySearch" ) - I won't hold my breath.

Whereas, I think that the biggest problem / issue with regard to increasing the number of Folders, is that, it would dramatically impact upon and increase the Size and Space required for "Family Tree" - especially, if a number of Users / Patrons ( like myself ) made use of the no limit Folder feature.

LegacyUser

Brad Hurley said: I would love to see the 50 folder limit removed also. I had been setting up folders for each surname I was researching, and once I got to surname number 51, I was stuck. Since I have over 2000 sources in my source box, it isn't so easy to rearrange!

It seems to me that this limit is pretty arbitrary, and a folder doesn't take up a lot of resources in the database.