I'm very interested in the various ways that people use Clooz. I may have a different approach from many. I use TMG as my primary genealogy data base and use CLOOZ more like an electronic filing cabinet. I do NOT file according to surname but rather according to type of document as Liz suggests. I use, for example, VRs, DEED, OBIT (obituaries), CLIP (newspaper clippings), GEN (published genealogies). Then as I file a document, I will assign a consecutive number, such as VRs 0001, VRs 0002... or CLIP 0001, CLIP 0002. I have a number of Vital records (VRs) as a group and may decide to re-do them into BIRTH 0001, MARRY 0001, and DEATH 0001 rather than just VRs. (Fortunately as of now my numbers are in pencil.) Many of the Massachusetts records are published in individual town books (i.e. Vital Records of Salem to 1849). If I have someone in the town, Mary Pike for example, I will xerox the births, marriages, and deaths for all the Pikes. I then assigned the birth sheets (which may be one or a dozen pages) the next consecutive number (VRs 0018 now) and put them all into the same folder. I do not input all the individual names from VRs into CLOOZ but assign the name Pike Family. That way I can tell at a glance that I have in my file a copy of all the Pike VRs from that particular book. (I do put individual names--one at a time--into CLOOZ for clippings, obits, etc. but the VR sheets might have 50 or more Pikes that are probably no relation.) I read with interest the ways that others organize their materials with CLOOZ. I am in the process of changing my system somewhat. I find that folders are not as convenient, and I have sent for archival supplies (sheets, pens, labels, notebooks) from Light Impressions (an excellent archival supplier). I plan to put each individually marked item (whether 1 page or a dozen) into a separate archival sheet, put the number on the item in pencil, and put a label with the number in ink on the outside of the sheet. Then the sheets will go into archival notebooks. By dividing the items by type (VRs, deeds, clippings, etc.) I can separate them into different notebooks for each type of document. I hope this has been clear. I haven't put as much into CLOOZ yet as I might wish because I have been trying different methods and trying to find out what works best for me. I do feel that Liz's greatest contribution to my thinking has been her suggesting that items be filed by document type rather than by surname. Lillian Cain