> However in going the other way, everything is dependent on me > remembering that file XYZ contains information on GreatX fathers > draft records. > > How do others working in genealogy organize all of this supporting > documentation? > > I have thought about a something like dBase or Access but want > something that is software independent? > > Keith nuttle Try googling for document management. There are a number of open source alternatives. One of them may suit. By "software independent" I assume you mean that it will deal with different document formats - .pdf, .odt, etc. Any application which simply stores the document as a blob (binary large object), will have this property but as it won't be able to make sense of the contents you'll have to provide all the indexing. A good many document managers, however, will be able to index the contents of common file formats but this depends on them having a module for the format in question. Most popular formats, including PDF, are normally covered but not all - I don't think any of them make provision for the Lotus word processor. There are also a number of desktop search applications about. These will allow you to to locate text in any of the common file formats on your PC; they may be both more (by not constricting themselves to your genealogical records) and less (by not allowing you to provide your own keys) then you were looking for. -- Ian Hotmail is for spammers. Real mail address is igoddard at nildram co uk Ian Goddard <goddai01@hotmail.co.uk>