Sam asked: > I've finally decided to ... start to do something about > the dozens of loose leaf binders and notebooks I have... Good idea, Sam. I suspect getting the data into TMG will help you discover a number of otherwise unsuspected linkages. > I've started scanning one binder saving each page as a jpg. Hmmm... If I were doing this I would not bother with scanning. I would just create appropriate TMG Sources of these records. I would create a TMG "Repository" of my file cabinet. Then I would use some kind of numbering system on these records to help locate the actual paper whenever desired, and enter that number as the TMG Repository Reference. > However, I'm up in the air about what to do about entering this > information into TMG Whether or not you scan all of them, if you want to enter this actual source information into TMG, you might consider something like my custom "Transcript" tag. I use that for transcribing a source which includes several people, like your family group sheets. Each person can be linked to that one tag with their own memo text containing the transcription of their information from that source. Thus all those people are linked to this one source transcription, as well as linking the scanned file as an exhibit to that one tag. The description of "My Transcript Tag Exhibits" in the "Guide to Sources" chapter of my on-line book also includes a link to the details of my custom _Transcript_ tag in the "Custom Tag Type Descriptions" chapter. http://www.mjh-nm.net/SRCGUIDE.HTML#TranscriptExhibits You wondered whether to: > keep each family separate or just have one gigantic database... > As these families... are from the same area... > there may be all sorts of connections between some people in > the different families one single database would reveal. Because of this I would definately vote with others who have replied to keep them in the same project/dataset. If you only have 15+ families, then I would use a FLAG with 15+ values to identify the family a person comes from. Be sure to include the FLAG in your various Add Person templates so you can easily give the people the appropriate value as you add them. Even if you have too many different families for the single character values of a single FLAG, you could use two FLAGs, one to define a "group" (e.g. A,B,C...) of families and the second to define a subgroup (e.g. 1,2,3...) within that group. This would allow you to Flag people as coming from families "A1" through "Z9". If these are new families, don't overlook TMG's relatively new feature to add a whole family at once in a spreadsheet-like screen. See the TMG HELP topic: "Add Multiple People Screen". Finally, as you are adding these "currently" unrelated families you are likely to notice possible duplicates of people which might link families together. You may wish to use something like my custom "Duplicate" tag. It "temporarily" records such possibilities by linking the two potential duplicate people until you find documentation to satisfy yourself they are the same person and can then Merge these two people. See: http://www.mjh-nm.net/TAGCUSTM.HTML#DuplicateTag Good luck in your data entry tasks, Sam, and hope this gives you ideas, Michael