Autotext is re-usable text that can be inserted into a note. When you create a Text from Source note, or a Research Note, you will be offered a choice of autotext to insert into the newly created note. If you don't want to insert any autotext at this stage, choose the '<Empty Note>' or '<Empty research note>' option. You can insert autotext into any note at any time, in the Notes Window. To do this, click on the 'cog' menu button on the Notes Window toolbar, and click on Insert Autotext on the dropdown menu that appears. You will be offered a choice of different autotext items, held under different categories.
Autotext is particularly useful for Text from Source notes and Research Notes. Text from Source notes are used to store a textual copy of a source, such as a form or certificate. A piece of autotext can define a form with fields corresponding to the fields in the form or certificate. Creating a Text from Source note then becomes a simple matter of filling in the fields in the form. Typically, the form will be implemented as a table with the field labels in the first column. The second column is where the values are inserted, and these will normally be blank in the autotext.
Not only is it simpler and less error-prone, to fill in fields in this way (rather than entering them free-form into a blank note), it also enforces a standardized way of working and greater consistency. There are similar benefits to using autotext with Research Notes. You don't have to limit yourself to using autotext with Text from Source notes and Research Notes however. You can use them in any way, and in any context, you want.
Family Historian comes with several pre-defined pieces of autotext, but you easily create your own. There are two ways of doing this. You can create autotext in the Manage Autotext Dialog. You can also save the text of any note as autotext in the Note Window, by clicking on Save as Autotext on the cog menu button (the last button) on the toolbar of the Note Window. You will be shown the 'Autotext' folder, which usually contains various subfolders. If your autotext is for use as Text from Source, save it somewhere within the Text from Source folder. You can create folders within folders if you wish to, to organise your autotext in a way that suits you. If your autotext is for use with Research Notes, save it somewhere appropriate in the Research Note folder area. Autotext for other purposes should be saved in the General folder, or some other folder, as needed.
If you created the autotext as a Text from Source autotext, you will be offered the chance to insert it whenever you create a Text from Source note. If you created the autotext as Research Note autotext, you will be offered the chance to insert it whenever you create a Research Note. You will also be able to insert it from within the Note Window, using the Insert Autotext command on the cog menu.
If you wish to modify or delete autotext, you can do so in the Manage Autotext Dialog.
Research Notes autotext normally has 5 lines of header information, like this:
Title:
Type: Plan
Date:
Description:
Status: open
You are recommended to keep this header, and fill in the field values appropriately (the ones that are not pre-filled for you), whenever you create a Research Note. If you click on Research Notes on the View menu, you will be shown a list of Research Notes in your project. The list has a number of column headings, which by default includes all of the values entered into the header, except for 'Description' (and that too can be added if required). This means that, as long as you fill in the header values appropriately, you will easily be able to see which Research Notes are still 'open', and other details. You will also be able to sort and filter on any of these values. For this reason, we recommend that if you create your own Research Note autotext, you include the same header fields in those too. The value of 'Type' should be the name of the autotext. The initial status value should always be 'open'.