General Topics

Getting Started with Source Templates

Recording the sources of your information (where it came from) is a very important part of genealogy.  The value of your research will depend greatly on how well you do that.  Unfortunately, there isn't just one right way of doing it.  There are many different possible strategies.  The good news is that Family Historian will let you work in whatever way suits you.  If you are already familiar with the issues and have your own ideas about how you want to work, see Sources and Source Templates, to learn how to implement your preferred approach.   If you don't already have ideas about how to record sources and are looking for guidance and advice, we recommend that you install the Essentials collection of source templates, and use those templates.  You may also find the questions and answers below helpful.  To learn more, see Sources and Source Templates, Sources and Source Citations and How to Record the Sources for Your Data.


Q. What is the difference between generic sources and sources from templates (also known as templated sources)?
A. The difference is not in the sources themselves, but in the way you store information about them within Family Historian.  So it's really a difference between generic source records and source records that are based on templates.  A generic source record has a limited set of fields that are used to store information about the source, regardless of type (e.g. whether your source is a certificate, a gravestone, an interview or a census record).  A source record based on a template will have a template that is appropriate to the source type.  A generic source record has the following fields: title, short title, type, author, publication info and repository (as well as Note fields of course).  Suppose your source is a gravestone.  You might want to record the name of the cemetery and its the location.  Where would you record this information in a generic source record?  Generic Type is relatively easy.  You might set that to 'Gravestone' or 'Cemetery'.  But what about the cemetery name?  You could put that in the Author field, but this would be confusing at best.  Now suppose you use a Source record which uses a template called "Gravestone/Memorial/Monumental Inscription" from the Essentials collection.  This source record will have fields like Cemetery and Location.  It's much easier and clearer to record the information when the fields you are recording it in, fit the data you are recording.

Q. So it's better to use source records based on templates than generic source records?
A.  In general, we would say Yes.  It's easier to record the information (fewer decisions to make), the results should be clearer and less ambiguous and confusing for anyone looking at your research, and you can get better and more professional-looking results in reports and books, when sources are cited.

Q. Are there any reasons at all to prefer generic source records?
A.  Creating source record queries can be easier if all source records share, and are limited to, the same fields.  Also, if you need to be able to transfer your data to other programs, other programs are likely to do a better job of importing generic source records than source records based on templates. They may effectively just load the generic fields which all source records have (even templated sources although they may not use them much).  That said, when you export a GEDCOM file, there is an option you can choose when specifying how to include source records, which allows you to copy template field names and values (the special fields that you only get with templated sources) to Source record notes, in the exported output file.  This means that arguably, even if you plan to copy your data to other projects, your sources may be better documented, if you use source templates.

Q. So your recommendation would that I should add the entire Essentials collection into my project?
A. Yes - unless you have some particular reason not to.  If you choose to do this, 17 Source Template records will be created within your project.  That means that this list of 17 source templates will be available for you to use, whenever you want to create a source record.

Q. What happens if I choose not to?
A. In that case, if you choose to create a source record from a template, you will initially find that the list of source templates is empty.  However, there is a Find More button below the list.  If you click on this you can add more source templates to your project at any time.  So if you don't add the templates from the Essential collection now,  you can still them later - singly or jointly - whenever you want to.

Q. Why the Essentials collection?  Why not the Advanced collection?
A. We don't recommend adding the entire Advanced collection into your project.  For one thing, it is too big.  It would make your project unnecessarily big.  Also, even if you find you use some templates from the Advanced collection, you are unlikely to use all of them.  It will be easier to find the templates you need if  there aren't too many of them.  One option is to only add templates to a project when you need them, if you haven't already added them.  Alternatively, you could work through the Advanced collection, and add all and only the ones you believe you will use.  You can access a full list of source template definitions at any time, by clicking 'Source Template Definitions' on the Tools menu.  To use a source template definition within a project you have to first add it to that project (it is stored within the project as a Source Template record - not to be confused with a Source record).

Q. So what is the difference Between the Essentials collection and the Advanced Collection?
A. The Essentials collection contains 17 template definitions which are designed to cover the most common types of sources.  The Advanced collection aims to cover all possible types of sources.  But it does this with 169 template definitions.  The Advanced collection is based on the methods and approaches outlined by Elizabeth Shown Mills in her book Evidence Explained (3rd edition).  This book is probably the best-known standard work on citing sources.  The Advanced templates are more 'fine-grained' than the Essentials templates.  This may mean that, if you use them, you can get even more professional-looking source citations, when you print reports.  But set against that, using the Advanced templates may take more effort than using the Essentials templates - and for many people, they are not needed.  Of course it's entirely up to you.  Both collections were created by Calico Pie.

Q. If I add the Essentials collection, does that mean I can only use Essentials templates?
A. No it doesn't.  It means that the Essentials templates will be quickly and conveniently available to you whenever you add a source from template.  But you can always add more templates at any time by clicking the Find More button, as described above.

Q. So I can mix and match?
A. Yes.  You can use a mixture of generic source records and source records based on templates.  And you can use a mixture of templates from the Essentials collection and from the Advanced collection - or indeed from any other collection you may acquire.

Q. Can I create my own source templates?
A. Yes you can.  And you can export them and share them with others if you wish to.

Q. I want to record some of the detailed information provided in my sources.  Does that mean I should use the Advanced collection?  Is the Advanced collection better if you want to record more details?
A. Not necessarily. It's often a good idea to record text from a source.  It means that it is available to be searched, for example.  It may also provide useful supporting evidence to support the conclusions you came to, when you looked at the source.  And it shows how you interpreted data that may sometimes be hard to read, and possibly confusing for that reason.  But the goal of recording text from source is separate from the goal of citing a source.  The goal of citing a source, as stated above, is to allow others to locate the source, and the exact part of the source that you want to refer to.  Recording text from a source goes beyond that.  Every source record (generic or templated) allows you to store information in a Text from Source field in the Source record itself (see the Text from Source tab in the Citation Window).  You can also, if you prefer, attach Text from Source to the citation.  Family Historian allows you to easily record Text from Source using autotext, which is designed to fit the type of Text from Source you wish to record.  It could easily happen that two source records share the same template, but are quite different for the purposes of recording Text from Source, and hence need different autotext.  For example, you might use the Census Return template from the Essentials collection, to record an 1881 UK census in one Source record, and to record an 1891 UK census in another.  Both source records use the same template.  But when recording the information in the respective Text from Source fields, you would probably use 1881 UK Census autotext for Text from Source for the first source record and 1891 UK Census for the second.  To learn more about using autotext to record Text from Source fields, see autotext.