Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over, or as some of us have chosen – the Go-Over – is a great tool for anyone to use at any point in their genealogical research.

My go-over has included getting all of my paper items in digital format (which was completed in 2015) and then get my 10,000+ images renamed and attached in my software.

My goal in 2016, which I expected to extend through 2017 and perhaps even into 2018, was to get the renaming and attaching done.

Since it’s been quite a while since I looked at my progress, I decided it was time. As as retired teacher, I’d have to give myself a grade of D- for what I’ve accomplished so far. There are two reasons for this lack of progress – one my own fault and one not. The reason that is my fault alone is that renaming 10,000 images is just plain mind-numbingly boring. I have a pretty high tolerance for repetitive activity, but even I have only finished maybe 200 images.

On top of that, as I began the renaming, I was also distracted by the (at the time) supposed end of Family Tree Maker and the discovery of several other programs – Family Historian, Heredis, Ancestral Quest, Legacy and RootsMagic – and all their many features.

With the double announcements that both Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic would be adding the capability to sync (in some format) to Ancestry, I figured I needed to wait for the release of these updated programs before I made a firm commitment to RootsMagic 7. Both FTM and RM experienced delays in getting their products ready for mass release and both succeeded just a few weeks ago.

Last week, I posted a two part series about my struggle to choose one main program, which turned out to be RootsMagic 7.

I am already quite comfortable using it, it offers Evidence Explained format in its source citation templates, there is an active Facebook users group, I have access to a local users group and I like it.

Now, with my software choice finalized, I am ready to take another look at my huge collection of digital images. I made a decision about that, too. Thousands of the images I have are old family photos.

I inherited pictures from my side of the family from three sources – my parents, my cousin Charles and my grandmother.

Another thousand or two (or more) of my husband’s family, I received from my mother-in-law.

If I live to be 100 and don’t get bored to death doing it, I will rename those pictures after all the other images are finished. In the meantime, it will suffice to make notes in my own software file and in those of the few above-mentioned previous caretakers of the photos, that they were/are all family photos handed down through the years. The provenance will be preserved in that manner and I am now facing several thousand fewer images to plod through! 🙂

Okay. I think maybe – just maybe – I am ready to take another stab at my digitization Genealogy Go-Over goal.