INTERACTIVE TIMELINES USING FREEWARE AND FILE NAMING -- SUMMARY
©2015 by Donald R. Snow -- Last updated 2015-04-05.  This 2-page Summary Handout and the full notes are
both posted on  http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .  Numbering here is as on the full notes.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
1.  Instructor is Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu ) of Provo and St. George, Utah.
3.  Tips:  (1)  Icon for URL - drag-and-drop; (2)  Keep place in notes by CTRL key when clicking
4.  The problem for today:  How to save and name files on your computer to form interactive timelines and be able to find what you are looking for

SCANS, SCREENSHOTS, AND OTHER FILES
7.  FASTSTONE CAPTURE 5.3 -- Good free program for screenshots; versions after 5.3 are not free -- Download version 5.3 from several websites, e.g.  http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/mmedia/FastStoneCapture.html -- capture options include scrolling windows 
8.  Screenshot pdf's can be OCR'd with freeware PDF-XCHANGE (VIEWER) -- http://www.tracker-software.com/product/downloads/ 

FINDING AND RENAMING FILES
9.  Goal in naming: find files easily and sort in chronological order -- takes time to rename 
10.  First problem is finding all files on your computer about a person -- freeware program EVERYTHING finds things anywhere on your computer -- http://voidtools.com/ -- search with keywords that might be in the file names -- Can rename files right in EVERYTHING or else highlight and move them to a separate folder in WINDOWS EXPLORER to rename them
11.  Renaming files
Can rename any file in EVERYTHING by highlighting and right-clicking
WINDOWS EXPLORER has a panel to see contents of files without opening them -- click on View Panel (upper right corner) and highlight any file to see its contents; can then rename it without opening it; saves lots of key strokes
With files in a single folder BULK RENAME UTILITY helps -- http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php

NAMING SYSTEM FOR DOCUMENTS AND PORTRAITS
12.  Example of my file naming system for documents and portraits -- ManwaringDiane(Snow)(1934-2012)-2012-10-13-Obituary-SaltLakeDeseretNews-Ancestry-com--2014-04-10.pdf
13.  File name:  "SurnameGivenNames(Married name)(birth year-death year)-(Event date YYYY-MM-DD)-Event-Description-Source--DateScannedOrScreenshot.ext"
SurnameGivenNames(Married name) at start makes these sort together and identifies person
Birth and death years makes time period clear and distinguishes people with same name
Event date in International Date Format YYYY-MM-DD makes files sort chronologically in EVERYTHING (see below) and automatically gives you an interactive timeline
Keywords for event shows what the file pertains to and helps when searching later:  Birth, Marriage, Death, News, LDS, School, Military, etc. -- use as many keywords as you want
For files pertaining to entire life I use History, Pedigree, etc., before the date so these sort together
14.  Can keep these files in one folder or in many folders; EVERYTHING still shows them in order 

NAMING SYSTEM FOR PHOTOS OTHER THAN PORTRAITS
17.  Example of my naming system for photos (other than portraits) -- PHT-2004-01-20-10h23m16s--DianeManwaringSnow(1931-2012)&DonaldRaySnow(1960-)InBarbadosArchives--P1200004.JPG
18.  I keep photo originals in a folder by year, so I can find the original, if I need it
19.  I copy photos into folders by year and rename them as follows:
Freeware program NAMEXIF -- http://www.digicamsoft.com/softnamexif.html -- extracts date and time from metadata of the photo and puts it in International Date Format in front of camera's name of photo:  YYYY-MM-DD-HHh-MMm-SSs for date and time
Freeware program BULK RENAME UTILITY -- http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php -- adds PHT- (for photo) at front of name
Description of people and event goes after date and time, i.e.  YYYY-MM-DD-HHh-MMm-SSs--[DescriptiveWords]--[camera name of photo].ext
20.  Photos named this way jump to chronological order in EVERYTHING (see below) and sort pictures of same event together regardless of the camera -- date and time must be set correctly on each camera or you can modify them yourself in the name 
21.  With this naming it is easy to find photos by date, names, or events
22.  PICASA helps with facial recognition, but doesn't store results with the pictures

USING EVERYTHING TO SHOW ITEMS IN INTERACTIVE TIMELINE ORDER
23.  Freeware program EVERYTHING -- http://voidtools.com/ -- finds files and photos in all folders on your computer -- good naming pattern helps
24.  To use EVERYTHING -- Click to open Search Window, can open one for timeline and one for photos
The search syntax is:  space = AND, | ("pipe") = OR, ! = NOT, < > = grouping, and " " = exact phrase 
For an interactive timeline just enter the person's name as above -- then the date in International Date Format makes them sort chronologically -- can click on any file to open it, e.g. a certificate or newspaper article 
For items of particular type add keywords, e.g. School or News -- gives list of just those in order
To get photos for the person enter PHT -- gives chronological list of photos showing person
Misspellings can be corrected right in EVERYTHING and files jump to where they belong in the list
To see the person's life in world event context you could include simple files from a timeline such as  http://www.ourtimelines.com/ 
25.  With this naming pattern all files in separate folders sort chronologically without EVERYTHING
27.  Can make CDs or DVDs of the files for interactive timelines with all the documents, etc.

CONCLUSIONS
28.  The crucial parts of this system are  (1) the file naming, and  (2) using a program to find and sort
29.  The freeware program EVERYTHING is extremely useful for this and lots more