Spring has just started here in Australia, which is a great time to do some spring cleaning in our family trees. Here are five tips to get started:

1: Pick one line of your family at a time or make a list of ancestors who need their information updated. Start from the most recent ancestor and work your way up, adding, editing or deleting information as you go. Go slowly and methodically, ticking off each ancestor when you are finished.

2: Do you have any random or “unattached” people floating around in your family tree, or perhaps duplicates? Now is a great time to verify if they are from your family and either link them up with existing family branches or delete them. If you are unsure, make a note of who they are for further research. If you  have duplicate profiles in your tree, try to merge them so  you don’t lose any information.

3: Upload family photos you have located/been given to your family tree. It make a big difference to have each photo neatly matched up with the ancestor instead of trying to locate them each time! This also goes for certificates, but always check their copyright details.

4: Download gedcom files of your tree when you are finished your spring cleaning and store it in a safe place (e.g a cloud service) or upload to usb sticks and store them in several locations. That way you always have a copy.

5: Make a list of the ancestors you would like to research or verify next along with the details you want to research. That way when you have some free research time you can plan out your research – saving you going down a deep rabbit hole!

Happy spring cleaning,