It’s been a busy week at my house. I’ve been helping my husband create a game for an upcoming event. It required using three different websites simultaneously. He was well familiar with having multiple tabs open and clicking between them but I took the three windows and gave each of them their own space on my desktop. Our work was much faster and less confusing. It’s especially great when you have a very large screen. My laptop is average sized but the screens at BYU and my local FHC are huge and I LOVE having multiple windows open in a configuration that meets my needs.
In that top photo I have my ancestry tree open to Telesphore Brouillette on the left and his obituary on the right. This way as I go through all of the family members listed in the obit and check to make sure I already have those married last names in my tree while seeing both sites at the same time.
I also like to use multiple screens when I’m dealing with French records. I’m getting pretty good at “reading” them, but I usually have google translate open to help out and verify my work. In the image below I have two tabs in the top window, my ancestry tree and the baptism record I’m working with and then I have a window open across the bottom with google translate.
The French records from Quebec need the width of the whole screen so I do have to click back and forth between the tree tab and the record tab to add the dates. Unless I’m using a computer at the FHC or BYU – then I can split screen them with google translate along the bottom.
When I click on the ancestry tree tab you can see that my two windows actually overlap but I can see them both. I need a little more work space in each one than is allowed by the size and dimension of each so overlapping windows allow me to see what I need, scroll up and down a bit without clicking on the other window and keep on working.
Sometimes I like to compare a person’s entry in FamilySearch to my entry in Ancestry. Putting them side by side can be faster than clicking between two tabs.
Whatever my project is, I usually need more than one item open at a time. Multiple tabs in one window or some fancy configuration of windows on my desktop are my favorite. I occasionally have multiple windows open and do the minimize/maximize dance but that isn’t nearly as efficient for me.
Are you a multiple window user? Do you use tabs or different windows? Or do you get fancy like me and put windows exactly where you want them based on what you are doing?
It’s a beautiful day to do some genealogy. Happy Wednesday!
What a great idea; just wish you shared the “how to’s” on how to do this. I’m familiar with the multiple tabs open, but not with the other options.
Hi Tracy! I have a busy morning but later today I will add a short how to video. 🙂
Tracy, I made you a how to video. It’s uploading now. I’ll put it in it’s own post as soon as it has finished uploading. Please let me know if you have any questions, I’m happy to clarify.
Thank you. Great tutorial and I look forward to using this helpful tip often.
You are welcome!
I cheat – I like multiple screens! I have two right now and have thought about getting a third one 🙂
Not cheating! Smart girl. I would use two but I don’t have two. 😉
Sometimes, but not very often. However, I have 2 large screens on my old computer that doesn’t work well. I ought to get it fixed!!!
Yes you should!! It’s a happy day when our tech is working properly.
I do this occasionally, usually when I am trying to transcribe text from one document to another where I can’t use cut and paste—like some webpages or PDFs. For example, when I want to place text in Google Translate or when I want to add text to a Word file or my blog. The only problem is that jumping from one window to the other usually makes one window jump on top of the other!
“The only problem is that jumping from one window to the other usually makes one window jump on top of the other!” Hmmm… do you resize the windows? I’ve never had this happen.
Well, it happens because my laptop screen is too small to fit two windows that are big enough for text to be legible, so they usually overlap a bit. When I can adjust font etc so that I can read both windows, then it works fine.
I see! We both need bigger screens. 😉
Or better eyes!
Love this. I am totally a multi-tabber as well. PS Thank you for following my blog.
Thank you Jen!