Where to store an email address?

Genealogy
#1

Hello,

I’m wondering, where can I store an email address of a person in Gramps.
I checked the personal data but don’t see a specific entry field for it.
Any advice?

TIA

Gramps 5.1.2 - Linux Mint

#2

Use the Internet tab of the Person editor and with the Internet Address Editor change the type to E-mail , you may want to also toggle it to private.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks Patsy.
Actually it’s easy. lol

#4

Also, if I want to keep the email address of a source, I generally add it to the source name: John Smith (jsmith1046@whatever.com).

#5

There is no absolute answer. It is a matter of taste and email “properties”.

Basically, you can store:

  • either as an attribute
  • or a note (because there exists a “link” note type)

If you consider the email to be a permanent unchangeable information, storing it in an attribute may be enough. But life shows that email addresses and more generally URLs change with time. Personally, I prefer to store URLs in a note with an adequate type (link in this case). A note can hold arbitrary data. Consequently, I can add the date period during which the URLs is valid. I can also keep several emails in case of a public library (general public assistant, archival manager, webmaster, …).

Whether you consider persons, sources, repositories, even locations, notes seem to be the most versatile tool.

In the case of sources, I think a feature is missing to cope with URL changes: partial link. A citation is taken from a source which is stored in a repository. When documents are electronically available, their URL is generally a concatenation of a host name URL (repository), followed by some path info to a document, optionally followed by a query for the required page or document part.

I don’t store the full reference in a citation. Implicitly. I consider it is part of the source and record only the distinctive identification of the citation within the source. The source itself has a link note which identifies the document within the repository without the host name. The repository in the end records only the host name (plus sub-site id if needed in case the host name points to a huge organisation).

Thus, if the host name for the repository changes, I only need to change one link note without the hassle to update all sources and citations. The same can be said for sources. And I know what it is about. One archive center I use intensively switched to another archival software and I had to update all links. This was what pushed me to adopt my present strategy.

Unfortunately when generating reports, such as Narrative Web, the partial links in my notes are not automatically concatenated to create a clickable link to the reference. I’ll try to see what is needed when I have time.