Is there a Notes area in RM that I can enter general information in and view in RM, or do I go to Note Pad or other app? This means I need to keep track of the “general” info in a separate app. I didn’t see a “Notes editor” with the Tasks section or I may be able to use the notes in that section.
There is no “general notes” area in RM for free standing notes. All notes are linked to something.
The something can be an address, a citation, DNA, a fact, an association, a family, health, a name, a person, a place, a source, a task, a web tag, and a shared role. It’s possible that I have missed one or two, but I think the list is pretty complete. But none of the note fields are free standing.
Thanks Jerry , I thought I may be missing something. I use One-note and color all genealogy type subjects one dedicated color. I’m doing a New year reorganize and toss any unused stuff. 
I keep general notes in Tasks. The Edit Note panel will open when you click on Goal/Details or Results. I will attach the general tasks to myself in the off chance I want to export my file and want the general tasks to come with it.
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That’s Perfect! I added a new folder in Tasks; “a -General Notes” and then add different task notes inside the folder ..Thanks!
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clever solution work around
I agree. My analysis that all notes have to be connected to something is technically correct, but a note connected to a general task is indeed a clever solution.
If you want to make a note to yourself, I can see that Tasks is the way to go. However if by “general note” you mean something not necessarily confined to one specific person or family - such as general reference or contextual background to describe the world our ancestors lived in - then a different approach may be called for.
I wanted to give context to my story by including some background information alongside my family history research. This is how I’ve decided to do it.
Firstly, I set up a free-form Source which I’ve named ‘Social History’. I’ve then created a number of Citations in this Source, each one dealing with a different topic that I want to hold to in my database. I have tagged each of these Citations in Social History to wherever seems relevant - a person, a fact, an association. These are the ones I use anyway.
A topic is written into the Citation Research Note field. One example may help to explain : it is a Citation I’ve named ‘19th Century Memorial Inscriptions’ in which I wrote this Research Note : English gravestones between 1870 and 1900 could often record family members who died abroad, even if they were buried elsewhere. Memorial inscriptions were unregulated in terms of content, so gravestones often served as memorials rather than literal burial markers. It was common to include the names of sons who died in military service, colonial administration, or missionary work.
For me, this approach has a number of advantages. I can keep all my general notes together in one place - my Social History source. From the Citations list I can easily see the topics I’ve written a note about, and add new ones. I can review the Tags I’ve already put in and add new ones as my research progresses. Possibly, in time, I might even uncover a few commonalities between individuals which would otherwise have remained hidden! And because the Research Note puts my topic text into an Endnote I can avoid overwhelming the main body of my Narrative Report with too much background detail - in my example, about inscriptions on gravestones.
I’ve only recently set this up, currently I have 9 Citations and 16 Tags only but I’m hoping it’s going to work out.
Steve, thanks . Very interesting way to save any “Misc. Notes” . I will also try out using this along with the Task method previously mentioned.
I keep my database in RM7 and only use version 11 for FamilySearch matches. I just checked my general note for a person in RM11 and it is listed under Person (general). Am I to assume that if I were doing data entry in RM11, I could not longer enter a general person note? I just checked a person without a general note and tried adding one. It appears this would work.
No problems adding a Person note, but the premise of this user’s question was for that “broader” universal means of storing a note or notes (that do not apply specifically to any person, event, place, etc.) as a means or system of per database note recording.
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