Pre-release version of Clooz 4 now available!

Clooz 4 is the most significant enhancement in the program's 25-year history, continuing its rich tradition of providing a document-centric approach to family history research. Totally rewritten, Clooz 4 is full of strong features assisting researchers plan and track their efforts, record source citations, extract and analyze information content, and then export evidence to other family tree programs. Clooz 4 goes beyond researching people, supporting research subjects such as businesses, buildings, ships and artifacts. This new version provides a solid base for further expansion in the years to come. Report generation is still being developed, but there already is so much for researchers to take advantage of that a pre-release version has now been made available.

Clooz 4 Pre-release Announcement Video

Clooz 4 Pre-Release

Find out how to obtain Clooz 4

Interfacing Clooz Documents with your Family Tree

Clooz provides a very powerful capability for you to export the people, events, sources and citations to your favorite family tree program where you can view the tree and produce all the typical charts.  Remember, Clooz is document-based and supports the research process you go through in building your family tree.  It is much more efficient to gather your information in Clooz first, and then transfer the information to your family tree only after you have properly completed its analysis and have drawn your conclusions.

Clooz provides two different tools to use for interfacing with other lineage-based family tree programs:

  • Data Transfer Manager (used for bulk transfers of people and sources, but not events)
  • Document Export function (used to export the people, events, sources and citations related to a single Clooz document)

The external database Clooz works with is chosen in the external file links window.   Clooz will track links with multiple external files, however, only the external file designated as "Primary " is active at any single moment.

A person in Clooz can be linked to a person in an external family tree database by one of several methods:

  • Importing or exporting the person in the Data Transfer Manager
  • Manually adding the external RIN number to the person listed in Clooz (Data Transfer Manager or Document Export function)
  • Exporting the person as part of a Document Export

 

Example of the Document Export form

Image of the Document Export form

Data Transfer Manager window (bulk transfers)

Image of the Clooz Data Transfer Manager window

Importing and exporting information to/from Clooz is the topic of three videos, and several sections of the Clooz User's Manual.

Clooz Reporting Features

Clooz has over 200 different report formats, which can be printed or exported as Adobe pdf, MS Excel, MS Word, rich text (rtf), or XML files.

 

Report Selection window

Image of the Clooz report selection window

A Unique Analysis Tool: Clooz’s Composite View

The Composite View is an alternate display format to the standard table-like grid. It presents documents and people in a tree-like structure allowing the researcher to examine possible relationships between the people in a document. But this doesn’t stop with just one document, but includes all of the documents for a given person. Then, the Composite View goes on to show all the people in in each of those documents, and so forth, up to 5 layers deep. This results in the display of a network of people connected through documents. It’s an excellent way to begin to identify friends, acquaintances, and neighbors, a good starting point for identifying further family relationships.

A real world example of this powerful tool

We developed the Composite View to provide our users the ability to visually display the complex interfaces for each ancestor as proven by appearances in collected documents and images.

 

Here are steps that demonstrate the unique analysis and research capability provided by the Composite View. The familiar “tree” structure enhances our understanding of the complex relationships that can exist between individuals.

 

Christian Ann Bisset, an unmarried spinster, is the person of interest for this exercise. From the Clooz main people grid display, click on the “Show Composite” button.

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Click the “+” sign that reveals that Christian Ann appears in other documents in the Clooz file.

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Selecting Christian Ann’s Will opens the third tree level, showing the 33 individuals noted in this complex probate document. At this point in our research, Lumsden ancestors have not been associated with the Bisset line. The predominance of bequests to members of this Lumsden family clearly indicates a close personal relationship. We need to research the Lumsden individuals that are beneficiaries in the Will.

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The description column for each name shows their role as reflected in the Will. Five Lumsden children of one family are beneficiaries, so other records need to be researched to determine a relationship. Census research finds these Lumsden children living with their mother Jane A. Lumsden in 1881. Of significance is the name of Christian Ann (mis-recorded as “Chis” Bisset) as a family visitor! Due to the census enumerator’s mis-recording of her given name, this record was previously not included in Christian Ann’s records. This 1881 association provides another link between the two families and enables us to move backward to research where the Lumsden and Bisset lines converge. An entire new sideline is now being developed.

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This brief real world scenario clealy demonstrates the tremendous research and analysis capability provided by the unique Composite View. And remember, there are two additional levels available to drill down even further, as additional research dictates.

 

Document Templates

Clooz has over 100 different templates are provided to match the types of information contained in the type of document you find.  You simply fill in as much of the information you find useful.  Keep in mind though that entering all available details gives you the most benefit down the road.   You never know when some seemingly unimportant detail today becomes of great interest in the future. 

It is surprising how many people comment that going through the process of transcribing a document's details forces them to actual read the details, and uncovering a relevant fact which they have missed looking at it many times before.

Sample Document Template - 1850 U.S. Census

Image of the entry form for the U.S. 1850 Census

Sample Document Details (one for each person)

Image of the form for entering details for a person in the U.S. 1850 Census