From 1781 to the present day, the sasines are searchable electronically. The index is compiled from pre-existing printed abridgements for every recorded transaction in the register. The paper volumes have been withdrawn and are no longer on open access. An abridgement is a concise summary of each recorded transaction and for many purposes it will provide all the information required. These abridgements are arranged in county volumes and cover both the general and the particular registers and the electronic index reflects this. The index leads you to the appropriate abridgement, and the abridgement in turn leads you to the original sasine record. The paper sasine registers have been digitally imaged and the images are available in the NRS search rooms.
Some Scottish local authority archives have sets of abridgements relating to their own areas. A directory of Scottish archives can be found on the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) website.
