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  • PAF and ancestry tree info

    I don't know if this should be here or in the comp section but here goes.
    I have both PAF and an ancestry tree.
    I am more than aware that I use neither to their full potential.
    Over the years I have been helped by those who know their way around the sites.
    Would it be possible for there to be a sticky for these and other similar problems
    I know there are some people out there who have a real grasp of PAF and ancestry tree and it would be great to have it down in one place.
    Many thanks
    If it's to be, it's up to me.
    Searching for:
    English: Brewerton, Wilkes, Edwards, Broughton, Piercy, Brundred, Homer, Parry, Wynn, Nock, Noden, Standley and Taylor.

    Scottish: McDougall,Gemmell, Hunter, Stewart, Campbell, Downs, Galt, Frew, Hill, Hand, Main, Thomson, McLarty and Murdock.


  • #2
    That's the sort of thing that would come under "reference" and would be put on the wiki. The benefit of the wiki is that the tetried and trusted techniques, methods and sources of information and storage is all in one place leaving the main boards clear of too many "sticky" threads which make the board (and site) look stagnant.

    There are some bits and pieces in the wiki at http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ur_Family_Tree (step 6).

    As detailed articles need someone with experience of the site/software and nobody has risen to the challenge there isn't much at present.

    I have put quite a bit into the wiki but only in areas where i have some knowledge or experience, if for example i tried something about PAF i would only be able to re-produce what is on the internet not from experience of the product.

    Is anyone up to the challenge of creating PAF or Ancestry tree guides?

    A knowledge of the subject is all that is needed, knowledge of entering stuff on the wiki isn't, there are several people who have designed and created sections within the wiki who can help advise and colaborate with you if needed. Guides can be text only or have screenshots included to illustrate those "hard to explain" situations.
    Last edited by Glen in Tinsel Knickers; 02-01-08, 16:52.
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    • #3
      I think Mary of Italy was one of those who knows about PAF.
      Will try and find her and send her a pm
      Thanks Glen.
      Jeanie
      If it's to be, it's up to me.
      Searching for:
      English: Brewerton, Wilkes, Edwards, Broughton, Piercy, Brundred, Homer, Parry, Wynn, Nock, Noden, Standley and Taylor.

      Scottish: McDougall,Gemmell, Hunter, Stewart, Campbell, Downs, Galt, Frew, Hill, Hand, Main, Thomson, McLarty and Murdock.

      Comment


      • #4
        I've just replied to Jeanie's PM - unfortunately (as Glen will have seen from a thread on Genes) I now use FTM for most things, although I do still use PAF for some things.

        I'm not sure that I'm the best person to write an idiot's guide, so I suggested that Jeanie (and anyone else who's interested, obviously) posts any specific questions she may have here, and we could then combine the answers to form a guide for the Wiki.

        What do you think, Glen?
        Last edited by Mary from Italy; 02-01-08, 22:33.

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        • #5
          I'll post a couple of answers to common questions that come to mind, although they may be too basic for Jeanie's needs
          Last edited by Mary from Italy; 02-01-08, 22:33.

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          • #6
            How to change the "Home Person".

            The "home person" is the person that the tree should start with (normally you).
            Sometimes, when you import your tree from other programs, the home person gets changed to the wrong one. Then, when you export your tree to some sites (such as Genes Reunited), you'll find that it starts with the wrong person. Here's how to change it.

            Go to the Tools menu and click on Preferences.
            Then click on the File tab.
            Where it says "RIN of home person on file open" click on Search, then click on Individual List. This lists all the people in your tree. Click on the name of the person you want your tree to start with, and hit OK.

            To check that you've done it right, click on the big red arrow in the row of icons at the top of the page. This takes you immediately to the Home Person you've chosen.

            N.B.

            FTM doesn't have any way of doing this, so before uploading my tree from FTM to Genes, I always have to put it through PAF to change the home person back to myself.
            Last edited by Mary from Italy; 02-01-08, 17:26.

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            • #7
              How to export a GEDCOM

              If you want to upload your tree to another site, like FTF, Genes Reunited, Tribal Pages, Ancestry, etc., it needs to be in a form the site will recognise. The standard program recognised by all genealogy sites is a Gedcom.

              How to export a Gedcom for uploading to FTF

              FTF is different from the other sites mentioned above, because it doesn't show your tree, just has a database of names. Your notes won't show up, and if you export your tree with notes, it'll probably be rejected because the file's too big. FTF also uses the ANSI or ANSEL data format, so your export will need to be in that format.

              1. Go to the File menu and click on Export.

              2. Where it says Export to, choose the last option, other Gedcom 5.5, and change the Char Set from UTF-8 to ANSI (or ANSEL - it makes no difference).

              3. Where it says Selected individuals, leave All if you're exporting your whole tree. If you only want to export part of it, click on Partial.

              4. Where it says Include, untick everything, then hit OK.

              5. You'll be asked for a name to give your file. I generally include the date as part of the filename, although you don't have to. You can call it whatever you like - I generally call mine something like Mary_1-1-2008_for_FTF (because I export another Gedcom that includes notes for other sites).

              How to export a Gedcom for uploading to other sites

              Follow steps 1 to 3 above.

              When you get to step 4, untick everything you don't want to include.

              If you want your notes and sources to show up, leave those options ticked.
              If you untick Full information on living, some people with no date of death will be omitted. To find out more about this, while you still have the Gedcom export screen open, click on Help and then on How to create Gedcom files.

              Finally, follow step 5 above. I call this file something like Mary_1-1-2008_with_notes.
              Last edited by Mary from Italy; 02-01-08, 17:46.

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              • #8
                I think the above instructions should be easy to understand, but if not, I can do some screenshots.

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                • #9
                  Mary, thats great and exactly the sort of thing I am talking about.
                  Simple things like how to print a modified register. I can do this but maybe others can't.
                  On a previous post some spoke about a 'book'
                  Did not know what she meant.
                  I think grandpa Jim also discusses things sometimes.
                  I always have the feeling that you can do a load of things with PAF and I don't know what they are.
                  If it's to be, it's up to me.
                  Searching for:
                  English: Brewerton, Wilkes, Edwards, Broughton, Piercy, Brundred, Homer, Parry, Wynn, Nock, Noden, Standley and Taylor.

                  Scottish: McDougall,Gemmell, Hunter, Stewart, Campbell, Downs, Galt, Frew, Hill, Hand, Main, Thomson, McLarty and Murdock.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    How to split a file so only that persons decendants are on it.
                    If it's to be, it's up to me.
                    Searching for:
                    English: Brewerton, Wilkes, Edwards, Broughton, Piercy, Brundred, Homer, Parry, Wynn, Nock, Noden, Standley and Taylor.

                    Scottish: McDougall,Gemmell, Hunter, Stewart, Campbell, Downs, Galt, Frew, Hill, Hand, Main, Thomson, McLarty and Murdock.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I have just tried to search for paf on this forum to see what questions have previously come up but it says no matches!!
                      If it's to be, it's up to me.
                      Searching for:
                      English: Brewerton, Wilkes, Edwards, Broughton, Piercy, Brundred, Homer, Parry, Wynn, Nock, Noden, Standley and Taylor.

                      Scottish: McDougall,Gemmell, Hunter, Stewart, Campbell, Downs, Galt, Frew, Hill, Hand, Main, Thomson, McLarty and Murdock.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I have just tried to search for paf on this forum to see what questions have previously come up but it says no matches!!
                        I think the problem is that threads are deleted after about a month.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          How to create charts

                          Click on File - Print Report.

                          A. To create a pedigree chart (showing somebody's ancestors)

                          1. Click on the Pedigree tab.

                          2. Where it says Starting person click on Search, then Individual List, and choose the person you want to start with.

                          3a. If you want to print the chart without saving it, click on Print.

                          3b. If you want to create a file containing the chart, tick Print to File, then click on Print.

                          B. To create a descendant chart (showing somebody's descendants)

                          1. Click on the Descendant tab.

                          Follow steps 2 and 3 above.

                          The Reports and Charts screen contains a number of options that you can experiment with.

                          The Charts produced by the free PAF program aren't very pretty, and it doesn't give you an awful lot of options. If you want nicer charts, you can buy the PAF companion, which currently costs $8.25 (about £4.00):

                          Product Details ( Personal Ancestral File Companion 5.2.1 Upgrade and Evaluation Version (7.8 MB) )

                          I haven't used it myself (I eventually bought FTM, which doesn't cost much more), so I can't comment on it. You can see some examples of the charts it produces here:

                          Progeny Genealogy ~ Family Tree Tools For Every Genealogist
                          Last edited by Mary from Italy; 02-01-08, 22:32.

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                          • #14
                            How to create lists

                            I find this very useful when I go to the LDS centre to look at parish registers.

                            1. Click on File - Print Report.

                            2. Click on the Lists tab.

                            3. Click on Places sorted alphabetically

                            4. Click on Page Setup and choose Landscape view (for some reason it won't work in Portrait view)

                            5. Tick Print to file

                            6. Click on Print.

                            7. The Save as... dialogue box comes up. You'll be asked for a filename - I usually call this Place_report or something of the kind.

                            N.B.:The program automatically shows the filename as *.rtf. You can change the * to any name you like, but if you delete *.rtf and input a filename without adding .rtf to the end, it won't be accepted.

                            You now have all the events on your tree listed in place order. The file will have opened automatically in Word.

                            To create separate files for each place you're interested in:

                            8. Press F12 (Save as) and give the file a new name, e.g. Leicester.rtf (PAF always uses the rtf format for reports and lists).

                            9. Delete all the events in places you're not interested in, just leaving the ones that occurred in Leicester (or wherever).

                            10. Sort them into births/baptisms, marriages and deaths/burials.

                            11. If you're familiar with Word, you can convert these lists into tables using Tables - Convert Text to Table.

                            12. You can then print out your lists of births/baptisms, marriages and deaths/burials to take with you to the Records Office/LDS centre.
                            Last edited by Mary from Italy; 03-01-08, 22:58.

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                            • #15
                              Jeanie, would you like to test out the instructions I've put up so far to see if I've missed anything?

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                How to create a book

                                I haven't used this option much myself, but these instructions tell you how to start - you can then play around with the various options given.

                                A. To create a book (report) in Ahnentafel form (showing a person's ancestors)

                                1. Click on File - Print Reports

                                2. Click on the Books tab

                                3. Where it says Type of book click on Ahnentafel

                                4. Where it says Starting person click on Search, then Individual List, and choose the person you want to start with.

                                5. Tick Print to file

                                6. Click on Print.

                                B. To create a book (report) in Modified Register form (showing a person's descendants)

                                Follow steps 1 and 2 above.

                                3. Where it says Type of book click on Modified Register

                                Follow steps 4 to 6 above.

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                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Jeanie with one n. View Post
                                  How to split a file so only that persons decendants are on it.
                                  The instructions above show how to create a report or chart starting from a particular person, but I have to admit that I've never worked out how to export part of the tree as a gedcom with PAF.

                                  You start with File - Export, then where it says Filter choose Partial instead of All, click on Select, choose the starting individual, and select the filter "All descendant related" to get all the descendants of that person, but that's where I get stuck. Whatever I do, it still shows all the people in my tree.

                                  I'm just having a look at it to see if I can fathom it out - does anyone else happen to know?
                                  Last edited by Mary from Italy; 02-01-08, 23:11.

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                                  • #18
                                    Mary,thanks for those useful instructions which I've saved. Generally I muddle my way around PAF with lots of trial & lots of error. Sometimes when things work I have no idea how I made it happen!

                                    Jeanie, thanks for starting this thread.

                                    Kate

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                                    • #19
                                      Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                                      The instructions above show how to create a report or chart starting from a particular person, but I have to admit that I've never worked out how to export part of the tree as a gedcom with PAF.

                                      You start with File - Export, then where it says Filter choose Partial instead of All, click on Select, choose the starting individual, and select the filter "All descendant related" to get all the descendants of that person, but that's where I get stuck. Whatever I do, it still shows all the people in my tree.

                                      I'm just having a look at it to see if I can fathom it out - does anyone else happen to know?
                                      If you want a partial gedcom, I think you need to select "descendants" not "All descendants related".
                                      Last edited by Lyn A; 03-01-08, 04:08.

                                      Comment


                                      • #20
                                        Originally posted by Lyn A View Post
                                        Mary if you are doing a descendency report, you will get all the descendents of the person with whom you start.
                                        Well yes, I guessed that, but it still didn't work.

                                        I've now worked out what I was doing wrong, but it's way past my bedtime now, so I'll post the instructions tomorrow.

                                        If you want a partial gedcom, I think you need to select "all descendants" not "All descendants related".
                                        I think both are OK, but do different things - anyway, I'll check it out tomorrow.

                                        Thanks for your help.
                                        Last edited by Mary from Italy; 03-01-08, 04:11.

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