March 2005 Back Issue

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Harvey Small
6 years ago
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1 of 11 Hi Dear Reader, As I mentioned in the last issue, I wanted you to focus on investing in YOURSELF when it comes your genealogy and family history research.

1 1 of 11 Hi Dear Reader, As I mentioned in the last issue, I wanted you to focus on investing in YOURSELF when it comes your genealogy and family history research. This month, you'll see some unique tools that will help you with your personal genealogy research and make your life a bit easier. ;-) Robert Do You Use the Right Tools to Make Your Life Easier? Have you or have you seen someone, try to work on a project (like home improvement projects or car repair) and go insane because they get stuck somehow? Maybe it was getting something to line up right or that one bolt that won't come loose. It's always something, right? Frustrated, and smart people go to the store, although I admit that our family winds up in only two places ninety-five percent of the time. Guess where? *Target: See-- Did you know they have clearance items (my favorite) on-line at Target? The above link takes you to them.

2 2 of 11 Or *Walmart: See-- Yes, they "Rollback" prices on-line, too. ;-) Why do we go? To look for the right TOOL to help us with our problems at hand. A bolt won't come loose? They make special wrenches for that. It beats bloodied and bruised knuckles every time. The shelf, wallpaper, picture frame, or whatever won't line up right? They make affordable levels and even those neat new "laser light" looking levels that shoot light beams all over the place. Nice level light beams, that is. If you have the right tools things go faster, easier and life is just plain better. Agreed? Software that Helps Make Genealogy Research Easy Having the right tools to help you with your genealogy research is important as well. They make things much faster, easier and saves you a lot of frustration. The tools that help family history researchers the most are software tools.

3 3 of 11 For example: Hopefully you have a genealogy software program that you like. If not, here are two options: -The PAF (Personal Ancestral File) genealogy software program. The good news is that it is free to download. It is fully functional and there is nothing to buy to use it. How can this be? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides the software. This was one of the very first genealogy software programs and the LDS Family History Department created the GEDCOM format, which is now the standard format for all genealogy programs. NOTE: What are GEDCOM files? This is the file format used in exchanging information between genealogy programs. GEDCOM stands for-- "GEnealogical Data COMmunications." This PAF software program is awesome in my opinion. I remember version ONE back in the mid-eighties. Today's version makes the old version look like something from the Flintstones era. Here is how to download the PAF genealogy software program: -Go to the FamilySearch site at and look for the "Order/Download Products" link.

4 4 of 11 -Click on it. -There are plenty of things to look at in this section, but look for the "Software Downloads" "Free" link and click on it. -Look for Item# , Personal Ancestral File Multi- Language (9.7 MB). -Click on the "Download" button. -You'll have to register to download it, but rest assured that it is completely without charge and they don't use your information in any unsavory way. I've never even gotten an from them. -Download it and install it. Of course, it comes faster if you have a fast connection. If you are still on dial-up, a friend could download it for you and burn it on a CD. And, if downloading anything scares you, then have a friend or family member help you. It is worth the effort. There are plenty of genealogy software programs to go around. But I am only going to mention two in this issue--paf and Family Tree Maker See- Family Tree Maker, especially the 2005 version, is one of the most popular genealogy software programs on the market. You can read all about it at the above link.

5 5 of 11 NOTE: Okay MAC users, I feel your pain. Take a look at-- Reunion I know that this is a solid MAC genealogy program. The BEST Reason to Have A Good Genealogy Software Program? Genealogy software programs have tons of features and can print out all kinds of reports, etc. But the best reason that is a valuable tool for you is... You only have to enter your genealogy data ONCE and it keeps the information organized for you. Once the data is in the program you can do so much with it, including printing out a "family book" worthy of giving to your relatives--which will only promote family history interest in your family...a good thing! Here Are Some Unique, Interesting Genealogy Research Tools Treasure Maps reader and Pajama Genealogy student, Linda Mauck of Maryville, IL, called me and told me what she was doing with voice recognition software. I thought it was wonderful and I couldn't believe that I'd not heard of anyone doing this before. Linda said, "I really like the 'Dragon Naturally speaking' software. I've attached an obituary that I typed from an obit by reading it to my computer. Note: See it in MS-Word format here--

6 6 of 11 The obit will go into an ancestral album that I have created for each grandchild. I am doing this with each generation until I run out of obituaries about 1879 is the limit. I bought a bunch of those clear vinyl acid free sheet protectors and then I print the obituary on acid free paper and insert it in the sheet protector and create a notebook. I use a three ring binder so that it is easy to insert new information. I have found that these old obits, unlike the ones today, are chock full of great information. I always tell new genealogists when they ask me where to start? Look at your baby book, talk to your oldest living relatives and them go to the cemeteries where your family members are buried and take pictures of the tombstones. Then go order Robert Ragan s course on Pajama Genealogy. NOTE: See the Treasure Map's Web site for information on the free Pajama Genealogy mini-course at-- This will get you started and Robert will tell you what to do with the information once you have retrieved it. I also tell them that once they start documenting their information electronically, faithfully back it up to a CD on the first day of every month. CD s are cheap and it could take years to reconstruct all your data if you lost it. I have copies of all of the obituaries, photos and family

7 7 of 11 stories backed up and in my safety deposit box. Each one of my kids also has a backup copy." (Linda Mauck) Isn't that fantastic? Be sure to see the obituary that she created (see link above) with this Dragon Naturally Speaking software. And by the way, her , which you just read part of was NOT typed by her. She spoke the message and it was written for her. Very cool and very innovative on her part. Not only that, she actually called the executives at the software company and told them what she did and that they should talk with me. She encouraged me to talk to them and I did. I told them that I planned to write about their software in the newsletter but also, I talked them into creating a special link for Treasure Maps readers. The credit really goes to Linda because she talked with him first and was even looking up some genealogy information for him. What a proactive sweetheart she is. Anyway, this software is not cheap. It's $200 bucks. But through this link (you MUST use this link for it to give you that price) it is half price. Here's the link-- The program Linda used is: *Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 8:

8 8 of 11 This allows PC users to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and - all by speaking. A noise canceling microphone is INCLUDED with the software. As I talked with the people at the software company, they told me of two other programs that would be of interest to any on-line genealogy researcher" *PaperPort Professional 10: "PaperPort Professional 10 is the most productive and cost effective way for everyone in your office to organize, find and share paper and PDF documents. PaperPort Professional combines the efficiency of document management, the convenience of network scanning and the power of PDF document creation and assembly." Key Benefits: QUICKLY TURN PAPER INTO ORGANIZED DIGITAL DOCUMENTS PaperPort Professional 10 works with any scanning device to quickly turn paper into PDF files that you can organize, search and share. Save time and effort by scanning directly to , fax machines, Microsoft Word and more using ScanSoft s patented one touch and ScanDirect technology. New batch scanning capabilities allow you to scan several documents at once using an automatic document feeder boosting your productivity. Susan, from Scansoft told me that when people use software, that they start to use it as their personal file manager because it is so powerful.

9 9 of 11 *OmniPage Pro 14: Here's what it says on the site: "OmniPage Pro 14 will help you reach new levels of productivity by eliminating retyping. Precision OCR technology, advanced layout analysis and powerful editing tools allow you to quickly turn paper and PDF files into editable electronic documents that look just like the original, complete with text, tables and graphics. Robust new tools enable you to turn text documents into audio books and add digital signatures to your electronic documents. Save time and money like never before with the world s most powerful document conversion application." You can use this to scan old genealogy books or anything in print and the OCR technology will convert it into text you can use in many different ways. This is very useful if you have valuable genealogy books or old documents that are in print." Remember. you can get any of these three software tools at a huge dis-count from this link-- Linda also shared this "Tip of the Week" "Tip of the week: Keep a complete digital inventory of everything inside and outside of your home including pictures of your cars and anything else of value. If you don't own a digital camera, take the

10 10 of 11 pictures with a regular camera and when you have them developed, ask for a CD with the pictures on it. Then keep that in a safety deposit box in case of a loss by fire tornado, hurricane or theft. This way you will have a complete digital inventory for yourself and the insurance company. If you don't have a safety deposit box, keep the CD at a location away from your home, like at work, at a relative or friends home." (Linda Mauck) Invest in Yourself When it Comes to Genealogy and Family History Research It's 2005, and a brave new world (at least a "newer" world) when it comes to tools that you can use to help you with your genealogy. They are amazing. I'm just now starting to work with the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, but I plan to "speak" the next issue of this newsletter and let the tool do the work. The tools I've mentioned in this issue have stood the test of time. PAF is at version 5x, Family Tree Maker, version Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred is on version 8 and PaperPort Professional is on version 10. They're amazing and they keep getting better and better. I've met people who wouldn't bat an eye at spending hundreds of dollars to go to a genealogy conference and pay for lodging, etc., but who get frugal and hesitant when it comes to paying for quality software tools.

11 11 of 11 Invest in your self and get the right tools. There will be much less frustration and bruised knuckles that way. ;-) My best - Robert

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