Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Photos Enhance Your Family File..


When it comes to bringing your research to life, photos and stories are one of the easiest ways to accomplish this single event. 

Holidays are the perfect time to take additional photos of family members especially since no one knows how long we will all be here.

Pictures around the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas are but two of the main holidays that seem to bring families of all generations together.

As one sits around the table, often stories of times past as well as present are shared, thoughts of gratitude for all that has happened since the last year also come into play making this another great opportunity to make a permanent record of the events of the day.

Digital cameras come on cell phones, iPhones, tablets and on the cameras themselves making it so easy to quickly take those favorite pictures that may never be recreated going forward.

Once they are taken and the stories recorded, another feature on most cell phones, they are easily added into the "Scrapbook" section of Ancestral Quest. 

When you go to add a person or edit them, that feature is on the right hand side as follows:

Add caption
Clicking that button brings you to the place where you can easily add your photos:


Clicking on Add brings you to where you can choose the type of file you are adding and its location on your computer:


Note that there are choices but since you are most likely adding a Photo, you would just click on Photo. Next you click on "Browse" to locate the picture on your computer. Once you have that you should fill in the "Caption" and a "Description". This is where you can add more details about the picture for yourself and future generations. 

Once you click "OK" the picture will show up in a "Preview" if that box is checked and you will be able to view it in the "Family" view. It also will be available if you want to create a Scrapbook of all your photos or just multiple photos of one person. Note that if you have multiple pictures of one person, you will have to designate which one you want to show as the default picture.


As you can see from the above, I have 2 pictures in my scrapbook collection and one is starred which is the one shown in my family view, the other one is highlighted in the scrapbook collection and is shown in the preview.

In the description area one can add stories, etc. or put the stories in the notes.

Enjoy the holiday and don't forget the pictures!

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!


Comments and questions are always welcome!


Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

AQ Cues & Clues Blog:http://ancquest.blogspot.com/





Friday, November 14, 2014

Confusion: Using a PAF file or an AQ file?



You are using Ancestral Quest, you installed the program, located your PAF file and have been working on your family file ever since. 

As you continue to use Ancestral Quest you think you have an Ancestral Quest database, after all you are using AQ to add, link, etc. but unless you have converted your PAF file, you are still using a PAF file and missing out on features that work for an AQ file but not a PAF file.

Limitations on continuing to use a PAF file inside of AQ are as follows:

In the Edit menu, the following are disabled:

  • The Quick Entry (Advanced) feature is not available
  • Replace Names/Dates/Places
In the Tools menu, the following are disabled:
  • Color Coding
  • Tags
  • Convert Names to Mixed Case
  • Convert Place Abbreviations
  • Change Log
  • Database Check/Repair (you can open the database within PAF and use PAF's Check/Repair tool)

To check to see what kind of family file you are working on go to File,  scroll and click on "Properties", the menu that comes up clearly shows you exactly what type of file you are are working with by the extension; either .paf for a PAF file or .aq for an Ancestral Quest file or .ac for an Ancestral Quest Collaboration file.



Converting your file is not difficult and the process will leave your PAF file in tack, make a copy and change the copy to a .aq file. Go to File, scroll and click on "Database Converter":


The process provides for you to name the file and then convert the file resulting in you now fully working with an AQ database and being able to use all of the features of the program.

As you continue the learning process of adjusting from PAF to AQ, you'll notice many new and additional features to make family history even better!


Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!


Comments and questions are always welcome!


Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

AQ Cues & Clues Blog:http://ancquest.blogspot.com/

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Downloading Confusion?


When it comes to updating and downloading it can be confusing for those who are new to a program. Ancestral Quest is no different and it has 3 types of files to choose from when downloading for the first time or even updating to the latest version.

The screen one gets to for downloads looks like this:



If one looks carefully, each choice is explained, however, sometimes the explanation given is just not enough so lets take a closer look at each one.

The first one is called the "The Streamlined Installer for AQ 14". This is most likely the one individuals should choose unless they want to get involved with Collaboration. New individuals may not even know just what this is and so it is a good thing to begin with downloading and installing this first choice.

The second one is the "Collaboration Support Installer" and one can download and install this separate from the first one.  The program knows how it is connected to the original "Streamlined Installer". Collaboration is a way to have others help with one's genealogical research, to learn more about this feature check out our web page on Collaboration.

The third choice is the "Complete Installer" which has both the Streamlined and the Collaboration together in one download and one installation process.

Hopefully this will help those who struggle with deciding which one to choose whether they are downloading for the first time or just updating to a new build.


Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!


Comments and questions are always welcome!


Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

AQ Cues & Clues Blog:http://ancquest.blogspot.com/