AQ Tree Tips ~ Improved

 

Genealogical research takes a tremendous amount of time, using AQs hinting through TreeTips can help anyone researching their ancestors. Entering a few pieces of information often can return addition sources and/or new information. 

The new slick interface recently added to AQ 16 makes it even easier and leaves one plenty of room for family names in the pedigree view without truncating the names. The interface allows hints from FamilySearch Family Tree, FindMyPast, Ancestry, WorldConnect, Geneanet, MyHeritage and the individual Favorite sites added by the user. 

Note there are two sections, one for hints and one for advanced searchers, each provides links right into the connected website. Once there the user is able to copy and paste the information in and attach a new resource. If the resource is from FamilySearch FamilyTree it can be moved through the lync and sync processes. 

Two new videos showing how they work are available for view on our YouTube channel. 

The first one, TreeTips-Research Assistance built into Ancestral Quest: Complete Guid. Updated reviews the various hints and searches.

The second one, TreeTips-Research Assistance built into Ancestral Quest: Case Study takes you step by step through the process of entering some information, searching with hints and the research features, adding the information to database and sourcing it all. 

Each video provides great insights in extending your family history using the AQ's Tree Tips.

Remember Ancestral Quest is FamilySearch Compatible!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire 

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(c) 1994-2021 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved

ancquest@ancquest.com

Comments Welcomed!

Creating a Birthday Calendar in AQ

When it comes to remembering birthdays and anniversaries, Ancestral Quest can help you create one by month or by specific months or a full year. This can be very helpful so as to not forget someones special day or a couple's anniversary.

To begin click on the 'Printer' icon at the top of the program to open up "Print Reports and Charts" and then click on the tab that says "Calendar":

From this menu box follow these steps:

1. Select the Start Year, then Month and the End Year and Month
2. Click the Select button to select the individuals to include, you can choose "All" or just "Descendants" and of course "family"
3. Repeat process if you want to include a spouses relations too
4. Click on the button that says "Select" once you make your choice and when done click "OK"
5. Under Options, check "Living Only", "Include Birthdays" and anything else you wish to have on this calendar
6. If you want colorful borders you can choose those too as well as the border style for the calendar and name options
7. You can also change the color and font of the title of the month under the buttons labeled "Titles" and "Fonts"
8. Once done, click on the "Preview" button to see if this is how you like it
9. If not, go back and change your colors and anything else to fine tune it
10. Once completed, you can send it to your printer and enjoy

One of the nice things about this is you can create a colorful calender page for each month, just adjust the colors, etc. and print that new month. Either way, it is a nice feature that helps you remember all the important people in your life!

Here is a sample of the top half of January to give you an idea of how color they can be:

Enjoy this and all of the features that Ancestral Quest offers each one who uses this program.

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2016 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Date Preferences

Linking and syncing your family file/database with FamilySearch Family Tree is one of the great features of Ancestral Quest.

Some time ago, FamilySearch Family Tree went to spelling out the full month and at that time most genealogical software used the shortened abbreviated version of the month including Ancestral Quest.

In January when we released our latest build, number 33, the ability to match that change in Family Tree was made available in Ancestral Quest.

To change your current month to the fully spelled out month go to Tools and Preferences:

Once there you'll need to click on the tab titled "Formats":

Note the drop down next to "Month", here is where you can choose how you want your month displayed as well as how you want the whole date to appear in your family file/database on all of your reports.

This new adjustment makes it easier when linking and syncing with FamilySearch Family Tree but also follows through to the reports making them look more professional.

If you haven't updated to the latest build, number 33, you'll need to do that to take advantage of this new feature! Click here to see how to update your AQ 14 software to the latest build.

Enjoy this and many other features on Ancestral Quest today, you can try it out for free by downloading Ancestral Quest Basics here.

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2016 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Where is my Family File?

Your old computer needed replacing, either it was so slow you decided to replace it or it may have started crashing on you, either way it was replaced and now you are trying to set up all your favorite programs on this new computer with a new operating system and are not able to locate anything familiar.

The first thing that is important is to re-install Ancestral Quest which is done from the website here: http://ancquest.com/ver14.htm. Download either AQ14s.exe or AQ14c.exe, then install the program to your new computer. If you need your registration key and are unable to locate it you can email a request for it from support@ancquest.com or call us at 801-280-4434.

Copy your family files onto an external device or a flash drive, remove and plug your device into your new computer. When you open Ancestral Quest it should open to a blank file. 

Depending on the file types you've saved on your device will determine how you open them up to continue your family history work. 

If the file is a .aq or a .paf you go to File and Open 
If the file is a .aqz or a .zip you go to File and Restore
If the file is a .ged you go to File and Import

Once you have gotten to the place where you begin to look for the files, remember they are on an external device which will have a different letter designation, like F, G, I, J, etc. To locate that in the open, restore or import screen, click on the down arrow to show the location of your external device.

In this case the individual would click on the "L" drive and their files would show up in the list to choose from.

Sometimes your files are transferred by a repair company and they have put everything on a CD for you, in that case you would do the same but locate that CD and the drive letter and click it too.

Either way you will be able to locate your family data files to continue your family history research!

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2016 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Welcome FTM Users!

Welcome FTM Users! 

With the announcement from Ancestry.com regarding the end of their Family Tree Maker Software Package, users need to consider other options.

Dear Family Tree Maker™ community,

Ancestry is proud to have made a significant investment this year to bring valuable new content and records to the Ancestry site. In 2015, we’ve made 220 million searchable historical records from Mexico available, more than 170 million pages from the largest collection of U.S. will and probate records, among others. We’ve also introduced new features such as Ancestry Academy, and major advancements for AncestryDNA.

As we strive to provide our customers with the best experience possible, we are constantly evaluating our services and product offerings. True to this focus, we’ve taken a hard look at the declining desktop software market and the impact this has on being able to continue to provide new content, product enhancements and support that our users need. With that, we’ve made the tough decision to stop selling Family Tree Maker as of December 31, 2015.

We will continue to support existing Family Tree Maker owners at least through January 1, 2017. During this time, all features of the software, including TreeSync™ will continue to work. Our Member Services team will also remain available to assist with questions or issues you may have.

These changes are never easy. But by focusing our efforts, we can concentrate on continuing to build great products for our loyal Ancestry community

There is a blog as a follow-up to their announcement: 

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/12/08/ancestry-to-retire-family-tree-maker-software/

For FTM users, Ancestral Quest wants you to know that you have a home here with AQ and we will take good care of you in respect to importing your files and providing great customer service. 

AQ has received high ranking awards from GenSoftReviews and its users. AQ is available for both PCs and Macs. 

We have a special page set up to welcome FTM users here and are offering a special discount of $10 for a limited time to those who wish to move from FTM to AQ with a special discount code.

We are here to help you with the transition. 

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2015 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Turning On the Change Log

Sometimes individuals work on their Family History daily and others not so much. Regardless of where one falls in that area remembering where one left off can be challenging with the added activities of daily life.

One would open up a family file and unless it is set to open on the last person being researched, it will open to the person it is set to open on each time. 

Even if the program is set to open on the last person research was being conducted, the chances of remembering exactly what was done can be slim.

In Ancestral Quest, there is a way to turn on a 'Change Log' that records everything you have done on your family file. To do this, go to "Tools", scroll down and click on "Preferences":

Next click on the Tab that says "Database":

Once you click the box next to "Record Changes" the changes to the database are being recorded in a flat text file with enough information to help you get back on track.

To view the file being created, click on the "View" button and you'll get this:

At this point you can scroll through to the last one, you can also print the file, the choice is yours. Note that it shows you both the old data and the new/updated data or changed data. Either way it will help you as you continue to research your family lines.

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2015 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Upgrading to the Next Build..

Updating Ancestral Quest to the Latest Build

Open up your own Ancestral Quest program to do a build update.
The first thing one needs to do is to check to see if there is an update for you. Go to the Internet menu located at the top of the screen, and click on Check for Latest AQ Release. This will bring you to the Ancestral Quest website.

Once the website comes up, it will tell you one of two things:

1) Your copy of Ancestral Quest is up to date

2) Your program needs to be updated. If this is the case, then right-click on AQ14s.exe.

In the right click menu, select Save link as..for Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. For Internet Explore, Select Save Target as...

In the Save As menu, select the Desktop as you download destination. This is to make sure you are able to easily find the installer in just a short time.

Minimize your Internet browser to get it out of the way. You can do this by clicking on the minimize button which is located in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. It's the minus button that is just to the left of the X.

Close Ancestral Quest by clicking on the X in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. We need to do this because the installer is not able to run properly if Ancestral Quest is open.

Now you are ready to install the update. On your Desktop, double click on the AQ14s icon, which will begin the installation setup.

To follow the rest of the steps please click here.

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2015 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Setting Ancestral Quest Preferences

Setting one's preferences can help to make your software just the way you like it. If you don't adjust anything, the program will run fine but just with the defaults set and one may never have known there were choices to change colors, display date styles, place styles and even the size of the fonts can be adjusted. 

Go to "Tools" and scroll and click on "Preferences" which will bring up the following screen:

This is the "General" Tab where you can adjust the colors, add an ID, RIN or Family Search ID to a name and turn on the LDS features. You can also tell it which type of date entry you would like, US or European.

Under the "Database" tab you can tell the program which person to start with or just have it go to the last person you were on. When you turn on the "Log Changes" it keeps a record of all the changes you make to the family file and can be exported to a text file. This is often helpful. There are additional search features here as welll as saying how you want backup files to be named.

The next tab we'll discuss for this blog is the "Fonts" tab.

Here are you are able to adjust the fonts for the various screens in Ancestral Quest. From the notes and sources to the menu screens, just click the dropdown arrow and pick the one you need to change. Once you click what you want to adjust click on 'Change' and you can adjust the actual size of the fonts to your liking.

We will tackle a few other tabs in a future blog, in the mean time, feel free to explore them and adjust what you can to have a customized program!

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2014 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

Open, Restore, Import....Understanding How and When to Use them

When working in Ancestral Quest it sometimes can get confusing as to how to access one's database of names, dates and places.

People have files that end in .paf, .aq, .ged, .zip, .aqz and wonder why they many not 'open' under an 'open' command.

The reason they many not open is that they need a different command to do just that. 

The "File" menu has this drop down where you will find all of the right commands to help you open up your database files:

The files that end in .paf and .aq will open up with File and Open and then locating that file, double click it and you'l have all your family file information right there.

If you have a .ged file, this is a GEDCOM file and needs to be imported into a blank database. So one creates a new database and then goes to File and scrolls to 'Import', clicks it and locates that .GED file and again double clicks it. Once that is done the file will import into that blank database file filling it up with whatever is in the GEDCOM file.

If you have a .zip or .aqz file, this is a back up file and needs to be restored. One needs to go to File and 'restore', clicks it and locates the zipped file and again double clicks it to restore your database files.

With the end goal to being able to access one's family database, it is helpful to use the correct commands depending on the type of file available and hopefully this blog has provided some help in doing just that!

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2014 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com

AQ: Add-On Products: AniMap 3.0.2

Map Coutesy of 50states.com

The second in our series of programs that work well with Ancesral Quest is AniMap 3.0.2 which is by The Goldbug.

Maps are critical tools for anyone researching their ancestors. AniMap shows an animated map of each of the 48 contiguous states. Each state map contains county boundary changes from colonial times to the present. 

One can use their SiteFinder to locate hundreds of thousands of cities, cemeteries or historical sites, then plot them on the appropriate state maps of AniMap.

One can also choose a year to see which county that site was located at that time. Once you know this you'll know the correct location for those county records or a repository to find information on your ancestor.

Their website, http://www.goldbug.com provides additional information along with two wonder videos to show how valuable this software is to your research. The first one is from GenealogyWise and the second one is a video showing how to export and locate images.

This product is completely compatible with Ancestral Quest.

To learn more about this product click here. To order this product click here. 

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...

Claire ;)

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncQuest

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ancquest

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/inclinesoftware

(c) 1994-2014 Incline Software, All Rights Reserved
 gfindlay@ancquest.com