THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE:
FREEWARE FOR FAMILY HISTORY
©2015 Donald R. Snow -- UVTAGG (Utah Valley
Technology and Genealogy Group), Saturday, 08 Aug
2015 -- This page was last updated 2015-08-05 .
These notes are online at Don's Family History
Notes webpage http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
and contain information about the programs we will
be discussing today. An additional set of
notes listing more than 60 other programs is also
posted there -- SUPPLEMENTARY
FREEWARE FOR FAMILY HISTORY .
- INSTRUCTORS are Donald R. Snow of Provo and
St. George, Utah (snowd@math.byu.edu)
and Linda Snow Westover of Orem, Utah (linda.westover@gmail.com)
- TERMS USED
- "Freeware" refers to computer programs
that you can use freely and give copies to
anyone else; there are usually no "nag"
screens.
- "Shareware" refers to programs that you
can try out and use and, if you like them
and plan to use them regularly, you should
send a specified donation (usually $5-$10)
to the author at the address given in the
program.
- "Portable" means the program can be run
from a flashdrive and doesn't have to be
installed on the computer, so you can use it
anywhere, e.g. at a FHC.
- CAVEATS -- Be careful when downloading and
installing freeware; read before clicking; don't
normally use the "express", "standard", or
"recommended" installation options since those
usually add bloatware or tool bars and
frequently change your default programs
- HELPFUL INSTALLATION AND UPDATING PROGRAMS
- Ninite -- https://ninite.com/
--you select the freeware you want and it sets
up an installer for the whole collection; will
also check for updates for your programs
- Glary Utilities -- http://www.glarysoft.com/
-- includes a program to check for updates
for all your installed programs and has a
safe place to download the updates -- http://www.filepuma.com/
- Portable Apps -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/
-- First run this program on a flashdrive;
then you can install other programs on the
flashdrive so you can take them with you to
run anywhere, that is, they will be portable,
even if they weren't portable originally
- CATEGORIES OF FREEWARE FOR FAMILY HISTORY --
See a list of more than 70 freeware programs
on SUPPLEMENTARY
FREEWARE NOTES -- Today we will discuss
five programs from this list. Some of these have
more information on Don's Freeware Corner Notes
posted on his webpage also.
- Record Management Programs
- Other Genealogy Programs and Databases
- Computer Utilities
- Graphics Programs
- Sound and Video Programs
- Text and Office Programs
- EVERYTHING -- available from http://www.voidtools.com/
- Finds files anywhere on
your computer, if you know
any words in the name of the file-- shows
total number of files found in
lower left corner
- Very helpful for
finding, running, organizing, renaming,
deleting, forming shortcuts, finding
duplicates, etc.
- Search syntax (See Help Menu):
(space) = AND; | = OR; ! = NOT; < > =
GROUPING; " " = EXACT PHRASE; Wildcards *
and ?
- Can sort files by any
label by clicking in title at top of
column, e.g. sort files by name, date,
size, path, etc.
- Sorting files by path
shows where they are stored and allows
you to highlight and move them by drag
and droping to a folder in
Windows Explorer or Q-DIR
- Q-DIR-- available from http://www.softwareok.com/
-- Download is in upper right corner -- FAQ's
at http://softwareok.com/?seite=faq-Q-DIR&faq=0
- File maintenance program
with up
to five Windows Explorer-type panels
open and set in various
configurations
- Allows each panel to be
set differently to run, move, delete,
rename, organize files by type, size, etc.
- Can drag and drop files between panels, do
searches for files, make listings of file
names in directories, and much more
- Q-DIR is also portable, so you can run it
without installation, e.g. from a flashdrive
at a FHC
- PDF-XChange Editor -- available from http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-editor
- Older version was called PDF-XChange Viewer
and is also still available, both are free for
private use
- Freeware reader and editor for pdf's with
many features including extracting
and inserting pages, rotating, posting
"sticky tabs" and other notes on pdf's,
filling out pdf forms, etc.; free version
does not include merging pdf's, but there
are other freeware programs that will do
that
- Has OCR (Optical
Character Recognition) for
pdf's that will OCR entire books, e.g. pdf of
a book downloaded from Google Books
- GOOGLE DOCS -- available from https://www.google.com
-- uses
your (free) Google account on any
browser
- To set it up go to Google
> Apps (3x3 square of dots in upper
right corner) > Docs and sign in with
your Google account
- Can write, edit, save, and share documents
online; can work on any computer and work with
others on the same document
- Stores your files on Google Drive along with
whatever else you have stored there
- Includes programs to handle text files
("docs"), presentations ("slides"), and
spreadsheets ("sheets"); if using the Chrome
browser, download the extension "Office
Editing for Docs, Sheets, and Slides" to edit
documents
- Allows writing and sharing
files, so you and others can
work on the file at the same time and everyone
see all the changes; to share a document you
send others an email
- Google
Docs is available to you through your
Google account on any computer
connected to the Internet
- Google also has a Calendar program there to
edit and see your own and other calendars
- OURTIMELINES.COM -- online at http://www.ourtimelines.com/
- To start go to bottom of home page and click
Click Here; you enter the name, birth, and
death dates, and it generates beautiful
color-bar timelines of world events during the
person's lifetime -- time period is from 1000
AD to present year
- Color coding shows the
type of event, e.g. technology, disaster,
personal historical, etc., and underlined
titles are links to further info about
that event
- Can also enter up to 10 personal events for
the person; for some personal events, e.g.
marriage, it helps to include death year
too, so it generates a bar covering their
lifetime and not just as an event in the
marriage year
- Depending on when the person was born during
the year personal events may be computed to be
at the wrong age of the person, e.g. for
Joseph Smith's First Vision which occurred in
1820, since Joseph Smith was born on 23 Dec
1805, it computes the First Vision as
occurring when he was 15, instead of 14.
- Website also has additional features such as
other famous people born that year and other
famous people born on that birthday,
regardless of year
- Can save the html file or do a screenshot of
it and save it as an image file in various
formats, e.g. pdf; for html there are helps on
the About page on the website; the freeware
program FastStone Capture 5.3 will scroll and
capture the entire file as pdf, but only on
some browsers, e.g. Opera and Windows Explorer
- CONCLUSIONS
- These are only five of many other freeware
programs and websites for FH on Don's SUPPLEMENTARY
FREEWARE NOTES .
- Once you have the vision of what can be
done, you can find the program and learn to
use it.
Return to the Utah
Valley Technology and Genealogy Group (UVTAGG) Home
Page or Don
Snow's FH Class Notes Page .