PAF
I -- Class 1:
GETTING STARTED WITH PAF 5.2
©Copyright
2006 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes
Return to Don's
Class
Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group . This page was last
updated 27 Nov 2006.
WELCOME AND
INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS
- Instructors
are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow, 801-225-7123 in Provo, Utah
and 435-673-1932 in St. George, Utah (snowd@math.byu.edu,
dms34@juno.com)
- These notes with
active Internet links are posted on the
Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group website http://uvtagg.org
under Class Outlines, Don's Listings.
- Goal of
this class is to help you learn what PAF can do for you
and get
you started with it
- Most of your learning will
come from doing the assignments, so be
sure to do them..
DOWNLOADING
AND
INSTALLING PAF 5.2.18
- Three ways to get PAF 5.2.18 -- (1) download it
free from
Internet; (2) borrow a CD from a FHC or elsewhere; or (3) buy a CD
- (1) Download PAF 5.2.18 free from FS
Internet -- http://www.familysearch.org
- Find it under Order-Download Products/Software
Downloads -
Free/Downloads/Free
- Answer the questions about
yourself to register before you
can download it
- When it asks where to put it on
your computer, easiest to
save it to Desktop so there will be an icon to click to install it
- Decide how much you want to download -- get at least the
English version and the PAF 5 Lessons (the manual, Users Guide, is
automatically downloaded with PAF 5)
- Can download
the international fonts for Chinese,
Russian, Arabic, etc. character sets, if you need them
- What
you download is the Setup program which must be run in
order to install PAF 5.2.18 on your computer
- (2)
Many FHC's have copies of the CD that you can check
out to install at home
- (3)
Buy a CD from LDS Church Distribution Centers (77065)
for $8.25-- has entire Setup program, languages, many forms you can
print out, earlier versions of PAF, and entire PAF Companion Disk with
it.
- Running the Setup program to
install PAF 5.2 on your hard drive
- If
you downloaded to Desktop, double-click the Setup program
icon
- If installing from CD, run the Setup program
- Tell it what language you want to install it in (English,
probably)
- PAF 4 has English, Spanish,
Portugese, French, and German
- PAF 5 has English
and several others including Swedish,
Japanese, and Chinese
- Tell it what
directory to install it to -- we suggest you use
the default directory, but can label it PAF5 so it doesn't conflict
with PAF 4
- PAF 5 manual is called
User's Guide and is included in PAF 5
under Help/Users Guide
- Requires free
program Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 (or later) to
read it -- download it or get it from the PAF 5 CD
- Can
print the manual out, but it is easier to search
electronically on your computer
- PAF
5 Lessons are very helpful and are in Help/Lessons
FORMING
A NEW PAF
DATABASE AND SETTING BASIC
PREFERENCES
- After installation you get
options: (1) Open a
database, (2) Search for all PAF databases on hard drives, or (3)
Create a new database
- Click on Search
to have it find all PAF databases on your hard
drives
- Click on New to start a new PAF database
- Helpful idea -- give your databases
names that remind
you
of what's in them, e.g. SnowDR-AF5Gens shows it is my database with 5
generations from the Ancestral File
- After creating a database set your preferences for it --
go to Tools/Preferences
- Note the tabs
at the top for the many choices for name styles,
folders, fonts, what you want to show, etc.
- Preferences
are of two types, (1) those that transfer with the
database,
and (2) those that only stay on that machine
- Examples
of type (1) preferences: format for names,
dates, RIN's used, relationships shown
- Examples
of type (2) preferences: fonts, folders,
columns in
Individual View, templates
- When you start a new
database it defaults to the last
preferences used until you change them
- Under
Prepared By, type in your name, mailing address, phone,
email address, so they will
be printed on reports, charts, web pages
- Can
then set this as the default so you don't have to type it
in again for other databases
- Under
General, check Use LDS Data and Show LDS Data on Reports
-- if Use LDS Data is not checked you won't see fields to enter it
- Also set option to Verify New Places to save
problems later
- Under Folders, set
where you want PAF to look for your files --
usually a good idea to put all databases in one folder, e.g. C:\Program
Files\FamilySearch\PAF5\Data, and set A:\ for Import/Export and for
Backups
- Under Names, set preference so it puts
slashes (//) around
surname in the right way, Verify Surname Marks, and Append RIN's to
Names
- Can change any of these preferences any
time you want -- if if
doubt, leave it set for the default
ENTERING
AND EDITING
DATA IN PAF
- Enter your own name first so you are RIN 1
(Record Index Number)
-- makes it easier to get back to yourself in the file later
- Type in name on one line as you would say it, e.g. [Given
names]
[Surname] [Suffix -- Jr., Sr., III,...]
- Program
knows suffixes and puts slashes // around surname
before suffix -- it shows you its form and asks if that is the way you
want it
- Enter name Prefixes (Dr. Capt., Rev.,
etc.) below on the Prefix
field on the Individual Edit screen
- Enter
dates as 28 Feb 2005, but it will automatically convert
from several other forms like 2/28/05 -- Try it!
- Enter
places as "city, county, state, USA" or "parish, city,
county, England"
- Program remembers
the last 15 or so places you have entered --
can select one by using the "pick arrow" (down arrow at end of place
line)
- Enter Sources as you enter the
data -- click on the "s" at the
end of the line -- details in another class
- See
PAF Lesson 3 on Sources -- Help/Lessons
- Need to be accurate and complete in your family history
BACKING
UP AND
RESTORING DATA
- When done for the session MAKE A BACKUP of your
database by
clicking
on File/Backup and save the backup, probably to floppy A:
- Helps
to include the date in the title when you back it up, e.g.
SnowDR-2005-02-28 -- writing date in this fashion makes them
alphabetize
in chronological order
- Write name of
file and date of backup in pencil on floppy
- Backup
file can be used to "restore" the database to any
computer to work on it elsewhere, e.g. at a FHC
- Good
idea to keep at least two "generations" of backups so you never
lose more than last work session if database gets fouled up --
including date in title makes sure the old backup/file isn't overwritten
- Think of the latest floppy disk as being the
master copy of your
database -- then can work on the master copy anywhere you want to
work on it -- just restore it and work on it -- then back up what you
have just done
GETTING
HELP AND
ABOUT DATA STORAGE
- Getting help with PAF
- The
PAF 5 interactive lessons are excellent helpts -- see
Help/Lessons -- very helpful
- Lessons 1 and 2 are on on Getting Started:
Entering Data and
Getting Started: Making Changes
- PAF 5.2 Users Guide (manual) is "built-in" to PAF 5.2 -- see
Help/Users Guide
- Family History
Centers (over 4,100 world wide) -- only one
Family History Library (in Salt Lake City) -- the others are
FHC's
- PAF users' groups (more than 200 in U.S.
now) -- regular
meetings, web pages, e.g. http://uvtagg.org,
free to everyone
- PAF/FS Support in SLC
1-888-403-1830 or 1-800-346-6044
- FAQ's on http://www.familysearch.org
- About data storage
- Magnetic
media such as floppy disks, hard disks, flash drives
are NOT permanent
storage -- can only count on them for a few years
- Optical
media such as CD's and DVD's are more permanent, but
don't count on them for more than a few years either
- Recent studies are showing that you can't count on CD's or
DVD's for more than a few years, either!
- Best
and most permanent storage is printing it on acid-free
paper and having copies in more than one place
- Flash
drives (also called thumb drives or USB drives) plug into
USB pots on most current computers and are the equivalent of many
floppies
CONVERSION
OF OLD
PAF DATABASES TO PAF 5
FORMAT
- PAF 2.31 stored the data in several files in a
named directory --
the name of the directory was the name of the database
- PAF
3 and 4 stored the data in a single file that you could name
for
the database -- PAF 3 and 4 used the same database format so you didn't
need to convert between them and could run PAF 3 on it, then PAF 4,
then back to PAF 3, etc.
- PAF 5 stores data in a
single file, but in a different format
than PAF 3 and 4, so that data needs to be updated to be used in PAF 5
- There are automatic conversion processes built into PAF 5
from
earlier formats,
but can do the conversion from any version to any other by making a
GEDCOM of the old data and importing it
into new program -- may be safer than using the automatic conversion
routine
- By GEDCOM method you can go
from PAF 2.31 file directly to a
PAF 5 file -- will discuss details of GEDCOM in another class
- Give the converted database a new name so you
don't overwrite the
old
database, e.g. Don4 --> GEDCOM --> Don5
HISTORY
OF PAF AND
PAF COMPANION DISK
- Earlier versions of PAF from 2 through 4 are all
on the PAF 5.2 CD's available from the LDS Church Distributions Centers
- Personal
Ancestral File (PAF) versions 1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.31 --
version 2.31 was used extensively from 1994 until PAF 3 came out in 1997
- PAF 3, 4, and 5 are different programs
- PAF 3.01M is a DOS program, but also runs in Windows
95/98/2000/NT--
you had to buy PAF 3
- PAF 3 and 4 use same
database format -- PAF 3 was DOS-based,
PAF 4 is Windows-based
- PAF 5 uses different
database format -- PAF 5 is Windows-based
- To
determine which version of PAF 4 or 5 you have
click on Help/About PAF -- shows version number
- PAF
4.0.4.18 is current version of PAF 4 (2005) -- for
Windows95/98/2000/NT/XP
- Not dependent
on PAF 3 -- free to everyone -- download from
Internet or install from CD
- Has 4 languages
besides English
- PAF 5.2.18 is
current version of PAF 5 (2005) -- for
Windows95/98/2000/NT/XP
- Not dependent
on PAF 4 -- free to everyone -- download from
Internet or install from CD
- Has 6 or 7 other
languages besides English -- not the same
languages as PAF 4, except English
- Macintosh
version PAF 2.31
- $6.00 at
Distribution Centers
- FamilySearch and TempleReady
are only for Windows so Mac data
has
to
be transferred in Windows format to run in TempleReady
- PAF Companion Disk is a Windows program
with additional reports -- current version is 5.2 (2006) --
comes on CD in same case with PAF 5.2 now
ASSIGNMENT
- Read through these notes.
- Download
PAF 5.2.18 or get a CD and then install it.
- Set
some of the preferences the way you want.
- Create
a PAF database and enter at least one family.
Return to Don's
Class
Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group .