Genealogy Chat

I would appreciate any advice on how to save all my hard work so that I do not lose it. I have quite a good tree here on GR and would like to save it. Any ideas please from a Silver Surfer who is not very good on a new computer.Thanks for ANY help and advice.

You need a family tree program.

You can download the PAF program free from www.familysearch.org or buy Family Tree Maker or a similar program. FTM costs about £8 or £9 if you buy the WDYTYA edition.

When you have the program, you can export your tree from GR and automatically import it into the new program.

Won't it stay on, unless you delete it?

Granny

I bought myself Family Tree Maker (£5.99 in the supermarket) & exported my tree from GR.
It's easy to do, you just open the tree from the email from GR, give it a name & it's then saved on your hard drive.
I have also save my Family Tree Maker tree on a disc which is kept in a relation's house.

Granny the tree should stay on here unless you delete it but what if something happens to GR's computer system?

Thank you Mary I will try that and yes Granny it will stay on but I wanted it to be in a tree form for my family to see rather than going from page to page (if that makes sense). Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the advice as well Claire.

Silverlady, I use a few Memory Sticks rather than a CD as you can overwrite a file if saving to a stick. I kep census copies on one, copies of pics and documents on the second, and my book on the third. Thay way if I lose a stick I haven't lost everything.

Granny, it's always worth having a back-up of your tree somewhere. GR's software isn't very brilliant, and you can't easily correct mistakes you make.

Also, if the site ever closed (which I'm sure isn't likely in the short term, but in 20-30 years time, who knows?) what would happen to all your hard work?

Also, as Silverlady says, this online format is no good if you want to show your tree to family and friends.

Once you have your own program, you can print out family tree charts and reports, and even make a book.

By the way, if you get FTM, don't get the 2008 edition, which apparently has a lot of bugs. You're better off with the 2006 edition.

Laptop Dancer please excuse my ignorance but what is a Memory Stick? What does it look like and where would I get one? Sorry if I sound ignorant but PC wise (I am).

Marianne.

A memory stick or flash drive is a portable storage device for your computer.
They are about the size of a finger & can store loads of stuff.
The storage is measured in GB, the more GB the more stuff the stick will hold & the more the stick will cost.
You can buy then in Argos, page 606 of the new catalogue & prices start at £7.99

Thank you so much Claire I understand now. I have a week off work so will go to Argos and buy some and start transferring. Many many thanks to all who have helped me.

Love and Peace
Marianne.x

You are very right to keep a copy of your work. GR might be around for a long time, or they could stop operating tomorrow.

* Right now, download your tree. Don't wait. *

That will save a copy of it as a GEDCOM file on your PC. That format file is usable by just about every genealogy product on the planet. Even if you haven't yet got a program yet, you will have preserved all your work. Then download a copy every week or so, to preserve the changes that you've made.

Amazon still have Family Tree Maker for £5.98. It is two versions ago, but fully functional for normal use. ASIN: B000IWN49E

While you're at Amazon, search for "flash drive" there are lots to choose from.

Another free program is Family Tree Builder from
http://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder.

Both FTM and FTB will print charts. It's really up to you what format chart you like.

--
Dave

Thanks for all the help, I have been on the Amazon website and I have ordered 2 items which I hope will help. I can not wait for them to arrive and then I can transfer all my data. Again many thanks for all advice.

Love and Peace
Marianne. x

Thanks for this information David. I am waiting for Family Tree Maker to arrive from play.com (£5.99) but in view of what you said I have now exported my GR tree onto my computer. It looks like a long list of words at the moment but I assume it will sort itself out when I load it on to FTM.

Thanks again, Anne

Good to see you, Marianne. Let us know when you have received the order from Amazon if you need any help.

www.goldenmemoriescharts would turn all your hard work into a chart for you

Family Tree Maker WDYTYA 2006 edition for £5.99 with free package and posting
it comes with 30 days free trial to Ancestry....got mine last week....arrived in a couple of days and very user friendly....an excellent buy.


http://www.play.com/Search.aspx?searchtype=PCSH&searchstring=Family+tree&page=search&pa=search&go.x=38&go.y=10


Nicky