Free Genealogy Resources

Showing posts with label software. Show all posts

Free Software for Transcribing Documents

Today's freebie comes thanks to Bart Brenner, one of my fellow members of the US-Records Study Group. Transcript is a helpful program that you can use when transcribing documents. Previously when transcribing documents, I had to use a notepad to hand-write my transcription while viewing a document image on my computer screen or shrink down both the image and my word processor screen so I could see both at once.

Transcript allows you to import a document image into the program which already has a text editor embedded at the bottom of the screen. You can zoom in or out of the image, rotate it, or edit it to improve readability all within the program, improving the odds that you will get a correct and accurate transcription of the document in question.

The program is freeware, meaning it doesn't cost anything to use as long it's for private, non-commercial use. There is a registered (pay) version which comes with additional features. It is currently available in English, French, German, Danish, Finnish and Dutch languages. More languages will come available as volunteers complete translating the program.

Keep in mind that the program is not an OCR reader and does not do the transcription for you. Rather, it makes it easier for you to do it. If you haven't transcribed a document yet, you should give it a try. It's a great way to make sure you get every bit of information available from a document and improves your skill in deciphering old handwriting, a skill every genealogist and family historian needs.

Free Resource for Photo Editing

This weekend, I've been playing with a new (to me anyway) photo editing program. I had found another cousin on Facebook who was sharing family pictures and I wanted to get them edited and organized on my computer. While I do have a couple editing softwares on my computer already, I remembered that I had heard a while back about a program that not only edited your photos, but also ran them through a facial recognition program to help identify the people in them. It sounded like something that could be helpful, especially for the old family photos that I have got from various people.

It didn't take me long to find the program that did it, Google Picasa. After letting it run through all my photographs, I started tagging some. It wasn't long before it started recognizing some people. The more photos that were tagged, the better it got at identifying other ones. My daughter's pictures make up the majority of my photographs so it was pretty good with her face.

One thing I like about the program is that if it isn't sure about an identification, it offers the most likely people as suggestions. Since facial features tend to be similar in family members, the suggestions were often family members.

Are these pictures of the same little girl?

Picasa often confused these three. The top picture is me as a baby, the second is my daughter and the third is my sister's daughter. As you can tell, there is a strong resemblance. The resemblance between my daughter and her cousin is strong enough that when they are together, most people assume they are sisters.

Free Backup Services to Protect Your Genealogy Data

Whether you have spent years building your family tree or are just starting out, the thought of losing all your hard work is terrifying. While you can back up your data to another hard drive or burn it to a CD, these usually require a commitment to remember to do it from time to time. If you work on your genealogy frequently, you may find that you are having to back up several times a week, if not daily.

Even if you already have a backup system in place for your family tree, consider what other items of importance you may have on your computer. Losing family pictures, scans of important documents, etc can be devastating. Backup services can be used to protect these items as well.

There are a number of free backup services available.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a free service that gives you 2GB of free online storage. Just download the software, put the files you want to be backed up into your Dropbox folder, and the program will automatically backup any data within the folder. The program also detects changes in the files and will backup the changed pieces to make sure your online backups are always up to date.

There are a couple other nice features with Dropbox. First is that it allows you access your data anywhere. If you're away from home and want to show someone your genealogy research, all you have to do is access your files from a web browser or mobile device. You can even make changes, which is handy when you're researching in a library and come across data to include in your tree.

The second feature I really like is the ability to share your data. All you have to do is put a file in your public file within your main Dropbox file. If you are contacted by another researching interested in your family, you can easily share your GEDCOM. It also allows for collaborative genealogy research as other users can make changes or additions to the file. You control who has access to your data.

If you need more than the free 2GB of online storage provided, you can upgrade for a fee to get larger storage capacity. Currently the paid options include 50GB and 100GB of storage. Users can also refer others to get an additional 250MB of space up to a maximum of 8GB. The person referred to Dropbox also gets the additional storage.

Windows Live SkyDrive

Windows Live SkyDrive offers users 25GB free online storage. Unlike Dropbox, which does automatic backups, you do have to remember to backup to this storage system. This program works with Microsoft Office including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and OneNote. Even if you don't have these installed on your computer, you can still design, view, edit and share these files.

You can share files with an individual or group. You have the option of sharing only specific files or everything in your storage space. Skydrive is accessible anywhere, allowing you to work wherever you have internet access, regardless of whether it's your personal computer or not.

Signing up is simple. If you already have Hotmail, Messenger or XBox Live, you can sign in with those. If you don't, you can sign up for a hotmail or live account right from the Skydrive signup page.

IDrive

IDrive is another online backup service. The free plan gives you 5GB of online storage space. You can get up to 5GB more if you refer friends to the service. There are paid plans for those that require more storage.

To get started, you have to sign up and then download the program. Select the files or folders you want to back up. Unlike Dropbox, which requires you to save all your data in the Dropbox folder in order to be backed up, IDrive allows you to pick files or folders located anywhere on your computer.

You can backup now, schedule a backup for later or enable continuous backup. With continuous backup enabled, IDrive will watch for changes to existing files or the addition of files. If it finds them, it automatically performs a backup. For those with concerns about bandwidth, there is a feature that allows you to set a limit on how much bandwidth the program can use.

Whenever you need access to your files, just log onto the IDrive website and search for the file. You can restore the file to any computer, no matter where you are.

For more ideas for protecting your genealogy data, check out my previous post on backing up your family tree and keep an eye out for future posts with more free programs.

Note: Some of the links to programs are referral links. If you prefer not to click on them, just do a quick internet search for the name of the program.

Backing Up Your Family Tree

Note to readers: I haven't been posting lately due to several unforeseen issues. I haven't ran out of free genealogy resources to share so keep checking back to see what's new.

Murphy's Law says that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Unfortunately, this applies to genealogists as well. There is nothing more frustrating than spending a great deal of time, decades in the case of some researchers, only to lose everything due to a computer problem. Whether it's your hard drive failing, a virus, or accidentally deleting your GEDCOM, losing all your hard work is going to be heart-breaking.

BackupMyTree is a free service designed especially for genealogists. Users have the option of downloading software that automatically searches their computer for family tree program files and makes a copy that is stored on a remote server. Whenever the tree is updated, the software makes another copy and stores it with previous copies. For those that don't want any more software, backups can be done manually as well.

Unlike other backup services, which delete files after a set amount of time or after another backup is made, BackupMyTree maintains previous family tree files. This is a really nice feature when you realize you've been chasing an erroneous line in your tree. Rather than painstakingly go back through your tree to remove the incorrect data, you can simply download the previous file. You can store up to 25 previous versions of backups with no time limit.

One feature I really like with this free genealogy resource is that you are not limited to a single family tree. I am currently working on three family trees-one for my side of the family, one for my husband's, and a third for a friend of mine. With this service, I can feel secure that regardless of what tree I'm working on, it's safe from the unexpected.

More Free Software and Tools

When most of us think of genealogy software, we think of family tree programs. While family tree programs do make up a large portion of the genealogy software available, there are programs that may be helpful in tracing your roots.

Surname Suggestion Tool

It isn't unusual to find a surname change spelling over the years. Perhaps an ancestor switched up the spelling to disassociate with the family or maybe it just got misspelled at one point and never corrected. Whatever the reason behind a change in spelling, it can make searching for ancestors frustrating at times. The surname suggestion tool is one free genealogy resource that can help you get around this frustration.

Just put the surname you are researching in the box and it will give you three different columns of surname variations. The first column is excellent, meaning the odds of one of them being used is fairly high. The middle column gives close matches, which may or may not help you find the results you need. The last column is for long shots. Odds are, you won't find the person you seek using one of these surname variations. However, if you have exhausted the variations in the first two columns, it's worth a shot.

Cleaning GEDCOMs

If you are planning to share your GEDCOM, either with another researcher or by posting it on a personal website, you will most likely need to remove the information for living individuals. The exception is if the individual has given permission for their information to be displayed.

GEDClean will help make this task a little easier. If recognizes individuals marked alive and "cleans" their information. In general, the only items left for the individual are their name, gender and relationships. There is an option to remove the name as well. The 16-bit version of GEDClean is free or you can opt for the 32-bit version for a low price.

GEDCOM to HTML Converters

If you want to publish your family tree to a website, you will need a program capable of converting your GEDCOM to HTML. Some family tree programs have this capability, but not all do.

GedHTree is only available in English. It allows for cleaning of living individuals. It has several options available to customize your website.

ArborVita is set up to work in multiple languages. It gives you the option of generating the HTML as a file or set it up as a Javascript to generate as users browse your site.

Keeping Notes

Bygones Genealogical Note Keeping Program is a nice free genealogy resource. It is designed to be used in conjunction with your family tree software. You can enter notes into the research database, keep track of correspondence, create time lines or scan in photographs or documents helpful to your research.

Another Free Family Tree Program.

I found another free family tree program for you to try. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the people that brought us the amazing free genealogy resources the Family History Library and FamilySearch.

Personal Ancestral File, PAF for short, is a nice user-friendly genealogy program. The program supports multiple languages. You can import GEDCOMs from other programs or start from scratch. PAF allows you to customize several options so the program matches your preferences and needs. Each data entry screen allows space to document sources.

You do have to register with the site to download the program, but all they ask for is your name and email address. You can view lessons in using the program on the FamilySearch website. There is also an option during installation to open a screen that explains how to use the program.

To print color charts, you will need to download PAF Companion Basic, which is also free. It allows printing of up to 3 generations. For those that want to print more than 3 generations, it is possible to upgrade PAF Companion to a full version for a small fee. This allows printing of unlimited generations and gives you more chart options.