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Technology and Writing our Family Histories

As you may have discovered I am very technology enabled. However, as we write our family stories, we don't want the technology or tools get in the way of writing those histories. I started this discussion to help each other with the tools we may use in publishing our family histories. This may include writing software, publishing software, self-publishing, etc., etc. etc.
Trudy

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Permalink Reply by Catherine Davis on November 2, 2009 at 7:49pm

I've played with several family history software programs, and the end result: I am not a Mormon but I cannot say enough about the FREEBIE system offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, PAF (Personal Ancestry File), down-loadable at familysearch.org. I just ignore the parts that are directly related to preparing data to submit to the Temple, and use the rest. It stores my data, lets me prepare all kinds of reports, and (under the report protocol) gives a tab for "books" which allows a couple of different options. The option titled "modified registry" lays out the family in text format and prints to Microsoft Word, and gives me both the option of using a pre-formatted report which meets the the standards of the Board of Certified Genealogists, or adapting my own version through the usual Word software. (I stick to the former when doing work for others, go "wild" on my own family!) In either case, I've documented my sources on each individual record, so the footnoting is done for me. (LDS also offers companion document software--for somewhere around $20--which lets you do neat things with colored fan charts and more. But before you buy, you can play with the free demo model which allows you to display up to 5 generations!)

Permalink Reply by Myo on May 21, 2010 at 8:45am

This is an interesting and helpful discussion.
I have a couple of very basic questions - What style and size font do you use. I will be putting the information of a disk and the family can print out the parts they want. I am using word and doing the formatting and aranging myself.

I have heard that Century Gothic uses the least amount of ink -which is good for printing at home. The others I am looking at are Times New Roman and Ariel. either 10 or 12 point.

On the disk - how do you get the "chapters"to be in the order you want them.
Is there a way to set it up so the whole"book" can be printed at one time, or doing it your self is it only possible to print each doc file separately. I have each family as a doc in it's own file folder. The maps, census and pictures are on individual graphic pages.

I have the information and most of it is written up, I need help in formating it to give to others.
Thanks for the help.
Myo

Technology and Writing our Family Histories

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