Personal Ancestral File has been discontinued. According to FamilySearch.org, 'On July 15, 2013, PAF was retired and is no longer available for download or support. Current PAF users may continue to use the software on their personal computers.'
Additional termsMy Family Tree privacy policyTerms of transaction My Family Tree licence terms END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MY FAMILY TREE™ IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLING: CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE's End-User License Agreement ('EULA') is a legal agreement between You (an individual or single entity) and CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE for the CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE software product(s) identified above which may include associated software components, media, printed materials, and 'online' or electronic documentation ('Software'). By installing or otherwise using the Software, You agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If You do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the Software. The Software is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The Software is licensed, not sold. 1. GRANT OF LICENSE. The Software is licensed as follows: (a) Installation and use. Personal use: CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE grants You a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to install each licensed copy of the Software for personal use only. Organisational use: If You purchased an Organisational License, CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE grants You a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to install each licensed copy of the Software on any devices owned by You for use by any authorised user of those devices. 2. DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS. (a) Maintenance of copyright notices. You must not remove or alter any copyright notices on any copies of the Software. (b) Distribution. You may not distribute copies of the Software to third parties. (c) Prohibition on reverse engineering, decompilation, and disassembly. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or attempt to derive the source code of the Software, except and only to the extent that such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law notwithstanding this limitation. (d) Rental. You may not sell, rent, lease, or lend the Software. (e) Support services. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE is not obligated to, but may in its sole and absolute discretion, provide You with support services related to the Software ('Support Services'). Any supplemental software code provided to You as part of the Support Services shall be considered part of the Software and subject to the terms and conditions of this EULA. (f) Compliance with applicable laws. You must comply with all applicable laws regarding use of the Software. (g) Similar services. You may not use the Software to create a product, service, or software that is, directly or indirectly, competitive with or in any way a substitute for any service, product, or software offered by CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE. (h) Software maintenance and updates. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE periodically releases updates and new versions of the Software ('Updates'). Updates to the Software may not be free of charge. (i) Third party services. Some features of the Software may depend on services or data provided by third parties. If You use these features, You agree to be bound by the terms and conditions, copyright and License restrictions, and privacy policies set out by each third party, at the links provided in the Software. (j) Licence Key. If you purchased an Organisational License, You will be provided with a licence key file ('Licence Key'). You must store a copy of the Licence Key in the installation directory of each installed copy of the Software for the duration that the Software is installed. The License Key must only be used devices owned by You. You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute, sublicense or otherwise commercially exploit the License Key. (k) Modification to this EULA. This EULA may only be modified in a writing referencing this EULA and duly signed by an authorised officer of CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE. 3. TERMINATION. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE may, in its sole and absolute discretion, at any time and for any or no reason, suspend or terminate this EULA and the rights afforded to You hereunder with or without prior notice. Furthermore, if You fail to comply with any terms or conditions of this EULA, then this EULA and any rights afforded to You hereunder shall terminate automatically, without any notice or other action by CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE. Upon the termination of this EULA, You shall cease all use of the Software, uninstall the Software, and destroy any copies of the Software and any License Keys in Your possession. 4. COPYRIGHT. All title, including but not limited to copyrights, in and to the Software and any copies thereof are owned by CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE or its suppliers. All title and intellectual property rights in and to the content which may be accessed through use of the Software is the property of the respective content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other intellectual property laws and treaties. This EULA grants You no rights to use such content. All rights not expressly granted in this EULA are reserved by CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE. 5. NO WARRANTIES. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE expressly disclaims any warranty for the Software. The Software is provided 'As Is' without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including but not limited to any warranties of merchantability, noninfringement, or fitness of a particular purpose. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE does not warrant or assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within the Software. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE makes no warranties respecting any harm that may be caused by the transmission of a computer virus, worm, time bomb, logic bomb, or other such computer program. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE further expressly disclaims any warranty or representation to You or to any third party. 6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. In no event shall CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, or lost information) rising out of the use of or inability to make use of the Software, even if CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE be liable for loss of data or for indirect, special, incidental, consequential (including lost profit), or other damages based in contract, tort or otherwise. CHRONOPLEX SOFTWARE shall have no liability with respect to the content of the Software or any part thereof, including but not limited to errors or omissions contained therein, libel, infringements of rights of publicity, privacy, trade mark rights, business interruption, personal injury, loss of privacy, moral rights or the disclosure of confidential information. 7. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION. This EULA and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and submitted to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. If any part of this EULA is found void and unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of the EULA, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. 30 June 2019
One of the oldest and most popular genealogy software programs available, this family tree software from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was available for free download until 2013. Powerful and full-featured, the tool is also very user-friendly, making it perfect for novice computer users and genealogists. If you want fancy charts, you'll have to spring for the add-on program, PAF Companion ($13.50). And if your primary goal is publishing a family Web site or book, there are better options.
Pros
Genealogy Timeline Software Pc DownloadCons
Description
Guide Review - Personal Ancestral File 5.2
Personal Ancestral File 5.2 is surprisingly powerful and feature-packed given that it is a free program. Multiple views, including a five-generation pedigree view, make the program easy to navigate and the data entry screen is simple to use. Customizable data entry templates mean that you can create your own fields to match the information you wish to record. Source documentation options are adequate, though not as customizable as I would like. Multimedia options include attaching unlimited images, sound clips and video files to individuals, and creating basic scrapbooks and slideshows. Only a single image can be attached to each source, however, and none can be attached to families, events or places. Despite its wealth of data recording features, PAF lacks fancier charts (e.g. hourglass chart, everything chart, etc.) and many customized reports, unless you spring for the add-on program, PAF Companion ($13.50 US). Of all the genealogy software programs, Personal Ancestral File offers the best support for users with free support through LDS Family History Centers, PAF User Groups, and online.
And since PAF is from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it's likely that the software will continue to be developed and supported. If you want something that's easy to use and uncomplicated, and aren't focused on publishing your family information in a book or online, then add PAF to your shortlist.
There are many reasons to keep a timeline. You might want to create a chronological map of how a project or company developed, track a family history, or follow your career progress or trajectory. But whatever the reason, you need the right tool to make the timeline easy to work with. You can't just use a spreadsheet or text document to create a helpful, interactive tool. Instead, you need the right software to do the job.
I've found five apps/services that do a great job of creating timelines, whatever the purpose. Some are mobile apps, some are website services. No matter your need, this list should have it covered.
Note: This article is also available as an image gallery and a video hosted by TechRepublic columnist Tom Merritt.
1: Timeglider
Timeglider (Figure A) is a website that offers both free and paid accounts. Using HTML5, Timeglider helps you create (entries on the timeline), multimedia, extra information, and more. What is really nice about Tiki-Toki is that it allows you to play multimedia within the timeline (no exiting out of the tab or window).
Figure C
There are free accounts as well as paid accounts. With a paid account you can embed timelines on your site and collaborate with others. The paid accounts are Teacher ($125.00/year, which includes 50 student accounts, embedded timelines, and no ads and is available only to teachers) and Bronze Accounts ($7.50/month, which includes five timelines, group editing, embedding, 5,000 monthly embed views, and no ads).
4: Capzles
Capzles (Figure D) offers a unique and creative way to create timelines. You can create a timeline, blog directly into your timelines, add multimedia, upload stacks of images (which will be represented by a single thumbnail), and much more. You can theme your Capzles, add background music, and (when complete) share them with others. Capzles can serve as both a standard timeline tool and a sort of interactive diary that can be shared out and embedded.
Figure D
One caveat about adding multimedia: You must upload directly from your computer; you can't embed video or link it. What you can do is add links to a text (or blog) post, which can then be clicked on. When you've finished your Capzle, you can share the timeline via link, email, embedding, or RSS feed. Capzles is a free service and does not offer advanced features like collaboration.
5 myHistro
myHistro (Figure E) is a unique take on the timeline, in that it focuses on location as much as time. You create a story and add events that are tagged with location. When the story is played back, a graphical map of the event's location is displayed along with the information about the event. With myHistro you can also link events to Facebook, add quizzes, export as CSV/PDF/DVD, add Google Maps, and more.
Figure E
You can embed a story in a website, and users can make comments on events in your story. myHistro should be thought of more as an educational tool than just a timeline app. Through myHistro, you can also browse plenty of public timelines.
Worth the time
Timelines can be a useful tool for tracking the progress of a project, your company, or even your life. Give one of these tools a try and see how easily you can create another layer to your documentation or promotional material — or just share information with your friends.
Also read...Other apps?
If you're a fan of a particular timeline tool, share your recommendations with fellow TechRepublic members.
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Family histories are frequent candidates for desktop publishing projects—using the software and printing capabilities you have at home to design and then print out a few books for family members to cherish. Appearances are usually less important than the memories and genealogical data preserved in these books, but there's no reason they can't look good as well.
You may have already been collecting information from family members, along with old photos and your own personal memories. If you haven't, this is where you start. Your journey may take you to genealogy websites for research or consist entirely of your memories and images. Making a family history book is a labor of love that doesn't have to be rushed. Take your time to create a keepsake that will be around for years to come.
Here is everything you need to know to publish your family history.
Software for Your Family History Book
Some software specifically for genealogy and tracing your family tree comes with predesigned layouts for printing up family histories, including narratives, charts, and sometimes photos. These may be adequate for your needs. However, if your genealogy software doesn't offer the flexibility you want, consider using the software you already have on your computer. Any of these can do the job:
Family Tree Software
Genealogy software often includes a multitude of options for home publishing books that are complete with charts and photos, which can save you some time and make your book attractive. It is the easiest way to set up your book, but you probably don't have genealogy software sitting around. Check out Family Historian, Family Tree Maker, and Legacy Family Tree, which are all affordable software packages.
Desktop Publishing Software
Producing your family history book with desktop publishing software offers endless layout possibilities. Adobe InDesign might be out of your budget, but there are less expensive options, including several free programs you may already have or can download at no cost, including Scribus and Apple Pages. These software programs have learning curves but give you unlimited customization options.
Word Processing Software
You may have already input information you've gathered in a word processing program like Microsoft Word on your computer. You can use the same word processing software to create and publish the entire family history book.
Narratives for Your Family History Book
Pedigree charts and family group records are an important part of genealogy, but for a family history book, it is the narratives or stories that bring the family to life. Creative formatting of narratives in your book make it more attractive. Here are a few tips for you to use when you are formatting your book.
Consistency
Develop a consistent but distinctive format for all narratives – margins, columns, fonts, and spacing.
Grouping
Group narratives of key figures or other historical information at the front of the book followed by charts, or place biographies of key figures of each branch of the family immediately before their corresponding descendant charts.
Memories
Include a special section in the book for stories from later descendants to tell about what they remember of their family, what life was like growing up, and about their lives today.
Footnotes
Include footnotes or explanations of names so that those reading the Memories or other sections know that 'Aunt Susie' refers to the Suzanna Jones found on page 14 or that 'the Baileys' are a family that lived next door. Create a specific style for the footnotes or notations and use it consistently throughout.
Small Caps
In genealogy, it is common practice to place surnames in all caps to make it easier for later researchers using your book to scan for relevant information. Optionally, use small caps, instead. The effect is the same, but small caps enhance the overall appearance of your text.
Break Up Text
Long blocks of text, no matter how well-written, are boring. Entice readers into the story and keep them reading with visual signposts within paragraphs such as initial caps, indents, bullets, pull-quotes, and boxes. For long narratives, use subheads to break the story into sections, such as by year or by the location of the family during migration to other areas.
Charts in Your Family History Book
Charts show family relationships. However, not all chart formats used by genealogists are suitable for a family history book. They may take up too much space, or the orientation might not fit your desired layout. You'll need to maintain readability while compressing the data to fit the format of your book.
There is no right or wrong way to present a chart of your family. You may prefer to start with a common ancestor and show all descendants or begin with the current generation and chart the families in reverse. If you intend for your family history to stand as a reference for future family historians, you'll want to use standard, commonly accepted genealogy formats. Some provide greater space-savings than others.
Genealogy publishing software may automatically format charts and other family data in a suitable fashion, but if you are formatting data from scratch, consider these tips:
Consistency
When listing birth, marriage, death, and other pertinent dates, be consistent in the format throughout the book.
Indents
Use indentation with bullets or numbering to list successive generations of descendants. The indents help to maintain readability when compressing chart information to save space.
Keep Info Together
When continuing information to another page, end on one individual and start the next page with a new individual if at all possible.
Small Caps
As with narratives, use small caps (rather than standard all caps) for surnames.
Boxes or Lines
When making boxes or drawing lines on charts that connect family lines, be consistent in the line style used.
Editing Photos for the Book
Family photos of both ancestors long gone and living family members greatly enhance your family history book.
Quality
Start with the best quality original photos or scans that you can. If you don't have a scanner or all-in-one printer, ask a relative or friend who does to scan the photos for you.
Black & White
For most desktop-published family histories that are professionally printed, color printing is too expensive. Since only recent photos are in color, scan and convert any color photos to grayscale. If you are printing only a handful of copies for immediate family on your printer, use the color photos and stock up on printer ink.
Image Enhancements
Enhance scans of older photographs with image-editing software. You can repair tears, remove scratches, and improve the contrast with most graphics software. GIMP is widely considered to be the best of the free image-editing software programs.
Photo Layouts in a Family History Book
How you arrange photos can make your family history book more enjoyable.
Consistency
Since your photos may come in a variety of sizes, orientation, and quality, a grid helps provide visual consistency throughout the book.
Grouping
Where possible, place photos near the text, narrative or charts describing the individuals in the picture. Group photos from the same branch of the family tree on the same page or group of pages. Accompany narratives with photos of the key people in the story.
Timeline
Create a photographic timeline such as a series of group shots from a family reunion taken over successive years. Pair a wedding photo of a couple with a photo from their 50th anniversary.
Better Charts
Enhance an otherwise dull chart with a headshot of the head of each primary branch of the family.
Replace a Drop Cap
Instead of an initial cap, cut in a photo at the start of a narrative.
Captions
Captions are especially important in a family history book. Attempt to identify each person in a photo. For large groups of people where identification of everyone is impossible, at least caption the photo with information about when and where the photo was taken.
Places
In addition to photos of people, including photos of significant buildings or other locations including homesteads, churches, or family cemeteries.
Using Maps, Letters, and Documents
You can dress up your family history book with maps showing where the family lived or photocopies of interesting handwritten documents such as letters or wills. Old and recent newsletter clippings are also a nice addition.
Consistency
As much as possible, fit these additional documents into the same format as the rest of your book. Even when these documents vary from your usual layout, maintain a consistent style for captions and notations.
MigrationGenealogy Timeline Chart
Enhance a narrative about how an entire branch of the family moved from one state to another by including a map tracing their migration.
Boundaries
Create maps that show both current boundaries for counties, states, or other areas, and the boundaries that existed at the time your family lived there.
Translation
When including photocopies of actual historic family documents, include a typed translation.
Recent Documents
In addition to historic documents, consider preserving recent material for future generations. These might include drawings or handwritten stories by some of the youngest generations in your book and newspaper clippings or notations about current activities of living family members.
Blank Pages
Add a few blank or lined pages for future family members to make additional notes as the family grows.
Signatures
Sprinkle scanned signatures taken from wills, Bibles or letters throughout the book. Place them near the text for that person.
Creating a Table of Contents and Index
One of the first things your third cousin Emma is going to do when she sees your family history book is flip to the page where you list her and her family. Help Emma and all your cousins (as well as future family historians) with a table of contents and an index. Creating a table of contents is not that hard to do, but making an index is an ambitious task.
Having genealogy software that generates an index automatically is priceless. Older published family histories often omitted the index because, indexing was a tedious, time-consuming job before the computer age. If you decide to do an index by hand, keep these tips in mind:
Consistency
Keep the style of your table of contents (margins, fonts) consistent with the rest of your book.
Branches
Use the table of contents to show general sections such as narratives and descendant charts for each main branch of the family included in your book.
Surnames and Place Names
Include surnames and key place names (towns or counties) in your index. You may also want to include the names of churches, organizations, businesses, and even specific streets that figure prominently in your family history.
Maiden Names and Alternative Spellings
For female members or instances where the family name changed significantly in spelling, add cross-references to maiden and married names or alternate spellings used by the same individual.
Page Numbers
Don't forget the page numbers—ideally number every page of your book. The table of contents and index are useless without page numbers.
Print and Bind Your Family History Book
Many family history books are photocopied or printed on home desktop printers. When only a small quantity is needed or when you can't afford other options, this is perfectly acceptable. There are ways to give your family history book professional polish, even with low-tech reproduction methods.
If you are considering having your book printed professionally, either locally on online, get information on the correct size and any other technical requirements before you start.
If you can get your entire book into a digital file, you can send it to a company online that will use your files to print the book. You can get quotes up front on the number of books that you need from companies such as Book1One and DiggyPOD.
Photocopies
If you decide to print copies of your book at home, it's usually best to use a laser original for the sharpest results. Print some test pages and photocopy them before you proceed too far. It may take some experimentation to get your photographs to copy well. If you plan to copy on both sides of the paper, use a thicker-than-normal paper to prevent distracting bleed-through.
Digital Printing
Discuss both photocopying and digital printing options for small runs with a local printer. Color digital printing costs a lot less than it used to.
Covers
If you are paying someone to print your book, full color may not be affordable for the book itself, but a color cover can dress up your book. A good heavy stock will help your labor of love withstand wear and tear. You may even want to expend a little extra on the cover to have it embossed with the family name. Another nice option would be a die cut where a photo of the family shows through.
Binding
Some relative inexpensive binding options include saddle stitching for booklets with a few pages, side stitching which requires extra inner margin room, and other various spiral bindings and thermal binding.
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