Friday, October 6, 2017

How do I upload a word processor document to FamilySearch Memories?

Your patrons may have noticed that common "document" types such as .DOC, .DOCX, .ODT and .RTF files cannot be uploaded to FamilySearch Memories as "documents".

But .PDF documents can! We are guessing that since some file formats are proprietary, there was less risk of legal headaches by using PDF, since Adobe.com released the file specifications into the public domain a few years ago. Also PDF has become an internet standard file format.

So the question becomes, how can our patrons convert word processor (or other) documents to PDF so they can be uploaded to Memories?

A word processor (or other) document can usually be "saved" or "printed" or "exported" as a PDF document. This is a built-in feature of recent computer operating systems, such as Windows 10.
(When printing, select Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer, to create a PDF version of the document.)  Easy-peasy.

What about patrons with older computers and older software?

In this situation, they can choose to download one of the free PDF writers from the internet such as CutePDF or PrimoPDF. There are probably a dozen to choose from. We assume no responsibility for their use, of course. Once installed, it appears as a new printer that can be chosen. Anything "printed" to the PDF writer creates a perfect PDF copy of itself.

For further details on uploading PDF files see: Knowledge Article "393331  Uploading PDF files to FamilySearch Memories" in the FamilySearch Help Center in the Get Help menu.

The PDF document can be uploaded so long as it is less than 15 MB in size.

A 15 MB PDF document can be 100 pages or more in length. The fewer photos involved, the more pages will fit within the 15 MB limit.

We are glad to help …

“So you are using Office97 in WindowsXP? No problem. But for uploading, you will want to use the most recent version of Firefox or Chrome that runs on your system.”

“We are glad to help you prepare your document to upload it to FamilySearch memories.”


* There are also file conversion websites that can be used to convert word processor documents to PDF. But that is a different process.

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