As I was planning training on this subject for a small group of people, I looked at various videos that are already available. The advantage to this approach is that people can view the video at any time that is convenient for them. And I can schedule a Question and Answer session on Zoom later.
I chose Adding Memories to the FamilySearch Family Tree - James Tanner in the BYU Family History Library series. It is 6 years old, but I really liked it.
If you watch this video you will notice that there have been a few minor changes. The tags now appear as rectangles rather than circles. And .TXT files can only be uploaded to the Gallery, not to Stories. And you can now mark memories as Private. But almost everything else is the same.
How did your ancestors get into Family Tree, if you did not put them there?
1. They may have been added to Family Tree by people you are related to
2. They may have come from previous systems used by the Family History Department: Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, Membership Department records of deceased members of the Church, or the International Genealogical Index.
FamilySearch Memories currently fall into these categories:
Photos
Documents
Stories
Audio
(All have a maximum size of 15 MB.per file)
PHOTOS:
James Tanner points out that there are no photos prior tp the invention of photography. about 200 years ago. We can upload Photos in the following file formats: JPG/JPEG, PNG, TIF/TIFF, BMP. These are the most common formats. Photos in other file formats can be converted to one of these. When scanning photos, I normally choose a resolution of 300 dpi or 600 dpi (dots per inch),
DOCUMENTS:
These have the same restrictions as Photos, and are usually images of historical records, but not always. Documents can also be PDF files, but they cannot be in other file formats such as .DOC. DOCX or ODT. There is an easy solution for this.. .
I have long wondered, "When does FamilySearch consider an image a photo and when is it considered a document?" James' answer was simple. "If it has no faces, consider it a document." So, images of old family homes, handicrafts, beloved pets, etc, are documents. Armed with this knowledge, I went through my Photos, and converted them to Documents whenever appropriate. Thanks James.
A PDF file is a special kind of document, ideally suited for books and other multipage documents. The Photo file formats are basically intended for single photos, so you can save a 100-page book as 100 JPG photos, but it is very difficult to read. On the other hand, the whole book, MAY be saved as a single PDF document. (It depends how much of the file consists of text.) If a 1-page document is scanned as a PDF photo at a high resolution, it may exceed the 15 MB limit. But if the same document is text in a word processor, you can export a copy as PDF text (often by "printing" it, and choosing a PDF format). A 1000-page book may still be within the 15 MB limit. Note that PDF files can be created this way from any software that supports printing. The PDF version will retain the formatting of the original.. For an example, click this link Note that the example is over 60 pages long and includes photos, maps, and formatted text.
STORIES:
These are normally input into an on-screen data-entry form, but the form has a 30-minute time limit, So it is usually best to input the story into a word processor, then create the on-screen form and paste from the word processor into the form. Since the text is unformatted, adding a blank line between paragraphs will improve the readability. I tend to use Stories for short stories and PDF documents for longer stories.
AUDIO:
The easy way to do audio recordings is to use the Memories mobile app on your mobile phone, This has a 5-minute time limit, But besides live recordings, anything less than 5 minutes long that can be played aloud can be recorded using your phone, I have also used the free Audacity software on my computer to create digital copies of audio cassettes from the 1960s. This is much more complex, but it has allowed me to preserve longer recordings.
CONVERTING FILES FROM ONE FORMAT TO ANOTHER
This can done by various software apps. One possibility is Free File Converter I use the OCR option when converting images of text into editable text.
(I am not sponsored by any software mentioned. I do not provide tutorials for any of this software.)
