Control-S saved me again!

While writing an article for a future edition of the soon-to-be-released digital magazine, Digital Genealogist, my computer restarted -- all by itself. Instantly my screen turned black and I silently hoped that I recently pressed Control-S.

After the computer restarted, I opened my document and fortunately I did not lose any of what I had written - thanks to Control-S.

Control-S is a simple keyboard shortcut that many programs, including word processors, utilize to save the current document. If you would rather not have to rethink and retype due to a computer failure, be sure to save your document often.

My routine is to type Control-S after every paragraph. My paranoia stems from experience. Control-S is as simple as pressing the space bar and takes about the same amount of time. For me, using this shortcut is worth the extra millisecond of effort.

Saving a document in a word processor can usually be done via a couple of other methods too: clicking on the Save icon in the upper left, or clicking on the Save option under the File menu.

Windows XP has numerous keyboard shortcuts that will assist in quickly switching between open programs, refreshing an Internet page, or toggling StickyKeys. Visit Microsoft's keyboard shortcut page here.

We're excited to be involved in several major conferences in the next month. If you are in the area, please stop by and visit with us.

Pennsylvania

September 29-30 in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania Genealogy Conference 2006. Millennia will demonstrate Legacy on Saturday at 7:30AM, held at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel. Visit http://www.pagenealogyconference.com/ for more information.

Utah

October 6-7 in Ogden. Northern Utah Genealogy Conference & Symposium. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will teach:

• The Latest in Genealogical Technology: Mailing Lists, Message Boards, Blogs, RSS, and Podcasts
• Rootsweb and USGenWeb
• Mapping your Ancestors Using Software and the Internet

Visit http://www.myancestorsfound.com/NorthUtah/northutah.htm for more information

Wyoming

October 20-21 in Cheyenne. Cheyenne Genealogy & Family Heritage Jamboree. Held at the Hitching Post Inn, 1700 W. Lincolnway. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will teach:

• Discovering Rootsweb and USGenweb
• Timelines and Chronologies: Secrets of Genealogical Success
• Research Guidance: FamilySearch, Legacy, and GenSmarts
• Publish your Research Into an Exciting Presentation Using Passage Express presentation software

Visit http://www.myancestorsfound.com/jamboree/jamboreeCW.htm for more information.

Canada

October 13-14 in Calgary, AB. FamilyRoots 2006: Genealogy, Genes, and Gigabytes. Held at the Carriage House Inn, Macleod Trail & 90 Ave. SW. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will teach:

• Research Guidance: FamilySearch, Legacy, and GenSmarts
• The Latest in Genealogical Technology: Mailing Lists, Message Boards, Blogs, RSS, and Podcasts

Visit http://www.family-roots.ca/ for more information.

October 21 in Pointe Claire, Quebec. Legacy Seminar with the Quebec Family History Society. Lorraine Gosselin will introduce Legacy Family Tree from 1-4PM at the QFHS Library. Sign up early, the first 25 will get a free CD and ALL attendees will be eligible for the drawing of the Deluxe Edition of Legacy. Visit http://www.qfhs.ca/hap.html#seminars for more information

November 4 in Campbellville, Ontario. Enjoy an informative day learning how to get the most out of the time that you spend recording and sharing your family history using Legacy Family Tree. This workshp contains a significant segment covering introductory and advanced source recording. Registration is required. Visit http://globalgenealogy.com/workshops/index.htm for more information.

Want us to teach Legacy to your society?

We often teach Legacy classes to societies. We even teach all-day seminars on genealogy technology. For more information, please send us an email.

Question from Nina:

I have birth info in both the birth event and in an alternate birth event. There is enough info to make the alt. birth data more likely, but I would still like to keep the two. Is there a way to switch the information in the two events without having to retype everything manually and add the sources one by one?

Millennia's answer:

A great question Nina, and there is a simple solution. It sounds as if you understand the concepts in both the training video Researching with Legacy: Mastering Events and Chronologies and in the online article entitled How to Record Conflicting Information about recording all the evidence.

So you have decided that the information in the Alternate Birth event is more likely and would like to swap this information with what is currently entered in the main birth fields. To do so, follow these steps:

1. In the Individual's Information screen, highlight the Alternate Birth event by clicking on it once.
2. Click on the Options button, and click Swap with Birth Information.

Performing this function will not only swap the date and place, but it will also swap any attached sources and pictures too. There's one limitation - if you have information in the Description field of the Alternate Birth event, it will not get swapped because the main birth event does not have a similar description field. If you don't use this field then you won't have any problems.

Ancestry recently announced a new database which should interest British researchers. British Phone Books 1880-1984 contains British phone books published between 1880, the year after the public telephone service was introduced to the UK, and 1984, from the historic phone book collection held by BT Archives. Currently the database contains 430 phone books covering London and large parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, and Surrey.

Importance of phone books for genealogists

Phone books help you pinpoint where your ancestor lived in a certain time. Once we know the when and the where, we can look for other records about them.

Because the UK census was taken every ten years, it's easy to lose track of ancestors that moved between the censuses. Phone books help track their migration. For example, if you located an ancestor in every phone book between 1885-1895, and in 1896 they weren't listed, this suggests that they could have moved to a new area, or possibly they died. (Maybe they didn't pay their phone bill?)

The phone books typically contain the following:

• Name of the head of the household
• Address
• Exchange (up to 1968)
• Telephone number

If you are an Ancestry subscribers, or to learn more information, click here.

You've probably learned that unless your paper files are in order, further genealogy research can be frustrating. You've also probably tried dozens of different organizational systems. Not every system works for everyone, which is why we have been publishing different methods via Legacy News.

Mary Hill developed a color-coding system for organization which has become very popular, and it works directly with Legacy's color-coding system. Her system is explained here.

To print pedigree, family group, and other reports using the color-coding system, follow these simple steps:

1. With Legacy open, click on the Options menu, then click Customize.
2. Click on the View tab. In the Ancestor Color Coding section, turn on the option.
3. Click Save.
4. In the Family View, navigate to yourself.
5. Click on Tools, then Apply Ancestor Colors.

The color coding is now set and visible in the Family View.

To print a color-coded pedigree chart, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Reports icon in the main toolbar. Click on the Pedigree tab.
2. Click on the Color Text and Boxes button.
3. Check the 4th option of 4 Line Colors. Save.
4. Preview or Print.

Not only do these color-coded charts look great, but they compliment the color-coded organizational system.

Other organizational systems

Click here to review the other organizational systems we have published.

If you did not attend this year's FGS conference in Boston - don't worry! Most of the lectures are now available to download and listen to for less than $2 each.

That's quite a bargain when you consider that attendees spent hundreds of dollars, even thousands of dollars on registration fees, parking, food, hotel, airfare, and goodies from the exhibitor's hall.

There's nearly 200 lectures to choose from, including:

• Researching at the Speed of Life
• Secrets of Easy Website Maintenance
• Good Computer Housekeeping
• Organizing Evidence to Overcome Record Shortages
• Is Anyone Following My Footsteps: Involving Youth in Genealogy
• English Parish Registers: How to Access, Use, and Interpret
• ... many more

If you still want to attend FGS 2006, you can - virtually! Visit http://stores.lulu.com/fgs2006.

If you use Legacy's IGI Searching tool, you may need to update your FamilySearch.org password. Forthcoming changes to the FamilySearch website may stop certain passwords from working.

To prevent this from happening to you, please go to www.familysearch.org and manually sign in via the "Sign On" link in the upper right. If you get a message that your password is expiring, you will need to go to your FamilySearch account and change your password. If you sign on without getting a warning, your password is fine.

If you change your password on FamilySearch, you will need to change your password in Legacy. To do this follow these steps:

1. In the main toolbar, click on the Search menu. Then click Search the IGI website.
2. Click on the Options button in the lower right.
3. Click on FamilySearch account settings.
4. Enter your updated password here.

If you have not yet tried this powerful tool, click on Legacy's Search menu, then click Search the IGI website. Although you can manually search the website, Legacy automatically performs the searches using numerous combinations of search criteria that you probably could not come up with on your own.

Give it a try. This automatic IGI searching is available in both editions of Legacy - standard and deluxe.

from Ancestorsonboard.com:

Records of 30 million passengers on thousands of ships sailing to destinations worldwide launching soon.

1837online, in association with The National Archives, is proud to present Ancestorsonboard, a new database featuring BT27 Outward Passenger Lists for long-distance voyages leaving the British Isles from 1960 right back to 1890.

With Ancestorsonboard, you can search for records of individuals or groups of people leaving for destinations including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and USA – featuring ports such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York. Passengers include not only immigrants and emigrants, but also businessmen, diplomats and tourists. Images of the passenger lists will be available to download, view, save and print.

About 200 Legacy cruisers just returned from our 3rd annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise - a 7-day genealogy vacation to Alaska. Most of us brought back souvenirs, hundreds of digital pictures, new genealogy and Legacy information, and a few extra pounds.

We saw killer and humpback whales, bears, glaciers, bald eagles, rain, and mountain goats. We rode trains, flew in float planes, and hiked Alaskan rainforests. In the evenings we experienced Broadway-style shows, comedy acts, magic shows, and midnight buffets.

Legacy classes featured ten hours of interactive, personal instruction; 35 door prizes; a 41-page syllabus; and the opportunity to exchange suggestions and feedback personally with the developers of Legacy.

Cruisers had such a good time that many already signed up for next year's cruise to Hawaii. Our 4th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise features a 12 day Hawaii cruise from Vancouver, B.C., Canada - September 19-October 1, 2007. We hope to have several different tracks of genealogy instruction from Legacy instructors and other well-known speakers. We also want to show you spectacular mountains; verdant forests; active volcanoes; and shimmering, thundering waterfalls. We want you to see the unsurpassed beauty of Hawaii in the grandest way possible. Our cruise visits four fascinating Hawaiian islands, with overnights in Honolulu and Maui. Bring lots of film so you can show your friends back home the unbelievable beauty and amazing colors of Hawaii.

For more information about our 4th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise, please visit http://legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2007.asp. Because a Hawaiian cruise is always completely full, you'll need to sign up soon. If you have any questions, please contact Christy, our cruise director, at [email protected]

We're off on our 3rd annual Legacy Cruise. The sales office will still be open with its regular hours (1-800-753-3453 or [email protected]).

Technical support while we're gone:

• If you didn't receive the Legacy installation password, it is "family" without the quotes.
• If you are writing for a customer number or ordering information, please call 1-800-753-3453 (US and Canada) or send an email to [email protected]
• If you're encountering an error message, online assistance is available at http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp
• If you have how-to questions, the built-in help system is a great resource. Look for the context sensitive help buttons on many screens.
• The Legacy user group mailing list is an excellent place for help. You can sign up at http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp. It also has some great information on using the various features in Legacy.
• Don't forget about the great videos you can view on our website at http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Videos.asp
• Other Legacy tips are available at http://legacynews.typepad.com/legacy_news/legacy_tips/index.html

Hope to see you next year for our 4th annual Legacy cruise in Hawaii. More information is available at http://legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2007.asp