Hi guys, What advice can anyone give me on keeping my records in order, please?! I'd like to organise all information about individuals into some kind of *database*. What do people find the best package to use? Preferably something simple and freeware! From my science background, I currently tend to put everything into spreadsheets, adapting them to my own needs, but clearly this isn't the best method - a database is the obvious solution. Incidently, I've put my family tree into a Gedcom file, which is vital for various websites etc. but not entirely useful to me. Cheers for your comments. Sue (Southampton, UK) PS - thanks for the various comments about Cullochs - the interest is great, despite nil progress! - I'll keep hoping...

Hello everyone again! Thanks to everyone who have so rapidly responded to me already, and been so generous with advice - the WIG List really is an excellent and noticeably friendly group. I really appreciate your comments, and will explore them thoroughly. For any other newbies such as myself who might be interested, here's a quick synopsis of some of the advice: Mary, Anton and Joan recommended the simple and free *PAF 5.2* (Personal Ancestral file) from http://www.familysearch.org I was aware of this, but unsure, and now I'm trying it out and believe it is very easy to use, and suitable for my current modest research needs. Ian had lots of useful advice, ta!! and recommended *Family Historian* which is GEDcom based, from http://www.family-historian.co.uk This sounds very useful, able to handle a large tree/data set and capable of doing a lot for you - complex analysis etc. Malcolm said that if you have a GEDCOM file, you can export it into a great free package from *www.tribalpages.com* where there are various ways of presenting data with user friendly search facilities. Gail was very enthusiastic about the basic but very usable *Family Tree Maker* available from http://www.familytreemaker.com Anton also said that this is an inexpensive and useful package, perhaps more flexible than freeware ones. And finally, Joan reminded me how vital it is to keep paper backup of one's data!! I can add my own advice too - many folk keep disk or whatever backup of their files, but often in the same location as their computer. In the event of theft, fire or other catastrophe, do consider an alternative place to store things. I send my files to my geographically distant brother as my backup system! Once again, many thanks for your help - sorry I didn't reply to you individually. Sorry if this isn't quite what WIG List is for, hope I haven't annoyed anyone by inappropriateness! Cheers, Sue

Thanks for sharing the information Sue- Nice to have a brainstorming session- this is by far the best, most frienly list there is! Donna In Vancouver Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Thomas" <sue@creepycrawly.freeserve.co.uk> To: "Wigtownshire" <SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRe@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 2:14 PM Subject: Re: [WIG LIST] advice please! > Hello everyone again! > Thanks to everyone who have so rapidly responded to me already, and been > so generous with advice - the WIG List really is an excellent and > noticeably friendly group. I really appreciate your comments, and will > explore them thoroughly. > For any other newbies such as myself who might be interested, here's a > quick synopsis of some of the advice: > > Mary, Anton and Joan recommended the simple and free *PAF 5.2* (Personal > Ancestral file) from http://www.familysearch.org > I was aware of this, but unsure, and now I'm trying it out and > believe it is very easy to use, and suitable for my current modest > research needs. > > Ian had lots of useful advice, ta!! and recommended *Family Historian* > which is GEDcom based, from http://www.family-historian.co.uk > This sounds very useful, able to handle a large tree/data set and > capable of doing a lot for you - complex analysis etc. > > Malcolm said that if you have a GEDCOM file, you can export it into a > great free package from *www.tribalpages.com* where there are various > ways of presenting data with user friendly search facilities. > > Gail was very enthusiastic about the basic but very usable *Family Tree > Maker* available from http://www.familytreemaker.com > Anton also said that this is an inexpensive and useful package, perhaps > more flexible than freeware ones. > > And finally, Joan reminded me how vital it is to keep paper backup of > one's data!! I can add my own advice too - many folk keep disk or > whatever backup of their files, but often in the same location as their > computer. In the event of theft, fire or other catastrophe, do consider > an alternative place to store things. I send my files to my > geographically distant brother as my backup system! > > Once again, many thanks for your help - sorry I didn't reply to you > individually. > Sorry if this isn't quite what WIG List is for, hope I haven't annoyed > anyone by inappropriateness! > Cheers, Sue > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message