Guides & Tips¶
The manual describes what each page in PastPaths does. The guides show how you can use the program in practice – ways of working, shortcuts and ideas that don't quite fit on a single manual page.
Get started with your research¶
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Is the download safe?
Why Windows warns you and how to check for yourself that the file is genuine – before you install.
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Move your family history from MyHeritage or Ancestry
Bring your family tree to a program on your own computer – and get it in order once it's there.
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Clean up after an import
The order to clean up relationships, parents, persons, places and events in – so you don't have to do the same thing twice.
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The relationship check in practice
Families that came in twice, children with two mothers and married couples without a marriage – how to use the relationship check.
Work smarter¶
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Add things where you are
Create people, places, events and media right where you find them – so everything is linked from the start.
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The blog – more than family stories
Fact collector, research log, diary and transcriptions – five ways to use the blog in your research.
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Tags and categories in practice
Work tags as a to-do list, project tags and themes – so tags help you instead of becoming yet another list.
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Place packs as a foundation to build on
Use the Place Library's counties, dioceses and ports as a framework – so everything is spelled the same and the tree stays tidy.
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Search smarter
Nicknames, alternate names, tags as search terms and searching without å, ä and ö – so you find the right record even when the database has grown.
Research more carefully¶
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Review a branch – step by step
Find mothers who were nine and children born after their father's death – before the mistake follows you further back in the tree.
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Pick up where you left off
Bookmarks, research notes and Recently changed – so you always know where you were, even after three weeks.
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Find the gaps in your research
Use the statistics and the calendar as a to-do list – people without a place, places without coordinates and dates that don't add up.
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Uncertain dates
"Around 1850", "before 1541" and "between 1870 and 1875" – how to enter uncertain dates so you later know what you knew.
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Before you share with relatives
Living persons, private events and what a GEDCOM file includes – a checklist before you send a report or a file.
Is there a guide you'd like to see? Write to support@pastpaths.se.