# Help ## Frequently Asked Questions Is the information I post on dinslekt.no visible to others? You can choose whether you want to publish your pedigree on the Internet, whether to allow other users on dinSlekt.no to search for persons in your pedigree, if you want to give anyone access to view or edit the entire pedigree, or if you do not want to share anything. What should I do if I accidentally delete my pedigree? The entire database is backed up every day. It will probably be possible to retrieve the database from a backup. Just send an e-mail to dinSlekt@gmail.com Can I delete my user account? Yes, you can find the button to do so by clicking on the menu: "User" -> "User details" Is it safe to store all my genealogical data on dinSlekt.no? The entire database is backed up every day. This is more than what you can usually get by storing your data on a computer at home. What if I miss a feature on dinSlekt.no? Send an e-mail to dinSlekt@gmail.com and propose it - maybe we can find a way to implement it! Why is dinSlekt.no free? dinSlekt.no is paid for by user donations and ads. What if I need support? You can find answers to most questions on this page. In case you don't, you can send an email to dinSlekt@gmail.com. How can I contribute to the development of dinSlekt.no? If you are satisfied with dinSlekt.no and would like it to continue to exist, we appreciate it if you would like to donate to the development of the page. You can do so by clicking here. You will also never again see the dialog asking for a donation on logging in, you will not se ads as long as you are logged in and ads will not appear on your published pedigrees! ## General information Navigation on dinSlekt.no The structure of dinSlekt.no is designed so that you first need to select the pedigree that you want to work on. Then you can e.g. select a person you want to work with by using the quick search in the upper left corner. You will also be asked to search for names when you click on certain menu items (e.g. Pedigree-> Persons-> Show person). Nice to know - Men are always listed with blue , while the women are listed with pink font . - When searching in the quick search or in other fields where the hits appear automatically, the keywords are automatically combined with "AND", the search is case-insensitive, and the keywords are also searched for within the names. I.e. a search for "mith jo" will return John Smith. - In the Researcher's journal, you can write about what you are working on now, what you want to find out, and generally things you want to remember for next time. The Researcher's journal is personal, and is not shared with others. You can find it under User-> Researcher's journal . ## Pedigrees A pedigree on dinslekt.no is a collection of people, sources, anecdotes and multimedia files that are all linked together. You can create as many pedigrees as you want. You cannot link people, anecdotes or sources across pedigrees - they must all belong to the same one. To work on dinslekt.no, you must always have an active pedigree. If you have not yet created a pedigree, you will be notified that you must either create your own, or share a pedigree with someone else. In the latter case, you must have received an invitation code from the person whose pedigree you wish to share. Create a new pedigree You can do this by selecting "Create new pedigree" on the screen that you are presented with when you login before you have created any pedigrees. Later you can create a pedigree by selecting Pedigree -> My pedigrees from the menu. By selecting Pedigree -> My pedigrees , you will be presented with a list of all your available pedigrees. At the top of the list, you will find a button with a plus sign that says "Add a new pedigree." Click this to create a new pedigree. When you create a new pedigree, you must enter a title. Then you must enter a description and select whether you want other users on dinSlekt.no to be able to search your pedigree. All this information can be changed at a later time. Managing your pedigrees By selecting Pedigree -> My pedigrees , you will be presented with a list of all your available pedigrees. You can choose which pedigree to activate. You can send email to the other users of the pedigree. You can edit the description of the pedigree. You can delete a tree or delete your own access to a pedigree if the pedigree has multiple users. ## Editing an entry Editing mode You can edit an entry by selecting from the menu: Pedigree -> Persons -> View entry or by doing a quick search using the search field in the upper left corner. Once in viewing mode, click the name, or the pencil to the left of the name, to view a pop-up menu. Select "Edit" and you will get to the editing mode. Editing mode You can now: - Add parents, and sources related to the kinship with parents. - Change the person's name - Change the person's alias - Add a partner by selecting "Add partner" - Delete a partner by clicking on the red minus icon to the left of the partner's name - Add children by clicking on "Add children" PS: you should only add children once you have added the partners for the person - Add an event by filling in the blank at the bottom of the list of events. - Delete an event by clicking on the red minus sign to the left of the event you want to delete - Choose a "profile picture" by selecting the corresponding radio button to the right of the table with the associated resources - Add an anecdote associated with this person by clicking on "add anecdote" - Upload a multimedia file associated with this person by clicking on the "add multimedia" - Save changes . The changes are stored automatically. A little box in the bottom left corner confirms that the changes have been saved. Some changes might require that the page be reloaded. You will then have a muted screen with the text "Please wait ...». - Change flagging. By clicking the flag to the right of a persons name, you can change it's status between flagged and not flagged. Grey flag = not flagged. Red flag = flagged. Click here to read more about flags. ## Multimedia Upload a media file This can be done in two ways: - By selecting from the menu Resources -> Multimedia -> New multimedia content - By clicking on the "Add media" when you are in editing mode for an entry. You will then be presented with the uploading dialog where you can - Enter a title, date and description (caption) - Linking people to the file by searching and clicking on the names - Select the file from your computer You can upload images, sound files, video files, text documents and pdf files. They must not exceed 10 MB. List of all media files You can see a list of all the media files linked to genealogy street by selecting from the menu: Resources -> Multimedia Here you can. - Search for a multimedia file by typing keywords into the search field and then pressing "enter" on your keyboard (keywords can be from the title, description, file type, or associated persons) - Upload a multimedia file by clicking on the "Upload new multimedia content" - Delete a multimedia file by clicking the red minus sign to the left of the multimedia file - Edit a multimedia file by clicking on the pen to the left of the multimedia file - Look at the multimedia file by clicking the title ## Anecdotes Anecdotes are a text documents that you can attach to one or more persons and / or sources. Creating a new anecdote This can be done in two ways: - By clicking "Add to anecdotes" when you are in editing mode for an entry. - By selecting from the menu Resources -> Anecdotes -> New anecdote ## Sources The sources contain information about where the information has been found, and they can be linked to events, kinship and name in editing mode for a person. Adding a new source Click on the menu: Resources -> Sources -> New source You can now enter: - Title - Author - Type - Reference (if this starts in http://, it is automatically a link) - Date in format day, month, year - Reliability / quality indicated by GEDCOM standard (0-3) where 3 is the best - Comments Internal references in one source You can also add references within the source, e.g. to a page number, a web-link or similar by clicking on "Add internal reference". You will then see a new, smaller table, where you can fill in the fields you want. These references will appear in the list of sources you can attach to an event, media, anecdotes or place, just below the main source. List of all the sources You can see a list of all sources related to the active pedigree by selecting from the menu: Resources -> Sources Here you can. - Search for a source by entering keywords in the search field and then press "enter" on your keyboard (keywords can be from the title, author, or type, comments, or associated persons) - Add a new source by clicking on "Add a new source" - Delete a source by clicking on the red minus sign to the left of the source - Edit a source by clicking on the pen to the left of the source - View a source by clicking the title ## Places You can define locations and link them to events, multimedia files, anecdotes and sources. You will also get an overview of all the persons in your pedigree that are associated with the place, how they are associated and in what year. It is an easy way to standardize the way you refer to locations with a name, municipality, county and country. When a place is defined, it will always appear with its full address, and this will also be used for exporting your pedigree as a GEDCOM-file. Select from the menu Resources -> Places You will now be shown a list of defined locations (if you have defined any). Otherwise, you can add a new location by clicking on "Add new place". Add new place You will be presented with a dialog where you can fill in information about the place. It is important that you fill in the exact name (and possible synonym) if you want the place to be linked to events carrying the same name. People linked to a place People are linked to a place if the field "Place / Description" is the same as the name or «also known as» in the place-entry. When you edit an event for a person, you'll get hits on places if any of them match what you typed in the "location / description." This makes it very easy to link people to a place. When you look at a place (by selecting it from the list, or by clicking on it in viewing mode for a person), you'll get a list of all persons linked to this place. The list is sorted by year of birth if there is one, then the event year in relation to the location. I.e. John was born in 1803 (where doesn't matter) and had "London" as place of residence in 1855, he will sort over Jane who was born in 1820 and who had "London" as place of residence in 1840 . This is to sort by age, which is often more relevant. Map In editing mode for a place, you can locate the place on a map. The selected map view will be saved. You can find locations by searching (click on the magnifying glass in the bottom left corner of the map) or by sliding the map view and zooming in and out. You can also place a marker to further specify the location. Change place When you change a place, you can offer to change the "Place / Description" in all the entries where it occurs. This means that all persons who have events that are linked to the location, will have their "Place / Description"-field updated when you modify it. This is a convenient way to change the "Place / Description" of several entries at once. ## GEDCOM You can import and export files from other genealogy software in the format "GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communication). Importing GEDCOM Select from menu: Sharing and collaboration -> GEDCOM -> Import. You can choose whether you want to import all the persons in the file, or if you want to pick out individuals. Importing to a pedigree that already has entries You can choose to import to a pedigree that already has entries, but you have to manually edit the kinship between the old and new persons in order to "link" the family together. Read more about how to manually edit a kinship here. It can be useful to flag newly imported entries in order to separate them from the old entries. Importing individuals If you choose to import only certain individuals, you will be presented with a list where you can click on the names to select single persons, or by clicking on the icons to the right to add any person's ascendants or descendants. You do not need to finish selecting people in one session. You can continue the process by selecting from the menu Share -> GEDCOM -> Import at any time. Exporting GEDCOM Select from menu: sharing and collaboration -> GEDCOM -> Export. - You can now select a file name - You can then choose whether you want to export sources and anecdotes - If you want to only export ascendants or descendants to a specific person, you can do so by searching for the person in the search field ## Printing General printing On dinSlekt.no all pages can be printed by selecting "Print" in the menu. This will remove all unnecessary colors, buttons, etc., and if there is a picture on the page, it will be retrieved in maximum quality to get an optimal print quality. Word-document for printingThe report of ascendants, report of descendants and the normal pedigreecan be downloaded as Word documents in order to edit them before printing. This is done by clicking the Word icon at the bottom of the document. Create PDF for printing We've created a separate function to make great pedigrees in PDF ( P ortable D ocument F ormat). The reason we have chosen PDF, is that it can be printed in any resolution without loss of quality! That means you can create large posters with the pedigrees. The PDF files are not write protected, so that you can edit them with your own software (e.g. Adobe Illustrator ). To create a PDF, select from the menu Pedigree -> Ascendants -> Create PDF from ascendants This will take you to a search dialog if you don't have an active entry. After choosing the person you wish to use as base for the pedigree, you can choose: - The number of generations you want in the pedigree. You can choose from 3 to 8 generations, but for "Simple pedigree", you can choose a maximum of 6 generations - Pedigree layout. You have three choices: Simple pedigree: This is a simple pedigree where generations are listed after one another. Semi-circular: This is the "classic" pedigree where the base person is in center bottom, and the generations follow in layers. Circular: This is the largest pedigree. NOTE: This will not show the base person . It starts with the base person's parents in the middle. The upper hemisphere will be the paternal ascendants and the lower will be the maternal. Otherwise, the same structure as the semi-circular. - Guidelines are lines that separate the names. This is always recommended unless you are to sketch or make notes on the pedigree after print. ## Editing kinship Occasionally it is necessary to edit a kinship between two entries manually. It can either be because an entry has lost "contact" with the rest of the pedigree, and needs to be linked again. After you have imported a GEDCOM to a pedigree that already had entries, at least one person should be linked with the old entries to link the old and new entries. Select from the menu: Pedigree -> Persons -> Manual edit of kinship You must then choose two people whom you wish to link or unlink. Then click the button "Define kinship" You'll then be presented with a dialog where you can choose the nature of the kinship between the two persons. 1. Choose whether you want to link them together or divide them by choosing "is" or "is not" from the drop-down menu between the two names. 2. Select the nature of kinship that you want to create or remove. Be careful to check the order of the names - as this is crucial to the nature of kinship! Remember: «John is Peter's son» is the same as «Peter is John's father» When you define a kinship that contradicts with the one that already exists (e.g. If John was already registered to be Peter's son) , the existing kinship is deleted. ## Quality analysis of a pedigree DinSlekt.no has three utilities for quality analysis Both are available in the menu under Utilities -> Quality analysis 1. Find isolated persons: This is a search that finds all the entries that are not linked to other entries with kinship. These should in principle not exist in a pedigree. This can occur after importing a GEDCOM file in which the person was already isolated, or if you manually deleted the kinship. You'll see a list of entries, and can then click the names to see the entries, or you can delete them directly by clicking on the minus sign to the left of each name. If you want to link any of these persons with the pedigree, you may do so by defining the kinships manually . 2. Find improbable age differences: This is a search that will find parent / child relationships where the age difference is very small or very large. You can even select the upper and lower age limits in the minimum 50 years as a top and a maximum of 20 years as the lower. This allows you to find errors in birth dates. 3. Search for duplicate entries: This is a search that will find possible duplicate entries. It searches for entries with common first name, last name, event year and event type. You can choose how many letters form the names have to match, and whether you wish to match event years and event types. ## Flags Flags are a way to mark entries. It is a tool you can use for several purposes. Here are some examples: - Flag entries you are currently working on, so that they are easy to find - Flag any ascendants or descendants of one or more persons - Flag entries that by quality analysis have been found to be possible duplicates, isolated, have unlikely age differences, etc. - Flag people to facilitate collaboration - Use flags to select entries you wish to export in a GEDCOM - Flag newly imported entries from a GEDCOM, especially if the pedigree isn't empty - Delete multiple entries simultaneously A flagged person will get a little red flag to the right of it's name in the search, in profile view, in pedigree view and the other lists. The flags will not appear in the published pedigree . You can change the flag status for multiple entries, and view a list of all flagged entries by selecting from the menu «Utilities» -> «Manage flagged entries». You can: - Flag all entries in the pedigree - Remove flags from all entries in the pedigree - Inverting the flagging of all entries in the pedigree. This means that the flagged will be unflagged, and the unflagged will be flagged - Flag, or unflag an entry's ascendants or descendants - Delete flagged entries