
Getting Started Suggestions

        Just play with the program awhile before you actually begin
entering your data.  Enter a few persons.  Link them together in the 
family database to create a few family records.  Try out all of the 
keys.  Read the help screens.  This will give you a chance to get used 
to the program.  When you are ready to get serious, go to the Utilities 
Menu and choose the Re-Create Data Files option.  It will clear 
everything out so that you can start with a "clean slate".

        Just in case you are like me and too eager and/or unwilling to
read the rest of the selections in the Helpful Info section, here are
the important things to remember:

        1.  F1 is the Help Key.  Use it.
        2.  Reindex often.

        When entering information about individuals, be sure to use
the name that the person was given at birth.  This means that 
females should be entered using their maiden names.  Family 
Scrapbook has special places for recording nicknames and official 
name changes.  By clarifying these things, your ancestor search will 
be more accurate and less confusing.

        The Family Database is used to record kinship (blood
relationships).  This means that when entering children you should 
only enter the biological children of the parents...not step children.  
Each marriage should have a family record in the database.  
Whenever two people that did not marry have children together, it 
should also be recorded in a family record.  The date code field for the 
marriage date will allow you to specify when people are unmarried.  
Doing this will insure that your reports show true blood 
relationships.

Entering Data

        When typing in data you must press ENTER or leave the field
(up arrow or down arrow) before the program will recognize the 
change.  If you press F10 (save) before doing this, the changes that 
you typed will probably not be saved to disk.

Entering Dates

        The date format that Family Scrapbook supports is the Day-
Month-Year format that appears to have become the standard among 
genealogy programs.  Here is the format of the date fields:

        DD-MMM-YYYY/YYYY

        The day must be entered as a number.  Single digit days may
be entered with either a space or a zero in the left digit.  Months 
must be entered as a three character alphabetical abbreviation.  The 
abbreviation is the first three letters of the name of the month.  The 
first character will be forced to uppercase.

        The year should be four digits long.  If you must enter a three
digit year, make the leftmost digit a zero.  The extra four digits are 
for entering a double date.

Entering New Records

        The F3 (Add) key will blank the database screen so that you can
begin entering your data.  When done entering, press the F10 to save it.

Viewing Records

        It is very easy to view your data with Family Scrapbook.  The
page-up and page-down keys allow you to step through the database 
in record number order.  The search command (F6) will give you access
to a window of scrolling records that are sorted in various ways (you
must keep the database properly indexed for this to work correctly).
Some areas in the program have other commands that will let you quickly
jump to different records...Be sure to read the help screens to learn
about them.

Editing Existing Records

        Relax.  This is easier than you probably think it is.  Just get
the record (person) that you want to edit on the screen, make 
whatever changes are necessary, and save the record by pressing the 
F10 (save) key.

