Fillable Ancestor's Chart

I'm still messing around with fillable forms. The latest one I've been messing with is an ancestor's chart.

You can set it up easily enough but filling it out is a bit weird because your cursor moves from field to field in row sequence. I'm not sure that I like that sequence.

The form works like the previous form you may have downloaded from this blog.

• Click Tab to move your cursor to the next field.
• Click Shift + Tab to move your cursor to a previous field. 

The Form
If you download this form, you'll download a fully functioning MS Word 2010 document that is protected, which prevents editing of the form layout but lets the person who is using the form complete the name, place, and date fields.

Here's what a person trying to use this form would do:

• Download the form; for example, the person might download an email attachment--the form--from an email you sent to the person.
• Open the form and add names, dates, and places to the form. Because the form is protected, the person completing the form won't be able to change anything else in the form other than the names, dates, and places.
• Save the form under a new name. 
• Return the form by attaching it to an email. 

The entire exchange of information is electronic.

If you, as the owner of the form, want to make changes to the form, you need to stop protection. Click here to see the post on this blog that talks about enabling and disabling protection.

The password to stop protection is form.

If you happen to mess up the form while editing, download another copy and try working with the form again.

Getting the Form
Click here to download a protected copy of the form. I've loaded the form on my SkyDrive to make it easy to deploy. However, that still means I have to make the right choices when creating the link. Email me (info@technology-tamers.com) if the link doesn't work well.

After the form opens in your browser, select File, Save As, and then click the Download button. Save the form to a location on your PC or laptop.

I'm liking my SkyDrive for deploying documents but I'm still in a bit of a learning curve. So please bear with me.

I hope you find this form useful. If you have a suggestion for a form, please send it along. I'll be happy to take a stab at creating it for you. You just need to give me a bit of time to play around with it.

Update...A Variation...

Hmmm...If I make the font smaller and put the fields in columns rather than a table, anyone filling in the form has their cursor move thru columns rather than rows.

Click here if you want to download a copy of this version of the ancestor chart.

Update to the Update...A Variation...

 

 

This version uses five columns, which should mean that you fill it out in order; that is, person, father, mother, and so forth. 

Click here if you want to download a copy of this version of the ancestor chart.

Fillable Family Group Sheet

Note: I've created an archive post for all forms-related posts. Here's the address: http://technology-tamers.blogspot.com/search/label/Fillable%20Forms%20Archive


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When I check the statistics on this blog, there seem to be lots of queries for these types of forms. As a convenience, I have set up a download from my SkyDrive account for the form I created for an earlier set of posts--a fillable family group sheet.

To download the form:

1. Click here to open a copy of a fillable family group sheet. The SkyDrive navigation page displays.
2. Select File, and then Save As. A big Download button displays on the right.
3. Select Download, and save the form to a location on your system. 
4. When you open the file, click the Enable Editing button at the top of the page. 

The Form
The form you downloaded to your system is a fully functioning MS Word 2010 document that is protected, which prevents editing. Most forms you find online are PDFs that you can't edit.

If you would like to edit the document, you need to stop enforcing protection. If you need help, click here to see the post that talks about starting and stopping protection.

The password to stop protection is form.

Suggested Use
Confirm that the form is protect from editing. Fill in the fields at the top of the form with your project name and contact info. Save the form and attach it to an email you are sending to a person who you want to have fill out the form. In your email, you might want to include instructions. For example:

The attached form is an electronic fillable form. Save a copy of the form to your system, triple click in the first field to start using the form, complete all of the fields you can, and email the completed form back to me. Thank you for your time and attention to this request.

Post a comment if you have a problem and I'll try to help.

P.S. If you happen to mess up the form while editing, download another copy and try working with the form again.

This sample shows the multi-page form that you can download.

Genealogy Research Log in Excel

Here are the links to the handouts from the Excel Research Log class yesterday.

Excel 2003
Handout
Sample Spreadsheet

Excel 2007/2010
Handout
Sample Spreadsheet

Hope you find this info helpful.