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COPY & PASTE: Getting the info in
notes
From: Roberta rhudson@pacifier.com
DearMYRTLE,
I can't figure out how to cut/paste in notes area in PAF Personal Ancestral File
5.2. Can you help me with this? I've been Manasota PAF Users Group member since
1995.
DearROBERTA,
In the Windows environment, the umbrella program that runs everything on your
computer, there are several ways to:
-- COPY highlighted text from one source (internet, email, word processing,
etc.)
and
-- PASTE the text in another place (email, message board, word processing,
genealogy program, etc.)
Because of this delightfully useful COPY/PASTE facility, YOU CAN EVEN copy notes
from one individual to another individual's notes in your genealogy program.
This is particularly useful when it comes to a census extraction, which should
be cross-posted to notes for each member of the family enumerated in the
original census record. You won't have to type the info for the spouse and each
child. WHAT A TIME SAVER!
---------------------------------------------------------
SELECTING THE TEXT YOU WANT
---------------------------------------------------------
Selected text is commonly referred to as "highlighted" text, meaning that it is
in reverse mode (dark background, light letters) from the other text on the
page. You must first select text so that Windows knows what text you wish to
copy.
Using your mouse, click at the beginning (or end) of the text in question,
KEEPING THE MOUSE BUTTON DOWN, and drag to the opposite end of the text. LET GO
OF THE MOUSE BUTTON only when all the text you desire is now in the reverse text
mode.
You may not start selecting text in the middle of the desired paragraph, because
you can only drag up or down through the text. You cannot drag in both
directions to select an entire paragraph from the middle.
---------------------------------------------------------
COPY THE TEXT TO WINDOWS CLIPBOARD
---------------------------------------------------------
There's more than one correct way, though all options may not be available at
all times. For instance there may not be an EDIT on the menu bar, so you'd have
to resort to another method. It would seem from Ol' Myrt's experience that
CTRL+C works in nearly all instances.
WAYS TO COPY SELECTED TEXT TO WINDOWS CLIPBOARD:
-- Press CTRL + C
Or
-- Click EDIT, then COPY
Or
-- Right-click on the selected text and pick COPY from the pop-up menu
Windows clipboard now has your desired text, until you:
-- copy something else to the clipboard
-- log off (switch users)
-- turn off the computer
It is important for you to know this, because the text will remain in the
clipboard even if you close the program you were using to view the original
text. This means if you found the original text in your email program, once the
text is copied to the clipboard, you can go to any other program in the Windows
environment to paste the text instead of typing the text.
---------------------------------------------------------
PASTE THE TEXT IN THE NEW LOCATION
---------------------------------------------------------
Minimize or close the window where you highlighted/copied the text, and click
where you want the text to appear in the notes portion of your genealogy
software for the ancestor in question.
Then merely:
-- Press CTRL + V (works in most instances)
Or
-- Click EDIT, then PASTE
Or
-- Right-click and select PASTE from the pop-up menu
---------------------------------------------------------
CAVEATS
---------------------------------------------------------
Some websites have blocked the ability to copy text. When you attempt to select
text and go through the copy process, a little copyright statement will pop up
explaining that the text cannot be copied.
Portions of .pdf documents such as some online newsletters, read by Acrobat
Reader, cannot be copied and pasted in this manner.
Other times, the text you are reading is really the scanned image (graphic) of a
page of text. In that case you'll need to "save the picture" on your hard drive,
and attach it as a multi-media file to the ancestor in question. (That is
another option of genealogy software programs. Click HELP on your program's menu
bar to find out how.) -- Alternately, you may print out the page, and manually
type the text into notes for your ancestor.
---------------------------------------------------------
CITE YOUR SOURCE
---------------------------------------------------------
Regardless of the method you use to copy/paste text in notes in your genealogy
software, YOU MUST TAKE CARE TO LET PEOPLE KNOW WHERE YOU OBTAINED THE INFO.
Remember:
-- Author
-- Title of publication
-- Page numbers (or web address)
-- Publisher (or web address)
-- Date of publication (or date of viewing if a web page)
Even if the text is from an email, please cite the source, so that those who
follow will understand how you arrived at your lineage assumptions.
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
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