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In Part 1 we noted some of the reasons to use WorldConnect (WC) as an off-site backup of your genealogical data. We will now look at how to control what data is viewable by others online.

To make this work, you will NOT want to use the GEDCOM creation process to limit the information that goes into the GEDCOM file. Any information you choose to leave out as you create the GEDCOM file will not be available if you have to use it as a backup. Use the WC controls to limit the information that is displayed to those searching for your ancestors.

The following WC settings under Living Persons Options are important:

1. Set the cut off year high enough to eliminate the oldest living person in your collection. 1900 should be sufficient for all databases. (NOTE: Make sure that everyone in your database that might still be living has a birth date listed, even if you have to estimate it.)
2. Remove Notes may be important if you have entered personal or controversial information about someone in your database. This option can be set to affect the living or everyone in the database.
3. Remove Sources will normally not be necessary unless you don’t want others to see the notes you have entered into your source citations.
4. The Process Events as Notes field allows you display special events that you have created. For example, you may have created events for Census information on individuals rather than put that information into Sources or Notes.
5. The Other tags to treat as notes field, by default includes tags for LDS ordinances and some others. Leaving these allows this information to be included as notes for the individual. If you don’t want these displayed, cut & paste them to the Tags to Remove field.
6. Use the Individuals to Remove field to add the identifying numbers, which are assigned in your genealogy program, for other individuals that should not be viewable online. You can identify the ID number of an individual in WC on the line above the name, when you display the individual page. These numbers begin with a capital I, which must be included. Place one ID number on each line. For example, you may want to remove the spouse and the children from that union because it may give offense to some family members to have that data displayed.

When you’ve made all your selections, complete the process and your GEDCOM file will be uploaded. The resulting screen will change to indicate that the upload is complete and the data is available for view. Your data is now viewable for you and others to whom you send the link at this time. The data you sent will not be searchable until the database is reindexed. This is usually done every one or two days. This gives you some time to view the data and see if your selections worked the way you expected them to. If they did not, you can go back and change the criteria as often as you want, until it’s the way you want it to be.

None of these changes affect the GEDCOM file you uploaded, only what is visible online.

Additional details are located on the WC Help Pages at http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/FAQ/wcindex.html.

If you’ve ever accidentally deleted your genealogical data while working with it or had a computer hard drive failure, you felt lucky if you had a backup that was not very old. Publishing the results of your research on WorldConnect (WC) can be viewed as a backup of the valuable data you have accumulated over many years.

WC is one of the few web sites that allow you to not only submit your research in the form of a GEDCOM file, but also retrieve or delete the same file that you uploaded. Further, WC features allow you to control which of your data is allowed to be viewed by the public. You can select whether or not the Notes or Sources will be displayed, allowing you to prevent the display of sensitive information you may have included. The ability to determine how or whether to display names on living individuals and determine what the cutoff age is to consider someone no longer living when no death date is included allows additional control. None of these controls affect the content of the GEDCOM file you uploaded. They only effect what others can find.

One of the best features of WC is the ability to replace your data with the latest version of your research on a regular basis. You just upload your updated GEDCOM file to replace the one you sent previously. The database is indexed every one or two days, so there is little delay in others finding your latest details. You can update your data as often as you like. The more frequently you update, the better it is for using it as a backup. Since the data is not located on your computer it is safe from fire or other disasters that may affect your home.

Look for Part 2 of this discussion for some precautions you need to take when using WC as one of your backup methods.

If you have forgotten your user name or password for My Account, please use the “Forgot your user name or password?” link on the My Account login page. Enter your email address and click on “Send Email.” This will send you a link to a “change” page where whatever you enter as a password will become your new  password, for that specific account.  

Many people are surprised when they receive this email to find they have a long list of usernames. My Account uses Ancestry’s login system so any Ancestry or MyFamily login will work here too and hence are listed in that email. If you have multiple logins, you will need to do this for each one. Sorry, multiple logins can not be merged or deleted.

The change username or password page has two boxes–the top box is for changing your password. Your password must be between 5 and 32 characters long and only include numbers, letters, _ (underscore) and – (dash).   Enter your new password and then confirm it by entering it a second time. By clicking on “Update” you complete the process and your password is changed.

The lower box is for changing your username. Your current username will be listed here first followed by a field to enter your new username. Your new username should be between 5 and 50 characters long and can be any combination of letters or numbers but not symbols or spaces. *Remember this will be a public username that others will see.  To update your username you need to enter your new username and click “Update”.   If you accidentally enter the same username you are currently using you will get an error message that it is already in use, you will also get an error if you choose a new username that is already in use by another member.  You may need to select a few new usernames before finding one that is not already in use—one way to change it up is to add numbers on the end, for example “Jane246”.

If you think that a username is yours but is under a different email address or if you changed email addresses and need your username and/or password, contact the HelpDesk and be sure to give the username, if known, and both your old and new email addresses.
 

We are very excited to announce the first-ever RootsWeb Store! And what better way to celebrate the unveiling of the store than with The Official Guide to RootsWeb, now available for download and pre-order? Not only can you purchase the print and e-book versions of The Guide, but you can also find thousands of books, historical photographs, software titles, and gifts to supplement your family history research.

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Our very own Myra Gormley of RootsWeb Review fame was the featured guest on the 3/15 episode of Family Roots Radio. Myra talked about RootsWeb and her own journey as a genealogist and then the host, Kory Meyerink, did a brief audio tour of RootsWeb. He highlighted various features of our site and did a nice overview of the vast amounts of information available here on RootsWeb.

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