Format Question

[Frank Zwolinski]

What is the best word processing format to use for documents to insure that they will be readable in the future. I generally use WORD, but since I have used AppleWorks in the past and many of my documents are now unreadable, I am interested in finding a more "permanant" software format.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Frank

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Format Question

What is the best word processing format to use for documents to insure that they will be readable in the future. I generally use WORD, but since I have used AppleWorks in the past and many of my documents are now unreadable, I am interested in finding a more "permanant" software format.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Frank

Frank, In my opinion, I would think that any word processing format you want to use would be okay to generate a report or your own documents. THEN, save them as PDF documents. I believe the PDF format will be around for a long time as it is cross-platform. With third-party apps, such as PDFpen or PDFpenPro, you can even convert the PDF back into an editable document.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

Dear Kaye,
Thank you, however, I was not actually talking about REUNION Reports. My main concern are the many documents such as short histories, letters, transcriptions and the like. Do you feel that a pdf is still the best choice? A friend of mine, somewhat jokingly (I think) said that, "years in the future, Adobe will only be red dirt!" Obviously any format will have limitations, I just want to make sure that the format used for these documents will be as permanent as possible so I do not have to reformat every few years.
Thanks,
Frank

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Format Question

Frank,

I put all documents, reports, scanned items, even some photos (especially if I've labeled the people) into PDF format. I cannot think of any other format that will be around for awhile. I think, even if Adobe goes away, this format will be around. There are so many 3-party apps that will put items into and read the PDF format, besides Adobe Acrobat & AA Reader, that I just can't see it going away. Again, this is my opinion.

Kaye

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

Kaye,
Thank you for your idea. I will wait to hear from any others but it seems like I have a bit of converting to do with existing documents. But I wonder how you reconcile the predominate view that all photos should be scanned at a high resolution and in tiff format. Sorry if I seem to be beating a dead horse here but I am trying to make any necessary changes to my files now, before I have even MORE converting to do.
Again, thanks,
Frank

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Format Question

Here's what I believe. YMMD.

[1] paper copies will always be readable. No file format will be. To read paper, you need only light. To read files, you need a computer and a compatible storage device.
[2] of all file formats, TEXT is the most enduring. It was here before PDF and RTF, and it'll be here after them, too.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

Thanks Dennis,
I sure agree with you about paper; I have a copy of everything on paper!!
Thanks,
Frank

[Bob White]

Re: Format Question

........A friend of mine, somewhat jokingly (I think) said that, "years in the future, Adobe will only be red dirt!" Obviously any format will have limitations, I just want to make sure that the format used for these documents will be as permanent.......

Actually, PDF is an open standard. It was originally written by Adobe but they opened it to everyone in 1993. For as much detail as you want, take a look at this Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format. It will likely outlast most of us but how long -- no way to know.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

Bob,
Certainly a LOT of information, Thank you!! And thanks again to all who responded; it does, indeed sound like pdf is the way to go.
Now to a bit of converting.
Thanks, again,
Frank

[furbies]

Re: Format Question

For those will old documents that are difficult to open, have you tried LibreOffice ? http://www.libreoffice.org

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

This may take the discussion in a different direction but here goes.

I use my "Reunion Pictures" folder for the repository for all my documents, scanned originals, photos, and documents downloaded from the web--Everything that I also keep in a paper copy. Using this folder as my "master file" so to speak, I would like to see if others do anything like the same thing.

When I need an additional copy of one of these documents I go to this folder and make a copy. If necessary, I reduce the size so it can be emailed conveniently. Given the current discussion of formats, and the fact that many of my photographs were originally scanned in a high dpi (600) in tiff format (I have always felt that was the best plan), do others feel that I should convert all those documents and photographs to the pdf format, OR keep separate files of my "originals" and then make a second set as pdfs. If so, what would be the reason to have two different sets of copies. For backup purposes, I have two sets off site hard drives, which are switched out monthly.

If this is beginning to get off track a bit and others would like to continue off line, please contact me at: fzwolinski@santarosa.edu

Thank you all for your patience with me.

Frank

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

Hello All,

First, let me thank each of you for your generosity of time an opinions on this subject! This list is a GREAT resource!! However, this topic is one that interests me greatly and I have some further requests on the subject of specific formats for specific types of documents.

I would appreciate hearing from folks on how they handle the following.

I would like to know how others deal with their permanent records (Photos, documents, scans and other media). Currently all my original photographs (with titles that I have added) are kept in my REUNION PICTURES folder in TIFF format. Also in that folder are all other documents which I have used as multimedia for sources, or simply those which are used in the individual or family multimedia windows. The recent discussion seems to suggest that most typed documents should be saved as PDFs, but I am curious if other folks do this with ALL their originals or do they keep them in different formats depending on what they are, i.e. photos as TIFFs, scans as JPGs, and/or other documents as PDFs?

I know this might be sounding like beating a dead horse but I know there are many opinions out there and I would like to reevaluate my electronic storage of documents and put each in the best format for long-term storage and flexibility of use. So, I would appreciate any opinions you may have, specifically as to formats for each type of document.

My goal would be to have the one file (the REUNION PICTURES folder) with all my "originals" in the BEST format possible for that type of document.

Keep in mind that I DO keep a paper copy (many on archival paper) of every document I have, as I agree with Dennis that paper will out live all electronic formats. Also I disseminate copies of my research and source documents to family by way of a Web Project every six months and "edited" versions to various genealogy repositories, especially in the areas from which my family comes. For backups, I have two sets (of 2 each) of off site hard drives, which are backed up weekly and switched out monthly.

This topic is important to me and if some of you are more comfortable discussing it with me off line, my email is below.

Thank you all,
Frank Zwolinski
<fzwolinski@santarosa.edu>

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Format Question

Hi Frank,

Have you explored Ben Sayer's website - GenealogyTools.com? If you go to this link - http://genealogytools.com/toolbox/ and scroll down to "Setup Folders on Your Computer", you'll find 9 tutorials, with videos, that explain his Mac setup. I have used this setup for many years and really love how easy it is to find what I'm looking for. Of course, as we all do, I've tweaked it a bit but, mainly, it's the way he suggests.

Hope this is helpful,
Kaye

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Format Question

Kaye,
Thank you for the speedy response!! I will look more closely at this but my main concern now is not for the "organization" of documents, but rather the actual "format" of each document.

But, having said that I have only given the Sayer site a cursory look, and will dig deeper later.
Thanks again,
Frank

[Paul Bridges]

Re: Format Question

Hello All,

First, let me thank each of you for your generosity of time an opinions on this subject! This list is a GREAT resource!! However, this topic is one that interests me greatly and I have some further requests on the subject of specific formats for specific types of documents.

I would appreciate hearing from folks on how they handle the following.

I would like to know how others deal with their permanent records (Photos, documents, scans and other media). Currently all my original photographs (with titles that I have added) are kept in my REUNION PICTURES folder in TIFF format. Also in that folder are all other documents which I have used as multimedia for sources, or simply those which are used in the individual or family multimedia windows. The recent discussion seems to suggest that most typed documents should be saved as PDFs, but I am curious if other folks do this with ALL their originals or do they keep them in different formats depending on what they are, i.e. photos as TIFFs, scans as JPGs, and/or other documents as PDFs?

I know this might be sounding like beating a dead horse but I know there are many opinions out there and I would like to reevaluate my electronic storage of documents and put each in the best format for long-term storage and flexibility of use. So, I would appreciate any opinions you may have, specifically as to formats for each type of document.

My goal would be to have the one file (the REUNION PICTURES folder) with all my "originals" in the BEST format possible for that type of document.

Keep in mind that I DO keep a paper copy (many on archival paper) of every document I have, as I agree with Dennis that paper will out live all electronic formats. Also I disseminate copies of my research and source documents to family by way of a Web Project every six months and "edited" versions to various genealogy repositories, especially in the areas from which my family comes. For backups, I have two sets (of 2 each) of off site hard drives, which are backed up weekly and switched out monthly.

This topic is important to me and if some of you are more comfortable discussing it with me off line, my email is below.

Thank you all,
Frank Zwolinski
<fzwolinski@santarosa.edu>

I keep all my photos, documents etc. in the reunionmedia folder as JPG or TIFF files.
I used to use PDF and RTF files as well, until I set up an Ancestry Tree this year.
I then discovered that though Ancestry claims to support PDF & RTF formats, it does not
allow you to view them on-line. They must be downloaded to be viewed.

I then converted all my PDF & RTF files to JPG. (they were fairly small files).