Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)

Data Entry Issues

Installation Issues

Transferring Program and Data to Another Computer

Backing Up and Restoring Data

Compatibility with Other Programs

General Program Questions

Archived Answers from Earlier Versions/Products

Ancestral Quest Technical Questions

Hammond Complete Maps of the World Technical Questions

Note: Additional Tips on use of Ancestral Quest are available.

General Program Questions

1) Can I use databases created by another genealogy program in AQ?
2) What is the relationship between Incline Software, The Hope Foundation and Infobases, Inc.?
3) Is a Macintosh version of Ancestral Quest available?
4) How can I get photos connected to Ancestral Quest?
5) Is Ancestral Quest compatible with PAF 5.0?
6) Is Ancestral Quest compatible with PAF 3.0 or 4.0?

Q.) Is Ancestral Quest compatible with PAF 3.0 and 4.0?

A.) YES. Ancestral Quest 3.0 is the only Genealogy software program that will Read and Write to a PAF 3.0/4.0 database.

Ancestral Quest 2.2 and earlier versions are compatible with the PAF 2.x database. The new PAF 3.0 uses a new database structure that will work only with AQ 3.0.

Note: PAF 4.0 may look similar to AQ 3.0 as Incline Software worked with the LDS Church to develop PAF 4.0. Ancestral Quest has and is adding new features to make AQ the best genealogy program available.

Q.) Can I use databases created by another genealogy program in AQ?

A.) If that program supports GEDCOM export, you can export the database from the other program and then bring it in through AQ's GEDCOM import.(See question 2)

Q.) What is the relationship between Incline Software, The Hope Foundation, and Infobases, Inc.?

A.) Between the fall of 1995 and early November, 1997, Infobases (later Ancestry) acquired the rights to sell an LDS version of Ancestral Quest exclusively to the LDS market. That contract has terminated. The Hope Foundation acquired Ancestral Quest from Incline Software in September of 1998. That attempted merger failed in October, 2000, and ownership of Ancestral Quest has reverted to Incline Software. Future sales of Ancestral Quest, both standard version and LDS version are handled directly by Incline Software, LC.

Notes

• If you bought LDS Ancestral Quest from Infobases (or Ancestry), you registered with them. Incline Software will be unable to contact you about upgrades to AQ unless you contact us. You can call Incline Software at 1-800-825-8864 to register, or email us "ancquest@ancquest.com". Please include what version you own and the approximate date and place of purchase. Let us know whether you bought the product as part of a bundle (including the LDS Family History Suite) or by itself.

Q.) Is a Macintosh version of Ancestral Quest available?

A.) We have received many requests for a Macintosh version of AQ, and had considered pursuing the project, but placed it on hold for the time being. Some Mac users have reported success running AQ using PC emulation software on the Mac.

Q.) How can I get photos and other media connected to Ancestral Quest?

A.) You can use several methods:

• Get a scanner and scan in your photos and documents yourself. Once you have edited and cropped your images, save them to disk. If you intend to use lots of photos, this method will prove to be the most economical in the long run, and you will learn the techniques needed to give you the best results.
• Take your film or photos to a photo processing center and pay to have your images placed on floppy or CD.
• Take your photos and documents to a full-service copy center, and use their services to scan your photos and documents.
• Use a device like Snappy to allow your video camera to capture not only photos, but frames of a video.
• AQ 3.0 will also allow you to add Sound and Video, MP3's, Wav, etc.

Once you have photos and images stores on disk, go into AQ. Select a person for whom you want to attach a photo and use the Multimedia button to access the multimedia collection screen. Then "Add" your photo. Use "Browse" to locate the desired image. We recommend that you store all multimedia objects (photos, video clips, etc.) in a subdirectory of the directory where your data is stored. For example, if your data is in "c:\ancquest\data", put your photos in "c:\ancquest\data\scrapbk". (See Tip page for how to put on CD-ROM)

Q.) Is Ancestral Quest compatible with PAF 5.0?

A.) Not directly. As with most genealogy programs, a user could export data from PAF 5.0 using GEDCOM, then import that data into AQ. However, the direct database compatibility that AQ has always had with PAF databases does not yet exist with the new PAF 5 database. Incline Software is evaluating this option.

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Ancestral Quest Technical Questions

1) Are there any special instructions for Installing AQ 2002 and the Collaboration Support files?
2) Can I perform a spell check in my notes. If so, how?
3) I would like to send reports by e-mail rather than snail-mail. Is this possible?
4) I have somehow created an extra database, but it is completely empty. How can I remove it?
5) I have encountered a bug. What do I do?
6) I have just installed Ancestral Quest and it found my existing PAF database, but when I when I make changes in one program, they don't show in the other. What do I do?
7) My PAF and Ancestral Quest are using the same database, but my notes from PAF are not displaying in AQ and vice versa. What is causing this?
8) It seems as though, each time I merge a database in AQ, the program changes some given and/or middle names to upper case letters. Is there a fix for this?
9) I have version 3.0, and occasionally, names do not seem to sort properly in the Alphabetic Browse list. What can I do?
10) How do I uninstall Ancestral Quest?

Q.) Can I perform a spell check in my notes. If so, how?

A.) AQ does not have a built in spell-checker. But with a couple of extra keystrokes, you can utilize the spell-checker of your favorite word processor to do this. Here's the technique:

1. Get both AQ and your word-processor running in Windows.
2. Pop up the notes screen for the individual in question.
3. Cut the notes onto the Windows clipboard (highlight all the notes, then use the cut feature in the edit menu)
4. Hot-key over to the word-processor (If you have never used [Ctrl-Esc] or [Alt-Tab], try them -- they'll make using Windows a lot more useful).
5. Paste your notes into your word processor from the Windows clipboard.
6. Run your word processor's spell-checker, and fix any misspellings
7. Cut the notes back onto the clipboard
8. Hot-key back to AQ -- you should still be in the notes screen
9. Paste the notes back in from the clipboard.
10. Save your notes.

Once you've done this a few times, you'll find it only takes a very few keystrokes to get your notes back and forth between AQ and your word processor.

Q.) I like to print reports like the Family Group Record, then mail them out to family members. I am finding that many of the family are using the Internet and am wondering if I could send the reports by e-mail rather than snail-mail. Is this possible?

A.) The latest sub-release of AQ 3.0 now lets you print Book reports to WordPerfect and RTF file format. It also lets you print these and all other reports to a text file. If you have purchased 3.0 and do not have the latest version of AQ 3.0 then download here.

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Q.) I have somehow created an extra database, but it is completely empty. How can I remove it?

A.) In version 2.1 and 3.0, just use the Delete option under the File menu.
In version 2.0 or earlier, to delete an empty database, you can simply use DOS or the Windows File Manager. Locate the directory the empty database is in. The directory should contain about 8 PAF database files: family.ini, alpha.dat indiv2.dat, marr2.dat, namadd2.dat, name2.dat, notes2.dat, and reptitl2.dat (if you are missing a file or two, it is okay). If you have added multimedia objects in version 2.0 or 2.1, you will have two additional files: indivex2.dat and multim2.dat.
By deleting these files, you will delete the database. If the directory is then empty, you can remove the directory, if desired.

Q.) I have encountered a bug. What do I do?

A.) First, do a backup to a new disk, or new subdirectory (don't clobber another known good backup).

Next, run Check/Repair in the Tools menu. If you encounter any errors, these could have caused the 'bug'. Now see if the bug goes away.

If you still encounter the bug, contact Incline Software. Let us know about the bug and how we can reproduce it on our systems. You can call Incline Software at 1-801-280-4434, or fax us at 1-801-254-1147, or email us at aqtech@ancquest.com.

You can also email or mail us a backup copy of your database for us to look at. Tell us the exact steps and options used to reproduce the problem.

Q.) I have Ancestral Quest and when I add data in PAF, it does not appear in AQ. I thought the two programs were supposed to read the same database?

A.) You are correct, both PAF and Ancestral Quest read and write the same database files*, but your installations of AQ and PAF must be looking at the exact same database for the changes to be seen in both programs. You will need to open the same database file in both programs (not at the same time).

*AQ 3.0 will read and write to a PAF 3.0/4.0 database. AQ 2.x/1.x will read and write to a PAF 2.x database. (AQ 3.0 can convert old files to 3.0 format)

Q.) My PAF and Ancestral Quest are using the same database, but my notes from PAF are not displaying in AQ and vice versa. What is causing this?

A.) This only applies to PAF 2.31 and earlier. PAF 2.31 had an option for saving notes in separate note files. To check if this is the case, do the following:

1. At PAF 2.31's initial screen, Select Family Records.
2. Select Utilities.
3. Select Temporarily Change Configuration.
4. Press F1 to save and go to the next screen.
5. Check the third line down where it says, Use separate files for notes rather than usual notes file? (Y/N)? And verify that it is set to N. If it is set to Y and you want to use the database in both PAF and AQ with all the notes, continue...

   Changing PAF's note configuration:

   1. Leave the Use separate files for notes rather than usual notes file? (Y/N)? set to Y.
   2. Return to PAF and perform a full GEDCOM Export of the database.
   3. As a precaution, do a backup of the database as well, then DELETE the database.
   4. From PAF's Access Menu, choose Configure Programs.
   5. Select Ignore Printer
   6. Press F1 to continue.
   7. On the third line down where it says, Use separate files for notes rather than usual notes file? (Y/N)? Change it to N.
   8. Press F1 to save changes and exit.
   9. Return to PAF (it should be an empty database at this point).
   10. Perform a GEDCOM import of the database.

   The notes should now be incorporated into the data file and can be read by AQ.

Q.) It seems as though, each time I merge a database in AQ, the program changes some given and/or middle names to upper case letters. Is there a fix for this?

A.) This problem only occurred in AQ versions 2.2 and earlier. You have stumbled upon one of the PAF compatibility items. The program is working as designed, but let's explain what it is happening.
In order to make the database as small as possible, the PAF programmers designed a name storage system to where a name is saved only once. Every time that name is needed, a 'pointer' refers to the name that is in the database.
When entering data, many people will type in the surnames in ALL CAPITAL letters. The only problem with that is they are stored in the database as all capitals. Let's say, for example, a name is entered as ALEXANDER, William. The name is stored as it was typed. Now let's say you enter another name (or GEDCOM import and then MERGE a name), JOHNSON, Alexander. The program will see that the name 'ALEXANDER' is already in the database, and just set a pointer to it, but, this person's given name will now be in all caps since the original name 'ALEXANDER' was entered in ALL CAPS.

The work-around:

1. Always enter your names with initial caps only (i.e. Alexander, William; Clarke, Betty).
2. If you want the surnames to display as all capitals, go to Tools then Preferences and turn on the option, Capitalize Surnames.

To correct already capitalized names:

1. Go to Tools then Preferences and turn OFF the option, Capitalize Surnames.
2. Go to the Find Individual screen by clicking on the binoculars on the toolbar.
3. Click on Browse List.
4. Select Alphabetic if it isn't already.
5. Now scroll down through the names. When you come to a SURNAME that is displayed in ALL CAPS, click on it once.
6. Click the Edit button (in the lower left corner of the window).
7. Retype the surname using Initial Caps (like Alexander). It is wise to verify the spelling exactly before re-typing.
8. Click Save.
9. You will be returned to the alphabetized search screen, and the capitalization will be corrected on that individual.
   Now please note: the name has been changed in the database. The screen will reflect this change only on that individual, but the change has taken place to all instances of the name. You need to change each unique name only once (The next time you Search and go to the Browse List you will see that capitalization of that name has been corrected on all with the same name).
10. You may now repeat steps 5-8 until all of the CAPITALIZED surnames are corrected.
11. After all the names are corrected, if you want the surnames to display in all caps, go to Tools then Preferences and turn ON the option, Capitalize Surnames.

Remember

• Each unique name must be corrected only once
• Verify the name's spelling before re-typing in Initial Caps

Q) I have version 3.0, and occasionally, names do not seem to sort properly in the Alphabetic Browse list. What can I do?

A) This problem does not affect your actual data -- this is a problem only with a temporary alphabetic index file. The quickest fix for this problem is to delete this temporary file, thus forcing AQ to rebuild it. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Record the location and name of your database, for example, "c:\ancquest\data\myfile.aq"
2. Close Ancestral Quest
3. Use Windows Explorer or My Computer to locate the folder containing the database, in this example "c:\ancquest\data"
4. Locate the temporary alphabetic index file. If you are using a database with the '.aq' extension, you are looking for a file of the same name with a '.aqa' extension, and possibly also a file with a '.aqx' extension. If you are using a database with the '.paf' extension, you want to find files with the same name and a '.paa' or '.pa2' extension, and possibly also a file with a '.pax' extension. In this example, you are looking for 'myfile.aqa' and 'myfile.aqx'. If these files exist, delete them. DO NOT delete the 'myfile.aq' file, as this is your permanent database.
(Note: If you cannot see file extensions, you will need to change a preference in your Windows. While using Windows Explorer or My Computer, go to the View menu (Tools menu in some versions of Windows) and look for the Folder Options sub-menu item. Select the View tab and remove the checkmark on the "Hide file extensions for known file types" checkbox. Then click on OK. You should now be able to see the file extensions, so you will be able to tell which files are which.)
5. Restart Ancestral Quest. The next time you enter the Alphabetic Browse screen, it will recreate the 'myfile.aqa' file correctly.

If this doesn't work, you can try two other steps.
1) After backing up your database, go to the Tools menu and perform a Check/Fix on the database. This will correct any internal problems with the permanent alpha index.
2) In the 3.0.30 release (10/5/2000) we reintroduced a feature that had been in earlier versions of AQ, but left out of the initial releases of 3.0. This was the ability to "maintain the alpha index." If this option is used, problems with the alphabetic indexing seem to happen more often. If you turn this option off (found in Database Preferences), the alpha index file will rebuild itself more often and clean up this problem.



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Q) How do I uninstall Ancestral Quest?

A) Ancestral Quest does not currently come with an 'uninstall' feature. However, you can remove Ancestral Quest from your system with a few simple steps. These steps are different depending on what version you have.

To remove version 2.2 or 3.0 from your system:

• Locate the program folder where you installed Ancestral Quest. Usually, this is the c:\ancquest folder. If you are not sure, use Windows Explorer to look at the properties of your shortcut to AQ.
• If you don't want to save any data files that you may have created with AQ, and you have not purposely stored any other files in this program folder or its subfolders, simply remove this folder and all of its contents. If you want to save any data files, but you want to remove the Ancestral Quest program itself, then follow these steps:
  • Remove these files from this program folder:
    • ancquest.exe
    • ancquest.hlp
    • ancquest.lic
    • aqplayer.exe
    • genres.hlp
    • llbgg.hlp
    • llbgg.ico
    • readme.txt
    • temples.txt
    • website2.txt
    • contents.txt
  • Remove the "web" folder and all subfolders. Note: if you have created a web page using AQ, the local copy of this page will be in a subfolder of this "web" folder.
  • If you installed the "Video Tour" of AQ, you will also need to remove the "Viewer" subfolder.
  • If you have the CD Suite, you may want to remove the other packages that came with the Suite. Remove these folders from your AQ Program folder:
    • CGE
    • Animap
  • Any other files remaining in this program folder are files that you have created, such as databases. If you have no need of them, you can delete them as well.
• Now remove the support files that AQ installs into the c:\Windows\System folder. Use Windows Explorer to get to this folder and remove these files. Remember that these files might also be used by other programs on your system. If you aren't sure, you may want to leave these files. If you remove these files, and another program on your system needs them, you may have to reinstall the other program.
  • All files that match this pattern: "LT???10?.DLL" (such as LTKRN10N.DLL and LTDIS10N.DLL)
  • All files that match this pattern: "LF???10?.DLL" (such as LFCMP10N.dll and LFBMP10N.DLL)
  • PCDLIB32.DLL or PCDLIB.DLL
  • DZIP32.DLL and DUNZIP32.DLL or DZIP.DLL and DUNZIP.DLL, depending on whether you are using the 32-bit or 16-bit version of AQ.
• Remove the "ancquest.ini" file from your "c:\Windows" folder.
• The last step for a full removal of AQ is to remove the program group. This is discussed at the end of the discussion on removing earlier versions of AQ.

Hammond Complete Maps of the World Technical Questions

1) When trying to run the Complete Maps of the World program, I receive an error: gpf in module ODBCTL16.DLL. What is happening and how do I fix it?
2) General ODBC incompatibility

Q.) When trying to run the Complete Maps of the World program, I receive an error: gpf in module ODBCTL16.DLL. What is happening and how do I fix it?

A.) The map program cannot run because it is getting a conflict from the ODBC DLLs. So far this has only surfaced on occasion, and under Windows 95.
When the map program installs, it configures two of the ODBC initialization files to access the ODBC dlls directly from the AQ CD (hammond\bin subdirectory). If you have already installed another software program that installed a different version of ODBC in the Windows\System subdirectory, this will cause a conflict with the ODBC dlls on the AQ CD, thus causing the lockup and gpf.

Solution:

The two altered ODBC initialization files in the Windows directory must be edited to redirect the hammond program to read the ODBC dlls from the windows\system directory. You may edit the files yourself or download and run the following patch to resolve the problem.

Click here to download the patch.

OR

Follow these steps to edit the files yourself:

1. Click on Start (or, if in Win 3.1, Click on File in the Program Manager).
2. Click on Run.
3. Type in notepad and press <enter>.
4. Click on File|Open, then type c:\windows\odbc.ini and press <enter> (or if your Windows is in a different drive/directory, substitute the correct path).
5. Press <F3> then type hammond\bin in the search for entry box.
6. Press <enter> then click on <cancel> to move this box out of your way.
7. You will now see a line that reads: "Driver=x:\hammond\bin\odbcjt16.dll" (x=your CD ROM drive letter). You need to delete the text x:\hammond\bin and replace it with c:\windows\system (or whatever your drive and directory name is for the windows system). After editing, the line should read: "Driver=c:\windows\system\odbcjt16.dll"
8. Click on File|Save to save the changes to the file.
9. Click on File|Open, then type c:\windows\odbcinst.ini and press <enter>(or if your Windows is in a different drive/directory, substitute the correct path).
10. . Press <F3>.
11. . You will now see a line that reads: "Driver=x:\hammond\bin\odbcjt16.dll" (x=your CD ROM drive letter). Just like step 7 above, you need to delete the text x:\hammond\bin and replace it with c:\windows\system (or whatever your drive and directory name is for the windows system). After editing, the line should read: "Driver=c:\windows\system\odbcjt16.dll"
12. . Press <F3>.
13. . You will now see a similar line that reads: "Setup=x:\hammond\bin\odbcjt16.dll" (x=your CD ROM drive letter). Again, delete the text x:\hammond\bin and replace it with c:\windows\system (or whatever your drive and directory name is for the windows system). After editing, the line should read: "Setup=c:\windows\system\odbcjt16.dll"
14. . Click on File|Save to save the changes to the file.
15. . Click on File|Exit to close the notepad.
16. . Now Shutdown and restart the computer, and the Hammond Map program should run normally.

Q) General ODBC incompatibility

A) Microsoft was not very careful with their backward compatibility of ODBC. The Hammond Maps product is aging (1996), but still relies on the ODBC drivers. Most users will be able to install the Hammond Maps and run them just fine. But if your system has another program that installed a newer set of ODBC drivers, they may be incompatible with the Hammond Maps Program.

To resolve this, you will need to remove or rename the ODBC files, then install the Hammond Maps. This WILL NOT install the older version of ODBC files on your system. Rather, the Hammond program will rely on the drivers on the CD. If you later run the other program that required the drivers, you will need to reinstall them (if you removed them) or rename them back (if you simply renamed them). Since removing them is a destructive exercise, we will not discuss that option. Here are the steps for renaming the files:

1. Open "My Computer" from your Windows 95/98 desktop.
2. Open the "C:" drive
3. Open the "Windows" folder
4. Open the "System" folder
5. Set the 'Arrange Icons' in the 'View' menu to 'by Name'
6. Scroll down the list until you see the files whose names start with "ODBC"
7. Since the Hammond Maps is a 16-bit program, you can ignore all the ODBC files that have the number '32' at the end of the name.
8. For each file that 1) starts with 'ODBC', 2) does not contain the number '32', and 3) has the extension ".DLL", you need to rename it. To do this:

• Right-click on the name, and select 'Rename' from the menu
• Notice that the name is now highlighted with the cursor blinking at the end of the name
• Hit the RIGHT ARROW key or END key -- this will remove the highlight, but leave the blinking cursor at the end of the name
• Hit the backspace key to remove the final 'l' from the 'DLL' extension
• Type in a 'b' for backup

• The file will now be named "ODBC*.DLB"

Once you have done this for each file that meets the criteria mentioned in step 8, you can proceed
9. Install the Hammond Maps from the CD.
10. You can now run the Hammond Maps program.
11. LATER, if you find that another program won't run because it is missing the ODBC drivers, you must reverse the names you adjusted in step 8. As needed, you will need to go through the list of files you found in step 8 and rename them back from .DLB to .DLL. Each time you want to run the Hammond Maps program, you will need to make sure these files are name .DLB. 

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