Wednesday, June 19, 2013

I learnt a new trick yesterday ... Australian genies this one is for you

Whenever I want to download the Service File of an Australian soldier from the First World War I go to the National Archives of Australia, search for the record and then painstakingly download the record one page (jpeg images) at a time. I haven't downloaded the records for all of the WW1 people in my tree because it is such a painful process.

Down at the Society yesterday I was complaining to my friend Jackie about  how long it took to download a 60 page file; Allan, another researcher who was sitting around the table with us emphathised with me. Jackie (a Mac girl)  said that if I had a Mac I could download it as one file in .pdf format from the Mapping Our Anzacs site and I said "Well if you can do it on a Mac I will be able to do it on a PC."

I fired up my little laptop, found my soldier on Mapping Our Anzacs  by using the See other search  options on the bottom right of the screen,  and in the search by name box entered his family name. Once his entry came update I clicked on the image of his record on the right hand side of the page.


When the next page opened up I selected the Print option and waited for a while as the file downloaded .


Once that happened a window appeared with a Print as pdf option, I selected that, added a meaningful filename and, hey presto, I had a copy of  the file on my laptop in one sequence rather than as a collection of jpeg images. This sort of file is much smaller and so much easier to browse.

Now, dear readers, you may have known how to do this already but it was a revelation to me (and Allan). We are so grateful to Jackie for teaching us this new trick.

It's amazing what one can learn by sitting around a table and chatting about research with one's mates.

14 comments:

Rosemary said...

Neat ... didn't know about that one.

GeniAus said...

I downloaded more than a dozen family records in the background last night while working on other stuff. It's fantastic. If a record is hard to find by name eg John Smith one can search by Place of Birth or Place of Enlistment.

GeniAus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carole Riley said...

Thanks Jill and Jackie, I didn't know that either!

Kerryn Taylor said...

Thanks so much! I didn't know this either

Jackie van Bergen said...

Glad I could help - we really must get that Technology SIG going - these little gems just keep popping up at our Mac SIG. ...and it's great to know they can be used on PCs too.

Unknown said...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe I hadn't figured that out already! Thanks Jill!

Unknown said...

Great tip! I've nearly worn out multiple mice saving each individual item from NAA.

Bob McAllister said...

Oh dear! I wondered why people were excited by this site. Finding out that there are "other search options" might explain it. So your post has taught me TWO things. Thanks.

Crissouli said...

I discovered this a while ago, sure makes things far easier, but a great reminder to copy some more records, Jill. Thank you.

Julie Goucher said...

Thanks so much Jill, that was MUCH quicker!

Kylie Willison said...

Thanks Jill like the others who have commented I didn't know this one either!! I'll be downloading lots of service records this way now.

Ros said...

Thank you Jill....doesn't it sound so simply when we know the trick!! I am about to go and get some files.

Sharon said...

I have also found photos of family members on Mapping our Anzacs and would encourage others to upload their photos (so other family members can share them too).

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