Test

Welcome to the Scan2 Syndicate of FreeBMD

Training Instructions

HOW TO START

Save the training scan to your computer.
Start WinBMD (Start - Programs - WinBMD) and the first thing you see will be a blank header page.
Click on Scan - View Scan on the top toolbar when you will see the Select Scan File window. Browse to where you have saved the training scan. The scan will open.

FILLING IN THE HEADER These are the details you need to enter into the header for the training page. Future headers will change depending on the scan being transcribed.

Event Type	Deaths	Comment
Year	1848
Quarter	December	March (1st) June (2nd) September (3rd) December (4th)
Empty Box	Scan	What you are working from (Scan2 always works from scans)
Page	189	If no page number visible use number of the scan e.g. 189
Letter	G	First letter of first surname on scan. On this example the letter is 'G'
Volume No Format	99	Handwritten pre-1852 XX - Typed pre-1852 99 - Post-1852 9z
Source/Scan Ref	1848d4-0189.tif	The name of the scan
Comments	1848 Deaths Fourth Quarter (GIL-GIL)	Year / event / quarter / 1st 3 letters of 1st name on scan - 1st 3 letters of last name on scan
Credit	Ignore these fields	Used for submitting third party work
Your Name	Your normal name
Syndicate	Scan2	This is your FreeBMD Syndicate
Email Address	Your email address	Should be the same on Scan2 & FreeBMD
Submitter ID	FreeBMD ID	As chosen during Registration
Password	FreeBMD Password	As chosen during Registration

Please Note : If working from handwritten scans the page number entered into the Page box should be taken from the name of the scan, not the number on the page.

The completed header page should look like this, but with your details (including your password) instead of mine.

Note : Please double check the header details and amend any errors before continuing.

Click OK - Start Transcribing and you will get another window like this. Notice that the first row has +PAGE,189 in the first column. This is the page number of the scan you are transcribing, and is entered by the program from the information you put in the header. You start transcribing from row 2.

A WinBMD file uses four (sometimes 5) rows for the File Header. Version 5 of WinBMD offers the option of having the data rows numbered to match the actual file (this is the way both BMDVerify & FreeBMD present "row" numbers) → See Options - Input grid row numbering - Number as FreeBMD

Note : The name of the third column varies according to the event being transcribed

Before transcribing you will probably need to resize the WinBMD window so it doesn't overlap the scan. Move the mouse slowly towards the edge of the window and a 2-headed arrow will appear. Click on that and you will be able to resize the window.

The image below is taken from another transcriber and shows how he prefers to have the windows set out for transcribing. The WinBMD window is spread right across the screen and about a third of the height. The scan is to the bottom left and the Picklist to the right. You may prefer a different layout. You can alter the size, shape and position of all of the windows to whatever suits you best. You can use the Zoom buttons on the scan page size of the print. If there is a digit you can't read move the cursor over it and a box marked MAG will appear. Hold that down and you will see the digits magnified.

My setup is shown below

I use "left" & "right" - I have the WinBMD window to the left & the Image to the right with the Picklist below the data entry screen.

ENTERING THE INFORMATION
The first rule is : ALWAYS TYPE WHAT YOU SEE - although there are a few exceptions to this rule. See the following for details
Transcribers' Knowledge Base
FreeBMD Hints & Help for Beginners
(scroll down to "Deviations from "Type What You See"")

Surname
Please use mixed case - the first letter Capital, the rest lower case e.g. Wilson. In WinBMD you can choose this option. Click on Options and de-select Auto Surnames in All-Caps .

Ignore any comma after the surname. On the scan there may be 'ditto' marks to indicate a repeated surname, or it may just be blank as on the scan above, but you need to put the actual name in.

Now here's a great feature of WinBMD. You don't need to type all the surnames in if they are repeated! Once you've typed the first surname in, simply pressing Enter or Tab will put the name in for you.

Forename
Include a full stop/period after an initial, for example Elizabeth J. Again, if a forename is repeated, pressing TAB or ENTER will insert the name.

District
WinBMD has a feature called the ' Picklist ' which contains a database of known districts to help you to 'pick' a district to save typing the whole name each time. However, the indexes contain many different spellings of the districts which are not in the Picklist database.

Look at the following example: The scan shows the district as Gainsbro' but the Picklist is offering Gainsborough and Gainsbro . Although the second one on the Picklist is very close, Selecting it would be wrong! In this case, you should type the district exactly as shown on the scan. e.g. Gainsbro'.

When you've typed in the correct spelling and pressed either Tab or Return , the Picklist will offer you the choice of adding the new district to the District File. You should choose Yes , and the next time you come across Gainsbro' , and start to type the name, it will appear in the Picklist .

One other thing you are likely to come across with districts is &c following a district name, for example Stockton &c. . The &c means 'etcetera' and it should be typed exactly as shown on the scan.

You should save your work often to avoid losing the information you have typed in the event of a computer crash. You can save by clicking File - Save or by pressing F3 .

When you save in WinBMD you may see a warning that a row is out of sequence . This is to alert you to the possibility that you have made an error. However, some of the indexes are out of sequence. If you are sure that you have typed what is on the scan, you may ignore the warning.

When saving your work when transcribing the training scan you might see a warning that line 2 is incomplete. This refers to the Age at Death column. Later indexes have an age at death but the training scan doesn't. You may ignore the warning. To disable the warning, click Options - Ignore Age at Death .

PROBLEMS Below are a few of the most common problems you are likely to come across while transcribing. If you meet other problems, the solutions are likely to be found in the Project Instructions on the Scan2 Page or in the Transcribers' pages on FreeBMD.

Unreadable Characters
I can't read 1 character/number but it's definitely just 1
Put _ (1 underscore) e.g. Edw_rd

I know there are three characters but I can't make out what they are
Put ___ (3 underscores) e.g. Ed___d

I can't see how many characters/numbers are missing
Put * (asterisk) e.g. Ed*

There is a number which is not clear. It could be an 8 or a 3
Put [83] (square brackets) e.g. 7[83]4

For a full explanation see FreeBMD Hints & Help for Beginners
(scroll down to "Keep things simple" and "Uncertain character format")

Page Finished
After you've finished transcribing a scan you need to enter +PAGE,N where N is the page number following the page you have completed.

Look at the following example: The page you've just transcribed was number 189, so in this example, you would enter +PAGE,190 in the Surname column of the last row. This tells the FreeBMD software that this is the end of a page.

Note: In WinBMD, just enter +PAGE, and the program will enter the page number for you.

Apostrophe in Page Number
When there is a late registration, the page number can be in the form See M'50 (this is March 1950, can also be J(une), S(eptember) or D(ecember). However, WinBMD does not currently accept an Apostrophe. To overcome this, type the entry without the apostrophe and save the file. Open a plain text editor like Notepad and using the File - Open command open the WinBMD file. Add the apostrophe as required & save the file. Re-open in WinBMD and the entry should now be correct.

Double Page Scans
Sometimes you will be given a double page scan to transcribe. This will consist of two adjoining pages from the register, and should be transcribed and uploaded as one complete file. However, you will need to enter +PAGE,n after the first page, and at the end of the file. For example, if the two pages are numbered 100 and 101, +PAGE,100 will appear at the start of the file and you will enter +PAGE,101 after the first page and +PAGE,102 at the end of the file

BMDVERIFY
Now check your work with BMDVerify which will enable you to find any errors. You can download it from BMDVerify

FURTHER HELP
Scan2 Help page
(Click on Help)
FreeBMD Beginner's Help
FreeBMD Transcribers' Knowledge Base
FreeBMD - How to Read Handwriting

AND FINALLY
Attach the completed file to an email to Brian Clark for checking - use my address from the Welcome e-mail.

Put Trial From # (your number) as the Subject Line and your name in the body of the email.
Click Attach File or the Paper Clip and a new window will open.
Click on the arrow by the side of the top box ? C Drive ? Program Files ? WinBMD ? Output folder. You should see 1848d4G0189.BMD listed. Click on that and it will attach itself to the email.

In a day or so you will receive an email from Brian which will either give you the go-ahead to start your allocated pages or detail any amendments you need to make to the trial page first.

Either way - well done for getting this far!

If you have any difficulties at all, please contact Brian.

*** IMPORTANT! ***

THIS IS A TRAINING PAGE AND SHOULD NOT BE UPLOADED TO FREEBMD OR SENT TO DEREK!