Word Search

 

To start the Word Search, pick Lists from the main screen menu, or pick Search from the Edit menu.

 

There are three types of Word searches.   All three types can be used to either find a person to edit or to print custom reports.    

 

The first type of Word search is individual field specific, which means that it searches for a word only in a particular field.  It also can search for people with several fields that match.  This type of Word search will let you find all the females who were born in Chicago in 1950.  Enter what you are searching for in the appropriate field.  If you enter information in more than one field, a person will have to match ALL fields in order to be a match.  Some of the fields (name and locations and message lines) will allow you to enter two words and you may specify whether it has to match both words or either word in order to qualify as a match.  Some examples are given on the input screen.  If you press the F3 key in a field, then it will say <not empty> and it will match any person that has something in that field.  You can use that feature to find everyone with something in the burial date or to find everyone with something in a message line.  If you press F4 in the name field, you may enter a last name for a soundex search.  The soundex code is used in the U.S. census records and English names that sound the same will have the same soundex code even when spelled differently.  To search for a range of dates, go to a date field and type a year then == then a year.  For example, in the birth date field type 1920==1939 to find everyone born from 1920 to 1939.

 

The second type of word search is like the first, except it searches the marriage file which contains the marriage dates and locations and sources. 

 

The third type of word search will let you enter one word or name and will search all fields of each person for a match. If you type "Chicago" it will find all people who were born or died in Chicago, or have the word "Chicago" in one of the message lines, or even have "Chicago" in their name.  Note that this type of word search is looking for an exact match to what you type in.  So if you type "Joe Doe", it will not match "Joe Q Doe".  However, the search is useful to find all relatives who were born in, or died in, or were married in, a certain city.  You also may match people who share a common date.  For example, if you matched "1954" you would find all people who were born or died in that year. 

 

If you pick the Create Report button, it will search for the matching people and then let you pick what fields you want to print for those people.

 

If you pick the Make List to Edit button, it will make a list of names on the screen and let you click one to jump to the Edit screen.