Create your Ancestors Book using Legacy Genealogy and Open Office Software

Legacy Ancestry Book Using Open Office org

Now and again I wish to produce an Ancestry Book Report based on my daughter's two children. Whilst the ".rtf" report produced by Legacy suits many purposes it is not possible for it to produce the report starting with two people, albeit brothers with the same ancestry. So a word processor is required and here I use OOo. When written down this procedure looks complex. In fact it's not and the results make it worthwhile.

For clarification, in Legacy, I used Reports>Books/Other>Ancestors and not the Publishing Center. To minimise software conflictions I decided to keep the Legacy formatting to a minimum and use the OOo Writer do the rest.

The detail content of the pages is not important for the purpose of this blog and hence has largely been ignored, only that content which affects the overall presentations is considered. Throughout, the Legacy wording and list style format has been used. Start by going to a person (in my case the elder grandson) and..

The book comprises: the Cover, Main Contents, Body, Sources and Name Index and for each of these the main points will be highlighted. Except where stated the Legacy defaults have been used (anyhow I like Arial).

Options

"Generate Table of Contents", "Bold" and "Use Leaders" all checked.

Options>Page Layout

Check "Print Names in Bold"

Options>Title Page (Cover)

Selected a picture and I also put my name and the year on so I can later add a copyright sign.

Options>Report Options - (Main Contents)

Footers, uncheck; Header, left justified, uncheck page numbers; Pictures: embed (all preferred) small, pictures of husband and wife with caption; Sources, print source citations at the end of all reports with first line indented and the title formatted as per Master Source Option.

Options>Index Options

It is essential to check "Include a Name Index", personally I also like to include leaders and to have 2 columns

Now save as an rtf. At the start I mentioned two grandsons so now one has to repeat the exercise by starting with the second, however, the settings should not have changed and if saved will always be available.

As some of the codes used by Legacy are not the same as those in OOo it is helpful to see all the hidden characters, they are usually more interesting, so click View and check as shown:

diagram OOo1

Then load in the ancestor file. Because I want both my grandchildren included I open another copy of OOo, load the second ancestor file and copy/paste the details of the second grandson at a convenient place near the first. Then comes the fun of messing around with it until it is as one wishes. One thing about OOo is that the first item under the Edit tab is "Undo" so if a change doesn't suit, revert back. When happy, the second file can be binned.

Cover Page

This page is pretty well as wanted except for a photo and copyright sign. To insert the photo put the cursor at a convenient position and go to Insert>Picture>From File and upload the photo. Adjust the position and size to suit and click outside the frame to anchor.
For the copyright symbol Insert>Special Character, click the © et voila!

Main Pages

The screen shot shows the top left quarter of the first page.

Diagram OOo2

On the face of it this does not look good! The space for the picture and caption is between the two names and I want it inset on the right hand side. The answer - Frames!

Place the cursor above the "Caption" line on the left hand side then Insert>Frame>Wrap, click "Before" and then "OK". The frame appears in the middle of the page row. Centre the cursor in the frame and drag to the right, position and size by adjusting the sides and click outside the frame to anchor. Now for the photo: put the cursor before the return symbol in the top left of the frame then Insert the picture as for the cover page (Insert>Picture>From File). Adjust for position and size leaving room for the captions. Make sure the font size below the picture is small (say, 6pt), cut the captions from the main page and paste them into the frame. Finally readjust the size and position of the frame. Diagram OOo3 shows how it should look. If the caption appears vertically or off centre or both try deleting just before the first character of the caption. Repeat for all pictures, positioning as required.

Diagram OOo3

Easy - yes? Now for the rest!

I also want to start each generation on a new page. To do this put the cursor in front of the return symbol above the title of the new generation then Insert>Manual Break> check "Page" click "OK". Legacy usually puts a blank page after the Contents. This can be eliminated by placing the cursor before the return symbol at the top left hand corner (not in the header) and delete using the keyboard.

As can be seen in Diagram OOo2 the heading is on the main page not in the space for it. No problem. Cut the heading and paste before the return sign in the Header above it. Repeat for the next blank Header. This automatically puts it in all Headers of these styles.

To create the Footers go to Insert>Footer. Many of the options may already be checked, if so uncheck each of them and start with a clean sheet. Click "All" and then check all the options. To number the pages put the cursor before the return symbol in the first page for numbers to appear then Insert>Field>Page Number. Due to the way OOo works, using styles, this step will have to be repeated for other pages eg. odd or even, sources (if sources have been included the heading will also need to be put in the Header) and the indexes etc. To view the page numbers visit View and uncheck the "Field Names" tab. Use Format>Alignment to adjust the position of the numbers.

Now is the time for a general clean up. Check the end and start of each page. Bad splitting of paragraphs can often be overcome by deleting or adding "returns". When satisfied the Indexes can be tackled.

Firstly the Contents. Place the cursor at the start of the Notes on the contents page then Insert>Indexes & Tables >Indexes & Tables. On the pop-up delete "Table of Contents" against the "Title" as there already is one. Only the Outline and Index Marks buttons should be checked. Alongside the "Outline Button" there is a box with three dots in it (...) click. In the top box of the new pop-up(Paragraph Styles) go to the "Names" tab change the wording to "header2" Note the case then click "OK" on both screens.

Repeat the process for the Name Index but on the pop-up tick the "Additional Styles" button and click the box with three dots alongside this button. Work down the list on the left and highlight "Index" click the blue arrows until it is under number 1, click "OK". If two columns are required click the Columns tab and then the picture. Use the Index/Table tab to return to the first page and change "Type box" to "Alphabetical Index", again delete the Title. Click "OK".

SAVE & PRINT

To avoid loss of formatting I find it best to save using the OOo ".odt" extension.

In conclusion, do not forget the safety button Edit>Undo. This facility has a long memory so no harm can be done if, or more likely when, mistakes are made

Printer friendly version