Add Paint to Your Genealogy Toolbox

Pam Treme, my genealogy partner, and I speak at societies in the Tampa area under the name 'The Technology Tamers'. Our presentations show how to make your genealogy research easier using technology.

I have seen "Paint" on my Windows based computers for years, but rarely used it. Whenever I did try I would get confused and frustrated. Pam, on the other hand is a Paint genius. After hearing how frustrated I was using Paint Pam decided it was a great topic for the Technology Tamers to tackle.

We recently did a presentation to the Florida Genealogy Society - Tampa entitled "Dipping Your Fingers in Paint". I thought I would share the highlights on this blog.


Why use Paint?

According to the Microsoft website Paint is "a feature in Windows 7 that you can use to create drawings on a blank drawing area or in existing pictures".

While this may be true, it does not describe how I use Paint, now that Pam taught me how to use it!

Webpages

Let's say that I find an obituary online that I want to share with my family. By using the PRINT SCREEN button on my computer I can capture the obituary, paste it into PAINT and then HIGHLIGHT the areas I want my family to read.

If the obituary is split into multiple columns I can COPY the entire obituary into PAINT, open another instance of PAINT and CUT/COPY the various pieces into one document.

Photos

Paint will convert photos from one format to another. You can right click on any photo, open it with Paint and then SAVE the photo in the new format. Always be sure to understand the various formats (Tiff, Jpeg, etc) and under what circumstance to use each format.

Dip Your Fingers into Paint!

These are only two examples of the hundreds of things that you can do with Paint. Check out PAINT on the Microsoft Site or check out Utube.com.

Have fun Painting your Genealogy!

Take Care,
Pattie