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Latest Release Information for AQ 15

The most current release of Ancestral Quest 15 is Build 19. All changes made to AQ 15 since its initial release are listed below.

There is a newer major release of Ancestral Quest. It is version 16. The current build is 12. For a specially priced upgrade fee, you can upgrade to this new version of the software.

Changes in Build 19 (2/25/2019)

Enhancements to General Features

  • Web Pages: When you create a web page, and a marriage has other events/facts, these were not showing. The web page generator has been updated to show these.
  • Check/Repair: AQ now handles a rare situation better when checking names.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Notes: A bug was introduced in build 18 wherein the Spell-Checker didn't work in Notes. Fixed
  • Notes: A bug was introduced in build 18 wherein Find and Replace no longer worked in various notes. Fixed

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Memories: FamilySearch has announced some changes to the way AQ must request images. AQ is now ready for these changes.
  • Merges on FamilySearch: FamilySearch made a change to the way AQ must unset the "Not-A-Match" designation prior to merging FS records. AQ now uses this new method.
  • Uploading Children: In the rare case that you need to upload a child to FamilySearch when the child only has one parent, FamilySearch made a change recently that broke AQ's ability to upload the child. AQ now uses the newer method.

A few other minor enhancements and fixes were made.


Changes in Build 18 (1/01/2019)

Summary: The primary purpose of build 18 is to adjust the way AQ handles research assistance on MyHeritage. MyHeritage is scheduled to remove support for Hinting on 1/3/2019, and this build removes the MyHeritage hinting from AQ, so that users will not get error messages when AQ attempts to request hints from MyHeritage. AQ is replacing the MyHeritage Hinting with Advanced Searching of MyHeritage records with this build.

If you have been using MyHeritage hinting, you need to either disable the MyHeritage hinting before 1/3/2019 to avoid unwanted error messages, or you need to update to this build. If you are not using MyHeritage hinting, there is no urgency to updating, but there are other reasons as shown below for updating to this build.

Enhancements to General Features

  • MyHeritage Research: Hinting for MyHeritage is removed with this build and is replaced with Advanced Searching for MyHeritage records.
  • FamilySearch Hinting: FamilySearch changed the address (URL) to display general hints for a person. This build removes the faulty address. Ancestral Quest provides individual addresses for each FamilySearch hint.
  • FamilySearch Hinting: FamilySearch has announced a change in the near future that could cause the FamilySearch hinting to fail if adjustments were not made. These adjustments have been made to keep FamilySearch hinting operational into the future.
  • Individual Summary Report: The Individual Summary report attempts to print all data for an individual. This has included the FamilySearch PID for records that are synced with FamilySearch. This build removes the label for this field when the user has not enabled the FamilySearch syncing options.
  • Check/Repair: AQ now properly fixes a rare situation that was undetected before. Most users will never experience this issue.
  • Check/Repair: When AQ opens a database, it examines some parts of the file for integrity, and makes repairs if certain problems are found. A very rare problem was detected, and this build now examines and fixes this type of problem.
  • Translation Tool: Some improvements were made to AQ's translation tool -- these would only be of value to translators.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Notes: Characters outside of the Western European character set did not always copy into the Notes properly. Fixed.
  • Language Modules: There was a bug with updating Asian language modules. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Search/Match: FamilySearch has announced some changes to the way AQ must request results for matches and searches in the near future. This build includes changes to prepare for those changes.
  • Adjustment to Keep Current with FamilySearch API: FamilySearch recently made a change to the method used by AQ to retrieve a list of LDS temple reservations for LDS users. Some users have not been able to reconcile their temple reservations list since that change. This build makes adjustments so that these users will be able to reconcile this list.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Login to FamilySearch: Users with extended Unicode characters in their password were not able to login to FamilySearch. Fixed.

A few other minor enhancements and fixes were made, including some specifically to provide those who use the Asian language templates with a better experience.


Changes in Build 17 (10/3/2018)

Summary: The primary purpose of build 17 is to keep AQ in sync with a recent change to FamilySearch. If you are not using the features in AQ that sync with FamilySearch, there is no urgency in updating to this build.

Enhancements to General Features

  • Check/Repair: AQ now checks for one more possible problem in the AQ database and resolves it in the extremely unlikely event that it occurs.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Adjustment to Keep Current with FamilySearch API: On September 17, FamilySearch made an adjustment to their online systems, which caused two minor problems for AQ: 1) AQ was no longer able to display the "Stories" from the Memories of FamilySearch; 2) For Mac users and Windows users still working with XP or Vista, AQ was no longer able to display other photos or documents from the FS Memories. This build puts AQ back in sync with FamilySearch Memories for all users.
  • Review/Sync Individual Screen: In prior builds, if the place of an event (such as Birth or Death) in the user's local file matched either the original format or the standardized format of the place in FamilySearch, the places were considered the same, and you were not allowed to update either the place in FS or the place in your own file. A change was made in this build so that if the local place does not match the original format of the place in FS (which is what you see), but only matches the standardized format of the place (which is not shown), the places are considered different, and you will be allowed to update your own place or the original entry of FS.

A few other minor enhancements and fixes were made, including some specifically to provide those who use the Asian language templates with a better experience.


Changes in Build 16 (4/4/2018)

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Relationship Chart: In build 15, we made a minor improvement to the Relationship Report, which is accessed from the Relationship Calculator tool. In some unusual situations, the names of the common ancestors were not correct. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Adjustment to Keep Current with FamilySearch API: On March 29, FamilySearch made an adjustment to the Matching/Searching which caused the name of the spouse, when searching for a woman, to be displayed as herself rather than her husband on the list of possible matches. Build 16 adjusts this to allow the name of the husband to be shown, as it was before this change by FamilySearch.
  • Import Family Lines: When importing family lines from FamilySearch, AQ used to only download the standard events of Birth, Christening, Death and Burial. It now downloads all recorded facts and events for each person.
  • LDS Missing Individual Ordinance Report: Added an option to show the relationshihp between any person on the report and the root person of the database.

A few other minor enhancements and fixes were made.


Changes in Build 15 (2/26/2018)

General Enhancements

  • GEDCOM Import: When importing a GEDCOM file with tags from AQ, the colors were assigned in a seemingly random order. Now the colors maintain their assignment unless the GEDCOM is being imported into a file with existing tag assignements which conflict.
  • Translation Tool: Add a couple of options to help translators when translating AQ into other languages.
  • Various: Added a few minor enhancements to Check/Repair and other features.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Merge of Individual: When merging individuals who had color coding or tags, these codes were not retained. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Preparation for Changes to FamilySearch API: FamilySearch has announced that on March 6, 2018, it will make some changes to the API that allows AQ and FamilySearch to exchange data. This build of AQ has made changes to anticipate the FS changes, so the syncing between AQ and FSFT will continue smoothly when FS makes this change.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Upload of Individual: When you upload individuals from your file to FS, AQ asks whether you want to upload all your data or just some of your data. This preference wasn't being remembered consistently, so if a user wasn't always on their toes and verifying this setting, it could change and they would find that less data had been uploaded than they intended. This preference setting is now properly retained.

A few other minor enhancements and fixes were made.


Changes in Build 14 (12/15/2017)

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Changes to FamilySearch: FamilySearch made an adjustment on Dec 15, 2017 that has the unfortunate side-effect of causing AQ's ability to suggest 'Standardized Place Names' to fail. This build includes an adjustment that will be compatible with this change to FamilySearch.

Changes in Build 13 (12/12/2017)

General Enhancements

  • Ancestry.com Searches: Significantly improved the searching on Ancestry.com. If you use the View menu to show Ancestry.com links while on AQ's Pedigree View, you might see a number of possible matching records from Ancestry.com, or you might simply see a link to 'Search recs'. Either way, AQ now sends a more refined search, and your results on Ancestry.com should be much more likely to provide records you can use.
  • Web Searches: Under the 'Internet' menu, the option to create your own searches on Internet based genealogy sites, now gives additional options for searching with marriage year, marriage place, spouse's name, father's name and mother's name.
  • Newsline Options: The Newsline window, that notifies you when a new build of AQ is available, has been enhanced to include a button to allow you to view the news in your default browser. Those users who prefer to activate any links from that window in their preferred browser can use this button to do so.
  • LDS Reports: A couple of improvements were made to the LDS Missing Ordinance reports. (Specifically, by default, the report will not include people born in the last 110 years, and will not report missing baptism/endowments for those who died as children.)

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Fan Chart Title: If you had chosen an Italics font, the font was not shown in Italics. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Changes to FamilySearch: FamilySearch is making an adjustment immediately that has the unfortunate side-effect of causing AQ's ability to find matching records to fail. This build includes an adjustment to the matching/searching that will be compatible with this change to FamilySearch. All users who use AQ's ability to sync with FamilySearch Family Tree will need to update to build 13 or later.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Notes/Life Sketches: In some cases, when you were attempting to add a new note or Life Sketch to the FamilySearch record, AQ wouldn't let you type in the note field. Fixed.

A few other minor enhancements and fixes were made.


Changes in Build 12 (11/13/2017)

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • LDS Features: In build 11, AQ was upgraded to commmunicate with FamilySearch using a new API address. A bug was discovered that kept AQ from being able to allow LDS users to reserve sealing ordinances. Fixed.

Note that build 11 was not available very long, so most users did not have a chance to update to it. Most users will update to build 12 in order to also get the changes listed for builds 10 and 11.

Changes in Build 11 (11/10/2017)

Note: Build 10 was not released to the public. It was a test build. Some minor tweaks were made to the display of Asian dates before the official release of build 11.

General Enhancements

  • Date Display: Added an option to display dates in YMD format, and other adjustments were made to accommodate Asian dates and names.
  • Research Log Report: You can now choose to display the Custom ID on the report. Also, some ambiguity in selecting end dates for tasks on the report has been clarified.
  • Ancestry.com Links: Ancestral Quest has shown links to records on Ancestry.com since 2001 on AQ's Pedigree view. Ancestry.com recently changed the way they respond to search queries, and the number of matches sometimes seem garbled. AQ now detects when the numbers are unusable, and displays instead a simple link to search Ancestry.com records.
  • Check/Repair: Improved Check/Repair to properly fix another type of error.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Map It: If a place contained "United States" as the name of the country, AQ failed to send the proper place name to MapQuest, so maps were not displayed. Fixed.
  • Book Reports: Users who had updated their computers to Windows 10 Creators Update Version 1703 Build 15063.608 experienced a problem printing Modified Register and Ahnentafel reports with siblings. Fixed.
  • Research Log Report: The columnar report displayed one column heading incorrectly. Fixed.
  • Book Reports: In one rare situation the book report skipped a couple of lines between pages. Fixed.
  • Ancestry Standard Chart: Depending on the options you had set for displaying Color Coding, the Ancestry chart might skip some lines between pages. Fixed.
  • Web Pages: One combination of selecting options to hide living information caused the word "Living" to appear in the place of the name of a person when it should have shown the name of the person. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • FamilySearch API: FamilySearch is scheduled to retire the web address currently used by AQ to communicate with FS on 12/5/2017. This build uses the new address. Once FamilySearch retires the old API address, all older versions and builds of AQ will no longer be able to sync with FS or retrieve FS Hints. Users must use this build or a subsequent build to continue to sync with FS or retrieve hints from FS.
  • Sync Sources: When you upload sources from your file to FSFT, AQ first creates a copy of the source in your FS "Source Box", then attaches the new source to the person in question. AQ now removes the source from the source box at the end of the process, so as to not clutter up the Source Box.
  • Sync/Import: If a record in FSFT was missing a regular name, but had some other name (such as NickName), AQ would not show the name or import the name. AQ now detects this situation and uses the best alternate name available.
  • LDS Temple Codes: LDS users will find that the list of temple codes now includes newer temples.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Syncing Notes: If your note was too big for FS to accept (over 10,000 characters), AQ was unable to upload the note. Now AQ sends what it can within the FS limit.

Some other minor fixes and enhancements were made in this build.

Changes in Build 9 (7/5/2017)

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Publish a Family Book: corrected 3 things:
    1. If you had enough chapters to span to 3 pages of TOC, the bottom of 2nd page of TOC printed too low. Fixed.
    2. If you had a cascading pedigree chart for a chapter in the book, and had selected index, in some cases the info on a chart could cause an error which would keep the cascading chart from appearing in the book. Fixed.
    3. Also with cascading pedigree charts, there were some problems showing the correct pages for some ancestors in the index. Fixed.
  • Ahnentafel Chart If the option to print children was selected, but there was no spouse, a few lines at the bottom of the page could be lost. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Missing LDS Temple Ordinances Report: If you choose the option, under general preferences, to append both the RIN and FS PID to names, then this report now shows both the RIN and FS PID.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Sync Families: If a person had parents in the local file, but not in FS, the Sync Parents/Siblings screen did not show the local parents. Fixed.
  • Reconciling Batches of Ordinances: A couple of minor bugs were fixed.
  • Some additional minor fixes.

Changes in Build 8 (5/26/2017)

Enhancements to General Features

  • Collaboration: Owners of Collaboration files use a screen that allows them to see which users have been given rights to their file. This screen now sorts the list of users, and there is a new "Print to File" button, allowing this list to be saved/printed.
  • Newsline: When AQ starts for the first time each day, it shows you news from Incline Software, and an indication of whether your copy of AQ is up to date. This screen will now first check to see whether the server is online before showing the screen.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Standard Descendants Chart: If you asked to view color coding on the Standard Descendants chart, you'll notice that the chart drops some names between pages. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • LDS Temple Ordinances: FamilySearch is scheduled to retire, on June 6, the API which has allowed AQ to read LDS temple ordinances for the last 8 years. This build of AQ now uses a new API. If you are viewing or working with LDS temple ordinance information in AQ, you will need to update your copy of AQ. After FamilySearch retires the old API, all versions and builds earlier than 15.0.8 will no longer be able to read ordinance data.
  • Parents/Siblings Sync Screen: When on the Review/Sync Person with FamilySearch screen, there is a button to view the Parents/Siblings of the person. This screen now loads much faster.
  • Printing Temple Cards: For LDS users, the shift from the old LDS API to the new API means that AQ will now print Temple Ordinance Cards, and will no longer print Family Ordinance Requests (FORs).

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Import from FS: When importing person records from FSFT, AQ now scans the list of names to find the "preferred" name, and imports that name rather than the first name on the list.

Changes in Build 6 (3/10/2017)

Enhancements to General Features

  • Backup on Exit: A new Database Preference option allows you to keep the backup notice from displaying when closing a file.
  • Backup on Exit for Collaboration: The notice of backing up when closing a Collaboration file has been removed, as the master file on the collaboration server acts as an automatic backup.
  • TreeTips: If you allowed hinting to provide hints for living persons, you can now enter a minimum age, so hints will not be shown for children or other living relatives under a specified age.
  • MyHeritage Hinting: Under 'Miscellaneous Preferences', you can now enter the e-mail address you used to sign up for MyHeritage. This will prevent your own MyHeritage tree from being suggested as a hint.
  • MyHeritage Hinting: AQ now sends 'Other Facts/Events' you have entered to MyHeritage, so it can better find appropriate hints and better inform you of what additional data you can find as a result of the hints.
  • Findmypast Searches: In addition to the hints from Findmypast, AQ's 'Internet' menu now offers an option to directly search the Findmypast records.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • Generating a Web Site: If you had not entered a folder for web pages in the 'Folders' tab of 'Preferences', as you attempted to suggest a folder in the Web Page Creation Wizard, it often suggested an unexpected folder. Fixed.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Manual Syncing: When you matched a record in your file with a corresponding record in FamilySearch, you have choices of simply linking the record, or of also reviewing the records with a 'Manual Sync.' If you selected 'Manual Sync', many of the syncing options were disabled. With this new build, if you start the matching process from one of the main views (Pedigree view, Family view, etc.), the 'Manual Sync' option will allow you to use all of the syncing options.
  • Update Ordinances: In the "Update Ordinances" function of the Ordinance Reservation and Tracking System, if you had selected the option to "Update All", and the process encountered a FamilySearch PID that had been deleted, AQ would stop the process to alert you. With this new build, if a deleted FS PID is encountered, and you are recording updates to a text file, then AQ will simply log the deleted PID in the file rather than pausing the process to alert you.

Changes in Build 5 (1/25/2017)

Note: Build 4 was only available for a few hours, so most users never installed it. A couple of minor adjustments were made to the program, and build 5 was released a couple of days later. Most users skipped build 4.

Enhancements to General Features

  • Backup on Exit: AQ will now remind you to backup your file each time you close it.
  • TreeTips: TreeTips was designed to search for Hints for deceased ancestors. It now also searches for hints on the living. This can be disabled in Preferences.
  • Enter Key: When users upgrade from an older version (such as 14) to a newer version (such as 15), AQ didn't prompt you for your new key unless you attempted to use one of the new features. It will now prompt for the key.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • MyHeritage Hinting: We found and fixed a couple of issues with MyHeritage hinting: 1) sometimes AQ would not find hints for all eligible records displayed. Fixed; 2) Some users experienced that a few hints didn't seem to be for the correct ancestors. This turned out to be something we needed to adjust in AQ. It has been fixed. MyHeritage hinting is now performing as expected.
  • Family View: If a marriage status was 'divorced,' but no spouse was entered, the status didn't show on the Spouse List. Fixed.
  • Merge: In some combinations of notes for individuals, AQ would lock up when showing the merge screen. Fixed.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Memories Manager: Some stories were not showing. Fixed.

Changes in Build 3 (12/15/2016)

Enhancements to General Features

  • FamilySearch Hinting: AQ had been only asking FS for "Pending" (New) hints. AQ now asks FS for ALL hints for a person. (Often 'confirmed' hints are very valuable.) When hints are found, FS has a hints page that shows the Pending and Dismissed (Rejected) hints, but not the Confirmed hints. AQ had been simply showing that page when you clicked on the FS hints. Now you can also click on a specific hint in the list, and AQ will show you that document.

Bug Fixes to General Features

  • FamilySearch Hinting: We found some situations where AQ didn't request hints from FS when it should have. Fixed
  • Family View: If you had LDS data turned on, and none of the children in the family had any LDS ordinances, the birth date column would appear too far to right. Fixed.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Uploading files in Memories Manager: On rare occasions, if the path to a scrapbook item was a relative path rather than an absolute path, AQ would fail in sending the memory. Fixed.

Changes in Build 2 (12/05/2016)

  • Builds 1 was the first commercially available build.

Enhancements to FamilySearch Features

  • Importing Descendant Family Lines: FamilySearch is implementing a change to their API on 12/6/2016, which will affect the import of descendant family lines. This build anticipates that change so that the import will work properly.

Bug Fixes to FamilySearch Features

  • Uploading PDF files in Memories Manager: PDF files were not setting a flag correctly in FS Memories. Fixed.
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