MacPAF

MacPAF is a "work in progress." Not yet complete, MacPAF will be a family history and genealogy program for Macintosh OS X. Best of all, MacPAF will be free of charge.

MacPAF is intended to replace the aging Personal Ancestral File (PAF) for Macintosh, a genealogy program sold by the LDS church. Apparently the church is actively supporting the Windows version of Personal Ancestral File. However, the last Macintosh version was released in 1996. In computer years, a nine-year-old program is prehistoric. The last Macintosh version of PAF still runs in Classic mode on Mac OS X, but it is clearly showing its age. It also does not support any modern version of GEDCOM. Many OS X users also report difficulties with printing on the nine-year-old program.

There are newer commercial genealogy programs that will run in native mode on Macintosh OS X. However, most of them are expensive. A few open source (free) projects are available, but they do not support the LDS features of TempleReady or LDS ordinance data. As such, many members of the LDS (Mormon) church cling to the nine-year-old program.

Logan Allred, a senior in Computer Science at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, has undertaken the task of creating a new replacement for the Macintosh version of Personal Ancestral File (PAF).  It runs natively on Mac OS X but maintains an interface similar to the Family Records section of the old program. Screen shots of the program in operation are available on Allred's web site. Allred promises that the new program will fully support the LDS-specific functions. He has named the new program "MacPAF."

I am not sure that the MacPAF name will last since the nine-year-old Personal Ancestral File for Macintosh genealogy program was often referred to as "MacPAF." The use of the old nickname for a new program produced by someone else sure sounds confusing to me!

As mentioned earlier, MacPAF is a "work in progress." That is, it is not yet complete. However, you can download and use the version that is available now. That makes you a member of the development support team, and the author would appreciate your feedback on the program throughout its development.

For more information about this free Macintosh genealogy program that is under development, go to http://homepage.mac.com/logan/MacPAF. Logan Allred also maintains a blog page to list the latest development news at http://homepage.mac.com/logan/iblog/MacPAF/

Comments

[katie]

Dick -

I actually emailed Logan trying to find out how to download his latest version and he said that there is no version to download yet. It probably won't be ready for another month or two. Just an FYI.

[JIll DEES]

How do I download MacPaf? I can't seem to find the link anywhere

[Dick Eastman]

---> How do I download MacPaf?

The two links shown above in the article take you to the developer's web pages. The second link takes you to his latest status information. You might want to read that closely. In short, MacPaf still not available for download but the developer is still promising it will be available "soon."

[Beryl Renton]

I had PAF many years ago until it was not continued anymore
for a Macintosh. I have tried for years to get a Macintosh version
but was told (very rudely) that Macintosh was no good!!! I would
like to either download or pay for the Macintosh version if someone
could tell me what to do please.

[Dick Eastman]

---> I would like to either download or pay for the Macintosh version if someone could tell me what to do please.

Forget PAF which is (or was) a rather old-fashioned program with limited capabilities that had not been updated in years. I'd suggest that you obtain a modern genealogy program that has many more features. There are several excellent Macintosh genealogy programs available these days. Start at: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&domains=blog.eogn.com&sitesearch=blog.eogn.com&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=reunion+macintosh&spell=1

[Robert Riopel]

How to download MacPAF ? Is MacPAF can read French note ?