AWAP Indexing 101


With so many new contributors and many contributors returning we wanted to review some basic questions.

Let’s start with what is AWAP?

AWAP stands for Ancestry World Archives Project

Where can I download the keying tool?

Short answer http://www.ancestry.com/worldarchivesproject  This page redirects to a page hosted by Family Tree Maker/MacKiev.  MacKiev is the company that helped Ancestry bring the keying tool software out of the dark ages in 2019.

When I try to sign in why am I getting an error that my date and time need to be updated?

The most common reason for this error is that Ancestry is not able to authenticate your username and password. To sign in to the keying tool you need to use your ancestry.com username (not email) and password – if they are not entered correctly you will receive an error.

If you are certain you are using the correct username/password please send us an email, worldarchivesproject@ancestry.com.

Where can I get help?

There are three places to get help.

    1.  There are a variety of support articles you can reference.
    2. Our community!  We have an amazing community of indexers, many of whom have been indexing for 10+ years.  You can reach them by posting a message on one of the AWAP message boards.
    3.  Emailing us at worldarchivessupport@ancestry.com

What do I do if I download an image set but am no longer interested in indexing it?

You can cancel the image set from the Select Image Set screen.

    1. Highlight the image set
    2. Click on the Cancel Image Set button on the right side of the tool.
    3. If there is not an error or difficulty with the image there is no need to enter a reason.

Why are my stats incorrect?

We are working on the reporting and statistics currently.  There are some connection issues between Ancestry and MacKiev that are being ironed out and a new reporting system set up that will correct the issues with statistics that are occurring.

For contributors who have been indexing for years your past stats may not be fully accurate due a data loss when we made the switch between the old and new keying tools.

When will the online pages be back?

This year!  We miss our pages and are looking forward to having an online presence again.

What are the Keying Standards?

The KS (Keying Standards) are general instructions for how records are indexed.  If you are not sure about entering crossed out records, entering diacritics, how to enter multiple spouses or you don’t feel that the field instructions are sufficient in your determination of how the field should be keyed refer to the KS and see if there are additional instructions for the type of field there.

What else should I know?

Every record you index will be freely searched on Ancestry.  You can find most of the live projects here.

There are discounts on Ancestry.com for active contributors.  An active contributor indexes/reviews 900 records in 90 days.

If you have suggestions for future blog post topics you can send them to worldarchivesproject@ancestry.com

 

We appreciate all of the contributions you make, in indexing, reviewing and being active on the message boards!

 

 

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Reader Comments

I am concerned that the discount for active members may not be applied as the record counts are still inaccurate.

Re: Stats:
What constitutes “one record”? I have worked on several projects and when the stats are updated after I complete a set, I cannot figure out how those numbers were calculated. It doesn’t seem to be a page of items, or one line item on a page either…could you clarify?

Kate, Let me know if you have issues – if you let the Member Services representative know you are an active contributor you will receive the discount.

Ann, One record is one line of data entered. The header field is also calculated as a record. If you entered 10 records that would mean you have 10 lines of data entered or 1 header and 9 lines of data. The issue is that currently the records aren’t showing correctly for many contributors – this is part of what we are working to fix.

Hi, I am having issues in trying to log in after the latest Keying Tool. I am using a mac. It was working last night. I have uninstalled, restarted, readded Key Tooling app. Not working. Thanks for all your support.

When I try to log into the tool since sometime last night, I get an error message that it’s unable to connect to the internet, but my connection is fine and works for everything else.

I have upgraded my Mac computer to a new Version “Big Sur” and since last night, February 27th can no longer open the keying tool. It stakes the somehow the connect to my account button can no longer log in or the log in was cancelled. I have re-installed the keying tool 4 tomes , and also turned my computer on and off and retried. Nothing.

Since yesterday I have been unable to gain access to the keying tool. A message appears, stating it cannot gain access to the internet. I have tried uninstalling the keying tool and reinstalling, all to no avail. I suspect the problem is at your end, as I have no problem connecting to any other websites.

With so many people these days using tablets for work (me included), can we not have a keying tool for android? I could get so much more done if I was not tethered to just one room.

Hello everyone I am having trouble submitting my image sets. Boy am I frustrated.

I have tried to submit this for about 1 hr. I keep on getting an error message. Something about i am unauthorized Http . . . I could not copy the message either. It says beside the image set that I was keying that it is Done and then it says submit the image set. I set expires March 4. Can someone please provide some assistance.
Thanks Kathryn

Help articles and Prject instruction site.
It would be helpful if the project instructions could be seperated from the help articles.
I like to comment that the sample images are the most helpful tool in theproject instructions.

Hi, I am a member of AncestryDna, I have recently Found out my grandfather Fred Ruben King And Frederick King are the same person and also discovered that he is my dad not my grandfather, and Ronald Lee king his son and my mom are twins yes that is the fact and True story of my life after there death, of course, I find out this on my DNA, I could not sleep when I tell you how this story plays out it’s sad and in believable but Fred knew the people they are who I called the Parker _
Clan. my name is Malinda lee Snyder (king) Virginia Belle King was Frederick kings daughter and Nettie Gladys Ikerd (king) Gladys we called her Meme well Meme wanted a boy for her self she told Fred you have one I want one so Meme gave her first living son named Edward James King that was said to be from another man but no one knew but he was Hungarian so She and Fred had there, daughter and Fred to make a baby she had two twins one was a boy and one was a girl so the Parker’s did not have a girl so they gave them my mom Janice Lee King )(Parker) so later on my Dad Ronald Lee King meets Janice Lee Parker(king) they got married before that the families had gotten into a big fight my dad or mom did not know they were twins at all had not one clue they let them get married, someone tree had my mom deceased my dad had passed away so that is how I found out about there being twins brother and sister so Virginia Belle king is their mother and Frederick king is their dad so life goes on then Ronald and Janice king had Mary Lee king Born on Nov.7.1962 11 months later i was born Malinda Lee king oct.17.1963 then my Sister Rosa Lee King was born May.10.1965 then a shock as if I could not take any more it comes out Malinda lee king and Rosa Lee king Ronald Lee king is your brother not our dad ok Janice lee king is our mother so flash back to something mom said to me that oh i just loved grandpa king he was so nice to be mom used to live with meme and grandpa she said oh he want to but she said no you will always be my grandpa! So made me think who is my dad if Ronald is not my dad so I put Frederick King there it was my mother sleep with Fred so he is my dad and Rosa dad but not Marys dad mary dad is Ronald Lee King and Janice Lee King ( Parker) I just wonder how Ancestry can help me put this on paper to send to me so I can fix my birth records funny thing about Rosa Mary and Malinda all birth certificate mother and dad are 18 years old the end of my story for now put this in my book Ancestry DNA it makes me sad because I can’t ask why mom only new that dad was her brother and thought Calvin Parker was her dad but he was not her dad the end unless someone shows up and tells me my birth records are wrong lol

RE: STATS
I am having the same issue of trouble submitting – ie requiring multiple attempts before it will finally accept my submission. NOTE: I did obtain the current tool offered on the site even though my tool was ‘uptodate’ just in case after the first few submission issues – IT didnt change anything though.

ERROR: The process cannot access the file ‘C:\ProgramData\Ancestry.com\KeyingTool\Projects\L44820.IDX.001\bigredlps\Batches\423522\Batch.xml.tmp’ because it is being used by another process. (I screenshoted this one if its needed)

Got a version of this error on multiple different projects and when it is finally allowed to be submitted the credit for records processed is incorrect.
This last one was for the World Archives Project: Australia, Newspaper Vital Notices, 1841-2001 and before submitting the set I closed it to see how many records I had done (last time I hadn’t-still same error and lack of proper credit). I had done 644 records (over multiple days) and when it finally submitted it was disheartening to see only a credit of 77 records!?!

Now I am sure that Member Services will give me the discount (Up for renewal Apr 15th 2021) as I have been receiving one since at least 2016, but it is still hard to see that your hard work is not being counted….

@afechter – I put up a post the other day regarding the counting of records/stats with a suggestion as to possible changes. https://www.ancestry.com/boards/wap.aus.newspapers/39

RE: STATS
I am having the same issue of trouble submitting – ie requiring multiple attempts before it will finally accept my submission. NOTE: I did obtain the current tool offered on the site even though my tool was ‘uptodate’ just in case after the first few submission issues – IT didnt change anything though.

ERROR: The process cannot access the file ‘C:\ProgramData\Ancestry.com\KeyingTool\Projects\L44820.IDX.001\bigredlps\Batches\423522\Batch.xml.tmp’ because it is being used by another process. (I screenshoted this one if its needed)

Got a version of this error on multiple different projects and when it is finally allowed to be submitted the credit for records processed is incorrect.
This last one was for the World Archives Project: Australia, Newspaper Vital Notices, 1841-2001 and before submitting the set I closed it to see how many records I had done (last time I hadn’t-still same error and lack of proper credit). I had done 644 records (over multiple days) and when it finally submitted it was disheartening to see only a credit of 77 records!?!

Now I am sure that Member Services will give me the discount (Up for renewal Apr 15th 2021) as I have been receiving one since at least 2016, but it is still hard to see that your hard work is not being counted….

@afechter – I put up a post the other day regarding the counting of records/stats with a suggestion as to possible changes. https://www.ancestry.com/boards/wap.aus.newspapers/39

Thanks

It’s always exciting to get a progress report on our projects. As volunteers, we feel a great sense of accomplishment when projects go online. Also, we like to see what’s in the future for us to key. Hopefully, we can get such a report and also know how many keyers there are and maybe where they are from. It’s always fascinating to me. Over ten years for me!

Regarding the Australian vital notices project, the last two that have been reviewed have had a comment saying I shouldn’t make sections. However, sometimes the same image has pages published on different days, so the only way to accurately record the publication day is to make a second section. I don’t see anything written about this in the instructions – please can it be clarified?

Kate,
I have been approving discounts and assisting when needed.
-Anna

Type I need help! I am transcribing and it says I need a vital date in order to transcribe the information. I want clarification of what constitutes a vital record. I am assuming it needs the date, month, and year. However, some only have the date and month and no year. Does the vital need to have all three; date, month, and year to be considered a vital record. thanks

I have just submitted two sets of records with over 600 records but have not been given credit for them. This issue needs to be fixed as it continues to happen repeatedly!!!!!

I only became aware of the AWAP and am keen to take part and contribute. However, I am unable to download the Keying Tool. I am using a Mac.
I have tried on our iMac and on my MacBook but no joy on either. I have also tried two different accounts with Ancestry!! Any suggestions?