Transcription Software and Add-ons

WinBMD

WinBMD has been written by Ian Brooke as a Windows version of SpeedBMD, and offers additional features, including automatic file upload. WindBMD is recommended for new transcribers and is available from here

SpeedBMD

SpeedBMD has been designed to help FreeBMD transcribers increase their transcription rate and improve their accuracy. A performance improvement of 30-50% over other spreadsheet methods is claimed, depending of course on the quality of the source data being deciphered. You can download SpeedBMD here

SpeedBMD achieves this through a number of devices which minimise the keystrokes required, such as:

Automatic capitalisation of words.
Single keystroke duplication of the previously entered entry.
The display of a list of First Name options as typing of the name progresses, followed by a pick by number e.g. 9 gives William (W3 gives the 3rd item from the 'W' list).
Similar functionality is available for District/Volume entry.
Various "wild card" searches on District and Volume to help decipher indistinct entries.

This software works as a DOS application on all Windows or DOS based computers. There is a Tutorial contained within SpeedBMD that is highly recommended as a means of learning how to use the software. Most users become quite comfortable in less than 30 minutes. Users will need Internet access to upload their entered data. First, read the installation instructions. Download Version 1.10 here.

SpeedBMD was developed by Peter Cox and tested by members of the NZ syndicate, especially Chris Lloyd who also created the pre-1852 District file.

Peter is most grateful for the sterling efforts of Barrie Archer, Nick Tatham, Peter Watts, Stephen Carter and Stephen Cope in testing the new features of version 1.10 and for coming up with lots of good ideas for improvements.

Peter is also very grateful to Barry D, John Slann, Kenneth Hyde, Mary Muir, Tony McHugh and Steve Gaunt for their efforts in beta testing this release. They found a few remaining bugs and annoyances, which has helped to make this a stable and user-friendly release.

MacBMD

Ben Hines has written a Macintosh version of SpeedBMD which is available from here. Please note this version only works on Mac Operating System (OS) version 10.6 (i.e. Snow Leopard) or earlier.

Peter Adams has developed an updated version of MacBMD which is likely to be called MacBMD-X. Discussions are taking place with Peter for it to be made available for download from a link on this page. MacBMD-X works on Mac OS versions 10.7 (Lion) and 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and should also work on the earlier MAC OS versions 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

linBMD

Andrew Higgs has written a Linux version of SpeedBMD which is available from here

BMDVerify

This program helps with the process of verifying completed WinBMD and SpeedBMD entries against the orginal scan. This Windows program is written by David Lang and is available (including previous versions) from here.

IrfanView Image Viewer

A very easy to use and useful image viewer is available free from any one of these sites. If one is not available or slow to access at least one of the others should be available.

Lotus Approach

Graham Cannon has kindly provided Lotus Approach Import Templates for FreeBMD datasets. They are in the form of a self-extracting zip file, which can be found here. The file contains a README.TXT and the templates.

N.B. whilst the author has taken care to avoid viruses and other problems with this file, you run it at your own risk. Please let us know of any problems.

District and Surname List

Bob Phillips has kindly produced a couple of files to help FreeBMD transcribers. They are a surname list and a district list sorted by volume.

N.B. These can be used as an assistance to transcribing but transcribers should not use the list as a means of guessing and modifying the transcription. It is important to transcribe what you see, not what you think might have been intended. These files may be downloaded here.

CVS and SSH for Windows 95/98/NT

We've had a lot of problems with compatibility between various versions of SSH and CVS on Windows, so here's a zip file containing a version we know works!

N.B. You only need CVS and SSH if you are doing development work on FreeBMD!

cvs_ssh.zip.

Here's how to install and run it.

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