Personal Ancestral File (PAF) is Discontinued—Consultants

Beginning July 15, 2013, PAF will be retired and will no longer be available for download or support. PAF users should consider alternative products to meet their ongoing personal genealogy management needs.

For full details and for information on alternative products, please visit http://familysearch.org/PAF.

A great new opportunity

PAF began in 1984, has had over 3.2 million copies distributed, and has fulfilled a great purpose for the world. At the same time that we give a big “Thank You!” and “Goodbye” to PAF, we are excited to embrace what the future holds!

For the last several years, FamilySearch has focused on building relationships with partner organizations to deliver better overall services to the market. This has facilitated better patron experiences with FamilySearch and the partner products. FamilySearch recently introduced the Family Tree to all users in multiple languages. Family Tree provides the capability for patrons to manage and share their family history information online at FamilySearch.org. Each of our partners’ products support connectivity with the Family Tree. FamilySearch is committed to strong partner relationships that enable more quality, choices, collaboration, and availability of records. We encourage our patrons to use the products provided by these partners.

FamilySearch has worked hard to offer upgrades to all PAF users through partners that have produced significantly better alternatives to PAF. Please visit http://familysearch.org/PAF for details, and get started with your upgrade today!

Guidelines for patrons

When working with patrons, please encourage them to visit http://familysearch.org/PAF, and help them get started in migrating to one of the recommended products. It is appropriate and encouraged to host events or train patrons on how to migrate to the various products, discuss the advantages, and allow them to make their own choices. When using church buildings and resources for these activities, please remember not to solicit sales or exclusively promote only a specific product to patrons, because we must maintain a neutral position while providing informative guidance to them. Also, third parties must abide by these guidelines if their employees or representatives are invited to participate in the activities in person or by phone or web conference.

Significant investment has been made to bring FamilySearch-certified products developed by partners to our patrons, and your help in moving patrons forward on a journey inclusive of our full offering of third-party solutions, within appropriate bounds, is much appreciated.

For the full story read the main FamilySearch Blog.