‘Help and Tips’ Archive

You can easily get email updates when someone adds a comment on your FamilySays.com blog. This means you don’t have to constantly come back and check the site to see if there has been any activity.

To start receiving an email when a comment is made, just follow these steps:

1. Click the “Your Account” link in the upper right of the site:

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the box that says “Send me an email when someone adds a new comment”:

3. You’re all set!

Now when someone adds a comment on your site, you’ll get an email letting you know.

The email will include:

• Who made the comment
• On which message was the commented added
• The actual comment
• A link back to your site so you can read all the comments on that message

Sometimes it is nice to download an archive of your family’s messages that have collected on your Family Says site. For example, you may want to export your messages so you can backup your information to your computer or to turn your blog messages into a book.

You have two options to export your messages: one message at a time or a month at a time.

How to Export a Single Message

Visit a message page and look for the three icons under the message title:

Print

Click the printer icon and you’ll see a printer friendly version of your message. It will include all your pictures and comments.

Word

Click the Word icon and download your message in Microsoft Word format (.doc). You can then easily make any changes to the file and save it for later.

PDF

Click the PDF icon and download your message as a PDF document (.pdf).

How to Export a Month of Messages

To export a month’s worth of messages, visit the “Archive” tab at the top of your site.

Click a month from the list that appears.

On the individual month’s archive page, you’ll see all the messages from that month.

At the bottom of the page, click the “Download all these messages to a PDF file”:

Your private family blog stays private because only the people you invite can see and access your site.

There are two types of people that you can invite to your site: authors and guests.

Authors can write messages. Guests can only read messages and leave comments.

This video shows how to invite friends and family to your family blog:

Adding a new message or post to your private family blog on FamilySays.com is quick and easy.

You can write a message for your blog by clicking the “Write” tab in the menu at the top of your site.

This video will show you how to add a message or post to your family blog:

There are several options to customize your family blog on FamilySays.com.

You can customize your site’s colors, name, design, and pictures.

Your design options are accessible via the “Site Management” tab and then the “Design” link.

Here is a short video showing how to customize your family blog:

To login to your FamilySays.com site, you’ll need to visit the custom site address for your site.

When an account is created, the site administrator chooses a personalized address like:

http://smith.familysays.com

To login to your site:

1. Type in your custom address (like http://smith.familysays.com) into your browser’s location bar.
2. Enter your username
3. Enter your password
4. Click the “Sign In” button

If a family member invited you to a Family Says site and you don’t remember the address, double check your email inbox for the original message your family member sent you. That email will contain the address. Alternatively, you can contact your family member directly and ask that they resend you the invitation.

If you are having trouble logging into your site, please let us know and we’ll help you out.

Sometimes you want to share something with your family but don’t want to write a big message to do it. This could be something that happened with your family today, with your kids, or just an idea that was on your mind.

You can add a “Quick Thought” on your “Home” tab of your site and quickly share that thought with your family and friends.

This video shows you how to add, edit, or delete a “Quick Thought” on your site:

Who can add “Quick Thoughts”?
Site administrators and authors can add “Quick Thoughts”. Guests can see these thoughts but can not add them. Authors can edit their own thoughts but not those of other authors.

How many “Quick Thoughts” can I have?

Like messages on your Family Says site, you can have unlimited “Quick Thoughts.”

We’ve heard your feedback and have made some changes … for the better.

Your FamilySays site now has the capability to upload multiple photos at one time when adding pictures to your message. The new function replaces the previous single picture uploader.

How to Upload Pictures

To upload multiple pictures, click on the “Write” tab. Add the title for your message, the message, and choose where to file it.

On Step 4, you’ll notice that the gray Browse box has been replaced by a blue “Select Pictures to Upload” button. When you click it, a window opens that lets you to browse to the picture files to be accessed. Select all of the pictures you’d like to add to your message by pressing the “Ctrl” button (Windows users) or “Command” key (Mac users) while clicking on the desired pictures, and then select “Open.”

The pictures you selected will begin uploading to your message, and when the upload for that picture is completed, a thumbnail photo will appear to the left.

When all of your pictures are uploaded, you can add captions, delete photos, and reorder photos. Photos are reordered by simply clicking on the thumbnail of the picture to move, dragging while continuing to hold the mouse button down, and dropping in the new location.

This new picture uploader requires Javascript to be enabled and Flash to be installed and running on your computer.

If you have difficulties with this new function or simply prefer to upload your pictures one at a time, there is a link under the blue “Select Pictures to Upload” button that says “Try this alternative picture uploader.” Clicking that link will take you to the prior version where you can upload single pictures.

If you should note an excessively long upload time for your pictures, you may want to try uploading them in smaller batches (i.e., 10 at a time instead of 25).

Increased Storage Space

As an added courtesy to our FamilySays users, we have raised the storage space for your pictures. If you currently have a Basic Family Plan, your storage space is now 1 GB (up from 200 MB). If you currently use the Family Reunion Plan, your storage space is now 3 GB (up from 500MB). We hope this will give you the freedom to share the photos you want with your family and friends without worrying about running out of space.

Many of the features of FamilySays.com use a technology called javascript.

In order to use your FamilySays.com site to post messages, add calendar entries, or update your address book, you’ll need to make sure your web browser has javascript enabled.

To enable javascript do the following based on what web browser you have:

Windows Internet Explorer

To allow scripting on this Web site only, and to leave scripting disabled in the Internet zone, add this Web site to the Trusted sites zone.

1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Security tab.
2. Click the Internet zone.
3. If you do not have to customize your Internet security settings, click Default Level. Then do step 4

If you have to customize your Internet security settings, follow these steps:
a. Click Custom Level.
b. In the Security Settings – Internet Zone dialog box, click Enable for Active Scripting in the Scripting section.

4. Click the Back button to return to the previous page, and then click the Refresh button to run scripts.

Mozilla Firefox

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Content tab, click to select the Enable JavaScript check box.
3. Click the Go back one page button to return to the previous page, and then click the Reload current page button to run scripts.

Safari
1. Choose Safari > Preferences.
2. Click Security.
3. Make sure these checkboxes are selected: Enable Plug-ins, Enable Java, and Enable JavaScript.
4. Make sure this checkbox is not selected: “Block pop-up windows.”

Opera

1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Content.
3. Click to select the Enable JavaScript check box, and then click OK.
4. Click the Back button to return to the previous page, and then click the Reload button to run scripts.

Netscape browsers

1. Select Edit, Preferences,Advanced
2. Click to select Enable JavaScript option.

In order to upload multiple pictures when writing a message on FamilySays.com, you’ll need to make sure you have the free Adobe Flash Player installed and working in your web browser.

You can download and install the free Adobe Flash Player here:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/