(We suggest that you print this page of instructions before installation)

You must install both the Brother's Keeper 6 program and the GRANDMA data files. These are two separate steps, and both must be completed before the data can be accessed.

1. Installing the Brother's Keeper program

In order to guarantee that you're installing the most recent version of Brother's Keeper, we recommend that you go to the BK website and download it from there. If you do not have Internet access, click to install the Brother's Keeper 6  program from the CD. When you have completed the program installation, return to the instructions below to install the GRANDMA data files.

Users with earlier versions of Brother's Keeper already on their computers should also upgrade to the most recent version of the program. The instructions below may not work properly if you are using an older version of Brother's Keeper.

If you have Windows Vista you will need to set the Brother's Keeper program to run with administrator rights. After installing Brother's Keeper, complete the following steps

a.       Right-click the BK icon and choose Properties
b.      Click the Compatibility tab
c.       Click on the “Run this program as an administrator” near the bottom to check-mark it
d.      Click the Apply button at the bottom, then the OK button to complete the process

2. Installing the GRANDMA 6 data files

After the Brother's Keeper program installation has been completed, install the GRANDMA 6 data files by following the instructions below. The GRANDMA 6 CD must be inserted into one of your CD drives before completing these steps.

A. Start the Brother's Keeper program, either from the Brother's Keeper icon on your computer desktop or from Start/Programs/Brother's Keeper 6.

B. From the Menu bar at the top of the screen, choose File, Open database. (see below):

C. You will be asked "which folder contains the Brother's Keeper 6 data files?" With the "Brother's Keeper 6" line highlighted, type GM6 in the white box in the bottom center of the screen, then click Create (see below):

D. You will be asked if you want to create a new folder named C:\Program Files\Brothers Keeper 6\GM6. Click Yes.

The bottom two lines of the Brother's Keeper screen should display the following information:

E. From the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click File, Restore data files (see below):

F. The next screen will show you the name of the drive in which the GRANDMA 6 CD is inserted (see below):

While the example above displays the E: drive, your computer may show a different drive name. Click the Restore from button.

G. A list of file names will appear. Click on the Restore box .The data files will be copied onto your hard disk. This process may take several minutes, depending on the processing speed of your computer. File names will be added to the list on the screen as each data file is loaded.

H. When the file loading process is completed, you will be asked if you have another diskette that contains text or picture files. Click on Cancel. The next box notifies you that files have been restored. Click on OK.

I. You will be asked if you want to create a recovery file. Click No. The GRANDMA 6 CD already functions as a "recovery file."

J. The bottom two lines of the Brother's Keeper screen should read:

C:\Program Files\Brothers Keeper 6\GM6\
Names: 1107275 Families: 349522

The GRANDMA 6 data files have loaded successfully and are ready for use.

Installing GRANDMA in programs other than Brother's Keeper

It is possible to install GRANDMA into some other genealogical programs. This is done by importing the "Gedcom" version of the GRANDMA 6 data files, a copy of which is found  on the CD at /Manual/GM6-ged.zip. This file must be uncompressed to your hard disk before attempting to import it into another genealogy program. This Gedcom is quite large, and many programs are unable to import it. We are aware of two Macintosh programs (Reunion and GEDitCOM) that are capable of importing the GRANDMA Gedcom. Given its size, the initial process of importing the file may take a very long time (perhaps more than 24 hours). Once the importing process is completed, the program will load normally in whatever program you are using.

A file set compatible with the Legacy program is also available upon request. We charge only shipping and handling for the Legacy files.

Return to the Overview page for additional instructions on setting up and using Brother's Keeper.