Help

Questions and answers

Everything here can also be done by simply sending an email to steckifamilybook@gmail.com. If something on this page doesn’t work for you, write to that address in your own words and we will help.

• What is this website?
• How do I log in?
• My password doesn’t work
• How do I read my family’s chapter?
• The chapter won’t open
• How do I send a correction?
• How do I send photographs?
• How do I use the family tree?
• Can I see other families’ chapters?
• When will my correction appear?
• Is this private?
• Who reads my email?

What is this website?

The Stecki Family Book tells the story of the descendants of Hanna Tauba and Jakob Stecki, one family branch per chapter. This private website lets each family read and check its own chapter before the book is finished, and send stories, corrections and photographs.

How do I log in?

1. Find the invitation email from steckifamilybook@gmail.com. It contains your username (one word, such as your family name) and your password (three ordinary words).
2. Go to book.steckifamily.com. You will see a page called “Log in”.
3. Type the username in the first box and the password in the second box. Capital letters don’t matter, and you may type the three words with spaces or with dashes between them.
4. Press Log in. Your family’s page opens. You will stay logged in on that computer or phone until you press Log out.

My password doesn’t work, or I lost my invitation

Send an email to steckifamilybook@gmail.com with the subject Help opening the book and your name. We will send your username and password again. After ten wrong attempts the page asks you to wait 15 minutes before trying again.

How do I read my family’s chapter?

1. Log in. Your family’s page opens.
2. Press the button Read chapter. The chapter opens as a PDF document, which looks like the printed book.
3. Scroll down to read. On a phone, you can spread two fingers on the screen to make the text larger.
4. There is also a Word copy link, if you prefer to type comments into the text.

The chapter won’t open

• Wait a moment: a chapter with many photographs can take a minute to load on a slow connection.
• On a computer, a PDF usually opens in the web browser itself. If it downloads instead, look in your Downloads folder and double-click the file.
• If your computer has no program for PDFs, install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Still stuck? Email us with the subject Help opening the book and we will send the chapter to you as an attachment.

How do I send a correction or a story?

1. Write a new email (press “Compose” or “New email”) to steckifamilybook@gmail.com.
2. In the subject, write your family branch or the person’s name and the topic, for example: Golda branch — correction to a birth date.
3. In the message, say which person or which page it is about, what is wrong and what is right. If you know where the information comes from (a certificate, a letter, your own memory), please say so.
4. Sign with your name.

Stories can be as short as a few paragraphs. You may also attach a Word document. Writing in English is easiest for us, but Swedish, Dutch, German, Hebrew, Spanish and Portuguese are fine too.

How do I send photographs?

• The easy way: attach the photographs to an email to steckifamilybook@gmail.com. In the message, write who is in each photograph and, if you know, when and where it was taken.
• Best quality: email attachments are sometimes made smaller. Your family page has a link to your family’s Google Drive photo folder, where you can upload the original files. Then send us an email with the details.
• Old paper photographs: a scanner set to 600 dpi gives the best result. A phone also works: put the photograph flat in daylight, without flash, and photograph it straight from above, filling the screen.
• Please don’t send photographs through WhatsApp or pasted into a Word document; both make them much smaller.

How do I use the family tree?

1. Open tree.steckifamily.com and log in with the same username and password.
2. Click a name to open or close that person’s branch. Use Find a person to search by name.
3. Drag the background to move around, and scroll (or pinch on a phone) to zoom.
4. If a person, a partner or a parent–child connection is missing or wrong, email us as described above.

Can I see other families’ chapters?

Your login opens your own family’s chapter, and the whole family tree. Each family checks its own chapter first; the complete book will be shared with everyone when it is finished.

When will my correction appear?

Messages are read every day. Changes are checked by the editor and appear on the website, usually within a week. You may receive a short reply, especially if we have a question for you.

Is this private?

Yes. The website can only be opened with a family login and is hidden from search engines. Please keep your username, password and photo-folder link within your own family.

Who reads my email?

An AI system helps by reading incoming messages, filing photographs and preparing changes to the chapters. Nothing is changed on the website and no reply is sent until the editor, David Vos, has checked and approved it.