Ancestry Source VaultPRIVATE FAMILY SOURCES
SOURCE / 02

Clean Genealogy Scans

Find unnecessary personal data, duplicates and unprotected temp files before vaulting private birth and marriage records

Hands separating duplicate and temporary genealogy source folders
Original faceless editorial photograph matched to this genealogy-source decision.

Keep the archival source, digital scan, citation, family-recipient permission, encrypted copy and recovery copy distinct. For living people, minimize birth, marriage, address and identity details before any family handoff.

01 / DECISION

Protect the genealogy record without hiding ownership

Genealogy Record exports accumulate duplicate decks, old forecasts, hidden comments, customer identifiers and plaintext temporary files. Clean a staged copy before encryption. Preserve the source separately, resolve which version is authoritative and document every exclusion so cleanup does not destroy the product record.

Family research scenario

A family historian freezes a private collection for relative review. The team first proves the workflow with fictional genealogy scans, documents each authorized role and preserves the working source separately.

02 / PROCEDURE

Run the control sequence

  1. 01

    Copy the approved source set into a controlled staging area.

  2. 02

    Inventory duplicates, hidden files, comments and temporary exports.

  3. 03

    Minimize customer, employee and relative information to the real decision need.

  4. 04

    Name one authoritative version for each artifact and quarantine conflicts.

  5. 05

    Review the clean manifest before importing or encrypting anything.

03 / RECORD

Preserve decision evidence

Record source, staged path, original count, retained count, duplicate decisions, metadata action, personal-data decision, conflicts, reviewer and clean-manifest hash.

Stop when

  • The only source copy is being cleaned in place.
  • Several files are called final with no collection ID.
  • Unnecessary personal data remains without an approved purpose.

The record should show the approved collection, tested environment, responsible people and known limitations without storing passwords or unnecessary genealogy record content.

04 / BOUNDARY

Separate the surrounding controls

Does not replace provider permissions, guaranteed backup, password recovery or enterprise identity management. Encryption does not assign provider permissions, verify a recipient, preserve every backup or remove plaintext working copies automatically.

05 / QUESTIONS

Genealogy archive questions

Should the encrypted archive become the live genealogy record?

No. Keep the authoritative source and citation in the approved genealogy workspace and archive named scan collections deliberately.

Does resetting a password recover an existing archive?

Do not assume so. Document the product-specific recovery boundary and test a separate recovery copy.

06 / SOURCES

Primary references

References support specific boundaries and do not imply endorsement.