# Getting Started

## To Start &app;

You can start &app; in the following ways:

Applications menu

  Choose Other Gramps.

Command line

  To start &app; from a command line, type `gramps`, then press Return.

  If you would like &app; to open a specific database or to import a specific file on startup, you can supply the filename as a command line argument:

  `gramps -i` filename.ged

  where filename.ged is the name of the file you want to open/import. The detailed reference to the command line options is found in the .

## Running &app; for the first time

The first time you run the program, GRAMPS will display its Getting Started dialogs. Follow the directions guiding you through Researcher information, Numerical date formats, Alternate calendar support, and LDS extensions sections. Most of the dialogs are self-explanatory and will not be covered here.

### &app; Getting Started Window: Researcher Information

Shows Researcher Information Window.

Enter your personal information in the corresponding text entry fields. Although &app; requests information about you, this information is used only so that &app; can create valid GEDCOM output files. A valid GEDCOM file requires information about the file's creator. If you choose, you may leave the information empty, however all the GEDCOM files you export will not be valid.

This information can be entered at any time in the Preferences dialog, under the Usage category.

### Choosing a database on startup

If &app; is started without any database to open, the following window will appear prompting you to choose what database to open.

#### Open Database Window

Shows Open Database Window.

If you would like to open an existing database, check the top radio button and click the OK button. You will then be asked to specify the name of your existing database. If you would like to start creating your brand new database from scratch right away, choose new XML database.

### Optional ZODB support

If either StandaloneZODB or Zope is installed on your system, &app; will give you the third option of creating a new ZODB database. You can choose to start your new database in either XML or ZODB format. Both formats have their strong and weak points.

XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, and is a human readable structured description of data. It could be easily parsed by other programs should the need occur. It stores only the data itself. Its weak point is the relatively low speed of processing large data files.

ZODB stands for Zope Object Database and provides the full-fledged database support. ZODB files are not human readable. They contain a certain overhead to assist working with large data structures. However, ZODB provides a significant speed-up when the database size is large (over a few thousand people).

Its is hard to tell which format is better, since this is a typical trade-off situation. If you are starting your research then you are likely to be fine with the regular XML database. If you have tons of data to import describing thousands upon thousands of people, then you are probably better off with ZODB.

## Obtaining Help

At any time, the following items are available for immediate aid from the Help menu:

User manual

  Choose this item to read the text of this manual in the help browser.

GRAMPS home page

  Select this item to open home page of &app; in your default web browser.

GRAMPS mailing lists

  Choose this item to direct your web browser to the &app; mailing list archives.

Report a bug

  Use this item to file a bug report against &app; with the bug tracking system.

Show plugin status

  Use this item to display the status of loaded plugins.

Open example database

  Select this item to load the example database shipped with &app;. This database is composed of fictitious people and serves as a useful example for learning how to work with &app;.