Last name auto-completion in Reunion 10 makes it quick and easy to enter surnames consistently. It’s also common for incorrect names to make their way into the list of last names Reunion 10 uses. You may mistype the name or change a name resulting in a name being in the list, but not in your family file anymore. Either way, you’ll want Reunion to stop suggesting the name.
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Correcting Last Name Auto-Completion in Reunion 10
7 May 2012 By Leave a Comment
Video Guide to Using PC Genealogy Software on Mac
22 Apr 2012 By 3 Comments
You can run PC genealogy applications (like Family Tree Maker 2012 and RootsMagic) on your Mac, even if it’s just as a supplement to your primary Mac genealogy software.
There are features in the best Windows genealogy software that aren’t in Mac offerings. Family Tree Maker 2012’s ability to synchronize with Ancestry.com and RootsMagic’s full-featured narrative reports spring to mind.
There are essentially three approaches to running PC software:
- Run Windows on your Mac in a “virtual PC”
- Make your Mac boot into either OS X or Windows using BootCamp
- Use a piece of software to do for your genealogy software what Windows would (Windows emulation)
What Genealogy Software Do We Recommend?
14 Mar 2012 By 5 Comments
When I tell people I don’t recommend Family Tree Maker for Mac 2, they often ask what I do recommend, which is understandable. But I really can’t recommend a genealogy program for other people without knowing what their requirements are. You must first decide what your priorities are. Then you can check on the web to see which programs meet your requirements. You can use Ben’s Feature Comparison Table or FindtheBest.com to find the features you need (but take the Smart Ratings on the latter with a grain of salt). GenSoftReviews.com lists lots of genealogy programs, although not all of them have reviews. But see Tamura Jones’ article, The Most Important Genealogy Software Feature. [Read more...]
Ancestry iOS App 3.1 Update: New Feature Review
7 Mar 2012 By 3 Comments
The new update to Ancestry’s app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is now available in the app store.
The app can now notify you when Ancestry.com finds information it thinks relevant to your ancestors. Enabling this optional feature will cause the little red number badge to appear on the Ancestry app icon when Ancestry.com finds new information. If you’d like to use this feature, be sure to allow push notifications when prompted after launching the updated app for the first time. [Read more...]
FamilySearch Index Comes to iPhone and iPad
17 Feb 2012 By 5 Comments
FamilySearch International released their indexing application for iPhone and iPad. It had formerly been PC only software. It’s called FamilySearch Index and is a free download from the App Store.
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Ancestry iOS App 3.0.1 Update
21 Nov 2011 By 1 Comment
Fire up the App Store! An update to version 3.0.1 of the Ancestry app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is available.
Here are the changes listed in the version notes:
- Shaky leaves
- Simple merge tool
- In app purchase of records
- Information automatically added to photos
- Changeable privacy settings
- Integrated feedback and support
The note also promises more stability and faster performance.
That all seems pretty straight forward except the part about automatically adding information to photos. If you figure out what that means please leave a comment.
Firefox 4 for Mac Genealogists
24 Mar 2011 By Leave a Comment
The new Firefox 4 browser is out. It has a couple of features that can help you stay organized when researching your genealogy on the web. Firstly, related tabs can be organized in groups called, you guessed it, group tabs. With group tabs, only the tabs in the currently selected group appear on the tab bar. Secondly, app tabs narrow the tab and make it appear in the tab bar for all groups. It sounds more complicated than it is which is why I make these videos.
In this video I show you how to create a genealogy tab group and app tabs for commonly used web applications like Gmail.
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New Source for Free Obituaries Online
6 Feb 2011 By 7 Comments
There’s a new service for free obituaries online called Free Obituaries Found at FreeObituariesFound.org. I created this archive to preserve and grow the commons of original, transcribed, and abstracted obituaries. I’ve transcribed or abstracted fifteen obituaries so far and I need your help.
Please contribute obituaries that you have and give me feedback in comments here to help me improve this service. Here’s a video to show you how:
Family Tree Maker 2010 for Mac Version 19.2.1.241 Released
22 Jan 2011 By 6 Comments
Launch your copy of Family Tree Maker for Mac to get the latest update. It’s apparently loaded with undisclosed bug fixes and enhancements. Here’s what the upgrade dialog lists:
- Numerous stability fixes were made
- Child sort order is shown correctly in reports
- Added support for GEDCOM 5.5.1
- Numerous other fixes and enhancements
It’s unfortunate when professional software developers can’t or won’t provide detailed lists of fixes and enhancements. Ancestry is not alone in this and there are some companies who do this well (like RootsMagic). While it’s good to know that GEDCOM 5.5.1 is supported and that the child sort order is fixed in reports, it’s of virtually no help at all to know that “numerous” stability fixes and enhancements are in a release. Come on! You know what they are and if you don’t you shouldn’t be publishing software. Please list them so that we can see if the problem fixes or features we desire are present in updates to our genealogy software.
How to Abstract an Obituary for Genealogy Research
9 Jan 2011 By 3 Comments
Obituaries often contain information helpful to genealogy research. Unfortunately they’re subject to copyright so you can’t legally transcribe nor share them unless they are in the public domain. The next best alternative to transcribing them is to abstract them.
A genealogical abstract is a summary of the pertinent details from the source. While some of them are entertaining and well written, your primary interest as a genealogist is in extracting the evidence from the obituary so that you can analyze it with other evidence and reach sound conclusions. Abstracts help you do that and you can share your abstracts without concern over copyright infringement.
I have a system for abstracting obituaries that I’m going to share with you. It consists of a method and a simple template. In the following series of videos I introduce you to the method and template then walk you through abstracting obituaries from different periods to demonstrate the use of the parts of the template and cement the five step process. Two of the obituaries I abstract in the demonstration are from 1851 and 1875 so a transcription would be more appropriate because the material is excluded from copyright protection. I suggest using the method and template a few times after watching the videos to really get it down.
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