Discover, Organize, and Share Your Family History

Ancestry iOS App Version 4.0

17 Aug 2012 by Leave a Comment

Dynamic Family TreeVersion 4.0 of the Ancestry.com companion genealogy app for iOS is available as a free update in the App Store.

The change log states the following:

  • Dynamic family tree that shows more family members.
  • See grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews & cousins in your family tree.
  • Ability to change your tree to display direct ancestors only.
  • Purchase monthly memberships via In App Purchase.
  • An updated look and feel that’s both beautiful and functional.

That seems like a good list for a 4.0 version! The dynamic family tree is pictured to the left. Handy buttons at the top enable you to switch on or off the direct ancestors only feature.

What Genealogy Software Do We Recommend?

14 Mar 2012 by 10 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

Ancestry iOS Update IconThe 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...]

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.

Downloading the Best Possible Image from Ancestry.com

30 Oct 2010 by 2 Comments

It occurred to me after making the previous video, , that you may not be getting the highest resolution version of document images when you download them from Ancestry.com. If you aren’t selecting the 200% resolution version you’ll want to see this video to learn how it’s done.
[Read more...]

New Ancestry.com Suggested Records Feature

19 Sep 2010 by Leave a Comment

Ancestry.com is beta testing a new feature called suggested records. When you’re looking at a record, it displays a list of records that other people have attached to the same person in their tree. During the beta testing it only appears for 1900 US census and WWI draft registration records.
[Read more...]

Find Sources with Ancestry.com’s Explore by Location

31 Jul 2010 by 1 Comment

You can discover sources of information about relatives you may not have been aware of. Ancestry.com has a feature called explore by location that will show you research resources by location. These resources can give you ideas about sources of information you hadn’t thought of or known about. In this video: Ancestry.com Explore by Location Feature, I show you how to see these resources, how to conduct a location specific search, and view brief historical information about a location.

GenealogyTools Members, download this video to your computer for your private use by control-clicking and choosing “Download Linked File As” or “Save Link As” (depending on your browser).

Free Ancestry.com Resource Essentials CD

9 Apr 2009 by 11 Comments

I got a nice little package in the mail today. The Generations Network sent me a package that is the “first in a list of upcoming benefits” planned for for Ancestry.com World Deluxe Annual members. It’s a CD containing PDFs of six reference books produced by Ancestry.com and a 20% off coupon for my next purchase in the Ancestry Store. The coupon expires January 1, 2010. The “books” on the CD are nice to have: [Read more...]

How to Download Your Family Tree from Ancestry.com to Your Macintosh

3 Dec 2008 by 6 Comments

Ancestry.com is a great service. They make searching for and accessing records about our relatives very simple. They also have a very nice online family tree management system, but even if you maintain one or more family trees on Ancestry.com, you’ll probably want to get that data onto your Mac. If you don’t have an Ancestry subscription, click here to try Ancestry.com FREE with a 14-Day Free Trial.

The good news is that the service supports exporting in a standard format called GEDCOM. The bad news is that while they’ve made it relatively simple to do, the functionality is sort of buried in the site. In this video, How to Download Your Ancestry.com Family Tree for Use in Your Mac Genealogy Software, I show you where it is and how to use it to get the genealogy information you’ve captured in Ancestry.com onto your Mac.

GenealogyTools Members, download this video to your computer for your private use.

How to Customize Your Ancestry.com Home Page

22 Aug 2008 by Leave a Comment

If you’re an Ancestry.com subscriber like me, you may have noticed that The Generations Network, Inc. have improved your home page. You can now move the content of the page around to put things where you like. They also created a My Quick Links box in the right column. This enables you to add links to your favorite and commonly visited sites right on your Ancestry.com home page. Please follow along with this video from the MacGenealogist Archives to add Genealogytools.com to your quick links and to see the other configuration demonstrated.

GenealogyTools Members, download this video to your computer for your private use.