Discover, Organize, and Share Your Family History

Video Guide to Using PC Genealogy Software on Mac

22 Apr 2012 by 8 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)

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Splitting a Family Tree with Family Tree Maker, Part 2

25 Mar 2012 by 1 Comment

Ben recently wrote about his frustrations with splitting a tree in Family Tree Maker for Mac 2 (FTMM2). I needed to do this for my own tree, so I set about finding the best way to do it. I recently prepared a family tree for my stepmother-in-law and, silly me, included it in my primary file. After reading Ben’s post, I became concerned that splitting that branch from my file would be impossible. As Ben said, many steps are involved, but it’s not impossible.  [Read more...]

Adding and Changing a Portrait in Family Tree Maker for Mac 2

17 Feb 2012 by 1 Comment

Portraits in the Family Tree Maker 2 Pedigree ViewAdding and changing a portrait in Family Tree Maker for Mac 2 (2012) is one of the activities that isn’t very Mac-like. Mac users expect intuitive control of an app. The intuitive action here is to drag and drop the image onto the portrait in the pedigree view or editing panel. Alas, it doesn’t work that way yet.

Having pictures of my ancestors in my pedigree view helps me connect to my main purpose while doing family history research: to revive and keep their stories alive. Like you, I do this by discovering and crafting stories about them that my family members are eager to hear and share. Their faces help create a sense of familiarity.
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Migrating Family Tree Maker 2012 and ‘for Mac 2 Tree Files

14 Feb 2012 by 3 Comments

The Family Tree Maker for Mac 2 (FTMM2) CD includes a Windows program for converting family tree files between Family Tree Maker (including 2012) and FTMM2.

This is a must-have utility if you want to:

  • share FTM files
  • move between a PC version of FTM and a Mac version
  • keep your FTM 2012 and FTMM2 synchronized (e.g. link FTMM2 with an Ancestry member tree and use FTM 2012 on the same tree, albeit unlinked)

No matter your reason, using the migration utility is better than exporting and importing using GEDCOM. That’s not giving it enough credit! It’s far better than GEDCOM for this purpose. That’s because it doesn’t have to handle all the scenarios GEDCOM does.

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Adding Names in Family Tree Maker

10 Feb 2012 by 3 Comments

Name Editing Window in Family Tree Maker for Mac 2Storing names in genealogy software seems simple enough at first glance, right? While Family Tree Maker makes it comparatively simple, it’s still a bit tricky when adding name variations, AKAs, suffixes, titles, and multi-word surnames.

Learning how to enter names will speed your evidence capture so you can focus on the fun family history activities: research, analysis, and storytelling. Those fun bits will be easier too! All the information and evidence will be organized.

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Adding Death Dates to the Reunion 9 Index

8 Feb 2012 by 4 Comments

Index window including death dates in genealogy software Reunion 9 for Mac.The index feature in Reunion 9 for Mac software presents a list of person records in your family file. It is useful for navigating your genealogy tree, linking people, marking people for operations like reporting and deletion, and is an initial step for creating an index of individuals report.

All of these functions are enhanced by the ability to modify the columns displayed in the index. In particular, finding an intended individual is easier when sufficient information is present to differentiate similar records.

Reunion enables you to add, remove, and change the order of columns. You can add a column then tell the software what to display in it.

By default the index displays names, birth date, and birth place. These are usually sufficient to distinguish one individual from another. It’s also helpful to see the death date as well.
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The Secret to Standardized Source Citation Ratings in Family Tree Maker 2012 and Mac 2

22 Jan 2012 by 2 Comments

Using standardized source citation ratings in Family Tree Maker can help you make solid conclusions about facts. You’ve probably heard of original versus derivative sources, primary versus secondary information, and direct versus indirect evidence. That’s what FTM calls standardized source citation ratings. They also add a rating for clarity of the information–clear versus marginal. And both the Mac and 2012 versions support standardized ratings.

Unfortunately, the feature’s isn’t used by default. The source rating stars are there for you to set. The standard ratings are a bit hidden in the source rating window. The bonus is that by using the standard ratings, the number of stars is set automagically!
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Source Citation Find and Replace in Reunion for Mac

15 Jan 2012 by Leave a Comment

People with Found Detail Window from Reunion for Mac Genealogy SoftwareFinding and replacing text in your family file is irregularly needed, but can save you time when you can use it. Turning over this tedious task to Reunion makes more family history research time available to you. That is, provided you carefully define your search criteria and backup your Reunion family file first!

Reunion has search and replace well covered everywhere except source citation details. The fields within the source record are all available to the Find -> Replace feature on the menu-bar–no problem there.

The trouble is that source detail isn’t a field in the source record and it isn’t a field in the event or fact. It’s a link between a source record and an event or fact. This is as it should be; it allows you to cite a single source for multiple events and facts and on different person records.
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How to Tab Backward Between Fields in Reunion for Mac

1 Jan 2012 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes you tab beyond the field you were after, right? Do you know how to go back without your hands leaving the keyboard? If so, great! No need to read this quick tip.

You can easily tab backward by holding down the shift key then pressing the tab key. It’s that simple–shift-tab. It should work in every Mac app, not just Reunion 9.

How to Backup A Reunion Family File

14 Dec 2011 by 1 Comment

Are you regularly backing up your Reunion family files? Making a backup is important for more than protecting your precious research in the event of hard drive failures and catastrophes. Be sure to make a copy of your family file before making significant changes to your family file. Reunion for Mac’s creator, Leister Productions, even recommends making a backup before you make any changes. Whether you’re that cautious or not, you’ll eventually want to make a backup. There are basically two ways to make a backup copy of a family file.

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