Comments on: Macintosh Genealogy Software Comparison

By: Kenneth Oliver

Kenneth Oliver — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:39:36 +0000

Many Thanks, It worked….now I have to find a compatible genealogy program that will incorporate this GEDCOM file into it !

By: Ben Sayer

Ben Sayer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:25:35 +0000

Hi, Ken.

Try these instructions for exporting a GEDCOM file in PAF 5. Let me know if you can get the export working or not after that.

There is no one, best genealogy application. It depends on your needs. I recommend having a look at the reviews (linked on the Articles page), look over the comparison table in this post to check if all the features you need and want are present, and watch the demo video on the Resources for Groups page. You could also get the trial version of each and play with them to get a feel.

—Ben

By: Kenneth Oliver

Kenneth Oliver — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:16:47 +0000

Or is the MACFAMILY the best software for Genealogy?
Ken

By: Kenneth Oliver

Kenneth Oliver — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:14:20 +0000

I have PAF 5 with 3500 ancestors on my PC. I just purchased a Macintosh and find it isn’t compatible with this PAF.
How can I export this as a GEDOC so I can download it onto the MACFAMILY software?
I have tried and it wont export.
Thanks,
Ken

By: Ben Sayer

Ben Sayer — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:49:25 +0000

You can open and peruse a GEDCOM file with the beta version of GEDitCOM II:

http://geditcom.com/GCBeta.html

It won't be free once it's out of beta, but you could use it now.

You may also want to try Personal Ancestry Writer II:

http://www.lanopalera.net/Genealogy/AboutPAWrit...

It's a free application.

By: milt

milt — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:38:13 +0000

My old paf gedcom can not be opened. Now that I have 10.5.6 I need to open the gedcom only for the notes. Is there a freebie app that can open the gedcom so that I CAN SEE MY NOTES?

By: Ben Sayer

Ben Sayer — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:23:45 +0000

Bill, that is one way. Another is to ask someone with PAF 2, 3, or 4 to convert the files for you. My understanding is that PAF 5 won't read PAF 2 files.

By: Bill Williams

Bill Williams — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:46:54 +0000

Thanks, Ben. Yes, I have a new computer. My old one died. How do I export data when I can't open the file? The old PAF software couldn't be saved from the crashed hard drive. I could download 2.3.1 for Mac, I assume, but my new computer won't accept a Mac system 9 program. I could seek an older Mac, possibly, load the PAF software on it and transfer my data file to the old computer, then export it.

Is there a simpler way?

Bill

By: Ben Sayer

Ben Sayer — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:09:16 +0000

Bill, moving your data is a matter of exporting using the GEDCOM format, saving the resulting file to a place you will be able to access from your Mac OS X system, then importing it into your new genealogy database software. They all support GEDCOM import, although some are better than others.

Do you have a separate computer running OS X or are you planning to buy one?

----Ben

By: Bill Williams

Bill Williams — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:14:41 +0000

I have genealogy records on Personal Ancestry File for Macintosh, version 2.3.1, which will not run on Mac system 10. Do you know if the data can be transferred to PAW2X, or to any other software for Max X, and how the transfer is accomplished?