GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

Ben Sayer

How Reunion 9 Users Can Find More Relatives Faster

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How You Can Find More Relatives Faster

If you don’t have enough time for your genealogy research and would like to have more, the MacGenealogist Archives may be the best solution for you. You see, genealogy research is subject to Parkinson’s law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

You Can’t Afford to Fiddle

In other words, once you start fiddling with your software you waste big chunks of time that could have been better spent pursuing your genealogy research goals. If your primary hobby is being a computer geek this isn’t so bad, but you’re a genealogist. That means that you’re in pursuit of ancestors and you don’t find relatives by tinkering with your computer.

Robbing Yourself of Time

To make matters worse, Parkinson’s law suggests that when you start fiddling you’re likely to use up lots of your valuable genealogy time. Playing with your software—even when your intent is learning to use it more effectively—robs you of precious research time that will get you to those thrilling discoveries. Don’t get me wrong; I know that you are well served by learning to be more effective with your tools. Mastering your tools will save you time, but you can’t be all day about it.

You Have Undiscovered Ancestors

I know it’s hard to strike a balance between time spent learning and researching, but it’s worth doing. There are ancestors waiting for you to discover that one piece of evidence that will lead you to them. You need time to meticulously focus to uncover them and their relatives.

Discover Your Ancestors Sooner

We can’t make more time, but we can use it more efficiently. You need a tool to help you learn how to better use your Mac so you have the time to enjoy more genealogy breakthroughs sooner.

MacGenealogist Archives Will Help

The MacGenealogist Archives will help you develop mastery of Reunion 9 for Mac while protecting your valuable research time. The archive contains 50 videos–over 459 minutes of helpful video. And they’re only available to GenealogyTools members. Click this link to go become a member.

MacGenealogist Videos Create More Research Time by Focusing Your Learning

Following along with the step-by-step video tutorials in the MacGenealogist Archives will help you free up time to find your relatives. It will focus your learning so you’re not just poking around. And that’s not all!

The MacGenealogist Archives Does So Much More

  • Simple step-by-step video tutorials make you more efficient and effective
  • Reading and seeing details on the videos is easier because they’re large
  • You can take the videos with you and view them without being dependent on an Internet connection
  • See at a glance which videos go together with series color coding

Okay, So What Does It Cost?

The MacGenealogist Archives are only available to GenealogyTools members. You set the membership dues. Pay what you can.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

I want you to be completely satisfied and I don’t want you to rush through the videos. Take as long as you need to go through the videos. If after you’ve followed along with all the videos you can honestly say the lessons haven’t made you more effective with Reunion 9 for Mac, send me an email and I’ll refund your money.

Remember:

You can find more ancestors faster by learning the techniques covered in these screencast videos. Using the videos on your computer is even more convenient than on the website. Click this link to go become a member then download the MacGenealogist Archives videos today.

MacFamilyTree Updated to 5.3.8

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Synium Software have released an update to their Mac genealogy software MacFamilyTree. This takes the version from 5.3.7 to 5.3.8.

According to the Software Update window the changes are:

  • Date picker for date text fields
  • Date format parsing improved
  • Fixes for the Virtual Tree
  • Search Pane can be opened with Command-F
  • Database Maintenance fixes
  • Other minor fixes

Here’s a video, Date Picker in Macintosh Genealogy Software MacFamilyTree, demonstrating the new date picker feature.

How I Find and Correct Duplicate Place-Names

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You may be surprised by the number of different ways you’ve entered the same place-name in your Reunion 9 for Mac family file. This is especially true if you don’t routinely check for and correct duplicate place-names. I recommend putting this on your calendar to do periodically just like checking for “unlinked people.”

In this video from the MacGenealogist Archives, I show you my method for locating and correcting duplicate place-names: Finding and Correcting Duplicate Place Names in the Reunion 9 for Mac Genealogy Software. As you’ll see, it’s easier to spot the duplicates the way I do it when compared to only using the places list. It works if you have 2000 or fewer place-names in your family file. If you have more than that use the places list as I demonstrate early in the screencast.

Extra Commas in Place-Names

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Many MacGenealogists noticed my use of “extra” commas in place-names while viewing the Speed Names screencast. A number of viewers were so curious that they asked why I include them. I chose to write the answer as an article so that those who were not bold (or curious) enough to ask could also be informed.

As we know, the commas in a complete place-name separate the individual elements of the name: city, county or province, state or region, and country. As eagle-eyed viewers noted, I include them even when a part of a place-name is unknown or not specified by a source. So if all except the city is known there is an empty, leading comma like this:

, Washtenaw, Michigan, USA

If the all names except the county is known the entry will be:

Ann Arbor, , Michigan, USA

Where only the country is known you’d see:

, , , USA

And so forth.

I find that this practice eliminates some errors, for example mistaking a county name for a city name. Ambiguity in genealogical documentation can cause wasted time and possibly money. And wasted time delays achievement of our research goals—something none of us wants! The extra commas are simply one my methods for preventing errors I would otherwise undoubtedly make.

Speed Names Video Problem Fixed

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I have corrected the problem that was causing the Speed Names video to load slowly. As a result the link in the email won’t work anymore. The links in the previous article have been updated too, so they will work.

Thanks to everyone who notified me of the trouble. I apologize for the inconvenience.