GenealogyTools

Genealogy Software Tutorials for Mac & PC

PC Software

How Well Does Ancestry.com Handle GEDCOM? (Updated 30 Apr 2016)

by 15 Comments

Ancestry.comA few of our readers have asked what problems Ancestry.com has with GEDCOM files. One reader reported, “If you mainly work on your tree online in Ancestry.com and rely on TreeSync to move the data to FTM [Family Tree Maker], a lot of the source and citation descriptions get truncated during the download due to their length. So unless you check every source and citation after running TreeSync, you’ll end up with a lot of incomplete source and citation descriptions.” My personal workflow is the opposite of this, so I haven’t had problems with sources or citations getting truncated. I mainly work in FTM and then sync my tree with Ancestry.com. [Read more…] about How Well Does Ancestry.com Handle GEDCOM? (Updated 30 Apr 2016)

Family Tree Software Alternatives, Part 12: Ancestral Quest 14 (Updated 20 May 2018)

by 7 Comments

Details about Ancestral Quest 14*AncestralQuest14

Application: Ancestral Quest
Current Version: 15
Supported OS: Windows, Mac (bundled with CrossOver)
Mobile Apps: None
Price: Free (basics edition; Mac version available for limited time), $29.95 (Windows, full edition), $38.95 (Mac, full edition)
Publisher: Incline Software
Website: http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm
GenSoftReviews: 4.67 stars out of 5

[Read more…] about Family Tree Software Alternatives, Part 12: Ancestral Quest 14 (Updated 20 May 2018)

The Perils of Following the GEDCOM Standard (Updated 28 Apr 2016)

by 21 Comments

Vicious Circle
Jacek Malczewski, Vicious Circle [Public domain, USA], via Wikimedia Commons
After testing a few desktop genealogy applications for how well they handled GEDCOM files, it occurred to me that I should write an article about my testing philosophy and methodology, as well as some of the problems with complying with the GEDCOM standard. Take a moment to ponder that: this series was motivated by the problem of genealogy software like Family Tree Maker (FTM) not complying with the GEDCOM standard. But there may be unintended consequences, both for users and software publishers, of following the standard. [Read more…] about The Perils of Following the GEDCOM Standard (Updated 28 Apr 2016)

Why You Might Consider Combining Your Family Tree Maker Media Files into One Folder

by 23 Comments

While preparing my review of MacFamily Tree 7, I ran across an article on their website, “Switch from Family Tree Maker to MacFamilyTree and import your family tree.” The section headed “Attention: Media file import” caught my attention. I don’t agree with Synium’s statement, “Unfortunately the developers of Family Tree Maker made the very poor choice of not importing media files but just linking them. Just Family Tree Maker knows where these files are and there are just links to those media files.” I disagree on several counts: [Read more…] about Why You Might Consider Combining Your Family Tree Maker Media Files into One Folder