![]() Just click on the sidebar to switch between screens without losing your place. The main window lets you work with files, people, places, sources, media, tasks, addresses, and more from one place. ![]() No matter how tangled your tree is, RootsMagic lets you easily navigate all of the roots and branches. * Not all 3rd-party formats are currently supported on macOS. Need to copy a branch from one file to another? Just use your mouse to drag a person (or people) from one file to another. ![]() Keep your own backups of your work on your own computer or on cloud backup services. RootsMagic lets you share tree data back and forth with Ancestry and FamilySearch.Ĭreate as many tree files as you like. You get the best of both worlds- the power, privacy, and freedom of a personal tree on your own computer and the communication, collaboration, and resources of online trees. It also imports GEDCOM, the universal genealogical data exchange format. RootsMagic can directly import data from Personal Ancestral File (PAF), Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, The Master Genealogist, or Family Origins*. In the San Diego area, both the San Diego Genealogical Society and the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego offer user groups for RootsMagic.Whether your are starting from scratch, use another program, or already have a tree online, RootsMagic helps you bring it all together into a single, convenient spot.Īlready have family history online? RootsMagic can give you a head-start by downloading your tree from Ancestry and FamilySearch. Societies should consider having software user groups to teach the basics, demonstrate program features, and answer questions that beginners have. ![]() These Help sites can be useful to bewildered users of RootsMagic, especially beginning researchers.Įven though RootsMagic claims that their software is easy to use - and they offer basic information and instruction on using the program on their website, a video tutorial on "Getting Started," and a book Getting the Most Out of RootsMagicby Bruce Buzbee - my experience with beginning software users is that they need explicit directions on how to access these helps and to use the software satisfactorily. The "Message Boards" link on the Support Portal takes the user to the "Forums" section, where the user can submit a forum post and receive answers from RootsMagic employees or other users: On the "Submit a Ticket" form, the user can ask a question that they have not found an adequate answer for on the other support sites. The "Submit a Ticket" link on the Support Portal opens: The user can submit keywords to the Search field at the top of the page to see if there are answers to their questions in the Knowledge Base. On this page, there are sections for the different RootsMagic products - Family Atlas, Family Reunion Organizer, Personal Historian and RootsMagic. There are links on the Support Portal for the "Knowledge Base," "News," "Submit a Ticket," "View Tickets" (that you've submitted), and "Message Boards." When you do this, the program opens your browser and takes you to the RootsMagic Support Portal: You can access them from within RootsMagic 4 by clicking on the "Help" menu item and selecting "Technical Support" from the dropdown list. There are several online Help sites also. My experience is that putting keywords into the "Search" tab usually brings up an article that answers my questions. On the Help page, the user can choose an article from the "Contents" list, or click on the tabs for "Index," "Search," or "Favorites" (where the user has saved a help subject previously). Since some of my society colleagues, and blog readers, have also migrated their databases to RootsMagic 4, I thought that I would highlight how to get help in RootsMagic 4 (I'll do the same with Legacy and Family Tree Maker 2010 in later posts).įrom within RootsMagic 4, clicking on the "Help" menu item (top row) and the "Contents" item in the dropdown list takes you to the Help page: The response was "I didn't know that Help link was there." It seems like some beginners are reluctant (terrified?) of clicking on a menu item for fear of "doing something wrong." In this last class, several students said "I'm totally lost - where can I get help to add data, add notes, add sources?" I showed them the Help menu in Legacy and RootsMagic and how they can use the Search tab to find information, and directions, for their questions. I tell them that Legacy Family Tree (Standard Version), RootsMagic Essentials, Family Tree Builder and Personal Ancestral File are programs that a researcher can start with - for FREE - and if they buy a specific program later, they can import their data in the free program using the GEDCOM file export/import procedure. During my adult education classes on Beginning Computer Genealogy this year, I recommend downloading one of the free genealogy software programs to help the students create as a "starter" database.
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