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RootsMagic is a desktop software program that helps you organize your family tree. I have used the program since the announcement that product developers will no longer support Personal Ancestral File. RootsMagic has been a useful tool for my genealogical research, and I have five reasons why:
1. Keep Track of Living
I do not like sharing information about living relatives online. I do not want to be responsible for anything that happens to my relatives because of what I share, and I know that millennials do not care about that as much.
Moreover, there are plenty of individuals who will add my children and me to their family trees. Thankfully, they will keep their trees private because they have curated information about living relatives. However, I still won’t do that. I will put information about living family members on RootsMagic.
2. RootsMagic Timelines Rock!
When I write my family histories, I add the distinctive flavoring of putting a family in context. What else was happening in the family that year (who else died, who else married, who else was born, and so on)? The timeline feature on RootsMagic makes this a BREEZE!
I could only add step-parents and maybe grandparents to a person’s timeline. However, I can quickly hop around the tree and view different chronologies.
I can also access all the notes and sources for each event from the timeline view. RootsMagic timelines keep the click to access data low, which speeds up my writing flow.
Hear me explain why I love RootsMagic.
3. Organizes My Computer Files
I do not print out my genealogy in pedigree charts and group sheets. My family tree continually changes, and I do not want to kill trees unnecessarily. As such, I keep all of my genealogical data organized with RootsMagic. The program also helps me reduce the need to create a fancy media file organization system.
When I add photos and scanned documents to the individuals in my tree, RootsMagic’s linking becomes my file organization system. I can name the files by their contents and place them in an easy-to-access file folder. I love that my organization can be simplified.
4. Hints in One Spot
With so many websites having hints, managing each platform can be difficult. As such, I love that I can click on the lightbulbs on a relative’s name and see the hints for FindMyPast, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch. Soon, we should have hints for Ancestry.com (some have this, but only if you do not attempt to link a RootsMagic file to an Ancestry file; it’s too complex to explain in this post).
As I said before, I am a little random in climbing my family trees; this is one way I find the shiny diamonds to explore.
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Helps Me Prune My Tree With Analysis Tools
I can find problem reports, such as all persons in my database lacking specific facts such as birth date and birthplace. RootsMagic print reports of everyone buried in one cemetery when I place a gravestone photography trip. I can clean up place names, so there is one single way to say Cincinnati, Ohio.
Just so you know, I’m not an affiliate of RootsMagic, and I currently do not make any money telling you about the product. If the owners want to send me some money to write positive remarks about the program, I will not turn that away. However, I do not like things about the program, so I am not sure they’d like bad press.
Those are the top five ways I used RootsMagic. Do you use the program? If so, how do you use it? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.
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