What other software do you use for Family History?Currently I am using
- Gedcom Census
- Family Atlas
- FH Converter (converts FH media to simple formats)
- TNG (for dynamic web, I just changed over from phpgedview)
- The Complete Genealogy Reporter
I am still looking for a good portable contact management system, a research logging system and a "magic brickwall remover"
although the latter is somewhat unlikely. I have also just found a tiny free GedCom Viewer which will work on a key drive called Simple Family Tree
Other messages in this Thread:
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist- Gedcom Census
- Parish Locator
- Res Privata
- Excel (for research logging, although not ideal)
- Paint Shop Pro (for all photos and images)
- 1st Page 2000 (for HTML)
- Xenu's Link Sleuth (for link checking)
I've just purchased Family Atlas for mapping my data.
Regards
Lindsey
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistIrene
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist
ireneb said:
I use a freeware program called GEDXLATE which converts a gedcom file to excel format. I use Excel to make lists of queries to take to Record Offices.
Irene
Irene - thanks for the tip, I just looked this up and it is exactly what I need. I want to do a cross query from an Excel spreadsheet I fill in when I scour records and check it against possible matches.
I also liked the look of the other software on the site www.gedmagic.com
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family HistThere is also an interesting little ad-supported program called Ahnensuche which is useful for gathering pointers to information on Family Search and GenCircles and other places. It allows you to sort out the search hits by category: 'important' 'perhaps important' 'not important'. It could be of some use in keeping track what you have searched for already.
Besides those two, I will use anything I can get my hands on. Before I settled on FH as my main program, I tried all the other programs I could find, and for the programs which still work (where the trials haven't exipired), I will use them for the odd feature here and there.
Ancestral Quest has a very handy date calculator, and it will display some scans we made which even IrfanView has trouble with, so I'm still using that for the scrapbook and for some features like the date calculator. It does have a Research Manager, although I didn't use it much before I switched over to FH for my main program.
I downloaded the trial of version 11 which allows one to have a database of up to 120 people - don't know if the current trial is as friendly, or if it cuts off after a certain amount of time.
I bought FTM for the free sub to Ancestry (a year with that version), and every now and again I will forget how awful it is and fire it up to do a web search. Every now and again I do find something that way which I missed on a manual search, so I haven't tossed it yet.
I bought a very cheap closeout copy of Family Tree Legends because it came bundled with GedStarPro (and Pocket Genealogist) -- compared to FH, FTL (the 2006 version) is awful, and I can't get the SmartMatching on GenCircles to work, but it has a nice feature that will let you print out various blank forms designed by the US magazine Family Tree Magazine. Since I have tons of notes in my FH database which lead to ugly reports, I may print forms out and fill them in my hand as one did in the old 'typewriter genealogy' days.
Since I mostly bought the package to play with GedStarPro on my old Palm, it didn't really matter to me if FTL worked or not -- so a form generator for $8 is not bad, I guess.
I've also used GedXLate, have looked at the set of Excel spreadsheets known as Census tools, etc.
Jane said:
I am still looking for a good portable contact management system, a research logging system and a "magic brickwall remover" although the latter is somewhat unlikely.
I too am looking for some kind of PIM or contact management software.
For the "magic brickwall remover" -- GemSmarts is good, but a kind soul looking over your problem with a fresh eye is better. I like the website Curious Fox for posting geographically based queries -- a couple of users have provided information that was quite helpful.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistI would be interested in any feed-back on Family Atlas, how easy it is to use and what kind of information it shows etc.
Margaret
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistChris
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family HistA local newsstand carries the UK magazine Your Family Tree -- the copies sold here in the US all say Your Family History on the cover instead, but if one goes to the website and compares the content and artwork, they are clearly the same publication.
I am a sucker for magazines with cover disks, and since I am doing some research in the UK as well as the US, I snatched this up eagerly when I first spotted it a couple of issues ago.
Yesterday we went to the shop and I bought issue 52. It had as its feature program on the coverdisk a program called MediaDex, which allows you to catalog your digital media files.
This will be just the ticket, I think, so I scoop up the magazine. Foolishly, I forget to check the CD-ROM case, and once I get home, I discover it is empty!
Now perhaps 50% of the coverdisk, though useful, is repeated every month, so I think to myself, do I really want to take the time and spend the money on transit to go back to the shop to ask for a copy which has the cover disk? This is just a trial version of the program, so perhaps I can download a trial version from the MediaDex website instead.
Yes! I can! But wait -- Win98 is not listed -- I need a newer computer.
Think of how annoying it would have been, had I gone all the way back to the shop to beg for a coverdisk, only to discover when I got home for the second time that I couldn't run the program!
At any rate, I thought I would mention it in case those of you with large collections of digital media and other files were on the lookout for something to keep them all organized.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist
jmurphy said:
The other program I use that I would recommend to people is GenSmarts, which reads your GEDCOM file and looks for missing data, makes suggestions about what you might do to fill in the gaps and suggests places where that information might be found.
I've just downloaded GenSmarts but find that most of its suggestions are things that I've already got. Marriages in particular. For virtually every couple it's suggesting that I research the marriage records as the data is missing, but then in its own summary of the person, it includes the marriage.
Might I have been recording marriages incorrectly in FH (I have the latest update of v.3), or is there something odd about either the way FH records marriages in the GEDCOM file or the way Gensmarts reads the file?
Anyone else have this problem?
I'll email the Gensmarts people with the same question.
Just wondered, as you're recommending it, whether you're getting the same.
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistCan anyone comment whether this is something I've done wrong in Family Historian, or is FH not recording the marriage on both sides of the family?
When I look at the record for both husband and wife in the individual view, both are married to each other with the same marriage details and sourcing.
At first glance... there are two families defined... so GenSmarts is trying to help you track down the marriage for that first family definition (which seems to be missing any marriage place/date).
...
0 @F113@ FAM
1 HUSB @I357@
1 WIFE @I358@
1 CHIL @I364@
1 CHIL @I362@
1 CHIL @I359@
1 CHIL @I365@
1 CHIL @I360@
1 CHIL @I352@
1 CHIL @I363@
1 CHIL @I361@
...
0 @F240@ FAM
1 MARR
2 DATE 5 MAY 1849
2 PLAC Langford, Maldon, Essex
2 ADDR Parish Church
2 SOUR @S10@
3 PAGE Marriage Cert...
2 NOTE There is only...
1 HUSB @I357@
1 WIFE @I358@
1 CHIL @I359@
1 CHIL @I360@
1 CHIL @I361@
1 CHIL @I362@
1 CHIL @I363@
1 CHIL @I352@
1 CHIL @I364@
1 CHAN
2 DATE 9 MAR 2007
3 TIME 18:22:49
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family HistTook me a while to find the Families tab (as it's hidden by default), but now I have, it's all in the process of being sorted. Though I'm deleting, rather than merging as for some reason merging is breaking the links between spouses and between parents and children.
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family HistJan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistI have a wide variety of sources which will give the street address -- ship manifests (the 'person going to visit' and 'closest relative at home' questions), WWI Draft Registrations, City Directories, and the Census, etc. What I would like to do is build an index of what I have collected so far so that I can say 'what do I have associated in city X with street Y' and pull up all the sources.
I did find the useful article on making a query based on Residence -- I suppose I will have to knuckle down and learn how to write queries. In the meantime, I guess I will build my own 'city directory' with Excel, but I wish there were an easier way to go about it.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist
Jane said:
I am still looking for a good portable contact management system, a research logging system and a "magic brickwall remover" although the latter is somewhat unlikely.
I have also just found a tiny free GedCom Viewer which will work on a key drive called Simple Family Tree
Jane, have you had a chance to try out Simple Family Tree yet?
I've just ordered a 'research pack' from one of the (almost) local genealogy groups, the Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group. It comes with a USB drive pre-loaded with the Family History Library's list of links to useful sites (thousands!), and one of the coolest research tools I've ever seen -- Post-It-Note pads (dubbed "Stuck on Sources") -- printed with a little form with Author, Title, Call Number, and so on -- so if you are at the library photocopying stuff out of a book, or printing out stuff at home, you can write down the info for the source and stick it right on the page. Voila!
There's a nice write-up on putting PAF on a flash drive on their site, too:
http://www.svpafug.org/.
I have not made any progress towards finding a new research logger (apart from GenSmarts or the one built into Ancestral Quest) or contact management software.
However, I am thinking about getting a (bigger) USB drive for my workplace that is a U3 Smart Drive (see http://www.u3.com/ ) and loading it with OpenOffice and EssentialPIM. I'll let you know how I like the portable EssentialPIM. Certainly the price is right (free).
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistToday I got an email newsletter from the US magazine Family Tree Newsletter which had a software review. From there I investigated other links, ended up back at Cyndi's list -- you get the idea.
Thus I found GenScribe:
http://users.rcn.com/psherman/genscribe.html
Looking at the screenshots, it seems that this program is the kind of thing I have been looking for.
However, it is for the Mac.
I do have a Mac, but not an Intel one. The advantage for me in using GenScribe would be that I could work on my research tasks while my husband is using the Windows computer. The disadvantage, of course, is that while he is on the Windows computer, I cannot refer to my data on Fanily Historian.
If anyone sees anything like this for Windows, I'd appreciate hearing about it -- at some point I will get a new machine which will be able to run both FH and some flavor of research manager at the same time.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistAnother far simpler tool (also free) is the J & L Genealogy Reference Tool found at http://www.jlplanner.com/gref/
In relation to other genealogy software, I don't believe you can go past GED-GEN, http://www.ged-gen.com/ for a static GEDCOM to HTML converter. I use it to generate my site found at the link below (excluding the homepage).
John
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistSometimes it starts.
Sometimes it doesn't.
Since I can't get it to start reliably, I haven't used it much.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistJohn
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistJan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistHad a quick look at the Family History Fair but as it has no demo haven't invested in a copy.
Has anyone else looked at this?
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist"GRS is made up of three main components:
Information Tools
Research Data
Family Knowledge
These are used to collect information, store it in a logical and searchable way (data) and to help you make assumptions and decisions to produce family trees (knowledge)"
This appears to mean that you capture information from different sources into documents in a research database. A document can be a BMD certificate, census, GEDCOM file, or practically anything you can think of. Within each document people are linked by relationships. You can then analyse this research information in a number of ways (most of which I think you could replicate in FH). When you are convinced that the people in various documents are members of your family tree you would transfer the information into the "Family Knowledge" part of the database and link the people in different documents together with standard relationships. You can then export the information to a GEDCOM file.
At the moment, I can't honestly see me investing the time and effort to learn to use the program as I'm not sure whether I could adapt my existing system structure to work with it without re-formatting or re-entering a lot of data.
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistThanks for the reply - I invested my money in Family Atlas which although not cheap has a clear function in allowing mapping of data in the gedcom file.
I was worried that GRS would mean throwing away a lot of work and effectively starting again with the new tool which seems to be database driven.
If you do get further with it please post - I think what I need is a companion tool not a replacement for FH!
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistWhat I don't understand is, these forms exist, and the research logging that needs to be done is clearly understood, so why does everyone seize on the lineage-linked database idea and force even document-oriented programs to include it? Why force people to assign their finds to a specific person when the whole point is, you may not know yet whether the document you've found relates to your known relative, or not?
It is tempting to take Emily Croom's forms and use them as a model to design some Excel spreadsheets (along the lines of the Census Tools spreadsheets) http://censustools.com/ to log what I have collected. I don't understand why there aren't more simple journaling programs out there -- of course I could set up a Wiki or blog on my local machine, but that seems like overkill. I agree with PatrickT - I want something simple.
Just wanted to add a brief note (well, what counts for 'brief' with yours truly) that GenSmarts 2.0 has some experimental features in what they call the 'sandbox' that will allow you to log and categorize resources in your own library and then it will alert you when you have people in your file in the same time and place as those sources -- see the thread on the forum here about keeping track of what one has on cover discs.
Now I have to figure out how to correctly identify these digital record collections to GenSmarts -- unfortunately there is no description of what is on the cover disc which is easy to scrape off the magazine's website.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistHas anyone used a program like WinMerge on GEDCOM files, or does a similar program exist which is designed to do the same?
http://winmerge.org/
WinMerge is an Open Source (GPL) visual text file differencing and merging tool for Windows. It is highly useful for determining what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions.
Not so much for the merging part, but to make comparisons?
The thing I find particularly appealing is the highlighting of the differences between the files.
I haven't yet checked the wishlist to see if that feature has been asked for in FH's own Merge/Compare functions so if it is there already, please be gentle....
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist
jmurphy said:
However, I am thinking about getting a (bigger) USB drive for my workplace that is a U3 Smart Drive (see http://www.u3.com/ ) and loading it with OpenOffice and EssentialPIM. I'll let you know how I like the portable EssentialPIM. Certainly the price is right (free).
Well, the whole U3 thing has been a bit of a bust.
I am still soldiering on here with my Win98 computer at home, which does not do U3, and when I am at work, I rarely have time to launch Essential PIM, so I haven't used Essential PIM -- I end up sending myself an email to remind myself about things or sticking info in a text file or Excel spreadsheet. Not very organzied!
Having the drive has been super for taking files back and forth, but for launching apps, I haven't done much.
So my latest hack is to install the PortableApps launcher on the USB drive (apparently the U3 Launchpad and the PortableApps Launcher can co-exist nicely) and I'm going to try Task Coach Portable. (That will also allow me to use Portable Firebird at work, which is newer than the U3 version of Firebird).
If I like Task Coach Portable for work, I may put it on my genealogy thumb drive too (along with a copy of Firefox with all my genealogy bookmarks).
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family Histhttp://www.abstractspoon.com/tdl_resources.html
ToDoList is a rare form of task management tool, one that allows you to repeatedly sub-divide your tasks into more manageable pieces whilst still presenting a clean and intuitive user experience.
It was written by a programmer to keep track of IT projects. One of the things you can do is to assign tasks to peoplw in your workgroup by name. I thought this might be re-purposed to flag different tasks with the surname the item belongs to.
I came across it while I was searching for portable apps -- there is an option to either put your preferences in the registry or in an .ini file, and if you choose the .ini you can run it from a thumb drive. Apparently. But I can't get it to work -- when I run the executable in the archive, I get an error.
Just wanted to post this in case it proved useful to some of you with more programming chops / newer machines than I have. I do like the interface and it would have given me a good excuse to learn XML.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistWritten by a company called Vertigo for (believe it or not) Microsoft this is a rich proof of concept rather than a full product, but does have some good interface ideas
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family HistIt might serve to keep a simple log of what research you have done. Not ideal, perhaps, but it is portable.
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist1) Although not very cheap, at £90 you are allowed to run it on three PCs which suits my needs for laptop and desktop usage
2) I had to give up on OpenOffice after three years as I couldn't get it to replace Excel properly.
In so doing, I have now got a copy of OneNote which I initially didn't use but now realise is fantastic:
1) You can cut and paste content in however you want as a real electronic scrap book
2) It is very searchable
3) It OCRs images as you paste them!
Yesterday, I was saving space on my shelves by cutting out articles, scanning them and pasting into OneNote to allow me to get rid of the clutter of old magazines. I was very impressed to find that as I pasted in a column of text it had been OCRd by the software and was already indexed! Saved me making up key words!
Re: What other software do you use for Family HistHome coded util to dig FamilySeach.org a bit more automated but what the webpage allows for.
and finally ... what I don't use any longer. FTM and Genelines, especially the last one isn't worth a penny. If only Genelines would have turned out to be like FH and TCGR. I'm still looking for a replacement, anyone with an idea ?
Re: What other software do you use for Family Histhttp://www.ormus.info/archives/278-Portable-Gramps-Genealogy-in-your-Pocket.html
The author says it comes with its own Python and GTK environment. Since it uses a lot of little files, it may be best on a USB hard drive rather than a stick.
I've installed it, but haven't tested it out yet (it doesn't like my old Windows computer -- will have to try with XP).
Jan
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist"Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It lives right where you do your work—in the web browser itself. "
I put my different families into collections , take snapshots of web pages, add tags and notes for each item I find.
http://www.zotero.org/
Barbara
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist
I have also just found a tiny /free GedCom Viewer which will work on a key drive called Simple Family Tree
Have you found any new similar software since 2007 worth mentioning.
Back to the original thread.
There are two products that I use that may not have been mention which I have found very useful
SnagIt v 9 which is a screen capture program. I use it alot and has the ability to Scroll down a page. Many screen capure programs only capture what is on the screen.
The other software is VueScan. I found this very useful as my scanner is now several years old and I can not get an Epson driver for 64 bit Vista for it. By using VueScan it gets round this problem because I think it does not use a Twain driver.
Re: What other software do you use for Family Hist
RalfofAmber said:
On the subject of other software, and in particular something more research oriented, I ran into Deltadrive Genealogy Research System (GRS) www.deltadrive.co.uk.
Had a quick look at the Family History Fair but as it has no demo haven't invested in a copy.
Has anyone else looked at this?
Went to their website and was extremely impressed with the philosophy, but there's absolutely nothing in the way of screen shots etc to back up the fine words. Makes me suspicious.
Have emailed them for further info.
Maybe one of these fine days (if i can get respite from the family research addiction) i'll sort out all my Excel and Access fragments and put something together with VB.NET.
Re: What other software do you use for Family Histhttp://www.beholdgenealogy.com/
I've finally downloaded the trial version.
Ignore all the hype on his home page and look at the screenshot. What Behold does is look at your GEDCOM file and make a report that is human-readable, with a tree-style index on the sidebar. Right now it's read-only -- eventually he plans to have a version that will let you edit, too.
So -- let's say you want to find all the instances in your file of people who live on Chestnut Street. Fire up the search widget and enter 'Chestnut' and then you can skip right through and see them all, the same way you'd do if you had your GEDCOM file open in a text editor.
Peeking at the menu items, I see:
-- Export to RTF or HTML
-- a way to specify your text viewer of choice
-- you can pop up a separate window to view the GEDCOM at the same time, and compare
-- a section called 'Behold Organize Info' which will pop up a tabbed window with data about your GEDCOM (what GEDCOM tags are in your file, how many times each one is used, etc)
-- what things should be included in your 'Everything Report'
It seems to have divided my GEDCOM file up into four pools -- one family is my husband's father's family, one family is my husband's mother's family, the third is 'others related by marriage' and the last is 'everyone else'. That's the default, but there's a command to add, so perhaps you can teach the program better if you need a finer-grained approach. You can assign custom IDs to your families and to your GEDCOM files.
I think I like it -- especially for going through and looking for stuff that needs to be cleaned up, like instances of surnames in all caps, or screwy place names.
It's a neat little program.
Is it worth $20? Maybe. But if you download the beta now, you can get a key from the author and a 45-day trial for free.
Jan
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