Advice for beginner

[MG78]

Hello. I have recently started to sort through all my late father's genealogy records, and I am trying to decide on what program to use. I would be grateful for some advice.

Although he used Rootsmagic (v5UK) none of his files worked when I tried to import them, having loaded his program onto a very old Windows laptop, so I don't feel I have to continue with Rootsmagic. A lot of his research remains in hard copy only.

I am a Mac user and did not like the look of Rootsmagic v7 when I downloaded the trial version. Family Tree Maker seems to be the other major option, but there is no trial version. There are other specific Mac programs but are these any good?

I started a 14 day free trial on Ancestry.co.uk which I have found straight forward and quite addictive to use, and rapidly added several generations of my late mother's ancestors, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However I will have to commit to £14 or £20 per month indefinitely which is quite expensive for a hobby which I will probably only carry on intermittently. I a aware of the free to access FamimlySearch.org for some information.

I understand the difference between a resource like Ancestry.co.uk and a tree program like Rootsmagic, and can see why a separate program with a one off cost could be better.

There are so many options and I would really appreciate some guidance to help me make my decision.

[cbcarolyn]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I am not a big user of my software, I have FTM as it is a simple and easy way to back up my tree from Ancestry, and apart from a few reports I generally don't make much use of it. I do also have rootsmagic - which I had hoped would work in same way as FTM, but the back up is far too cumbersome to be of use.

I think it probably depends what you ultimately expect from it, lots of reports? printing? charts? to do lists? website?

There are people on here that make extensive use, that i am sure will be able to give a few hints

[pinefamily]

Welcome from me too.
I believe there is Reunion for Mac; something to look into.
While covid restrictions are in place, subscribing to Ancestry is your only option. Otherwise, a lot of libraries have Ancestry available.

[MG78]

Thank you cbcarolyn and pinefamily for your responses. I will have a look at Reunion. I think I will pay for 6 months of Ancestry to give me more time to decide.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Your own stand alone program on your computer serves a different purpose to your Ancestry membership. You need your own program to make sure you always have access to your own research. You need paid membership to servers like Ancestry and FindmyPast to give you access to research material. Of course you can also build a tree on Ancestry but, as you have found, you need to keep the sub paid up to access that tree.

I completely get that you don't want the cost of a sub permanently. There are some free resources out there, as you have found and also (as Carolyn said) you may be able to access Ancestry remotely from your library, you don't need to visit the library in person.

Family history programs for Mac users are outside my experience so hopefully someone will come along with some suggestions to help.

Anne

[pinefamily]

You need to get your tree started, or upload a gedcom, while subscribed, but not to work on it. I currently only use the library edition of Ancestry here in Australia but can sign into my account and access my tree to edit.

[MG78]

Thank you Anne. I do want my own program so that I can add various documents, snippets of information etc and possibly create a book of sorts. My father had such a lot of information from about 40 years of research (the hard way, pre internet) and had begun a book. I feel I should continue his work.

I have looked further and Ancestry support indicates that a lapsed or cancelled subscription still leaves you with access to your tree and nothing is deleted, but nothing can be added and no documentation can be accessed. Therefore I could be a member for short periods of time whenever I want bursts of activity (winter time) and leave the data in limbo in between.

I am currently trying Reunion for Mac as suggested by pinefamily. Looks ok so far.

[cbcarolyn]

You never lose what you have on Ancestry, I have subscribed on and off over the years, but you can't access images or messages without a sub. As soon as you resubscribe they are all there to see again.

That is why I have FTM so that all the images are downloaded with little effort on my part.

Will the book be physical or digital?

There are quite a few recent threads that I recommend you read through, including some about digital ideas.

[pinefamily]

I have to disagree here. As I stated above, I can access, and add to or edit, my tree without a sub. I can also receive and respond to messages, I just can't send to new people.

[cbcarolyn]

I have forgotten then, sorry, I was sure that you couldn't access the ancestry images. I have been a subscriber for a couple of years now.

[Jill on the A272]

You can see or edit your tree once your sub has expired, it's the associated images of records which you cannot see.

[Karamazov]

I have to disagree here. As I stated above, I can access, and add to or edit, my tree without a sub. I can also receive and respond to messages, I just can't send to new people.

Yes, I am adding people to my tree and adding/editing facts, without currently having an active paid sub. I can also add media, notes, comments, stories. I can view any attached sources if they are not behind the Ancestry paywall (eg pre1915 England and Wales marriages and deaths, free linked records from other sites eg Ireland 1901 and 1911 censuses, findagrave etc.)
At the times when you do have a paid sub, you can download/save images of sources to the relevant person’s gallery and attach them as media to the relevant fact in the person’s timeline. That way, you can view the images whenever you like, as can anyone with whom you share your tree who also may not have an active subscription.

As you say, it’s not possible to initiate messages to people. However, if you’ve done an Ancestry DNA test, you can initiate messages to your DNA contacts.

Christine

[Gardengirl]

This discussion got me thinking that I am not currently using my subscription much and I have access to Ancestry Worldwide through the library so I decided to cancel. I pay monthly so it was easy to do with immediate effect. This is the page which came up to let me know what I was losing

[AntonyM]

In the courses I teach I always stress to students how important it is to have control over your own data - not to rely on ANY website to store it for you forever.

By all means copy it to websites, but keep everything on your own computer, using whatever programme suits you best (everyone will tell you it is the one they use). Make sure you have a proper backup process, ideally to at least two other storage mediums and with one of them away from home ( Cloud Storage etc)

If you want to be absolutely certain your research will survive beyond you, make sure that you have printed out charts and all the key material on paper. Those you leave behind may not want to access your computer, or even have the necessary interest/skills/knowledge to retrieve your research properly.

I have some research my father left - it is on floppy disks - not an easy thing to access these days.

[pinefamily]

Very true, Antony. Who is to say that hard drives and USB's will not go the way of the floppy disk in years to come?

[cbcarolyn]

This discussion got me thinking that I am not currently using my subscription much and I have access to Ancestry Worldwide through the library so I decided to cancel. I pay monthly so it was easy to do with immediate effect. This is the page which came up to let me know what I was losing

perfect - slightly different UK records are free is it 1881 images?

[Gardengirl]

perfect - slightly different UK records are free is it 1881 images?

Sorry, Carolyn, not sure what you mean?

[cbcarolyn]

only that it said "like the 1940 census", but maybe it always says that even if you leave the co.uk, maybe standard screen.

[Gardengirl]

Ah, I see. Yes, I just assumed it was a rather vague generic example.

[MG78]

Thank you again to all who have responded. I am really liking Ancestry for the ease with which I can research and build up a tree. In one week I have got further with my mother's ancestors than my father did in years of research, although this wasn't his main focus. I now wish I had bought him an Ancestry sub for his birthday! It is comforting to know that I will still have access to all my Ancestry tree information if / when I cancel a subscription. I can see that I could take out a monthly sub periodically and work hard during that time.

I am still trying out free versions of various programs, none of which have wowed me yet. I am wondering how important it is to be able to sync between program and Ancestry (as opposed to manually making sure the two are in step)? If it is crucial, I think I am left with a choice of one: Family Tree Maker for Mac.

And as a PS to AntonyM, my father had floppy discs, but also CDs and a portable hard drive, as well as his computer hard drive, and crucially, lots and lots of hard copy photos, documents and correspondence.