Michael Booth of RootsMagic, one of the most powerful genealogy software programs available for both Mac and Windows, offered a sneak peak at the new Ancestry interface coming ANY MINUTE (she dreams) to RootsMagic.
The hint images and description look like RootsMagic will link to your Ancestry.com Tree much the way that Family Tree Maker does, but the interface to compare records and data will be similar to what RootsMagic does currently for FamilySearch, allowing the blending of data and sources between the two individual person data sets, hopefully allowing updating of Ancestry, too. It will also allow viewing of source material images and media, as well as downloads to your RootsMagic files.
Things we still do not know include:
- Whether or not RootsMagic and Ancestry will permit linking to multiple trees or just one. Family Tree Maker permits only one, which is very frustrating for serious and professional genealogists.
- If the Ancestry tree link includes automatic updates to RootsMagic tree if changes are made to an individual linked to Ancestry.
- How research may be handled from within RootsMagic on Ancestry beyond the current hint system they use, which I doubt will be expanded upon to match what Family Tree Maker offers with an internal browser to online resources as such research should be done independent of the software for maximum efficiency (though I do love the way FTM uses APIs for click-and-drag data additions).
I have other questions, but like so many, I’m very excited about this addition to the power already within RootsMagic, and I do hope that this is a positive step toward more standardization in the genealogy and family history industry of APIs as I’d love to have the same connections for data in Find My Past and MyHeritage, along with others.
