Reunion for Mac has been updated to fix the GEDCOM import problem that was introduced in the 9.0a release, a cosmetic issue with some lists when using Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and display and printing issues with images in charts. Download a copy from here.

I noticed that Reunion for Mac has been updated to fix issues with the newest Mac OS, so I thought I’d mention it here. Here is the change list:

• Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) – fixed an incompatibility with Reunion and Snow Leopard where family files would not open if they had source citations visible on the family card. Also fixed the display of source citations in note fields.
• Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) – fixed an incompatibility with Reunion and Snow Leopard when compacting family files while displaying children and parents in the list format.
• iDisk/MobileMe – fixed some problems when uploading web reports to iDisk.
• iDisk/MobileMe – replaced references to .mac (dot mac) with MobileMe.
• Sorting Children – when sorting children on the family card, the modified date for the family card will be updated.
• Printing – improved printing quality of PDF objects pasted in charts.
• Web Reports – fixed a problem on Intel Macs when generating Google Analytics code.
• LDS – fixed a bug when applying temple date and code to marked people.
• LDS/GEDCOM Import – submitted status of LDS events will no longer be lost if a date is present.
• Manual – several improvements in the manual.
• Web Styles – several improvements to .css files.

You can get the new version here.

Now, back to my family life!

P.S. Before you upgrade, read the comment from Roger about a GEDCOM import bug introduced in this version!

Synium Software’s iPhone application has been updated to version 2.0 and is available in iTunes. Here’s what they’re saying is changed in this release:

• Completely rewritten from the ground up
• 3D virtual tree added
• Map chart available
• Ancestor and descendant charts
• Family quiz
• Media browser added
• Take photos with your iPhone camera
• Performance enhanced

There is a $4.99 price to buy this new; the upgrade from 1.x is free. You’ll need to be running version 5.6.3 of MacFamilyTree to use this iPhone application.

I created a PDF that lists the screencasts I’ve released on CD. This should help you determine which CD contains the video for which you’re looking. Download the MacGenealogist Screencast Index.

Genealogists using the software MacFamilyTree have the ability to add geographic coordinates, expressed as latitude and longitude, for places in their family database. This is a process known as geocoding. The information can be added on an place-by-place basis by entering it in the edit place windows. If you have many places that are not geocoded it can be a pain to locate and add them individually. Fortunately, Synium included a feature that locates place records that are not geocoded and presents them in a list, where you can geocode them one after another.

In this video: Mass Geocoding in Macintosh genealogy software MacFamilyTree, I show you how to use the “Find Missing Coordinates for Events” feature.

I’ve been working on a MacFamilyTree screencast this evening. It’s related to geocoding which is related to the “virtual globe” feature. As is usual for me when I explore features, I asked myself, “What value does this offer genealogists?” I’m having a hard time coming up with something nice to say about this one.

Yes, I get that you can see points on a globe for events in your database. And, that lines indicating the direction of movement connect the points. So, what? How can this help you with the fundamental activities a genealogist undertakes? Does it help you plan or carry out research? No. Can it help you identify or locate sources? No. Can you turn evidence into sound conclusions with it? No. Does it make preserving information more efficient or effective? No. I can’t imagine a single way that this “feature” improves, in a material way, what you can do already.

Significant time was invested in developing the virtual globe feature and continues to be invested in maintaining it, so it apparently has value to someone. It’s just not us genealogists. I think the value is to the maker; it’s eye-candy that may increase sales. Now, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate capitalism and good marketing. I also appreciate elegant design (which is why I use a Mac) and productivity (which is also why I use a Mac). I’ve gotta say, the virtual globe is useless bloat. You would have been better served by having something useful (and basic to all the major genealogy software) added, for example, the ability to produce a family group sheet.

Am I missing something? Please tell me if you’re using the virtual globe to do some valuable genealogy work that can’t be done just as well (or better) another way. I’d love to read your thoughts on it.

A recent discussion thread on the MacGenealogist group on GenealogyWise reminded me that I wanted to share a caution about the Logs feature in the Macintosh genealogy software, Reunion. I didn’t include this tidbit in the screencast I recently produced about Logs in Reunion for Mac.

Don’t expect your log entries to export to GEDCOM; they don’t. Now, I’m not saying, “Don’t use the Logs feature.” I simply didn’t want you assuming any GEDCOM files you create include the logs. If you want to give a log to someone you’ll need to generate a report. Unfortunately they can’t all be exported at once; this tidbit I did share in the Logs screencast.

One of the common problems MacGenealogists shared with me in my recent “One Problem Survey” is the fear of your genealogical materials being lost or forgotten after you pass on or can’t manage it yourself any more. This concern coincides with a recent story.

I know a genealogist that passed away on January 1st, 2007. His name was Bob. I know Bob put a lot of effort into his research and that he took trips to do more research and walk in his ancestor’s footsteps. I wondered what happened to his research, so I asked.

It turns out Bob’s PC and three-ring-binders have yet to be picked up by his son!I don’t mean this as a slight or to suggest that it should be any other way than it is. It’s just an observation, but one I think Bob would have thought important: his son is apparently not motivated to carry on his genealogy research nor even preserve it for the future. Might this be the fate of your research too?

It very likely would have been the fate of mine. When I read your concerns and thought about the fate of Bob’s research the solution was immediately apparent to me and I knew it was a nearly universal problem so I was compelled to develop a method to solve it and give it away to all genealogists.

I put together a draft of the program. It’s called, Establishing a Genealogical Materials Steward. The six simple methods in this program virtually guarantee that your genealogical research will be available to and remembered by succeeding generations. Here are the steps:

1. Prepare For Stewardship
2. Create a Prioritized List of Stewardship Candidates
3. Ask Each Stewardship Candidate (in Priority Order) Until One Accepts
4. Provide the Stewardship Materials
5. Review the Stewardship Materials with Them
6. Schedule Ongoing Stewardship Material Refreshes

Simple, right? Simple, but not easy. Judging by the state of the genealogy “research” published on the Internet, these simple steps are also secrets until now. Naturally there are specific techniques that make up each step, but these sub-steps are simple too. Anyone can do this!

As I said, I’m going to make this program available to anyone who wants it at no cost. First I need to polish any rough edges and make sure it is complete. To do this I need some more people to volunteer to go through the process and give me feedback. This first pass through the program will be limited to a small number of people so that I can keep it manageable. The instructions will be emailed to you each week, one step at a time. This will give you time to review the material, ask any questions, take action, and give feedback. If you’re interested, sign up for the mailing list here.

Synium released an update to their Macintosh genealogy software MacFamilyTree. According to the software update dialog, version 5.6 includes the following changes:

• New Virtual Tree
• Drastic performance enhancements by using multiple processors/cores when available
• Much improved 3d alignment, especially in complex scenarios
• Can only show partial subtrees within a database
• Displays pictures of persons directly in the 3d tree when available
• New palette to directly jump to near ancestors or descendants
• Improved Media Management
• One picture, audio, web page or video can now be assigned to multiple persons, families, events or sources
• Persons or families can be tagged on group fotos for easy identification
• Pictures can be edited from within MacFamilyTree (cropping, hue control, saturation and noise reduction)
• Images with embedded DPI information are now handled correctly and are displayed in full resolution
• Media can now be bookmarked as it has already been possible for Persons or Families
• Improved playback of Video and Audio media entries
• Virtual Globe
• Improved rendering performance on slower Macs
• More detailed map
• Other Improvements
• Text-based Descendant and Ancestor Reports are now available in the Person Report
• Full screen mode for the Virtual Tree and the Virtual Globe
• All dialogs or sheets have been improved to a consistent and user friendly look
• Further performance enhancements throughout the whole application as well as a reduced memory footprint

People change names for many reasons. What’s surprising, at least when new to genealogical research, is that it’s relatively common for a person’s name to change during their lifetime. Since it’s common and adds complexity to our practice, I devised a solution with respect to storing computer files. There are three predominant problems that it eliminates.

The Problems

There are countless people in your genealogy with more than one name. Trying to remember all the name variants and which folders contain the files for each is unnecessary. The computer excels at such things.

Storing duplicates of each file for all the name variants wastes disk space and creates a maintenance problem.

Files relating to one person, but scattered across folders can cause confusion, duplicate effort, and conclusions based on incomplete information.

The Solution

The MacGenealogist File System deals effectively with changing names—both person and place names—by making use of the power and elegance of a little known feature of the Macintosh operating system: aliases.

Aliases are pointers to either files or folders. The details of their utility is covered in a series of screencasts called Creating a Genealogy Folder System on Your Mac.

The alias feature makes a couple peculiarities of genealogy research irrelevant. The first is that genealogist tend to work backward in time. This often results in birth names being unknown when records of a person are first encountered.

The second is that documentation is gathered, created, and stored as we conduct research. These factors combine to create the set of problems described above.

Fortunately for us, we have already switched to the Macintosh, so we can take advantage of aliases with just a little instruction. Use of aliases in the MacGenealogist File System make the actual location of files almost meaningless anyway because they appear everywhere we expect them to be.

The method for storing files for a person with multiple names is to create a folder named with the person’s last known name, create alias folders that point to it for each former name. Each folder and alias is stored in the corresponding surname folder. Easy peasy!

When we follow this approach we have a folder structure that allows us to drag and drop files into folders that have the same name as the person in the file we’re storing. For example, imagine having a scan of a newspaper clipping about a distant, female relative. It refers to her using her maiden name. You don’t have to remember or lookup her married name in order to store the file; simply drop the file into the aliased folder that bears her maiden name.

How-To

Having written this much I’ve gotta say that it’s immediately apparent to me why I prefer to demonstrate these computer techniques in screencasts.

Anyway, here are the detailed steps to for this technique:

1. Create a new surname folder if one does not already exist for each name variant
2. Create a new folder in the surname folder that corresponds with the person’s last known name
3. Make the folder name follow the MacGenealogist File System naming technique for people
4. If other names are known, create one alias for each (select the original folder in a Finder window and press Command-L or select File | Make Alias from the menu)
5. For each alais folder, change the name to match a name variant (e.g. birth name)
6. Move each alias folder to the respective surname folder

If these instructions are unclear, viewing my screencast on using Finder aliases for changing place-names may help. It’s not directly about people’s names, but the steps for creating and renaming aliases are the same.

The Next Step

It’s that easy and the only rule to remember is a simple one: put  files in which ever folder bears the person’s name and it will actually reside in the folder bearing their most recent name while appearing in every other alias folder.

Now you can begin to harness the elegant power of aliases. Pick an ancestor for whom you have files that aren’t yet stored this way, follow these instructions, then marvel at the magical simplicity.