Thursday, May 28, 2015

Legacy Family Tree Version 8 is Updated - Research Guidance Feature

The Legacy News blog posted today notes that the popular family tree software program was updated to version 8.0.0.499 today.  You can see the added or improved features in the blog post.  This is a FREE download (although some of the features in the free version are not functional).

One of the unique features that Legacy Family Tree has, and other software programs do not have, is the "Research Guidance."  Over 440 new sources were added, and 28 sources were revised.

1)  Users can access the Research Guidance from the "My Toolbar" menu and the "Research Guidance" button:


2)  With one of my ancestors highlighted, when I click on the "Research Guidance" button and the "Review Timeline" tab opened:


3)  The next tab on the "Research Guidance" screen is for "Preliminary Survey:"


For my target person, 88 sources were listed.  There are five sub-tabs - for:

*   "Lineage-Linked Databases" (e.g., Ancestry Member Trees),
*  "Surname MB/ML" (e.g., a Seaver message board or mailing list),
*  "Locality MB/ML" (e.g., a Worcester County message board or mailing list),
*  "Genealogies" (e.g. a published compiled genealogy book)
*  "Local Histories" (e.g., a county or town history book)

Note that these records or publications are not searched-for records, they are suggestions to check for records or publications for the target person based on their birth and death range and the locations noted in the "Review Timeline" tab.

4)  The "Suggested Sources" lists specific source titles that may have information about the target person:


There are six sub-tabs on this screen - for:

*  Goal: Birth
*  Goal:  Death
*  Goal:  Marriage
*  Goal:  Parents
*  Goal:  Siblings
*  Goal:  History

On each of those tabs, the user can review each suggested source, add it to a To-Do List (by clicking on "Plan to Search"), Ignore the suggested source (by clicking the "Options" button, and clicking on "Ignore this source for the specific  person), or note that the task has been "Done" by clicking the "Done" check box for the source.

For each source highlighted by the user on the screen above, there is a list at the bottom left of the screen for Repositories where the source might be found.

5)  Items that are checked "Plan to Search" appear on the "To Do List" (the fourth tab on the first line of tabs).

6)  Each screen above has explanatory material on the screen to help a researcher navigate the "Research Guidance."  This "Research Guidance" feature can be used for each person in the user's family tree database.

These sources can be used to review a wide range of specific sources which can help a researcher find published information about their target person.  However, published information can be very incomplete for many historical persons, and research in unpublished or digitized records is required.  Legacy Family Tree users can do that in the "Search Internet" button on the "Search" menu.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/05/legacy-family-tree-version-8-is-updated.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

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