Comparing Genealogy Software - RootsMagic 4 - Part 1

One of the genealogy software programs I'm using is RootsMagic 4. In this series of posts, I will be comparing how RootsMagic 4 performs relative to What I Want in a Family Tree Program and relative to Family Tree Maker 2009 and to Legacy Family Tree 7.

My first test is to upload both a native FTM 16 file and a GEDCOM file to RootsMagic 4. I am using the same FTM 16 database, and a GEDCOM file created from it, to perform these tests.

RootsMagic 4 permits native file uploads from RootsMagic 1-3, Family Origins (Version 4 and later), Family Tree Maker (Version 2006 and earlier), Legacy Family Tree, Personal Ancestral File, and from a GEDCOM file. I uploaded the native FTM 16 file, the screen below summarizes the data file characteristics:


The file statistics showed:

* People = 38,420
* Families = 15,129
* Events = 55,379
* Places = 10,011
* Alternate Names = 151
* Sources = 301
* Citations = 5182
* Repositories = 83
* MultiMedia Items = 11
* MultiMedia Links = 11

This file took about 3 minutes to upload, and has a file size of 26,545 mb and the 11 media items have a total file size of 2.88 mb.

When I uploaded the GEDCOM created by the same FTM 16 database, the file statistics are:

* People = 38,420
* Families = 15,129
* Events = 95,538
* Places = 10,314
* Alternate Names = 150
* Sources = 304
* Citations = 5271
* Repositories = 0
* MultiMedia Items = 0
* MultiMedia Links = 0

This file took about 1 minute to upload, and has a file size of 30,533 mb and there are no media items.

Comparing this data to the others, I noted that:

* RootsMagic 4 provides much more file information - including places, alternate names, number of citations, number of repositories, etc.

* The number of individuals in each file is the same. The number of familes is slightly different between FTM 2009 (15,121) and RootsMagic 4 (15,129) and Legacy (15,129).

* The number of "Events" and "Places" is different for the two uploads to RootsMagic - I don't know why. I wonder if this is why the RootsMagic 4 file size is larger for the GEDCOM upload than for the native file upload.

* The number of sources (probably the "Master Sources") are different from the FTM 2009 count, but similar (but not exact) to the Legacy count.

* As with other programs, the GEDCOM upload does not bring multimedia items across from the first program.

* The RootsMagic file size is much smaller than the FTM 2009 and Legacy Family Tree file sizes.

I hope my readers didn't mind that I devoted today's blogging effort to these four posts. They will enable all of us to better understand what we are getting in our genealogy software.