Tuesday, August 30, 2016

RootsMagic Provides More Information About Ancestry.com Synchronization

I received the August 2016 issue of the RootsMagic Newsletter yesterday - you can read it at  http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=8e85643d5218349ea32bc4f19&id=1bd2682a44.  The Archive of RootsMagic newsletters is at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Newsletter/Archive.aspx.


The first article is "When Will RootsMagic Sync with Ancestry?"  The article says:
"When will RootsMagic sync with Ancestry? - The RootsMagic / Ancestry sync is scheduled to be released by the end of this year.
"What does this "sync" include? - RootsMagic will let you share data (in both directions) between your RootsMagic tree and your personal Ancestry online trees.  This includes people, events, notes, sources, and media.  In addition, RootsMagic will be able to display WebHints from Ancestry, and allow you to download and attach those documents to individuals in your RootsMagic file.
"Will the Ancestry sync features require me to buy an upgrade? - If you are using RootsMagic 7, the Ancestry sync features will be a free upgrade.  If you are using an older version of RootsMagic (6 or older), you will need to upgrade to RM7 to use the new Ancestry sync features.
"Will I need an Ancestry subscription when RootsMagic's sync is released? - You will need an Ancestry account to use the new sync features in RootsMagic.  Some features will work with the free Ancestry account, but other features will require you to have a paid Ancestry subscription.  The features and records available to you will depend on your subscription level."
There are two key issues regarding RootsMagic synchronization with an Ancestry Member Tree here:

*  Sharing data between RootsMagic and your Ancestry Member Tree.  Apparently, this includes people, events, notes, sources and media.

I believe that this will work in a similar way that RootsMagic currently shares data with the FamilySearch Family Tree.  The user matches a person, then adds content (people, events, notes, sources and media) from one file to the other so that both files have the same information.

I don't believe that this will work like Family Tree Maker 2014 syncs with an Ancestry Member Tree, whereby pushing one button makes the information for every person in the FTM file the same as is in the Ancestry Member Tree file.

Of course, I may be wrong.  We will have to wait until the end of the year to find out.

*  RootsMagic will display Ancestry.com WebHints, and users will be able to download and attach documents from Ancestry to RootsMagic persons.  This may work like Family Tree Maker 2014's Web Merge feature wherein the record is brought into the database for an event and with a source citation and media item.

Again, we will have to wait until the end of the year to find out.

I think that this is all good news.  RootsMagic has been consistent in their statements all year, and, hopefully, will succeed in making the sync and download/attach document features work efficiently and logically by the end of 2016.  I'm looking forward to be able to do these tasks in early 2017.  Stay tuned.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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1 comment:

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

Hope for a clarification with this point:

You will need an Ancestry account to use the new sync features in RootsMagic

The Ancestry Member Tree sync should be Free, so no Subscription is required. An Ancestry Account would be needed. Account meaning a Login at Ancestry.

There are may Free Subscription databases used for Hints, like Find A Grave. It's the Subscription based database hints that we won't have access to, with only an Ancestry Account.

It will be interesting to see how the Hints are provided to a Roots Magic user. Will ALL Hints be provided, or only those hints based on your Subscription Level. I also would hope that you have Control over the Hints from Ancestry Member Trees.

Thanks for the great summary of the Newsletter.

Russ