Showing posts with label Family Trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Trees. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Family Historian 8 Introduces Smart Folders, an AI Connector, and Integration with FamilySearch User Trees

I received this information from Calico Pie, the provider of Family Historian genealogy software:

================================ 

Family Historian 8 Introduces Smart Folders, an AI Connector, and Integration with FamilySearch User Trees


PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Calico Pie’s most ambitious upgrade yet also adds new mapping tools, a major graphics update for charts and diagrams, and a free phone companion app

London, UK – 26 October 2026 – Calico Pie Limited today officially announced the release of Family Historian 8, the latest version of its desktop genealogy software for Windows, available since 2 October. Version 8 introduces Smart Folders, an AI Connector that lets an AI assistant work directly in a family tree project, integration with FamilySearch user trees, and new mapping tools.

Smart Folders

Smart Folders automatically organise the people, sources, places and other records in a family tree into customisable folders, instantly surfacing the interesting and important information they contain. Calico Pie believes Smart Folders are a genealogy world first.

Smart Folders in Family Historian 8: records grouped automatically by occupation, residence, religion and cause of death.

The AI Connector: AI help, with you in control

The AI Connector lets Claude, or another compatible AI assistant, work inside a Family Historian project, for example by transcribing and recording certificates or tidying records. The user stays in control and uses their own AI account. Access can be read-only or read-write, and changes can be undone when the session is closed.

FamilySearch integration, including user trees

Family Historian 8 adds FamilySearch integration, working with both the global FamilySearch Family Tree and FamilySearch’s new user trees, whose owners control who can access them. Information can be copied in both directions: users can even upload a whole project to a user tree, and import a tree branch, or a whole user tree, into a new or existing project. Each record is shown alongside its FamilySearch match, with differences highlighted so users can spot and resolve them quickly. Auto-matching and FamilySearch hints help users find matches and spot duplicates, and nothing is sent to FamilySearch unless the user chooses to send it.

More in version 8

  • New mapping tools: draw shapes and text on maps, add overlays such as historic county boundaries, and save maps for reports and books.
  • 64-bit: much larger projects, reports, books and charts, and often better performance.
  • Diagrams and books: a rebuilt graphics engine for faster, better-looking diagrams, and new tools for creating scrapbooks and photo books.
  • Queries, reports and citations: a redesigned query system with more powerful filters and built-in functions you can add from a list, a new All Relatives Narrative report and customisable source citations.
  • Family Historian Mobile: a free companion app for viewing a family tree on a phone (Android in public beta, iPhone in development).
  • Free Edition: anyone can view, browse and edit a project, so relatives can make corrections.

Availability and pricing

Family Historian 8 runs on 64-bit Windows 11 or 10 and is available as a download from the Family Historian website, either as a perpetual licence or by monthly or annual subscription. Pricing details are on the website. Subscribers receive free upgrades to future releases. Owners of version 7 can upgrade to a perpetual licence at a 25% discount, and owners of versions 5 and 6 at 10%. Version 8 installs alongside earlier versions, and a snapshot of each project is kept automatically when it is upgraded. A free 30-day trial is available.

“A query is like a torch in a dark room: it lights up only what you point it at. Smart Folders are like switching on the light – suddenly you can see the whole room,” said Simon Orde, founder of Calico Pie. “Then there’s the AI Connector: we’re already hearing extraordinary stories about what people are doing with it and Claude. We want genealogists everywhere to be able to use Family Historian 8 as part of their genealogy toolkit, which is why we’re also offering low-cost monthly subscriptions.”

About Family Historian

Family Historian is award-winning genealogy software for Windows, with tools for charts and diagrams, reports and books, mapping, linking faces in photos to people, and research. It is designed and written by Calico Pie Limited, a UK software house founded by Simon Orde in 1995 and based in London.

Media contact

Simon Orde, Calico Pie Limited
info@family-historian.co.uk
Telephone (UK office hours): +44 20 3637 6694
https://www.family-historian.co.uk
Full details of the new version: https://www.family-historian.co.uk/whats-new-in-8

===================================

Disclosure:  I received this notice from Calico Pie in my email this week and thought it would be helpful to genelaogists and family historians.  I have received no remuneration for posting this, but have used this software in the past on a trial basis.

The URL for this post is: 

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.



Thursday, October 22, 2026

Added and Updated MyHeritage Record Collections - Week of 16 to 22 October 2026

  The following Record Collections were ADDED or Updated in the MyHeritage Collections Catalog during the week of 16 to 22 October 2026:

The number of collections at the top of the list shows 1,738 collections (an increase of 2 from last week) with  41,389,728,099 records (an increase of over 138 million records from last week).  The list above shows 2 ADDED collections.  

I collected the latest numbers for the Family Tree collections from the "Number of Records" list which has the Family Tree collections (and a total of 1,738 collections).
 The number of entries in the family tree collections were last updated this week.

                          ================================ 

See previous Genea-Musings posts about MyHeritage record collections and features in https://www.geneamusings.com/search/label/MyHeritage.com.

                          =========================================

Disclosure: I receive a complimentary PremiumPlus subscription to MyHeritage, and have received other material consideration in past years. I uploaded my autosomal DNA raw data to their DNA product. This does not affect my objective analysis of MyHeritage products. I am a paid subscriber to Family Tree Webinars and love it.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/10/added-and-updated-myheritage-record_0179109824.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.

Sunday, October 18, 2026

Guest Post: Tree Prism -- Nine Ways To Look At a Family Tree

 I received this guest post from Konstantin Popov of Tree Prism recently:


=============================

Tree Prism: Nine Ways to Look at a Family Tree
by Konstantin Popov

A reader of my blog once sent me an article about the many ways people have drawn family trees. I wanted to try those ideas on my own tree, and once they worked, it seemed a shame to keep them to myself. So I turned them into Tree Prism, a free tool that opens a GEDCOM file in your browser and shows it in nine different views.

You start with the GEDCOM file your genealogy program exports. RootsMagic, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Family Tree Maker, Gramps and others can all create one. Pick a person, and the views redraw around them. If you'd like to look around first, click "Open a sample": it loads a made-up town of about 3,000 people.

Some of the views help you notice things in your tree:
  • Timeline places your ancestors' lives against the history of their country: the rulers, the wars and epidemics, and record milestones like census years.

  • Lexis shows age and contemporaries in one diagram, so you can see who was alive at the same time as whom.
  • Branches maps a person's descendants and flags records that look incomplete.
  • Others just turned out pretty enough to print and frame:
Others just turned out pretty enough to print and frame:
  • Tree, the classic chart of ancestors and descendants, with several print themes.
  • - Fan, as a full circle, a half circle or a "butterfly."
  • - Descendant Sun, Lifespans on a circular time scale, Constellation, and Galaxy, which puts relatives by blood and marriage on one chart.

Any chart can be saved as a PDF or as a PNG at up to 600 dpi, which leaves plenty of room for a large print. If you plan to share a chart, an export option replaces the names and dates of anyone who may still be living with "Details hidden."

Two more tabs go beyond the pictures. 
  • Analysis runs date checks, lists brick walls, and looks at marriage and first-child patterns, wedding seasons and longevity. 
  • Facts finds small stories in your tree, such as which ancestors were contemporaries of famous people, and turns them into cards you can share.
Privacy matters to me as much as the charts. Your GEDCOM file never leaves your browser. There's no account to create, and there are no ads or analytics. The details are at https://prism.vibe-genealogy.com/privacy/. The flip side of doing everything locally is that a very large tree can be slow on an older phone or computer.

I built Tree Prism with Claude Code and Codex, AI coding agents working under my direction. There's no AI model inside the tool itself. The chart ideas come from published visualizations, and the sources are credited in the app.

It's free and still a very early prototype. If you find a bug or have an idea for a chart you'd like to see, please write to me at hello@vibe-genealogy.com.

Try it at https://prism.vibe-genealogy.com

=====================================

I tried Tree Prism with a small GEDCOM file (2,600 persons) and it worked fine.  I'm a little confused by some of the diagrams that the program can produce.  Here is my Family Tree (8 generations) in the Butterfly view:

                                       =========================================

I was contacted by Konstantin Popov, who developed Tree Prism, recently and I  offered to publish a guest post about it.  Thank you, Konstantin.

 I welcome Guest Posts on Genealogy and Family History topics.  

Disclosure: I received no remuneration to publish this blog post and to use and describe this FREE product.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/10/guest-post-tree-prism-nine-ways-to-look.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.

Friday, October 16, 2026

Updates to RootsMagic 12

 Version 12.1.0 to RootsMagic 12 was released with a list of changes noted on the Facebook User Group and the Update History page.


The changes listed include:

12.1.0 - 15 Oct 2026

  • New/Fixed: Citation Editing / Adding - Removed tabbed pages from citation edit panel. Pages are now collapsible sections in the edit panel
  • New: Citation editor - free-form and notes drop down in place to edit instead of sliding
  • Fixed: Adding new children, etc. could randomly crash
  • Fixed: Hover bubbles over notes, links, etc. in the edit panel are back
  • Fixed: Info box icons were not opening to correct view
  • New: Family View adds “move to primary position” to right menu
  • Fixed: Citation name is no longer required
  • Fixed: Blurry text on some Macs
  • Fixed: Overly pixelated thumbnails on some systems (use Build Thumbnails on main Media page to fix existing ones all at once)
  • Fixed: Relationship calculator not showing relationships
  • Fixed: Set Relationships working
  • Fixed: Home page, On This Day showed incorrect relationship
  • Fixed: DNA Matches Tree Relationship not showing
  • Fixed: Report titles with a person name with double surname or suffix put nickname in wrong place
  • Fixed: Ancestry Record sources were showing formatting code (like <[Footnote]>)
  • Fixed: Down arrow in note editor was jumping to wrong place at paragraph breaks
  • Fixed: Source templates could randomly show a URL field as a date field
  • Fixed: Property editor loses focus when Alt+Tab switches between windows
  • Fixed: There were two search boxes on “Find a citation” screen
  • Fixed: Numerous minor issues
  • Fixed: Cosmetic issues

There are a number of YouTube videos about RootsMagic 12 including A Quick Tour of RootsMagic 12.  

=============================================

Disclosure:  I have been a RootsMagic user and paying customer since about 2008 and have downloaded and am using RootsMagic 12.  

Copyright (c) 2026, 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.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.  


Thursday, October 15, 2026

Added and Updated MyHeritage Record Collections - Week of 9 to 15 October 2026

 The following Record Collections were ADDED or Updated in the MyHeritage Collections Catalog during the week of 9 to 15 October 2026:

The number of collections at the top of the list shows 1,736 collections (an increase of 3 from last week) with  41,251,208,916  records (an increase of over 44 million records from last week).  The list above shows 3 ADDED collections.  

I collected the latest numbers for the Family Tree collections from the "Number of Records" list which has the Family Tree collections (and a total of 1,736 collections).
 The number of entries in the family tree collections were last updated this week.

                          ================================ 

See previous Genea-Musings posts about MyHeritage record collections and features in https://www.geneamusings.com/search/label/MyHeritage.com.

                          =========================================

Disclosure: I receive a complimentary PremiumPlus subscription to MyHeritage, and have received other material consideration in past years. I uploaded my autosomal DNA raw data to their DNA product. This does not affect my objective analysis of MyHeritage products. I am a paid subscriber to Family Tree Webinars and love it.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/10/added-and-updated-myheritage-record_01382619279.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County (GSSCC) Program on Tuesday, 6 October 2026 Features Robert Givens

I received this information from my friend and society colleague Gail Burk:

=====================================

Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County (GSSCC) Lecture Series 

 Co-hosted Online by GSSCC and the Santa Cruz Public Libraries (SCPL) 

View meeting on Zoom or View In-person at Downtown Library (224 Church Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060)
 
 To register for the Zoom meeting, please type in or click 

Tuesday, 6 October 2026, 1:00 PM PDT 

Guest Speaker:  Robert Givens


"Using Online Resources to
Verify Your Tree"

Would you bet your life on the accuracy of your family tree? Join us and we will walk you through a way to verify those parts of your tree that are lacking documentation or just don’t seem right. We will not be talking about traditional research but using the web to do a quick, but hopefully accurate, gathering of ancestral data using a few trusted sites.

Robert Givens is a fifth-generation Arizonan who completed his first family group sheet at the age of ten, and has never stopped. Bob is a graduate of California State University, Fresno, with a BA in History and Geography, and a masters degree in School Administration. He is a retired educator who also served many years in Central Valley FamilySearch centers. Currently, Robert advises FamilySearch centers in Porterville and Merced, as well as conducting FamilySearch Center training.

=============================================

Disclosure:  I am a member of this organization in Santa Cruz, California. I receive a free membership for presenting occasional presentations.


Copyright (c) 2026, 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. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  All comments are moderated, and may not be posted immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Added and Updated MyHeritage Record Collections - Week of 18 to 24 September 2026

 The following Record Collections were ADDED or Updated in the MyHeritage Collections Catalog during the week of 18 to 24 September 2026:

The number of collections at the top of the list shows 1,729 collections (an increase of 6 from last week) with  41,086,067,445 records (an increase of over 10 million records from last week).  The list above shows no ADDED collections.  

I collected the latest numbers for the Family Tree collections from the "Number of Records" list which has the Family Tree collections (and a total of 1,729 collections).
 The number of entries in the family tree collections were last updated this week.

                          ================================ 

See previous Genea-Musings posts about MyHeritage record collections and features in https://www.geneamusings.com/search/label/MyHeritage.com.

                          =========================================

Disclosure: I receive a complimentary PremiumPlus subscription to MyHeritage, and have received other material consideration in past years. I uploaded my autosomal DNA raw data to their DNA product. This does not affect my objective analysis of MyHeritage products. I am a paid subscriber to Family Tree Webinars and love it.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/09/added-and-updated-myheritage-record_01917539866.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Added and Updated MyHeritage Record Collections - Week of 11 to 17 September 2026

 The following Record Collections were ADDED or Updated in the MyHeritage Collections Catalog during the week of 11 to 17 September 2026:

The number of collections at the top of the list shows 1,729 collections (an increase of 6 from last week) with 41,076,556,321 records (an increase of over 260 million records from last week).  The list above shows six ADDED collections.  

I collected the latest numbers for the Family Tree collections from the "Number of Records" list which has the Family Tree collections (and a total of 1,729 collections).
 The number of entries in the family tree collections were last updated this week.

                          ================================ 

See previous Genea-Musings posts about MyHeritage record collections and features in https://www.geneamusings.com/search/label/MyHeritage.com.

                          =========================================

Disclosure: I receive a complimentary PremiumPlus subscription to MyHeritage, and have received other material consideration in past years. I uploaded my autosomal DNA raw data to their DNA product. This does not affect my objective analysis of MyHeritage products. I am a paid subscriber to Family Tree Webinars and love it.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/09/added-and-updated-myheritage-record_01852264210.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.