dons-nfsaffiliates.html

MAKING IT EASIER: NEW FAMILYSEARCH AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
©Copyright 2011 by Donald R. Snow This page last updated 2011-01-18.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our Family History Update Series -- 1st and 3rd Weds, 1-2:30 PM, Morningside Stake RS Room
Instructors are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu and dmsnow34@gmail.com ) of Provo and St. George, Utah
These notes with active internet links are posted on the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group website http://uvtagg.org > Class Outlines > Don Snow's Listings. Many other class notes for family history are posted there too.

NEW FAMILYSEARCH AND AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

New FamilySearch (nFS) is the software that the LDS Church has released in all temple districts, except the Orient, to help with family history and temple work -- program is updated regularly
Some things we need to do in nFS -- Combine records, separate records, enter another opinion, upload or download data, set up a discussion of why certain data is correct, learn of changes in nFS data
LDS FH Dept's KnowledgeBase articles

Recommends you keep an updated corrected copy of your own genealogy file at home, even though the data is in nFS -- https://help.familysearch.org/publishing/69/105366_f.SAL_Member.html
Can use PAF https://help.familysearch.org/publishing/547/102204_f.SAL_Public.html

Affiliate programs are programs certified by the FH Dept to help you work with new FamilySearch

Many certified Affiliate programs -- see list at https://new.familysearch.org/ at lower right-hand side of screen under More Great Products -- or can get to it directly at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/affiliates/index.html
More details on certified programs at https://devnet.familysearch.org/certification/affiliate-program/ and https://devnet.familysearch.org/certification/affiliate-program/AffiliateCertfied/
Developer's Awards for certified affiliate software by the FH Dept 2010 -- https://devnet.familysearch.org/news/vote-for-developer-choice-award-winners

Category 1 of Affiliates -- PAF compatible programs

These relate PAF databases to nFS -- PAF is Personal Ancestral File, freeware from LDS Church at https://www.familysearch.org/ )
Get My Ancestors -- freeware available from http://www.ohanasoftware.com -- allows downloads of linked pedigrees in PAF format from nFS; video tutorial at http://www.ohanasoftware.com/?sec=getmyancestors&page=getmyancestorshelp
Ancestral Quest -- commercial program, but has a free version Ancestral Quest Basic; full version is free to use at FHCs -- available from http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm -- video tutorial at http://www.ancquest.com/tutorial.htm
Family Insight -- commercial, but free to use at FHCs -- available from http://www.ohanasoftware.com -- video tutorials (36 minutes total) at http://www.ohanasoftware.com/?sec=lessons > Support > Lessons

Category 2 of Affiliates -- Other database formats

These relate other formats of genealogy databases to nFS -- most other genealogy programs will read a PAF database, but to go back to PAF later you need to make a GEDCOM of the data
AllMyCousins -- available online at https://www.allmycousins.com/
Ancestral Quest -- commercial, but but has a free version and full version is free to use at FHCs -- available from http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm -- video tutorial at http://www.ancquest.com/tutorial.htm -- listed both places since it can be run on a PAF database or its own format with more options

RootsMagic -- commercial, but has a free version RootsMagic Essentials; full version is free to use at FHCs -- http://www.rootsmagic.com/ -- connects your rootsmagic database with nfs; video tutorials at http://www.rootsmagic.com/rootsmagic/tutorials/
Legacy -- Standard Version is free, Deluxe Version is commercial, but free to use in FHCs -- available from http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ -- connects your legacy database with nfs -- video tutorials at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/videos.asp

EXAMPLES AND DEMO'S

Will do short demo's of some things we like about the following programs
From Ohana Software -- http://www.ohanasoftware.com

Get My Ancestors -- http://www.ohanasoftware.com/?sec=downloads&page=GetMyAncestors -- freeware for downloading data from nFS
Family Insight -- http://www.ohanasoftware.com/?cl=buy&op=buy&catid=2 -- commercial program to sync PAF with nFS

Ancestral Quest -- http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm -- free and commercial versions, up- and download and syncing with nFS
RootsMagic Essentials -- http://www.rootsmagic.com/ -- free and commercial versions, up and download and syncing with nFS
AllMyCousins -- https://www.allmycousins.com/ -- free and commercial versions -- used to download from nFS with goal of finding temple work needed -- Good 5-minute video in the Help menu; doesn't sync with nFS
Many other good features of these programs and many other good affiliate programs -- see list in nFS

COMPARISONS

Each program is better in some ways and does some things the others don't do -- hence no one "best program" for everyone
You need to decide what you want it to do and decide for yourself -- can change later, if you decide you want to
For simplicity, if you are not already using a genealogy program, use PAF to get started -- always change later, if you want to
Comparison PowerPoint by Sheri Lynn Lemon 30 Mar 2010 Logan Utah Regional FHC -- http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~utcfhc/NFS_Sync_Programs.pps
Comparisons by Ileen Johnson, owner of [FHCNET] email list -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FHCNET/message/26444 -- pdf handout at http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/IPQ0TfqhlLHH_DcgFS1Zq36unl_sbJ_AWyq2m4wZVnMyl1-EFFtUvgDjv5cIzdNDHtOGAMMhFx4DRITMgE12pT2bNDt49HM/Affiliate%20Software%20Programs.pdf -- Eleen Johnson posted a comparison spreadsheet on 13 Dec 2009 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FHCNET/files/, but you have to be a subscriber to [FHCNET] and have a (free) Google Groups account
Presentation by Janet Hovorka at Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group -- http://www.uvtagg.org/presentations/Certified_Software_Presentation.pdf
From readers of [fhcnet] which is an email list of fhc workers -- comparison spreadsheet http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0aiu7vl7hmpe-dhlbazvty2u5qtnou0zkzwnpawxqave&hl=en
Comparison chart of Ancestral Quest, Family Insight, and RootsMagic on Ancestral Quest's webpage -- slanted towards Ancestral Quest, but still helpful -- http://www.inclinesoftware.net/files/comparefs/mostcomprehensivesynccomparison.pdf

ASSIGNMENT

If your FH data is in a PAF file, go to a FHC and try out Family Insight on it to see some of the options like merging, correcting place names, etc. If your FH data is in another type of file, experiment with other programs to connect your data to nFS.
Try out Ancestral Quest Basics (freeware) by downloading it or using it at a FHC.
Try out RootsMagic Essentials (freeware) by downloading it or using it at a FHC. If your FH data is in a PAF database, be sure to keep a copy of the original before converting it to RootsMagic.

return to Don's Class Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group .