FAQ Added, Note-Taking Software Updated

Over the past few days, I’ve done a large update/revision of the Mac note-taking and journal software page. There was very little there before and now there is hopefully an up-to-date guide of sorts that can point you in the right direction if you are looking for information on applications to help organize and manage genealogy research. I’ll be expanding it and doing full reviews of some of the software mentioned.

More importantly, I’ve added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to the site, which you may have seen in the navigation menu above (“FAQ”):

Mac Genealogy FAQ

It’s going to cover a lot of the questions I receive in email and hopefully clear the air on some things. We don’t directly sell or develop genealogy software is one example of a question I get asked about a lot. The overall focus of the FAQ section is going to be on helping people who have migrated from Windows or older Macs and the genealogists migrating from Windows or older Macs section will be expanded greatly in the next few days.

There will also be FAQs for specific Mac genealogy applications and questions. Here are two examples:
* FAQ – Family Tree Maker for Mac
* FAQ – Personal Ancestral File (PAF)

I’ve got a lot left to do on it, but you can see the start of what it will be from the above links.

If there is anything you think that needs to be added or expanded, please contact us.

OurTree Pro to Enter Public Beta Soon

Ron Smith, developer of OurTreePro, is set to release the first public beta of OurTreePro v0.2, which was written using FileMaker 9, within the next few days (possibly tomorrow). OurTreePro is a single or multi-user genealogy database (including deployment through FileMaker Server 9). It’s currently based on GEDCOM 5.5 standards, however he is working moving towards GenXML (which allows for a lot more flexibility when it comes to storing information/data).

Some of the features that were added and/or will be possible since he has moved to FileMaker include:

Direct integration with SQL databases used in web-based genealogy applications like TNG (The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding) will be possible using FileMaker 9′s SQL database integration. Publishing a web site will no longer require tedious maintenance of separate data stores. Use OurTreePro to maintain your genealogy research, and have it automatically connect to your TNG web site and update the SQL databases instantly.

Image handling and direct scanner integration will allow you to go from photograph directly to your genealogy data. Handle and sort documents, headstone markers, photos, and anything that you can scan with ease! OurTreeProâ„¢ is a very VISUAL experience.

He is looking for assistance on testing against various GEDCOM files:

I need some hlep! Even though my own GedCom file has about 1550 individuals and almost 500 families, I need to test the GedCom file import function on as many real GedCom files as possible. If you would like to participate in a small way in developing OurTreeProâ„¢ by sending me your own, real GedCom files, it would be most appreciated.

All information that you submit to me is private and and will be destroyed at the end of testing. Please use the ‘Contact Me’ page to let me know that you are interested. I’ll respond as quickly as possible.

FileMaker 9 Announced

FileMaker 9 has been announced, with four versions: FileMaker Pro 9, FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced, FileMaker Server 9, FileMaker Server 9 Advanced. Several Mac genealogy applications and utilities have used previous versions of FileMaker, including one or two genealogy applications currently in development. This is considered one of the biggest upgrades in years, with over 30 new major features/changes.

Creation, automation, sharing and database reports have been simplified for both users and database developers. Online collaboration has really been stressed in this release.

Full details at Filemaker.com

November 11, 2005 Roundup

This is a roundup of several utilities that have been updated over the past few days, that genealogists might be interested in

Wordperfect Spotlight Plugin 1.0.2 – WP Spotlight Plug-in 1.0.2 for Mac OS X from version 10.4 enables Spotlight search for files created by WordPerfect from version 2.1, including their contents. Universal binary.
* Now supports indexing footnotes and endnotes.

Bookends 8.1.3 – Bookends offers a powerful and flexible means of saving, retrieving, and formatting references for bibliographies or footnotes.
Version History

HyperTRANSCRIBE 1.0 – new software product for transcribing audio and video files…lets you open and play most popular audio and video formats, and provides both graphical and keyboard control to play, pause, and loop playback so your hands never have to leave the keyboard.

When you’re done transcribing HyperTRANSCRIBE can export your text to RTF or plain text for use in any other program, such as Microsoft Word or ResearchWare’s HyperRESEARCH.

Video2Pod – Convert movies to the Video iPod – from the creators of MacFamilyTree.

Read more

Nov 7, 2005 – Roundup

Some miscellaneous software updates that Mac genealogists may find interesting – iOrganize, Genetic Code Widget, JournalX, and Precision Recall.

iOrganize 6.0 Notepad, Mac OS X 10.4+, $19.95
Organize is the perfect application to store all the notes, ideas, text extracts, web links… you find while working daily, but without knowing exactly what to do with them.

Thanks to its great user interface, iOrganize lets you quickly and easily store what you want. Advanced users can take advantage of advanced features such as the services menu or the dock menu to quickly create new notes.

Its powerful search functions let you retrieve nearly instantly what you were looking for, even months after storing it.

Read more

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