RootsMagic 7 Family Tree Genealogy Software

I had not done any genealogy for 3 years or so and had discovered that the software I'd been using, Personal Ancestral File, was no longer being supported. That didn't bother me. However I was trying to display something to one of my daughters and it wasn't working correctly. So with some research I chose RootsMagic 7. It was very easy to directly import the old PAF database. What a difference in capability! With RootsMagic I found some glaring errors with the 'Problems' tool and was easily able to fix them. I have had the software for almost 3 months and am delighted with it, it has re-awakened my interest in genealogy. It is powerful, I have much to learn yet, but easy to use. There is an update coming soon to integrate Ancestery.com with this version at no extra expense. What a great and seemingly caring company.

Works with my backup files from Family Tree Maker. I did not want to go with an online program, I wanted an installed program so I could still be portable. After a few computer crashes and lost program discs, my family tree data was a version ahead of my salvaged program. No can use data. Ten years of work in limbo. This program imported "All" of my data and photos into the same format I had before. What a great find.

I bought this program last year but I am just getting to use it now. This is so frustrating because I am learning as I go and making mistakes. I just spent several hours putting information in and accidentally deleted my father. He's not the only one that disappeared. All his ancestors I put in also disappeared. The questions in "help" says there is no undo delete function. I quit!

I rarely dislike something so much that I review it. But here we are.The short version: I wouldn’t buy this again and I don’t recommend it.Pros: imports a GEDCOM easily enough. Loads of tutorials to walk you through stuff. Lots of customizable features, like background, which websites to display hints from, which reference numbers to include. You can even toggle at what point you want to receive alerts for age discrepancies (14yo mother, 132yo still living, etc.)You can get Family Search hints. Free. They earn a star for this feature alone.Cons: it is not remotely as user friendly as other Software I’ve used. The pedigree only goes horizontal and only shows one descendent. It does not focus the pedigree on who you just clicked. So if you’re all the way left and want to see the next person down the line, you need to click a teeny tiny red arrow to get there. Sure you could click their name from the index on the side but for paid software it shouldn’t operate like something out of the 90’s. Sometimes when you click things it does what you expect, and sometimes it doesn’t- makes it really hard to learn a new program and rely on it for inputting data when people recycled names for 3 generations. Honestly I can’t rely on knowing where I am in this program long enough to go deep in my research. I cannot speak to the accuracy of the GEDCOM import, as its entirely too frustrating for me to enter basic info let alone check a bulk import.In sum: the free software available online is far easier to use than this clunker. Save your money. And your time.

While I am sure Roots Magic 7 is a very capable piece of software I rated it a 3 out of 5 because I bought it solely for one thing and it failed to deliver what it was advertised to be able to do. I have been a loyal user of Family Tree Maker since it was a Windows 95 program and all of my genealogy research is saved in FTM files. Two things happened; 1) I lost my operating system and installed programs due to a dead hard drive, and 2) in a move from Hawaii to Washington state I lost the installation software for the latest version of FTM that I had. The description for Roots Magic 7 says it can import directly from FTM files where other programs can only import GEDCOM files. After I purchased and installed Roots Magic 7 I was very disappointed when it couldn't import my file. In the end I had to purchase another copy of Family Tree Maker to regain access to the data I had worked so hard at.

I am using RootsMagic 7 for my genealogy files. However, I do have some problems with the design of some of the printed reports. I have also had problems maneuvering around trying to associate members of the same families (eg...you have to change screens for find the one that allows you to add children or spouses while you are working with one family head (husband or wife). I feel if it works for one, the husband or the wife, it should work for the other. But not always so. In some cases when I tried to add children to a family when I was on the record of the wife, I could go to the father record and not find those same children. It took me several days working with the RM-7 before I found a way to connect both records without showing two sets of the same children. However, I do have to say that I am gradually beginning to like it. It isn't as good as the old "Family Tree Maker" (before the version 14), but it is better than others currently on the market.

This is the best genealogy software out there. Not only is it easy to use, but it's easy to find and correct mistakes, easy to document your sources (it practically does the work for you), and it works with Ancestry, as well as other on line databases.

I was afraid that all my hard work in an older version of Family Tree Maker was going to lost; but sure enough, Roots Magic uploaded all my work from FTM and I love all the features and the ability to save reports in PDF. I would recommend this to anyone.