This weekend RootsMagic moved Family Tree sync out of beta status with an official update version 6.1.0.3. All RootsMagic 6.0 users will be notified of this free update now available.
When you download and install version 6.1.0.3 you will find that the New FamilySearch sync is no longer available. Instead it was replaced with FamilySearch Family Tree sync. The screens and work flow will be very similar to the NFS sync. The changes needed to sync with Family Tree, like using Merge instead of Combines, will be very intuitive to the users and no additional training should be needed.
RootsMagic 6.1.0.3 does not have the ability to share sources yet, but it is coming. The only feature not available in the FT API that was in the NFS API is the Helper Mode. FamilySearch isn't sure yet if they will include that, so make sure you tell them you want it. If it's added to the FT API then RootsMagic will make it available in their program.
Here are the links to learn more:
RootsMagic 6 - FamilySearch Family Tree Update - http://www.rootsmagic.com/tree/
RootsMagic 6 (Family Tree Update) Videos - http://www.rootsmagic.com/tree/Videos/
RootsMagic 6 (Family Tree Update) Frequently Asked Questions - http://www.rootsmagic.com/tree/FAQ/
The older version of RootsMagic will not be updated to include FamilySearch Family Tree sync. You will need to either purchase RootsMagic 6 or download the free version RootsMagic 6 Essentials.
No one really knows how long the New FamilySearch website will be around or the ability to make changes to. It is rumored that mid-April the ability to do combines through the NFS API will be shut off. It is causing to many problems in the Family Tree when users do Combines in NFS. Once combining turns off I would think it a miserable life to use a 3rd party product that makes you access NFS but jumps out of the program to access the FamilySearch Family Tree website to make changes. If you do that, then when you go back into their program you no longer see the changes you just made.
Make life easy for yourself; just dump syncing with NFS and begin working with the future-FamilySearch Family Tree.
See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!
4 comments:
One huge problem I see is that records I have marked "Not a Match" in Family Tree still show up as "Possible Matches" in RM. The RM user cannot see that I have marked the records Not a Match and they cannot see the reason that I entered for Not a Match. If I click the box in RM next to those records it asks me if I want to merge the Possible Match record into the main record. It seems like this is going to cause the same chaos we saw in nFS. RM users will blindly merge records without knowing they have been marked Not a Match or seeing the reason for Not a Match.
The "Not a Match" feature in Family Tree is not available in the FT API. That is why it's not in RootsMagic. Please let FamilySearch know that you want that feature added to the FT API. Once it is added there then RootsMagic will make it available to their users.
I think the issue is:
(1) RootsMagic users cannot mark a record "Not a Match." Their only option is to Merge.
(2) When merging, RM users have no way of knowing that someone has marked a record "Not a Match" and they cannot see the reason that was entered for why the record was not a match.
Thus, it appears RM users (and I presume all users of 3rd party tools if they are all going to work the same way) will blindly merge records without even knowing that someone has already examined the record, declared it "Not a Match" and documented why it is not a match.
I realize that the reason "Not a Match" is not available to RM users is because it is not part of the API. However, I think the 3rd party tool vendors bear some responsibility for not throwing features out there that are going to cause chaos.
It seems the current Merge tool in RM is going to cause the same issues we saw in nFS. Users will blindly merge records because the system has identified them as "Possible Matches" without having the benefit of seeing the work that has already been done in the FT UI.
Nope, not the 3rd parties fault in this case. They can only working with what FamilySearch gives them. The "Not a Match" feature is something FamilySearch added to FT to prevent the reckless combining we saw earlier with NFS. Now they just need to give this same tool to 3rd Parties to use. It will totally fix the problem. Ask FamilySearch to put it in the FT API. Blaming 3rd Parties is not helpful. They want to help fix the problems.
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